Collax Inter-V High Availability Clustering Solution
Any full High Availability cluster solution has to contain the following:
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A virtualization platform running virtual machines (e.g. Collax V-Cube).
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A clustering management system (e.g. Collax Inter-V).
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A network shared storage area (e.g. Collax V-Store, also possible are iSCSI SANs).
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At least two NIC connecting the cluster nodes.
The Collax V-Family provides the following:
Collax V-Cube: Virtualization - A highly efficient virtualization platform that lets you run more virtual servers than ever before (see Collax V-Cube): Idea base for clustering and running in failover mode.
Collax Inter-V Cluster Management - A versatile High Availability cluster management add-on that make clustering easy to install and easy to use: Clustering has never been so easy.
Collax V-Store: Network Storage - The most efficient High Availability SAN solution on the market: It combines revolutionary technology with outstanding price. This innovation in Network Storage requires no additional hardware and is built into the very heart of your cluster (see Collax V-Store).
Other Points of Note
Easy and Fast Time to Live
The installation process is surprisingly simple, just follow the installation wizard, tell the second machine where the first one is and you are about done. Collax high availability is that simple.
Flexibility in Architecture
The cluster nodes do not have to be the same so use a variety of machines that meet the needs of your environment. Also if you get it wrong then put the cluster into service mode (all the virtual servers onto one physical machine) and then upgrade, or swap out, the inappropriate machine. With the Collax Inter-V High Availability and cluster solution you are free to change your mind anytime with no downtime.
Economical and Complete Solution
A note about storage: Although we recommend the Collax V-Store (High Availability Embedded SAN) for performance, flexibility and price you can still use other Network Storage devices (recommended to be High Availability devices). The Collax Inter-V also supports iSCSI SAN devices. It is recommended that if you use a third party iSCSI SAN you purchase a highly available one to match the features of the Collax V-Store.
Price Barrier Free
The final point to make about the Collax Collax V-Family solution is that we have eliminated the price barrier to clustering. Collax offers this solution on a subscription basis: This means no large up-front expenditure and results in a regular annual payment that you can plan and forecast on.
The main technical features of the Collax Inter-V cluster and high availability solution are (click to read more):
Easy Installation
The installation process is very easy: Install the first node by following the installation wizard. When installing the second node simply tell it where the first node is and it does all the work. Further nodes are the same.
Installation requires little advanced knowledge of clustering and High Availability, just basic network administration.
Built-in Central Management Interface
The Collax Cluster Management Interface is an integrated (built-in) browser based console. This means there is no requirement for any extra equipment or software to be installed.
The Cluster Management Interface provides complete control of the whole cluster:
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Administration and monitoring of all Collax V-Cubes
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Monitor the performance of the machine
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Change its settings
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Create new virtual components
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Etc.
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Administration and monitoring of all Virtual Servers running on the Collax V-Cubes
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Monitor the performance of the virtual machine
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Change the virtual machine settings (e.g. memory, cpu, disk etc.)
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Change the state of the virtual machine (e.g. shut down, reboot etc.)
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Full remote control of all virtual servers
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Open up a window/browser and work with keyboard and mouse as if you were actually at the machine itself.
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Full High Availability management
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Administration and monitoring of the cluster (Collax Inter-V)
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Move virtual servers from one physical machine to another (Live Migration)
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Secure remote management from any machine with a browser
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Point a browser from any machine at the cluster and authorized administrators get full access
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No need to install any client software
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Full flexibility
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Full high availability
High Availability
All virtual servers running on a clustered Collax V-Cube can be marked to be Highly Available: This means that in the case of the whole server failing the marked Virtual Servers can be restated on another working machine in the cluster. As the cluster uses shared network storage this can happen very fast and the result of a complete hardware failure can be unnoticed by a user of that service.
Live Migration
This is a feature given to an administrator that lets them select any virtual server on any Collax V-Cube in a cluster and move it to any other physical machine in that cluster.
This process is done live and with no interruption to the service provided by the virtual server. There is no visible downtime, all data is still accessible and all network connections remain unchanged (even connections such as VNC keep working uninterrupted).
Once all virtual machines are moved off a physical machine (service mode) then that machine can be safely brought down for repair, upgrade or service and then later reintroduced back into the cluster.
SAN Support
For any cluster to work each node has to have access to a commonly shared storage area. This is mandatory for any failover (high availability) or live migration process to work. The Collax cluster solution supports two methods:
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iSCSI SAN devices - Storage areas that are provided on a network
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Collax V-Store - A highly efficient and cost effective shared storage solution provided by Collax (See Collax V-Store for more details) that requires no additional devices.
Bundling of Network Connection
The main bottleneck in most server solutions is not usually the speed of the servers themselves, but rather the bandwidth provided to these servers. The Collax cluster solution offers a very useful feature that gives you ‘super wide’ bandwidth without prior planning or expense. This feature is called Bonding, link aggregation or Network Bundling. It lets you take two or more network connections and makes them look like one big one. For example you can take several standard network connections, bind them together in the Collax cluster and you will soon have spends of 10Gbit.
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The System requirements for a cluster are split into the following:
Minimum Requirements*:
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Two Collax V-cubes, each with:
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64-bit processor with Intel VT or AMD-V support
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Hard disk: 20 GB
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Two network interfaces
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Memory: 1024 MB
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Bootable CD-ROM drive (during installation)
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VGA-capable video card (during installation)
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A stonith Device
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A STP and VLAN-capable switch
* These "Minimum Requirements" are sufficient for the cluster to operate, but note that the Virtual Machine requirements must then calculated and be added accordingly (memory, disk space etc.)
Maximum expansion of each node:
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Up to 256 GB memory
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Up to 16 TB of disk capacity
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Up to 256 processors (cores)
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Unlimited number of virtual guests
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Any number of virtual switches
Maximum resource allocation for each Virtual Machine:
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Virtual memory to the hardware limit
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Virtual hard disk capacity up to the hardware limit
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Save up to 16 virtual NICs
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Up to 16 virtual processors (VSMP)
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Up to 4 virtual drives or CD / DVD drives
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16-bit, 32 bit or 64 bit guests
Please note that the Collax V-Cube also comes as an appliance (complete system including hardware): See the Collax V-Rack hardware products.
Supported Operating Systems:
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Windows 7
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Windows Vista
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Windows XP
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Windows 2000
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Windows 2003
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Windows 2008
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Novell Suse Linux 9, 10
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RedHat 3, 4, 5
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Ubuntu and more...
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To speed up all support calls please make sure you have your "Server License Number".
