Bug 513072 - Fence_scsi and SAN fence limitations
Summary: Fence_scsi and SAN fence limitations
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Classification: Red Hat
Component: doc-Cluster_Administration
Version: 5.4
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
high
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: Steven J. Levine
QA Contact: Content Services Development
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On: 509204
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2009-07-21 20:48 UTC by Paul Kennedy
Modified: 2016-04-26 13:50 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of: 509204
Environment:
Last Closed: 2009-09-03 15:59:55 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Comment 1 Paul Kennedy 2009-07-21 20:51:48 UTC
This bug addresses a wider range of situations than the original one. Refer to comments by rohara:

"...the 2-node limitation is not specific to fence_scsi. It is a limitation for all SAN fencing agents. In the future it is probably worthwhile to document this, list the SAN fencing agents that are subject to this limitation, etc. In my opinion, specifically noting that fence_scsi does not work in a 2-node cluster implies that all other fence agents that have that limitation will have the same specific note in the documentation."

Comment 2 Steven J. Levine 2009-07-22 16:05:18 UTC
To rohara:

I'm looking to verify the list of SAN fencing agents that do not support two-node clusters.

These are the fencing agents I know about that seem to use SAN devices for fencing:

Egenera SAN Controller
McData SAN Switch
QLogic SANBox2 Switch
Vixel SAN Switch

Is that the full list, or are any of the other supported fencing agents SAN devices?

Thanks,

-Steven

Comment 3 Steven J. Levine 2009-08-11 20:36:22 UTC
For RHEL 5.4, I have added the following note to the Section on Configuring Fence Devices and to the Appendix on Fence Device Parameters:

Note:

* Use of SCSI persistent reservations as a fence
  method is supported with the following limitations:

* SCSI fencing is not supported in a two-node cluster.
 
* When using SCSI fencing, all nodes in the cluster
  must register with the same devices so that
  each node can remove another node's registration
  key from all the devices it is registered with.
  
* Devices used for the cluster volumes should be a complete LUN,
  not partitions. SCSI persistent reservations work on
  an entire LUN, meaning that access is controlled to each
  LUN, not individual partitions.

* SCSI fencing cannot be used in conjunction with qdisk.
  
Documentation on the limitations of using other SAN-based fence devices
will be added to this document in later releases after testing of what
is and isn't supported, in conjunction with updates to the fence_X
man pages for those devices.

The note on SCSI limitations will be in the RHEL 5.4 version of this document.

Comment 4 Steven J. Levine 2009-09-03 15:59:55 UTC
With the release of RHEL 5.4 I'm closing this bug.


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