Mailing List Archive: VMS clustering & STONITH

Hi,

On Wed, Aug 16, 2000 at 05:28:38PM +0100, Kenn Humborg wrote:
> I'm curious about something. I'm no expert on either
> VMSclusters or the various Linux clustering projects,
> so please excuse me if this seems like a stupid
> question...
>
> How does VMS clustering get by without STONITH devices
> and I/O fencing? Or is clustering so ingrained in the
> kernel (and trusted enough) that each node fences itself
> off voluntarily when it looses quorum?

Clustering _is_ integrated right at the very lowest layer of the
kernel, but it's more than that --- it also uses IO fencing. Standard
disks in a VMScluster are actually cluster members. If you use a
scsci disk, you usually use one of the SCSI controllers which
represents those disks to the rest of the cluster --- the controller
itself is then a cluster member. In either case, the cluster
membership protocol automatically provides IO fencing.

Cheers,
Stephen