IBM and Microsoft demonstrated technology today that quadruples
the number of powerful Windows NT servers which can be "clustered" together
to improve the configuration and reliability of computer services.
With the current Microsoft Cluster
Services (MSCS), only two servers can be linked together in a configuration
that allows one to take over when the other fails. But with IBM's clustering technology, code-named
Cornhusker, as many as eight servers can be connected, said Brian Sanders,
Netfinity marketing
software manager at IBM.
Microsoft and IBM executives demonstrated the Cornhusker technology
today at a keynote address at Microsoft's TechEd 99 conference in
Dallas.
"We clearly need to have the deep experience in the enterprise and the
services," said Michel Gambier, a product manager for Windows NT Server at
Microsoft.
For some time now, Microsoft has been pushing its high-end version of
Windows into increasingly powerful servers, the computers that dish up
information, files, and computing services to users over a network. But
NT--being renamed Windows 2000 in its next edition--has been dinged by
analysts and companies for weaknesses in its ability to handle larger-scale
tasks.
Cornhusker also represents an opportunity for IBM to expand on its "X-Architecture" initiative of bringing mainframe technology to the workaday
computing world.
Clustering is a key feature crucial to Microsoft's effort to get customers
to buy Windows NT instead of Unix or other higher-end operating systems.
"Our mutual customers will benefit from this technology for their Windows
NT-based mission
critical applications in financial services, ERP, government systems and
other settings which place a premium on uptime and manageability," said
Edmund Muth, group product manager at Microsoft in a prepared statement.
In contrast to Unix servers, Windows NT servers often are deployed in a
one-server, one-function arrangement. For example, one server will handle
email, another file sharing, and another one access to a database. In that
model, NT clusters currently are expensive, because a company has to have
one backup for each server.
With Cornhusker, companies can reduce costs by having just a single backup
server on "hot standby" to handle whichever machine goes down, a
configuration known as "n+1"--if you have n servers, you need n+1 nodes in
your cluster.
The clustering software is a key part of IBM's guarantee of 99.9 percent
uptime with certain configurations of its NT servers, coupled with
fast-response technical support. Several other companies offer similar
guarantees.
Although the Cornhusker technology works only with IBM's Netfinity servers,
it uses the same interface as Microsoft's clustering technology, meaning
that software developers theoretically won't have to change their programs
to use the IBM technology. Microsoft has endorsed Cornhusker and is helping
to develop it, Sanders said.
The Cornhusker technology uses the same interface as MSCS, so programs
written for MSCS, at least theoretically, should be able to use Cornhusker.
However, IBM has been finding that some software companies haven't quite
followed Microsoft's rules, instead writing software that can talk only to
two servers in a cluster instead of a general number, said Don Roy, product
marketing manager for Netfinity clustering. Compaq Computer and Hewlett-Packard, are also helping to bring
higher-end features to Windows NT.
Microsoft is working on its own cluster technology for the next high-end
version of Windows, called the Data Center Edition. That technology is
expected to allow four-node clusters.
IBM will release Cornhusker this summer, Roy said. The product will be
named "IBM Netfinity Availability Extensions for MSCS." Pricing hasn't yet
been established.
Users won't be able to install the product themselves, but instead will
have to rely on IBM, Sanders said. The reason is that IBM wants to make
sure it works, not to make sure it can charge more money for the product.
"We're not looking for a lot of money on the install. We want it to be a
success, so we're shepherding it out into the marketplace," he said.
The system will come only on IBM's high-end Netfinity server, the
four-processor 7000 M10 machine. In the future, it will work on the
forthcoming eight-processor servers, and IBM hopes to get it working on the
lower-end two-processor 5500 machines, Roy said.
Microsoft also previewed a software tool developed by high-end computer
maker
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