Many organizations are seeking ways to better utilize computer systems, writes Ellard Roush in the introduction to his Sun BluePrints article "Zone Clusters - How to Deploy Virtual Clusters and Why"* in which he writes that these organizations are discovering that virtualization technologies provide a safe way to consolidate multiple applications on a single system. The paper introduces the zone cluster, a virtual cluster in which a Solaris OS Zone is configured as a virtual node. The zone cluster supports the consolidation of multiple cluster applications on a single cluster.

In his paper, Roush addresses the following topics:

• "Cluster application consolidation" presents the forces driving consolidation.
• "Server virtualization technologies" provides an overview of Sun's virtualization technologies, with an emphasis on Solaris Zones.
• "Zone cluster overview" introduces the zone cluster and further identifies numerous use cases that demonstrate its utility.
• "Zone cluster design" describes the overall design of the zone cluster.
• "Administration overview" provides an overview of zone cluster administration.
• "Example zone cluster configuration" contains step-by-step instructions for an example zone cluster configuration.
• "Zone cluster administration" describes common zone cluster administrative tasks.

Roush notes that Zone clusters provide secure environments for controlling and managing cluster applications, which see this environment as a dedicated private cluster. He explains that one of the most common scenarios motivating people to adopt virtualization is the desire to consolidate applications supporting multiple organizations, which he has made a major focus of his report, restricting the topic to the operating system virtualization approach.

* An online account is required to access this paper.

More Information

Solaris Cluster

Sun Cluster Wiki

Configuring a Zone Cluster

Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 Documentation Center

Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS

Sun Cluster System Administration Guide for Solaris OS [...read more...]

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