Planning for a CSM for AIX management server

The following requirements apply to the management server:

• The machine you use for your management server must have a CD-ROM drive or equivalent (for example, a DVD-ROM or DVD-RAM drive).
• With CSM for AIX the management server must be a workstation, capable of running AIX 5L Version 5.2 or higher.
• A sufficient number of network adapters are required to accommodate the required management, cluster and public VLANs. For information on the network options and requirements, see the Hardware and network requirements.

Memory and disk space

On the management server, a minimum of 512 MB of memory and 250 MB of disk space is required for installing CSM. When using an AIX CSM management server to manage and install Linux nodes, an additional 100MB of space is required in the /var directory . Additional disk space on the management server is required to support installation of the AIX operating system and CSM on the managed nodes. (Typically, for every version of AIX that you have installed, you need at least 2.0 GB of storage.)

Network requirements

IBM suggests creating one or more virtual local area network (VLAN) for the CSM management server and hardware control points, and one or more separate VLAN for the CSM management server and cluster nodes. Although cluster hardware control points and nodes can be on the same VLAN, limiting access to the management VLAN reduces security exposure for IP traffic on the management VLAN and access to hardware control points. For more information about network requirements, see Hardware and network requirements. For more information on VLANs, see Virtual LANs (VLANs).

Your pSeries nodes do not have to be in the same subnet as your install server. You can install them across one or more gateways. If your install server is located across one or more gateways from your pSeries Linux nodes, then you will need to set up your networking as follows:

• Add a stanza to the /etc/dhcpd.conf file on the install server that contains the node's subnet.
• On the gateway machine, add a permanent arp entry for each node.
• On the gateway machine, configure and enable the dhcp-relay daemon.

If you have more than one gateway between the install server and the node, the gateway to set up is the one that is "closest" to the node. For instance, if you have the install server connected to gateway A, Gateway A connected to gateway B, and gateway B connected to the nodes, you would add the arp entries and the dhcp-relay daemon to gateway B.