File system configuration planning
Ricoh recommends that the file systems be mirrored on a shared Storage Across Network (SAN) in order to eliminate as many SPOFs as possible. If Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) disks are used, the loops should be configured so that at least one mirror is wholly contained during a failover. When the primary node may be powered off, there is the potential for a hardware crash. In this case, the secondary system will have SSA fragments. The throughput rate for SSA fragment is about half of the loop. Mirroring file systems in AIX takes advantage of the faster disks (the ones in a loop) so that InfoPrint Manager does not see performance degradation as a result of disk fragments.
InfoPrint Manager shared file systems include these:
- /var/pd
- /var/psm
- /var/psf
- /var/psf/segments (do not mirror this file system)
- /var/pddir/
You must create these files systems before installing InfoPrint Manager. If they are already available at installation time, InfoPrint Manager detects the listed file systems and uses them to install the required files.
If your InfoPrint Manager for AIX installation drives printers that use either the AIX, BSD, or PSF-Other device support systems (DSSs), make sure that you synchronize the /var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/ddi directory on both systems, or allow it fail over. This directory contains critical device files that cannot be relocated, but must be identical on both your primary and back-up nodes. Even though these are AIX system files and not InfoPrint Manager files, InfoPrint Manager writes data to these files that is critical to ensuring that certain printers appear on your failover system. If this directory is not synchronized, certain InfoPrint Manager actual destination objects may have to be deleted and redefined each time you failover.