32bit or 64bit

We are in the process of setting up our first cluster as per details below.

We have been advised to use Windows 2008; from people who have experiance
with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 clusters how doesWindows 2008 cluster
compare?

Applications accessing the data on the cluster will be 32Bit, should we
implement 32bit or 64bit version of Windows 2008 (network performance is
vital).

We are plannining to implement 3 Node Windows 2008 cluster.
Dell 2950
1 x Quad Core Processor
4GB RAM
Qlogic QLE2460 HBA
6 x NICS (Intel Pro/1000 PT Quad Port Gigabit NIC configured for 802.3ad
link aggregation, 1 x dedicated onboard NIC for backups, 1 x dedicated NIC
cluster heartbeat)


Many thanks

"Nick" <> wrote in message
news:...
> We are in the process of setting up our first cluster as per details
> below.
>
> We have been advised to use Windows 2008; from people who have experiance
> with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 clusters how doesWindows 2008 cluster
> compare?

2008 is better, by far

> Applications accessing the data on the cluster will be 32Bit, should we
> implement 32bit or 64bit version of Windows 2008 (network performance is
> vital).

Applications will be accessing what type of data on the cluster? This is
important. For example, if I have an application that uses a SQL backend, I
can use 64-bit for the cluster and SQL, but it doesn't matter as far as the
desktop app goes.


--
Russ Kaufmann,
MVP, MCSE: Messaging and Security, MCT, MCITP, MCTS and other stuff

ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp

Russ thanks for your response.



The 32bit application is hosted on a farm of Terminal Services Servers with
a UNC path pointing at the data path.



The data in made up of many small files anything from 50k to 900k and with a
deep folder structure.



Would implementing 64bit Windows 2008 cluster have any benefits over a 32bit
Windows 2008 cluster regarding the better network performance?

As mentioned earlier we will be using 4 NIC's as 802.3ad link aggregation
to hopeful increase bandwidth.




"Russ Kaufmann" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Nick" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> We are in the process of setting up our first cluster as per details
>> below.
>>
>> We have been advised to use Windows 2008; from people who have experiance
>> with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 clusters how doesWindows 2008 cluster
>> compare?
>
> 2008 is better, by far
>
>> Applications accessing the data on the cluster will be 32Bit, should we
>> implement 32bit or 64bit version of Windows 2008 (network performance is
>> vital).
>
> Applications will be accessing what type of data on the cluster? This is
> important. For example, if I have an application that uses a SQL backend,
> I can use 64-bit for the cluster and SQL, but it doesn't matter as far as
> the desktop app goes.
>
>
> --
> Russ Kaufmann,
> MVP, MCSE: Messaging and Security, MCT, MCITP, MCTS and other stuff
>
> ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
> Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
> Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp
>

"Nick" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Russ thanks for your response.
>
> The 32bit application is hosted on a farm of Terminal Services Servers
> with a UNC path pointing at the data path.

If it is a farm of terminal services servers, then they would be NLB, not
failover clustering

> Would implementing 64bit Windows 2008 cluster have any benefits over a
> 32bit Windows 2008 cluster regarding the better network performance?
>
> As mentioned earlier we will be using 4 NIC's as 802.3ad link aggregation
> to hopeful increase bandwidth.

Teaming of NLB interfaces is not supported.

--
Russ Kaufmann,
MVP, MCSE: Messaging and Security, MCT, MCITP, MCTS and other stuff

ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp

I didn't want to open a new thread because it relates to this subject
closely...

I have a x64 Failover Cluster (File services) and I too have a Quad-Nic,
plus 2 on-board. I would like to "assign" a port on the quad NIC to a
particular File Group on the cluster, thus allowing them dedicated bandwidth
and also to increase performance (and to shrink the backup windows). Is this
possible and how? I can only seem to get the 2 on-board (Public and Private)
and 1 of the 4 on the quad-core to show up on Cluadmin.

Thanks!


"Russ Kaufmann" wrote:

> "Nick" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > Russ thanks for your response.
> >
> > The 32bit application is hosted on a farm of Terminal Services Servers
> > with a UNC path pointing at the data path.
>
> If it is a farm of terminal services servers, then they would be NLB, not
> failover clustering
>
> > Would implementing 64bit Windows 2008 cluster have any benefits over a
> > 32bit Windows 2008 cluster regarding the better network performance?
> >
> > As mentioned earlier we will be using 4 NIC's as 802.3ad link aggregation
> > to hopeful increase bandwidth.
>
> Teaming of NLB interfaces is not supported.
>
> --
> Russ Kaufmann,
> MVP, MCSE: Messaging and Security, MCT, MCITP, MCTS and other stuff
>
> ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
> Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
> Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp
>