Cluster Server 8.0 Bundled Agents Reference Guide - Windows

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (8.0)
Platform: Windows
  1. Introducing VCS bundled agents
    1.  
      About VCS bundled agents
    2.  
      Resources and their attributes
    3.  
      Modifying agents and their resources
    4. Attributes
      1.  
        Attribute data types
      2.  
        Attribute dimensions
    5. Categories of bundled agents
      1.  
        Storage agents
      2.  
        Network agents
      3.  
        FileShare agents
      4.  
        Services and applications agents
      5.  
        VCS infrastructure and support agents
    6.  
      Which agents should I use?
  2. Storage agents
    1.  
      About Storage agents for VCS
    2. DiskReservation (DiskRes) agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    3. Mount agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configurations
    4. Volume Manager Diskgroup (VMDg) agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    5. MountV agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configuration
    6. VVRSnap agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    7. VMwareDisks agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attributes
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    8. VMNSDg agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    9. NativeDisks agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    10.  
      AWS EBSVol agent
    11.  
      AzureDisk agent
    12.  
      GoogleDisk agent
  3. Network agents
    1.  
      About network agents
    2. NIC agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    3. IP agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definitions
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configuration
    4. IPv6 agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configuration
    5. Lanman agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5. Attribute definitions
        1.  
          Updating manual DNS entries
        2.  
          Updating DNS servers
      6.  
        Sample configurations
    6.  
      AWSIP agent
    7.  
      AzureIP agent
    8. AzureDNSZone agent
      1.  
        Prerequisites
      2.  
        Dependencies
      3.  
        Agent functions
      4.  
        State definitions
      5.  
        Attributes
      6.  
        Resource type definition
      7.  
        Samples configurations
      8.  
        Delegating a domain to Azure DNS
    9.  
      GoogleIP agent
  4. FileShare agents
    1.  
      About FileShare agents
    2. FileShare agent
      1.  
        Dependencies
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        About ForceControl function
      5.  
        Resource type definition
      6.  
        Attribute definitions
      7.  
        Sample configuration
    3. CompositeFileShare agent
      1.  
        Dependencies
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        About ForceControl function
      5.  
        Resource type definition
      6.  
        Attribute definitions
      7.  
        Sample configuration
  5. Services and applications agents
    1.  
      About services and application agents
    2. Internet Information Services agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5. Sample configurations
        1.  
          Sample configuration I
        2.  
          Sample configuration II
    3. GenericService agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    4. ServiceMonitor agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configurations
    5. Process agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    6. MSMQ agent
      1.  
        Dependencies
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configuration
    7.  
      AzureAuth agent
  6. VCS infrastructure and support agents
    1.  
      About VCS infrastructure and support agents
    2. NotifierMngr agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    3. Registry Replication (RegRep) agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5. Attribute definitions
        1.  
          Excluding keys
        2.  
          Configuring registry keys
        3.  
          Ignoring subkeys
      6.  
        Sample configuration
    4. Proxy agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configurations
    5. Phantom agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Attribute definitions
      4.  
        Sample configuration
    6. FileNone agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    7. ElifNone agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    8. FileOnOff agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    9. FileOnOnly agent
      1.  
        Agent functions
      2.  
        State definitions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    10. RemoteGroup agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        State definitions
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5. Attribute definitions
        1.  
          About the ControlMode attribute
      6. Sample scenario
        1.  
          Service group behavior
  7. VCS hardware replication agent for NetApp
    1.  
      About hardware replication agents for NetApp
    2. NetApp Filer agent
      1.  
        Agent function
      2.  
        Resource type definition
      3.  
        Attribute definitions
      4.  
        Sample configuration
    3. NetApp SnapDrive agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        Resource type definition
      4.  
        Attribute definitions
      5.  
        Sample configuration
    4. NetApp SnapMirror agent
      1.  
        Dependency
      2.  
        Agent functions
      3.  
        Action function
      4.  
        Resource type definition
      5.  
        Attribute definitions
      6.  
        Sample configuration
  8. Troubleshooting bundled agents
    1.  
      About troubleshooting bundled agents
    2.  
      VCS logging
    3. Troubleshooting storage agents
      1.  
        Disk Reservation agent error messages
      2.  
        Mount agent error messages
      3.  
        Volume Manager (VMDg) agent error messages
      4.  
        MountV agent error messages
    4. Troubleshooting network agents
      1.  
        NIC agent error messages
      2.  
        IP agent error messages
      3.  
        Lanman agent error messages
    5. Troubleshooting FileShare agents
      1.  
        FileShare agent error messages
      2.  
        CompositeFileShare agent error messages
    6. Troubleshooting services and application agents
      1.  
        IIS agent error messages
      2.  
        GenericService agent error messages
      3.  
        ServiceMonitor agent error messages
      4.  
        Process agent error messages
      5.  
        MSMQ agent error messages
    7. Troubleshooting infrastructure and support agents
      1.  
        Notifier Manager agent error messages
      2.  
        Registry Replication agent error messages
      3.  
        Proxy agent error messages
      4.  
        Phantom agent error message
      5.  
        FileNone agent error message
      6.  
        ElifNone agent error message
      7.  
        FileOnOff agent error messages
      8.  
        FileOnOnly agent error messages
    8.  
      Troubleshooting NetApp agents

VMwareDisks agent

The VMwareDisks agent enables vMotion and VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) in InfoScale clusters configured and deployed on virtual machines in a VMware environment.

When a VCS cluster with a shared disk is configured on virtual machines, VMware does not support VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and vMotion. Thus the vMotion and DRS capabilities are compromised. The solution to this issue would be to attach the disks to a single virtual machine at a time in a VCS cluster. In case of a user initiated failover or a fault-induced failover, these disks fail over (detach-attach) to the target virtual machine along with the service group. The VMwareDisks agent manages the detach and attach operations.

After the attach or detach operations, the tasks of initializing and managing the disks are performed by the VMNSDg agent (for SFW environment) and NativeDisks agent (for LDM environment).

Note:

You must use an encrypted password in the ESXDetails attribute. This password is used to connect to the ESX/ESXi host or vCenter Server. For more information, refer to the section about encrypting agent passwords in the Cluster Server Administrator's Guide.

About support for VMware disks with NetBackup or user-initiated snapshots

VMware does not allow a disk to be detached if it is part of a snapshot; the snapshot must be deleted before the disk can be detached. A service group that contains resources of the VMwareDisks type may be taken offline or failed over from a virtual machine where snapshots are present. In this case, the resources cannot be taken offline until the snapshot is deleted.

When a failover is initiated on a system, any of the following conditions may occur:

  • Snapshots are present due to an active backup job.

  • Stale snapshots are present due to failed backup jobs.

  • User-initiated snapshots are present.

Any of these conditions may cause the disk detach operation to fail and consequently the failover stalls. Beginning with InfoScale 8.0, the VMwareDisks agent includes some snapshot management functions that help avoid such scenarios. The agent detects whether a VMware disk is associated with any NetBackup or user-initiated snapshots. It then consolidates the snapshots, if required, and removes them so that the disk can be detached, and the failover can proceed as expected.

Note:

Due to a restriction around the VMware API for data protection, the migration of a VM cannot be completed while a NetBackup job for VMware VM protection is in progress. You may choose to wait for the job to complete or you may cancel it.

Note:

This support is not yet available for disks in NetBackup configurations that involve multiple master servers.

Requirements for proper functioning of the agent

To ensure proper functioning of the VMwareDisks agent, verify the following settings:

  • Ensure that the VirtualDiskMode attribute value matches the mode in which the VMware disks are attached. Otherwise, after a failover occurs, the VMwareDisks agent reverts them to the mode mentioned in the VirtualDiskMode attribute.

  • The ESX/ESXi host user account has administrative privileges or is a root user. If you do not want to use the administrator user account or the root user, create a role with the required privileges for VMwareDisks resource functionality and assign this role to one or more users.

    The role assigned to the user account must have the following privileges at a minimum:

    • Low level file operations

    • Add existing disk

    • Change resource

    • Remove disk

    In case of configurations with disks that are part of snapshots, the privileges to remove user-initiated snapshots or to view and manage NetBackup jobs are also required. Beyond these privileges, you can provide additional ones according to the needs of your configuration.

    If the user is a vCenter user, you must assign the requisite privileges so that the user can access the datastore.

To assign vCenter roles and privileges

  1. Log on to the vCenter Server and navigate to Home > Inventory > Datastores and Datastore Clusters.
  2. From the vCenter inventory tree view, right-click the appropriate datacenter, and select Add Permission.

    Alternatively, open the Permissions tab. On the Permissions pane, right-click and select Add Permission.

  3. In the Assign Permissions window, add the user, select the role, and assign privileges.

    For details, refer to VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter Server Documentation.