Veritas High Availability 7.4.2 Solution Guide for VMware - Linux

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (7.4.2)
Platform: Linux
  1. Introducing the Veritas High Availability solution for VMware
    1. How the Veritas High Availability solution works in a VMware environment
      1.  
        How the Veritas HA Plug-in for vSphere Web Client works with VCS
      2.  
        How the VMwareDisks agent communicates with the vCenter Server instead of the ESX/ESXi host
      3.  
        Getting started with vCenter-integrated Veritas High Availability solution
      4. Getting started with the VIOM-integrated Veritas High Availability solution
        1.  
          About administering high availability with VOM
      5. Understanding Veritas High Availability terminology
        1.  
          Understanding operation names
      6.  
        Supported VMware versions
      7.  
        Important release information
  2. Deploying the Veritas High Availability solution
    1.  
      Managing storage
    2.  
      Installing the Veritas High Availability guest components
    3.  
      Upgrading Veritas High Availability guest components
  3. Administering application availability from the vSphere Client
    1.  
      Accessing the Veritas High Availability view
    2. Administering application monitoring from the Veritas High Availability view
      1. Understanding the Veritas High Availability view
        1.  
          To view the status of configured applications
      2.  
        Configuring a cluster by using the VCS cluster configuration wizard
      3.  
        To configure or unconfigure application monitoring
      4.  
        Adding a system to a VCS cluster
      5.  
        To start or stop applications
      6.  
        To switch an application to another system
      7.  
        To add or remove a failover system
      8.  
        To suspend or resume application monitoring
      9.  
        To clear Fault state
      10.  
        To resolve a held-up operation
      11.  
        To determine application state
      12.  
        To remove all monitoring configurations
      13.  
        To remove VCS cluster configurations
    3.  
      Administering application monitoring settings
    4. Administering application availability using Veritas High Availability dashboard
      1. Understanding the dashboard work area
        1.  
          Aggregate status bar
        2.  
          ESX cluster/host table
        3.  
          Taskbar
        4.  
          Filters menu
        5.  
          Application table
      2. Accessing the dashboard
        1.  
          Prerequisites for accessing the dashboard
        2.  
          How to access the dashboard
        3.  
          Who can access the dashboard
      3.  
        Monitoring applications across a data center
      4.  
        Monitoring applications across an ESX cluster
      5.  
        Searching for application instances by using filters
      6.  
        Selecting multiple applications for batch operations
      7.  
        Starting an application using the dashboard
      8.  
        Stopping an application by using the dashboard
      9.  
        Entering an application into maintenance mode
      10.  
        Bringing an application out of maintenance mode
      11.  
        Switching an application
      12.  
        Resolving dashboard alerts
  4. Appendix A. Roles and privileges
    1.  
      About the roles and privileges assigned in vCenter
    2. Assigning customized privileges to VMwareDisks agent
      1.  
        About assigning privileges to VMwareDisks agent
      2.  
        Creating a role with customized privileges for VMwareDisks agent
      3.  
        Creating an ESX user account
      4.  
        Integrating an ESX user account with Active Directory
      5.  
        Assigning a role to an ESX user account
  5. Appendix B. Troubleshooting
    1.  
      Agent logging on virtual machine
    2. Troubleshooting wizard-based configuration issues
      1.  
        Veritas High Availability Configuration wizard displays the "hadiscover is not recognized as an internal or external command" error
      2.  
        Running the 'hastop -all' command detaches virtual disks
      3.  
        Validation may fail when you add a failover system
      4.  
        Adding a failover system may fail if you configure a cluster with communication links over UDP
    3. Troubleshooting issues with the Veritas High Availability view
      1.  
        Veritas high availability view is not visible from a cluster system
      2.  
        Veritas High Availability view does not display the application monitoring status
      3.  
        Veritas High Availability view may freeze due to special characters in application display name
      4.  
        If the Console host abruptly restarts, the high availability view may disappear
      5.  
        Veritas high availability view may fail to load or refresh
      6.  
        Operating system commands to unmount resource may fail

To add or remove a failover system

Each row in the application table displays the status of an application on systems that are part of a VCS cluster. The displayed system/s either form a single-system Cluster Server (VCS) cluster with application restart configured as a high-availability measure, or a multi-system VCS cluster with application failover configured. In the displayed cluster, you can add a new system as a failover system for the configured application.

The system must fulfill the following conditions:

  • The system is not part of any other VCS cluster.

  • The system has at least two network adapters.

  • The host name of the system must be resolvable through the DNS server or, locally, using /etc/hosts file entries.

  • The required ports are not blocked by a firewall.

  • The application is installed identically on all the systems, including the proposed new system.

To add a failover system, perform the following steps:

Note:

The following procedure describes generic steps to add a failover system. The wizard automatically populates values for initially configured systems in some fields. These values are not editable.

To add a failover system

  1. In the appropriate row of the application table, click More > Add Failover System.
  2. Review the instructions on the welcome page of the Veritas High Availability Configuration Wizard, and click Next.
  3. If you want to add a system from the Cluster systems list to the Application failover targets list, on the Configuration Inputs panel, select the system in the Cluster systems list. Use the Edit icon to specify an administrative user account on the system. You can then move the required system from the Cluster system list to the Application failover targets list. Use the up and down arrow keys to set the order of systems in which VCS agent must failover applications.

    If you want to specify a failover system that is not an existing cluster node, on the Configuration Inputs panel, click Add System, and in the Add System dialog box, specify the following details:

    System Name or IP address

    Specify the name or IP address of the system that you want to add to the VCS cluster.

    User name

    Specify the user name with administrative privileges on the system.

    If you want to specify the same user account on all systems that you want to add, check the Use the specified user account on all systems box.

    Password

    Specify the password for the account you specified.

    Use the specified user account on all systems

    Click this check box to use the specified user credentials on all the cluster systems.

    The wizard validates the details, and the system then appears in the Application failover target list.

  4. If you are adding a failover system from the existing VCS cluster, the Network Details panel does not appear.

    If you are adding a new failover system to the existing cluster, on the Network Details panel, review the networking parameters used by existing failover systems. Appropriately modify the following parameters for the new failover system.

    Note:

    The wizard automatically populates the networking protocol (UDP or Ethernet) used by the existing failover systems for Low Latency Transport communication. You cannot modify these settings.

    • To configure links over ethernet, select the adapter for each network communication link. You must select a different network adapter for each communication link.

    • To configure links over UDP, specify the required details for each communication link.

      Network Adapter

      Select a network adapter for the communication links.

      You must select a different network adapter for each communication link.

      Veritas recommends that one of the network adapters must be a public adapter and the VCS cluster communication link using this adapter is assigned a low priority.

      Note:

      Do not select the teamed network adapter or the independently listed adapters that are a part of teamed NIC.

      IP Address

      Select the IP address to be used for cluster communication over the specified UDP port.

      Port

      Specify a unique port number for each link. You can use ports in the range 49152 to 65535.

      The specified port for a link is used for all the cluster systems on that link.

      Subnet mask

      Displays the subnet mask to which the specified IP belongs.

  5. If a virtual IP is not configured as part of your application monitoring configuration, the Virtual Network Details page is not displayed. Else, on the Virtual Network Details panel, review the following networking parameters that the failover system must use, and specify the NIC:

    Virtual IP address

    Specifies a unique virtual IP address.

    Subnet mask

    Specifies the subnet mask to which the IP address belongs.

    NIC

    For each newly added system, specify the network adaptor that must host the specified virtual IP.

  6. If the newly added failover system is associated with a different ESX host as compared to other systems, then on Target ESX Details page, specify the ESX host of the newly added failover system. Also specify the administrative user account details associated with the ESX host.

    Note:

    If the application for which you are adding a failover system does not use storage attached directly to the ESX host, the wizard does not display this page.

    If the new failover system runs on a different ESX host, or is configured to failover to another ESX host, specify that ESX host. To specify the ESX host, click Add ESX Host and on the Add ESX Host dialogue box, specify the following details, and then click Next:

    ESX hostname or IP address

    Specify the target ESX hostname or IP address. The virtual machines can fail over to this ESX host during vMotion.

    Specify an ESX host that has the same mount points as those currently used by the application.

    User name

    Specify a user account for the ESX host. The user account must have administrator privileges on the specified ESX host.

    Password

    Specify the password associated with the user name you specified.

    The wizard validates the user account and the storage details on the specified ESX host, and uses this account to move data disks during vMotion.

  7. On the Configuration Summary panel, review the VCS cluster configuration summary, and then click Next to proceed with the configuration.
  8. On the Implementation panel, the wizard adds the specified system to the VCS cluster, if it is not already a part. It then adds the system to the list of failover targets. The wizard displays a progress report of each task.

    • If the wizard displays an error, click View Logs to review the error description, troubleshoot the error, and re-run the wizard from the Veritas High Availability view.

    • Click Next.

  9. On the Finish panel, click Finish. This completes the procedure for adding a failover system. You can view the system in the appropriate row of the application table.

Similarly you can also remove a system from the list of application failover targets.

Note:

You cannot remove a failover system if an application is online or partially online on the system.

To remove a failover system

  1. In the appropriate row of the application table, click More > Remove Failover System.
  2. On the Remove Failover System panel, click the system that you want to remove from the monitoring configuration, and then click OK.

Note:

This procedure only removes the system from the list of failover target systems, not from the VCS cluster. To remove a system from the cluster, use VCS commands. For details, see the VCS Administrator's Guide.