Virtual Business Service-Availability User's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (7.4.1)
Platform: AIX,Linux,Solaris,Windows
  1. Overview of Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About Virtual Business Services
    2.  
      Features of Virtual Business Services
    3.  
      Sample virtual business service configuration
    4. Virtualization support in Virtual Business Services
      1. VMware virtualization support prerequisites for Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager Virtual Business Services
        1.  
          VMware virtualization support in VBS
    5.  
      About the Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager policy checks for Virtual Business Services
    6. Supported operating systems for Virtual Business Services
      1.  
        Internationalization (I18N) support
  2. Installing and configuring Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About Virtual Business Services components
    2.  
      Virtual Business Services workflow
    3.  
      Support matrix for VBS
    4.  
      Prerequisites for Configuring VBS
    5.  
      Installing the Virtual Business Services package using Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager
    6. Configuring a virtual business service
      1.  
        Considerations for creating a virtual business service
      2. Creating virtual business services
        1.  
          Create Virtual Business Service panel options
      3. Editing virtual business services
        1.  
          Edit Virtual Business Service panel options
      4.  
        Deleting virtual business services
      5.  
        Virtual Business Services daemon
      6.  
        Communication among VBS daemons
      7.  
        Auto discovery of VBS Daemon on each cluster
      8.  
        Configuring auto discovery for each cluster in VBS
    7. Configuring dependencies for a virtual business service
      1.  
        Configure Virtual Business Service dependencies - Specify service group dependencies panel options
      2.  
        Link Service Groups panel options
      3.  
        Unlink Service Groups panel options
      4.  
        Specify Script Execution details panel options
      5.  
        Configure Virtual Business Service dependencies - Specify VMs start or stop panel options
    8. Managing Microsoft Failover Clustering from VBS
      1.  
        About installing VBS on Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      2.  
        Installing VBS on Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      3.  
        Upgrading VBS on the Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      4.  
        Uninstalling VBS from Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      5.  
        Viewing the ApplicationHA deployment report
    9.  
      Uninstalling the VRTSvbs package
    10.  
      Uninstalling VBS from Microsoft Failover Clusters
  3. Virtual Business Services operations
    1. Starting and stopping Virtual Business Services
      1. Starting a virtual business service
        1.  
          Virtualization workflow for virtual business service start operation
      2. Starting a virtual business service from the command line
        1.  
          Start Virtual Business Service panel options
      3. Stopping a virtual business service
        1.  
          Virtualization workflow for virtual business service stop operation
        2.  
          Stop Virtual Business Service panel options
      4.  
        Stopping a virtual business service from the command line
      5.  
        About propagation behavior for start and stop operations
    2.  
      Viewing the information on a Virtual Business Service
    3.  
      Viewing Virtual Business Services in the data center
    4.  
      Viewing the service groups associated with Virtual Business Services
    5.  
      Viewing the clusters associated with virtual business services
    6.  
      Viewing the virtual business services status from the command line
    7.  
      Viewing the information on a virtual business service in the Server perspective
    8.  
      Viewing the dependency associated with Virtual Business Services in the Server perspective
    9.  
      Viewing the dependency associated with Virtual Business Services
    10.  
      Viewing the properties of a virtual business service
    11.  
      Viewing application recovery point and startup time of a VBS
    12. Tracking VBS operations
      1. Tracking information about tasks performed on a VBS
        1.  
          Task states
      2.  
        Tracking information about tier-level sub-tasks performed as a part of a VBS task
      3.  
        Tracking step-by-step progress of a VBS task
    13. Logs of a virtual business service
      1.  
        Logs of a Virtual Business Service panel options
    14.  
      Fault management for a virtual business service
  4. Virtual Business Services security
    1. About the Virtual Business Services security model
      1.  
        Virtual Business Services security model example
      2.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C1
      3.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C2
      4.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C3
      5.  
        Authentication for start and stop operations
  5. Fault management in Virtual Business Services
    1. Fault management overview
      1.  
        VCS dependencies in Virtual Business Services
      2.  
        Parallel and failover service groups
      3.  
        Shared service groups
      4.  
        Types of faults handled
      5.  
        Fault management considerations in ApplicationHA environments
      6.  
        Fault propagation for virtual machines
      7. Custom script execution
        1.  
          Limitations of custom script execution for soft dependencies
        2.  
          Configuring custom script execution for soft dependencies
  6. Disaster recovery in Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About disaster recovery for Virtual Business Services
    2.  
      Prerequisites
    3.  
      Sample disaster recovery configuration
    4.  
      Disaster recovery alerts
    5.  
      Disaster recovery limitations
    6.  
      About the disaster recovery plan
    7.  
      Bringing up Virtual Business Services at the DR site
    8.  
      Performing planned migration of virtual business services
    9.  
      Concurrency violation
    10.  
      Reconfiguring an ApplicationHA node
  7. Upgrading Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      Prerequisites for upgrading to VBS version 7.3
    2.  
      Upgrading the VRTSvbs package using Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager
    3.  
      Considerations for renaming a cluster
  8. Appendix A. Command reference
    1.  
      Virtual Business Services commands
  9. Appendix B. Troubleshooting and recovery
    1. Troubleshooting Virtual Business Services
      1.  
        Command line cannot connect to the VBS daemon
      2.  
        Virtual business service state is unknown
      3.  
        Disaster recovery of a virtual business service fails
    2.  
      Virtual Business Services log files
  10. Appendix C. Known issues and limitations
    1. Known issues and limitations
      1.  
        Complete cluster fault is not handled
      2.  
        Fault propagation for shared service groups
      3.  
        Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager displays stale status for a virtual business service
      4.  
        Propagation of multiple child fault or recovery events may be missed if fault action on parent service group is in progress (2745323)
      5.  
        ClusterService group having vbsapp resource does not link vbsapp to newly created gcoip (2713002)
      6.  
        CLI command returns incorrect state of the virtual machine in VBS (2789621)
      7.  
        VBS dependencies get deleted during the upgrade of ApplicationHA or SFWHA configured in a VBS [2832599]
      8.  
        VBS start operation may fail from Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager when VM start/stop is enabled [2848118]
      9.  
        Clusters running on SFWHA 5.1SP1 or 5.1SP2 configured with virtual IP addresses cannot migrate to VIP-less communication (2845412)
      10.  
        Pop up showing error message during VBS uninstallation on Windows 2008 remains hidden behind other windows (2872716)
      11.  
        Events generated for VBSD lack correct description (2833160)
      12.  
        DR fails to start in VBS 7.3 or lower for VBS formed of global service groups [3240419]
      13.  
        Installation or upgrade of VRTSsfmh or VRTSvbs package from Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager may fail if publisher is set (3306997)
      14.  
        Operation performed on service groups with disabled resources remains stuck or fails by timing out [3280718, 3288725]
      15.  
        Recover and takeover messages are not displayed during DR of a VBS with a global service group [3315435]

Fault management overview

A virtual business service allows high availability decisions to be localized at the cluster level, while it propagates the events up the dependency chain. It is not mandatory for Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager to be online for the fault to be propagated and the configured behavior to be executed. The high availability of a virtual business service is guaranteed even if Veritas InfoScale Operations Manager Management Server is temporarily down.

See Sample virtual business service configuration.

The following events can occur in response to a failure of the database application.

  • Each tier has its own high availability mechanism, such as Cluster Server or ApplicationHA.

  • Inter-cluster fault propagation allows for the high availability events to be propagated up. For example, the virtual business service notifies the middle tier about the fault and any subsequent recovery that occurs in the database tier.

  • You can configure how a tier must respond to the fault in the lower tier. Depending on the business need, the upper tier might be configured to stop, restart, or stay online. The event might be propagated upwards based on the fault policy configured.

Table: Virtual Business Services fault policy behavior lists how a parent behaves in response to a fault or recovery on its child for various dependency types.

Table: Virtual Business Services fault policy behavior

Fault dependency type

Behavior

SOFT

When the child faults or recovers from the fault, the parent ignores the events. The parent does not take any action.

This type of dependency is used when only start or stop ordering is required and no fault policy action is needed.

FIRM

When the child faults, the parent is taken OFFLINE.

When the child recovers, the parent is brought ONLINE.

RESTART

When the child faults, the parent takes no immediate action.

When the child recovers, the parent is taken OFFLINE and then brought ONLINE.

Table: Virtual Business Services fault propagation behavior list how a parent propagates a fault to its parents in response to a fault or recovery on its child for different dependency types.

Table: Virtual Business Services fault propagation behavior

Fault dependency type

Fault propagation

SOFT

When a parent gets notification about a child fault or a child recovery, the parent does not propagate this notification to its parents.

FIRM

When a parent goes offline as a result of a child fault, the parent propagates the fault to its parents.

When a parent comes online as a result of a child recovery, the parent propagates the recovery to its parents.

RESTART

When a child faults, the parent does not immediately propagate the fault to its parents.

When the parent is brought offline as a result of child recovery, the deferred fault is propagated to its parents.

When the parent is subsequently brought online as a result of child recovery, the recovery is propagated to its parents.

See Fault management for a virtual business service.