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https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-hacmpcheatsheet/
Technical library
15 June 2010
Also available in Chinese
There are some types of computing environments in which you can't afford
downtimethe applications and data are so important that if one machine
dies, you want another to be able to pick up and immediately take over.
Fortunately, in IBM AIX, a special piece of software called PowerHA can
provide redundancy and high availability to meet these needs. This article
provides an introduction to PowerHA and shows how to set up and configure
a simple two-node cluster.
PowerHA at work
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Here, two System p servers share a common set of SAN storage and communicate on two networks.
They share between them a set of IP addresses, some Logical Volume Manager (LVM) resources, and
application controlsall managed by PowerHA.
One of these servers is considered to be "active" and is in control of these resources, while the other is
idle and sits ready in case it is needed, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Active and idle servers
When a problem occurs with the availability of some of the physical resources, such as some wires being
accidentally unplugged, PowerHA senses the errors and makes the other server take over. There is a
momentary pause in the availability of the resources, but then everything comes up as though it were on
the original machine, and no one can tell the difference, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. PowerHA controls failover in the event of a resource failure
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Once the hardware becomes available again, the resources can remain where they are or go back to the
original server. It is completely at the discretion of the administrator.
However, hardware failures aren't the only reason for making resources move from one server to another.
You can also use this technology for things like operating system upgrades, firmware maintenance, or
other activities that may require downtime, all of which adds to the versatility and usefulness of PowerHA.
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can occur when a systems administrator instructs the nodes in the cluster to do so or when
circumstances like a catastrophic application or server failure forces the resource groups to move.
Failback/fallback: This is the action of moving back resource groups to the nodes on which they were
originally running after a failover has occurred.
Heartbeat: This is a signal transmitted over PowerHA networks to check and confirm resource
availability. If the heartbeat is interrupted, the cluster may initiate a failover depending on the
configuration.
Prep work
A number of steps must take place before you can configure an PowerHA cluster and make it available.
The first step is to make sure that the hardware you will be using for the two servers is as similar as
possible. The number of processors, the quantity of memory, and the types of Fibre Channel and
Ethernet adapters should all be the same. If you are using logical partition (LPAR) or virtual I/O (VIO)
technology, be consistent: Don't mix hardware strategies like logical Host Ethernet Adapters (LHEA) on
one node with standard four-port Ethernet adapters on the other.
The second step, which should coincide with the first, is to size the
environment in such a way that each node can manage all the
resource groups simultaneously. If you decide that you will have
multiple resource groups running in the cluster, assume a
worst-case scenario where one node will have to run everything at
No development servers
I have seen many environments in a
number of different companies over the
years in which the decision is made to
declare one of the nodes in a cluster a
"production" server and the other a
Third, you need to assign and/or share the same set of resources to
each server. If you use SAN disks for storage, the disks for the
shared volume groups need to be zoned to all nodes. The network
VLANs, subnets, and addresses should be hooked up in the same
fashion. Work with your SAN and network administrators to get
addresses and disks for the boot, persistent, and service IP
addresses.
Fourth and finally, the entire operating system configuration must
match between the nodes. The user IDs, third-party software,
the servers are built, consider them joined at the hip: make changes on both servers consistently all the
time.
With all of the virtualization technology available today, it's far more worthwhile to use VIO to create a pair
of production and development LPARs on the same set of System p servers and hardware resources
than to try to save a few dollars at the expense of sacrificing the true purpose for which PowerHA was
designed. Use things like shared processor weights, maximum transmission unit (MTU) sizes, and RAM
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allocation to give the production LPARs more clout than the development LPARs. Doing so creates an
environment that can handle a failover and assures managers and accountants that finances are being
used wisely.
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This defines one network per Ethernet adapter. I prefer to use the Pre-defined option as opposed to the
Discovered path, but that is up to your discretion. Check the subnet masks for consistency.
This defines the boot IP addresses on the respective network adapters. This address should be the same
IP addresses you used in step 3. Make sure you define these addresses within the proper respective
PowerHA-defined network.
This defines the persistent IP addresses, again paying attention to pick the proper respective PowerHAdefined network.
Select the Discover PowerHA-related Information from Configured Nodes option, and check for
errors to fix. Generally, rebooting each node can clear up any minor problems, and this is a good point to
test restarting each server anyway.
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volume group, you only need to select one of the nodes, because the disk is shared.
Repeat step 7, except this time, select the Discovered option and the target disk.
This defines an application server for an application that PowerHA will manage. Use the scripts you
created in step 4.
Select the Change/Show Resources and Attributes for a Resource Group option. Then, perform
these steps:
1. Select the appropriate service IP addresses.
2. Select the appropriate shared volume groups and heartbeat disk.
3. Select the appropriate application servers.
Set Automatically correct errors found during verification? to Interactive. Correct any problems
along the way.
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If you really want to make sure your cluster is solid, perform testing by literally removing cables and
seeing how the resources move back and forth. The more you test, the more reliable your cluster will be.
Conclusion
PowerHA is a robust and effective tool for keeping resources available on AIX servers. Although this
article presented a simple introduction and how-to for setting up a two-node cluster, PowerHA is capable
of doing much more, including application monitoring, integrating NAS resources, and putting logic into
starting up resource groups. But if you are looking to hit the ground running, the best advice I have is to
make a test cluster and try everything you can.
Resources
Learn
HACMP Library: Learn more about HACMP in AIX and find helpful resources
from the HACMP Library.
IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX: Learn more about IBM PowerHA for AIX
version 6.1, the replacement for PowerHA.
PowerHA for AIX Cookbook: Learn how to install, tailor, and configure
PowerHA version 5.5.
IBM eServer pSeries HACMP V5.x Certification Study Guide Update: This
guide shows how to implement high-availability clusters with HACMP version
5.x, helps you upgrade an existing cluster to the latest version, or prepare you
Events
for the HACMP version 5.x certification exam to achieve IBM eServer
Certified Systems Expert - pSeries HACMP 5.x for AIX 5L.
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