The configuration and administration of the IRIS FailSafe system software and its IRIS FailSafe NFS and IRIS FailSafe Webserver options are described in this guide, the IRIS FailSafe Administrator's Guide. The configuration of other IRIS FailSafe options, such IRIS FailSafe Sybase®, IRIS FailSafe INFORMIX®, and IRIS FailSafe Oracle®, is described in separate guides. They are listed in the section “Related Documentation” below.
This guide was prepared in conjunction with Release 1.1 of the IRIS FailSafe product.
The IRIS FailSafe Administrator's Guide is written for the person who administers the IRIS FailSafe system. The IRIS FailSafe administrator must be familiar with the operation of CHALLENGE® servers, as well as optional Vault storage systems or the CHALLENGE RAID storage system, whichever is used in the IRIS FailSafe configuration. Good knowledge of XLV and XFS is also required.
IRIS FailSafe configuration and administration is presented in the following chapters and appendices:
Chapter 1, “Overview of the IRIS FailSafe System,” introduces the components of the IRIS FailSafe system and explains its hardware and software architecture. This chapter also describes IRIS FailSafe node states and how failover works. It gives overviews of the procedures for configuring a new IRIS FailSafe system and for upgrading an IRIS FailSafe system from release 1.0 to release 1.1.
Chapter 2, “Planning IRIS FailSafe Configuration,” describes how to plan the configuration of an IRIS FailSafe cluster.
Chapter 3, “Configuring Nodes for IRIS FailSafe,” describes several procedures that must be performed on nodes in an IRIS FailSafe cluster to prepare them for IRIS FailSafe.
Chapter 4, “Creating the IRIS FailSafe Configuration File,” explains how to edit configuration file templates to create or modify an IRIS FailSafe configuration file.
Chapter 5, “Testing IRIS FailSafe Configuration,” describes how to test the configured IRIS FailSafe system.
Chapter 6, “Administering IRIS FailSafe,” explains how to perform basic IRIS FailSafe system administration tasks, such as starting and shutting down the IRIS FailSafe system, getting current status information, and using administrative commands to change node state.
Chapter 7, “Upgrading an IRIS FailSafe Cluster,” explains the procedures for upgrading the hardware and software on IRIS FailSafe nodes, including installing new IRIX releases, IRIS FailSafe software, and patches, adding new highly available services, and installing a new version of the configuration file, /var/ha/ha.conf.
Chapter 8, “Performing Simple Hardware Maintenance,” explains how to perform simple cable replacement procedures and how to replace batteries in the remote power control unit that is included in IRIS FailSafe clusters with CHALLENGE S systems.
Appendix A, “Messages About Configuration File Errors,” lists error messages that can appear as output of the ha_cfgverify command and gives an explanation of each one.
Appendix B, “System Troubleshooting,” explains how to troubleshoot IRIS FailSafe system problems.
A glossary completes this guide.
Besides this guide, other documentation for the IRIS FailSafe system includes
IRIS FailSafe Programmer's Guide (007-3298-xxx)
IRIS FailSafe INFORMIX Administrator's Guide (007-3268-xxx, IRIS/FailSafe INFORMIX option)
IRIS FailSafe Oracle Administrator's Guide (007-3269-xxx, IRIS FailSafe Oracle option)
IRIS FailSafe Sybase Administrator's Guide (007-3306-xxx, IRIS FailSafe Sybase option)
Other documentation that provides information critical to the use of IRIS FailSafe is:
Software Installation Administrator's Guide (007-1364-050, for IRIX 5.3 only)
IRIX Admin: Software Installation and Licensing (007-1364-060, for IRIX 6.2 only)
Getting Started with XFS Filesystems (007-2549-001, for IRIX 5.3 only)
IRIX Admin: Disks and Filesystems (007-2825-xxx)
Netscape Commerce and Communications Servers Administrator's Guide (007-2909-xxx)
ONC3/NFS Administrator's Guide (007-0850-xxx)
CHALLENGE RAID Owner's Guide (007-2532-xxx)
The IRIS FailSafe reference pages are as follows:
ha_admin(1M)
ha_appmon(1M)
ha_cfgchksum(1M)
ha_cfginfo(1M)
ha_cfgverify(1M)
ha_exec(1M)
ha_hbeat(1M)
ha_ifa(1M)
ha_ifmx(1M) (IRIS FailSafe INFORMIX option)
ha_killd(1M)
ha_nc(1M)
ha_orcl(1M) (IRIS FailSafe Oracle option)
ha_spng(1M)
ha_sybs(1M) (IRIS FailSafe Sybase option)
http_ping(1M) (IRIS FailSafe Web option)
macconfig(1M)
ha.conf(4)
failsafe(7M)
Release notes are included with each IRIS FailSafe product. The names of the release notes are as follows:
| ha_base | release notes for IRIS FailSafe | |
| ha_nfs | release notes for IRIS FailSafe NFS | |
| ha_www | release notes for IRIS FailSafe Web | |
| ha_ orcl | release notes for IRIS FailSafe Oracle | |
| ha_ ifmx | release notes IRIS FailSafe INFORMIX | |
| ha_ sybs | release notes IRIS FailSafe Sybase |
These type conventions and symbols are used in this guide:
| Bold | Literal command-line arguments and literal parameter values | |
| Italics | Command names, filenames, new terms, the names of inst subsystems, manual/book titles, variable command-line arguments, and variables to be supplied by the user in examples, code, and syntax statements | |
| Fixed-width type |
| |
| Bold fixed-width type |
| |
| # | IRIX shell prompt for the superuser (root) |