This guide describes the configuration and administration of an IRIS FailSafe highly available system.
This guide was prepared in conjunction with release 2.1.4 of the IRIS FailSafe product. It supports IRIX 6.5.18 and later.
The IRIS FailSafe Version 2 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 Origin servers, as well as optional Origin Vault, Fibre Channel RAID, JBOD, SGI TP9100, or SGI TP9400 storage systems, whichever is used in the IRIS FailSafe configuration. Good knowledge of XLV and XFS is also required.
To use Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) for FailSafe, you must have the following licenses:
Two or more PCP Collector licenses (PCPCOL), one for each node in the FailSafe cluster from which you want to collect performance metrics.
One PCP Monitor license (PCPMON) for the workstation that is to run the visualization tools.
IRIS FailSafe configuration and administration information is presented in the following chapters and appendices:
Chapter 1, “Overview”, introduces the components of the IRIS FailSafe system and explains its hardware and software architecture.
Chapter 2, “Configuration Planning”, describes how to plan the configuration of a FailSafe cluster.
Chapter 3, “Installation and System Preparation”, describes several procedures that must be performed on nodes in a cluster to prepare them for FailSafe.
Chapter 4, “Administration Tools”, provides an overview of the FailSafe Manager GUI and the cmgr(1M) command.
Chapter 5, “Configuration”, explains how to configure a FailSafe system.
Chapter 6, “Configuration Examples”, shows an example of a FailSafe three-node configuration and some variations on that configuration.
Chapter 7, “IRIS FailSafe System Operation”, explains how to operate and monitor a FailSafe system.
Chapter 8, “Testing the Configuration”, describes how to test the configured FailSafe system.
Chapter 9, “System Recovery and Troubleshooting”, describes the log files used by FailSafe and recovery procedures.
Chapter 10, “Upgrading and Maintaining Active Clusters”, describes some procedures you may need to perform without shutting down a FailSafe cluster.
Chapter 11, “Performance Co-Pilot for FailSafe”, tells you how to use PCP to monitor the availability of a FailSafe cluster.
Appendix B, “Updating from IRIS FailSafe 1.2 to IRIS FailSafe 2.1.x”, describes the upgrade procedure.
Appendix C, “IRIS FailSafe 2.1.x Software”, summarizes the systems to install on each component of a cluster.
Appendix D, “Metrics Exported by PCP for FailSafe”, lists the metrics implemented by pmdafsafe(1).
The following documentation will be useful in a FailSafe environment:
IRIS FailSafe Version 2 Programmer's Guide
Performance Co-Pilot User's and Administrator's Guide
CXFS Version 2 Software Installation and Administration Guide
IRIS FailSafe 2.0 DMF Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe 2.0 INFORMIX Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe 2.0 Netscape Server Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe Version 2 NFS Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe 2.0 Oracle Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe Version 2 Samba Administrator's Guide
IRIS FailSafe Version 2 TMF Administrator's Guide
Embedded Support Partner User Guide
The IRIS FailSafe man pages are as follows:
cdbBackup(1M)
cdbRestore(1M)
cmgr(1M)
crsd(1M)
failsafe(7M)
fs2d(1M)
ha_cilog(1M)
ha_cmsd(1M)
ha_exec2(1M)
ha_fsd(1M)
ha_gcd(1M)
ha_ifd(1M)
ha_ifdadmin(1M)
ha_macconfig2(1M)
ha_srmd(1M)
ha_statd2(1M)
haStatus(1M)
Release notes are included with each IRIS FailSafe product. The names of the release notes are as follows:
Release Note | Product |
|---|---|
cluster_admin | Cluster administration services |
cluster_control | Node control services |
cluster_services | Cluster services |
failsafe2 | IRIS FailSafe 2.1.x |
failsafe2_dmf | IRIS FailSafe/DMF |
failsafe2_informix | IRIS FailSafe INFORMIX |
failsafe2_nfs | IRIS FailSafe NFS |
failsafe2_oracle | IRIS FailSafe Oracle |
failsafe2_samba | IRIS FailSafe Samba |
failsafe2_tmf | IRIS FailSafe/TMF |
failsafe2_web | IRIS FailSafe Netscape Web |
You can obtain SGI documentation in the following ways:
See the SGI Technical Publications Library at: http://docs.sgi.com. Various formats are available. This library contains the most recent and most comprehensive set of online books, release notes, man pages, and other information.
If it is installed on your SGI system, you can use InfoSearch, an online tool that provides a more limited set of online books, release notes, and man pages. With an IRIX system, select Help from the Toolchest, and then select InfoSearch. Or you can type infosearch on a command line.
You can also view release notes by typing either grelnotes or relnotes on a command line.
You can also view man pages by typing man title on a command line.
The following conventions are used throughout this document:
| Convention | Meaning | |
| command | This fixed-space font denotes literal items such as commands, files, routines, path names, signals, messages, and programming language structures. | |
| manpage(x) | Man page section identifiers appear in parentheses after man page names. (1) indicates a user command, (1M) indicates an administrator command. | |
| variable | Italic typeface denotes variable entries and words or concepts being defined. | |
| GUI | This font denotes the names of graphical user interface (GUI) elements such as windows, screens, dialog boxes, menus, toolbars, icons, buttons, boxes, fields, and lists. | |
| user input | This bold, fixed-space font denotes literal items that the user enters in interactive sessions. (Output is shown in nonbold, fixed-space font.) | |
| [ ] | Brackets enclose optional portions of a command or directive line. | |
| ... | Ellipses indicate that a preceding element can be repeated. |
In this guide, the term FailSafe is used as an abbreviation for IRIS FailSafe.
If you have comments about the technical accuracy, content, or organization of this document, contact SGI. Be sure to include the title and document number of the manual with your comments. (Online, the document number is located in the front matter of the manual. In printed manuals, the document number is located at the bottom of each page.)
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