Dedicated NIC's for Cluster Heartbeat
(Last modified: 03Apr2002)
This document (10053468) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.
goal
How Do I Use Dedicated NIC's for the Heartbeat with Clustering Services?
fact
Novell NetWare 5.0
Novell NetWare 5.1
Novell Clustering Services 1.0
fix
If 2 network cards are installed in the servers, a crossover cable (or a hub if more than 2 servers participate in the node) needs to be present as well as IP bound to the Private Network cards. During the Novell Clustering Services installation, it will ask which cards you want to use as the heartbeat. If you install the cards after the install of Clustering services, a manual change of set statements is needed.
1) Open up Console One and highlight the cluster object.
2) Right-Click the object and go to "Properties".
3) Click the "Protocol" tab, and then the drop down arrow which gives two options:
- Cluster Protocol Settings
- Cluster Protocol Internals
4) Choose the 2nd (Cluster Protocol Internals), and you will see a screen that looks similar to this:
# CICP Protocol Parameters
# Generated by Orion GUI at Fri May 19 15:45:49 MDT 2000
panning clusterid -2023571712
heartbeat rate_usecs 1000000
censustaker tolerance 8000000
sequencer master_watchdog 1000000
sequencer slave_watchdog 8000000
sequencer retrans_max 30
# Node number + IP address mapping table
nodeid 137.65.86.5 0
nodeid 137.65.86.23 3
nodeid 137.65.86.20 2
nodeid 137.65.86.16 1
# End of CICP Protocol Parameters
To change the cards the cluster is using for the heartbeat, change the "nodeid" IP addresses to what you have bound to the private cards. Keep the numbers after the IP Addresses the same.
The above procedure will only work with NetWare 5.x clusters before the addition of CS1SP2. After applying that patch, ConsoleOne will not allow the changes to be made. To make the changes as desired (and others), follow these steps:
1) It is recommended that the cluster be brought down. A restart of the cluster is required anyway to effect these changes.
2) In SYS:\SYSTEM\TSTTOOLS, there is a file called CRMMON.NLM. Load it on a Cluster node.
3) Go into CREATE & CONFIGURE CLUSTER, then MODIFY CICP CONFIG.
4) This page should look almost exactly like the one described in the above procedure from ConsoleOne. Edit the desired "nodeid" IP Addresses.
5) Save and Exit.
6) Restart Clustering (Either restart the servers or run ULDNCS, then LDNCS).
Though changing where the heartbeat is broadcast is possible, it is not recommended. If the Public NIC's fail in any way, any cluster resources on the server with the failed NIC will never fail over because the "I'm Alive Health Packet" is still being broadcast through the Private NIC's and access to the shared storage is still available. Any workstations connected to the cluster volume or resource will lose their mappings to that drive and never get it back until the Public NIC starts working again. The "I'm Alive Health Packet" does not cause enough overhead to warrant using a dedicated NIC.
Also, ConsoleOne needs to be able to have access to the Heartbeat packet network, otherwise it will not be able to determine the status of the nodes in a cluster or administer any resources. Thus, if this private network is not routable, the workstation would need to be on the same network.
document
| Document Title: | Dedicated NIC's for Cluster Heartbeat |
| Document ID: | 10053468 |
| Solution ID: | NOVL12702 |
| Creation Date: | 24May2000 |
| Modified Date: | 03Apr2002 |
| Novell Product Class: | NetWare |
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