VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat - 6.5 Administrator’s Guide
Administrator Guide
vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.5
This document supports the version of each product listed and
supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced
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document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
EN-000948-00
Administrator Guide
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2 VMware, Inc.
Contents
About This Book 5
Introduction 9
1
vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts 9
vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection Levels 10
vCenter Server Heartbeat Communications 13
vCenter Server Heartbeat Switchover and Failover Processes 15
Conguring vCenter Server Heartbeat 19
2
Launching the Congure Server Wizard 20
Conguring the Machine 21
Conguring the VMware Channel 22
Conguring Public IP Addressing 24
Managing vCenter Server Heartbeat License Keys 26
Conguring the Logs 27
Server Protection 29
3
Checking the Server Pair Status 29
Monitoring the Status of Servers 31
Conguring Heartbeat Settings 31
Network Protection 41
4
Communications Status 41
Reviewing the VMware Channel Status 41
Conguring Public Network Connection Checks 42
Enabling Automatic Switchover in a WAN 42
Setting Max Server Time Dierence 43
Application Protection 45
5
Applications: Summary Tab 45
Applications: Services Tab 48
Applications: Tasks Tab 51
Applications: Plug-ins Tab 53
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Status and Control 55
6
About vCenter Server Heartbeat Console 55
Working with Groups 57
Working with Pairs in vCenter Server Heartbeat Groups 57
Reviewing the Status of vCenter Server Heartbeat Groups and Pairs 60
Exiting vCenter Server Heartbeat Console 60
Shutting Down Windows Without Stopping vCenter Server Heartbeat 60
Controlled Shutdown 61
vSphere Web Client Plug-in 61
Uninstalling vCenter Server Heartbeat 63
Performance Protection 65
7
Applications: Rules Tab 65
Data Protection 69
8
Replication 69
File Filters 74
Automatic Filter Discovery 75
Alerts and Events 77
9
Conguring Alerts 77
Conguring Event Log Files 79
Reviewing Event Logs 81
Troubleshooting 83
10
Two Active or Two Passive Servers 83
Synchronization Failures 86
Registry Status is Out-of-Sync 88
Channel Drops 89
Subnet or Routing Issues 93
MaxDiskUsage Errors 94
Application Slowdown 97
Glossary 101
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About This Book
The Administrator Guide provides information about conguring VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat server
network protection, application protection, data protection, Split-brain Avoidance, and more. To help you
protect your VMware vCenter Server, this book provides an overview of the protection oered by vCenter
Server Heartbeat and the actions that vCenter Server Heartbeat can take in the event of a network, hardware,
or application failure.
Intended Audience
This guide assumes the reader has a working knowledge of networks including the conguration of TCP/IP
protocols and domain administration on the Windows™ 2003 and 2008 platforms, notably in Active Directory
and DNS.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary
VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For denitions
of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation go to www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Overview of Content
This book is designed to provide guidance on the conguration and administration of vCenter Server Heartbeat,
and is organized into the following sections:
Preface — About This Book (this chapter) provides an overview of this guide and the conventions used
■
throughout.
Chapter 1 — Introduction presents an overview of vCenter Server Heartbeat concepts including the
■
Switchover and Failover processes.
Chapter 2 — Conguring vCenter Server Heartbeat shows you how to use the Server Conguration wizard
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to congure your new installation of vCenter Server Heartbeat.
Chapter 3 — Server Protection presents an overview of how vCenter Server Heartbeat provides protection
■
against server system crash or server hardware failure, shows you how to check the server pair status,
and explains how to congure settings, shutdown options, and Split-Brain Avoidance.
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Chapter 4 — Network Protection describes how vCenter Server Heartbeat protects against network failure
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and provides a way to monitor communication status. It also explains how to congure public network
connection checks and maximum server time dierence.
Chapter 5 — Application Protection discusses how vCenter Server Heartbeat maintains the protected
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application environment ensuring that applications and services stay alive on the network.
Chapter 6 — Status and Control introduces you to the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console and shows you
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how to congure its look and feel.
Chapter 7 — Performance Protection describes how vCenter Server Heartbeat monitors system and application
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attributes to prevent an unexpected system or application failure.
Chapter 8 — Data Protection discusses how vCenter Server Heartbeat intercepts all data written by users
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and protected applications and maintains a copy of this data for use in case of failure.
Chapter 9 — Alerts and Events discusses additional tasks for the administrator to congure system logging
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and alerting functions.
Chapter 10 — Troubleshootingprovides techniques to troubleshoot common issues and unexpected behaviors.
■
Document Feedback
VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation and invites you to send your feedback
to docfeedback@vmware.com.
Abbreviations Used in Figures
DescriptionAbbreviation
VMware ChannelChannel
Network Interface CardNIC
Physical to PhysicalP2P
Physical to VirtualP2V
Virtual to VirtualV2V
Technical Support and Educational Resources
The following sections describe the technical support resources available to you. To access the current version
of this book and other books, go to www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Online and Telephone Support
Go to www.vmware.com/support to use online support to submit technical support requests, view your
product and contract information, and register your products.
Go to www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html to nd out how to use telephone support for the fastest
response on priority 1 issues (applies to customers with appropriate support contracts).
6 VMware, Inc.
About This Book
Support Offerings
Go to www.vmware.com/support/services to nd out how VMware support oerings can help meet your
business needs.
VMware Professional Services
Go to www.vmware.com/services to access information about educational classes, certication programs, and
consulting services. VMware Education Services courses oer extensive hands-on labs, case study examples,
and course materials designed for use as on-the-job reference tools. Courses are available onsite, in the classroom,
and live online. For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices, VMware Consulting Services
provides oerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment.
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8 VMware, Inc.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts,” on page 9
■
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection Levels,” on page 10
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“vCenter Server Heartbeat Communications,” on page 13
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“vCenter Server Heartbeat Switchover and Failover Processes,” on page 15
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vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts
vCenter Server Heartbeat is a Windows based service specically designed to provide high availability protection
for vCenter Server congurations without requiring any specialized hardware.
Architecture Overview
1Introduction
vCenter Server Heartbeat uses an “Active–Passive” architecture which enables it to provide “High Availability
(HA)” in a Local Area Network (LAN) or “Disaster Recovery (DR)” in a Wide Area Network (WAN) for
vCenter Server, View Composer and SQL Server. The vCenter Server Heartbeat software is installed on an
existing production server known as the “Primary” server running the protected applications (vCenter Server,
View and SQL Server). An additional server, known as the “Secondary” server, operates as a ready standby
server to provide service in the event of an application, system, or hardware failure, or when the Administrator
needs to perform system maintenance. The terms Primary and Secondary refer to the “Identity” of each server
instance, and these identities do not change.
Active / Passive Roles
The applications protected by vCenter Server Heartbeat will run on the “Active” server. Only one server can
be active at any one time and the active server will host the “Principal (Public) IP Address” which is used by
clients to access the application. The “Passive” server is only accessible on the network via its assigned
“Management IP Address”. Active and passive refer to the “Role” that the server is performing. The role can
be changed by a “Failover” or when the administrator performs a “Switchover”. To ensure the servers can
provide a seamless switchover / failover experience for clients, the servers need to be symmetrical. To ensure
that the Secondary server has all the programs and components installed in the same location, the install process
includes a cloning procedure. Clients will continue to connect to vCenter Server or SQL Server using the original
and unique fully qualied domain name that was used previously by clients. During installation, a service
name is congured in vCenter Server Heartbeat which will continue to resolve in DNS to the Principal (Public)
IP address regardless of which server is hosting the Principal (Public) IP address.
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Managing the Primary and Secondary Servers
To allow management of vCenter Server Heartbeat server pairs using standard network, domain policy, and
domain management procedures, vCenter Server Heartbeat is deployed so that Primary and Secondary servers
use unique domain names. Each domain name must dier from the fully qualied domain name used by the
original vCenter or SQL Servers. A Management IP address on each server ensures that the Administrator can
access the server even when it is passive. This allows monitoring with 3rd party monitoring tools and
maintenance operations such as updating anti-malware denition les, operating system hot-xes and updates.
Switchover/Failover in a LAN
When deployed in a LAN environment, the Principal (Public) IP address is moved between the Primary and
Secondary servers as the roles change from active to passive so that vCenter Server or SQL Server are available
to clients only when the server assumes the active role. vCenter Server Heartbeat does not require updates to
DNS during the switchover / failover, however the DNS server must be precongured with the Management
IP addresses. Adjacent IP addresses should be reserved and used for the Principal (Public) IP address and the
Management IP addresses for the Primary and Secondary Servers when installing vCenter Server Heartbeat
on servers running Windows Server 2008. When vCenter Server Heartbeat is started, the Principal (Public) IP
address is added to the active server. When a switchover is requested the Principal (Public) IP address is
removed from the active server as it becomes passive and then added to the passive server which is being
made active.
Additionally, vCenter Server Heartbeat can be deployed in a stretched VLAN using the same subnet for the
production and the disaster recovery site. Similar to a LAN installation, this conguration requires that both
the Primary and Secondary servers share the Principal (Public) IP address with the active server revealing the
Principal (Public) IP address while the passive server is hidden from the network. This means that vCenter
Server Heartbeat can be deployed without any changes to DNS during switchover or failover operations.
Switchover/ Failover in a WAN
vCenter Server Heartbeat can be deployed in a WAN where each site uses dierent subnets. When deployed
in this manner, each site will have a dierent Principal (Public) IP address. When a switchover or failover
occurs, vCenter Server Heartbeat will update the DNS server with the Principal (Public) IP address of the new
site thereby allowing clients to connect to the new site.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection Levels
vCenter Server Heartbeat provides the following protection levels:
Server Protection — vCenter Server Heartbeat provides continuous availability to end users through a
■
hardware failure scenario or operating system crash. Additionally, vCenter Server Heartbeat ensures users
are provided with a replica server should the production server fail.
Network Protection — vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors the network by polling up to three
■
predened nodes to ensure that the active server is visible on the network.
Application Protection — vCenter Server Heartbeat maintains the application environment ensuring that
■
applications and services stay alive and are available on the network.
Performance Protection — vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors system performance attributes
■
to ensure the system administrator is notied of problems. Additionally, it can be congured to take
pre-emptive action to prevent an outage.
Data Protection — vCenter Server Heartbeat intercepts all data written by users and applications, and
■
maintains a copy of the data on the passive server that can be used in the event of a failure.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
vCenter Server Heartbeat provides all ve protection levels continuously, ensuring all facets of the user
environment are maintained at all times, and that vCenter Server continues to operate through as many failure
scenarios as possible.
Server Protection
vCenter Server Heartbeat provides continuous availability to end users through a hardware failure scenario
or operating system crash and ensures users are provided with a replica server and its IP address on the failure
of the production server.
Two instances of vCenter Server Heartbeat regularly send “I’m alive” messages and message acknowledgments
to one another over a dedicated network connection referred to as the “VMware Channel” to detect interruptions
in responsiveness. If the passive server detects that this monitoring process (referred to as the “Heartbeat”)
has failed, it initiates a failover as illustrated in Figure 1-1.
Figure 1- 1. Failover
A failover occurs when the passive server detects that the active server is no longer responding. This can occur
when the active server hardware fails, loses its network connections, or otherwise becomes unavailable. Rather
than the active server gracefully closing, the passive server determines that the active server has failed and
requires no further operations. In a failover, the passive server immediately assumes the active server role.
The failover process is discussed in detail later in this guide.
Network Protection
vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors the network by polling up to three predened nodes to ensure
that the active server is visible on the network. vCenter Server Heartbeat polls by default the primary DNS
server, the default gateway, and the global catalog server at regular intervals. If all three nodes fail to respond,
for example in the case of a network card or local switch failure, vCenter Server Heartbeat can initiate a
switchover, allowing the Secondary server to assume the active role and service clients.
Application Protection
vCenter Server Heartbeat running on the active server locally monitors vCenter Server and its services (through
the use of plug-ins) to verify that vCenter Server is operational and not in an unresponsive or stopped state.
This level of monitoring is fundamental in ensuring that vCenter Server remains available to users.
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If vCenter Server should fail, vCenter Server Heartbeat rst tries to restart the application on the active server
(1) in Figure 1-2.
If the application does not successfully restart, vCenter Server Heartbeat initiates a switchover (2) in Figure
1-2. Refer to “vCenter Server Heartbeat Switchover and Failover Processes,” on page 15 for further information
about the switchover process.
Figure 1- 2. Switchover
A switchover gracefully closes vCenter Server running on the active server and restarts it on the passive server,
including the component or service that caused the failure. For example, if the Primary server is active and
the Secondary server is passive, the Primary server is demoted to a passive role and is hidden from the network
when the Secondary server is promoted to an active role and is made visible to the network. The mechanics
of switchovers are discussed in more detail later in this guide.
Performance Protection
Ensuring that vCenter Server is operational and providing service at an adequate level of performance to meet
user demands is important. The vCenter Server Heartbeat plug-in provides these monitoring and pre-emptive
repair capabilities.
vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors system performance attributes and can notify the system
administrator in the event of a problem. Additionally, it can be congured to take pre-emptive action to prevent
an outage.
In addition to monitoring vCenter Server services, vCenter Server Heartbeat can monitor specic attributes to
ensure that they remain within normal operating ranges. Similar to application monitoring, various rules can
be congured to trigger specic corrective actions whenever these attributes fall outside of their respective
ranges.
vCenter Server Heartbeat provides the same level of exibility to dene and perform multiple corrective actions
in the event of problems on a service by service or even attribute by attribute basis.
Data Protection
You can congure vCenter Server Heartbeat to protect the application environment. All data les that users
or the vCenter Server requires in the application environment are made available should a failure occur. After
installation, vCenter Server Heartbeat congures itself to protect les, folders, and registry settings for vCenter
Server on the active server by mirroring them in real time to the passive server. If a failover occurs, all les
protected on the failed server are available to users after the failover, hosted on the Secondary server.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
vCenter Server Heartbeat intercepts all le system I/O operations on the active server. If the intercepted write
and update operations are within the protected set, these are placed in a queue on the active server referred
to as the active server’s “Send Queue”, pending transmission to the passive server. Each request is numbered
to maintain its order in the queue. With the request in the active server’s send queue, vCenter Server Heartbeat
allows the disk I/O to continue with the requested disk operation.
If the channel is connected, the active server’s send queue is transferred to the passive server, which places all
the requests in the passive server’s “Receive Queue”. The passive server conrms the changes were logged by
sending the active server an acknowledgment. The active server then clears the data from its queue.
Figure 1- 3. Apply Process
The apply process running on the passive server’s receive queue applies all updates in strict sequence,
duplicating an identical set of le operations on the passive server as illustrated in Figure 1-3.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Communications
The VMware Channel is a crucial component of the setup and can be congured in a number of ways.
vCenter Server Heartbeat supports installation using either multiple network interface connections (NICs), (1
congured for the VMware Channel) and (1 congured with the Principal(Public) and Management IP
addresses), or a single NIC congured with the VMware Channel IP, Principal (Public) IP, and Management
IP. Both the Primary and Secondary servers must have the same number of NICs. The Principal (Public) IP
address provides client access and the Management IP address provides administrative access, while the
VMware Channel provides for data transfer and control.
A second pair of NICs for the VMware Channel can be used to provide a degree of redundancy. In this
conguration, the VMware Channel has a dual channel if more than one dedicated NIC is provided for the
VMware Channel on each server. To provide added resilience, the communications for the second channel
should be completely independent from the rst channel. They should not share any switches, virtual switches,
routers or the same WAN connection.
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Figure 1- 4. Single NIC Configuration
Figure 1- 5. Multi-NIC Configuration
The IP address a client uses to connect to the active server (the Principal (Public) IP address) must be congured
as a static IP address and not DHCP (Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol) enabled. In Figure 1-4 and Figure
1-5, the Principal (Public) IP address is congured as 192.168.1.127.
LAN Deployment
When deployed in a LAN, the Principal (Public) NIC on the active server is congured with both a unique
permanently assigned Management IP address for administrative access and the Principal (Public) IP address
which allows trac from clients. The Principal (Public) NIC on the passive server is congured to use its
unique permanently assigned Management IP address. When a switchover or failover occurs, the Principal
(Public) IP address assigned to the currently active server is removed and reassigned to the new active server.
The new passive server remains accessible to administrators via the Management IP address but is not visible
to clients. The newly active server then starts accepting trac from clients.
The NICs on the active and passive servers used for the VMware Channel are congured so that their IP
addresses are outside of the subnet range of the Principal (Public) network. These addresses are referred to as
VMware Channel addresses.
During installation, setup will switch o NetBIOS for the VMware Channel(s) on the active and passive servers
as this connection remains live and both the passive and active machines have the same NetBIOS name.
Following vCenter Server Heartbeat installation (runtime), NetBIOS is disabled across the channel(s).
14 VMware, Inc.
The NICs that support connectivity across the VMware Channel can be standard 100BaseT Ethernet cards
providing a throughput of 100 Mbits per second across standard Cat-5 cabling. In its most basic form, a dedicated
channel requires no hubs or routers, but the direct connection requires crossover cabling.
WAN Deployment
When congured for a WAN deployment, congure the VMware Channel to use static routes over switches
and routers to maintain continuous communications independent from corporate or public trac.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Switchover and Failover Processes
vCenter Server Heartbeat uses four dierent procedures — managed switchover, automatic switchover,
automatic failover, and managed failover — to change the role of the active and passive servers depending on
the status of the active server.
Managed Switchover
Chapter 1 Introduction
You can click Make Active on the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console Server: Summary page to manually initiate
a managed switchover. When a managed switchover is triggered, the running of protected applications is
transferred from the active machine to the passive machine in the server pair. The server roles are reversed.
Figure 1- 6. Switchover
A managed switchover performs the following steps:
1 Stop the protected applications on the active server. After the protected applications stop, no more disk
updates are generated.
2 Send all updates that are still queued on the active server to the passive server. After this step, all updates
are available on the passive server.
3 Re-designate the Secondary server as the new active server. After this step, vCenter Server Heartbeat:
Reassigns the Principal (Public) IP address to the Secondary server.
■
Makes the newly active server visible on the network. The newly active server begins to intercept
■
and queue disk I/O operations for the newly passive server.
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4 vCenter Server Heartbeat causes the newly passive server to begin accepting updates from the active
server.
5 vCenter Server Heartbeat starts the same protected applications on the new active server. The protected
applications become accessible to users. The managed switchover is complete
Automatic Switchover
Automatic switchover (auto-switchover) is similar to failover (discussed in the next section) but is triggered
automatically when system monitoring detects failure of a protected application.
Like managed switchover, auto-switchover changes the server roles but then stops vCenter Server Heartbeat
on the previously active server to allow the administrator to investigate the cause of the auto-switchover and
verify the integrity of the data.
After the cause for the auto-switchover is determined and problems are corrected, the administrator can use
vCenter Server Heartbeat Console to return the server roles to their original state.
Automatic Failover
Automatic failover is similar to automatic switchover (discussed above) but is triggered when the passive
server detects that the active server is no longer running properly and assumes the role of the active server.
Figure 1- 7. Automatic Failover
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Chapter 1 Introduction
During the automatic failover, the passive server performs the following steps:
1 Apply any intercepted updates currently in the passive server’s receive queue as identied by the log of
update records that are saved on the passive server but not yet applied to the replicated les.
The amount of data in the passive server’s receive queue aects the time required to complete the failover
process. If the passive server’s receive queue is long, the system must wait for all updates to the passive
server to complete before the rest of the process can take place. An update record can be applied only if
all earlier update records are applied, and the completion status for the update is in the passive server’s
receive queue. When no more update records can be applied, any update records that cannot be applied
are discarded.
2 Switch mode of operation from passive to active.
This enables the public identity of the server. The unique Management IP address is removed from the
passive server and the shared Principal (Public) IP address is assigned. The passive server becomes active
and available to clients that were connected to the previously active server before the automatic failover
and clients are able to reconnect.
3 Start intercepting updates to protected data. Any updates to the protected data are saved in the send queue
on the local server.
4 Start all protected applications. The applications use the replicated application data to recover, and then
accept re-connections from any clients. Any updates that the applications make to the protected data are
intercepted and logged.
At this point, the originally active server is oine and the originally passive server is lling the active role
and running the protected applications. Any updates that completed before the failover are retained.
Application clients can reconnect to the application and continue running as before.
Managed Failover
Managed failover is similar to automatic failover in that the passive server automatically determines that the
active server has failed and can warn the system administrator about the failure; but no failover actually occurs
until the system administrator manually triggers this operation.
Automatic Switchover and Failover in a WAN Environment
Automatic switchover and failover in a WAN environment dier from an automatic switchover and failover
in a LAN environment due to the nature of the WAN connection. In a WAN environment, automatic switchover
and failover are disabled by default in the event that the WAN connection is lost.
Should a condition arise that would normally trigger an automatic switchover or failover, the administrator
will receive vCenter Server Heartbeat alerts. The administrator must manually click the Make Active button
on the Server: Summary page of the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console or vSphere Client to allow the roles of
the servers to switch over the WAN.
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18 VMware, Inc.
2Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
After installation of vCenter Server Heartbeat, initial operational conguration is performed using the vCenter
Server Heartbeat Console. The VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat – Server Conguration wizard (Congure
Server wizard) sets up and maintains communications between the vCenter Server Heartbeat servers. After
the system is set up and is functioning correctly, you do not normally need to recongure the system. The
Congure Server wizard becomes redundant during daily operations of the software.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Launching the Congure Server Wizard,” on page 20
■
“Conguring the Machine,” on page 21
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“Conguring the VMware Channel,” on page 22
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“Conguring Public IP Addressing,” on page 24
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“Managing vCenter Server Heartbeat License Keys,” on page 26
■
“Conguring the Logs,” on page 27
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Launching the Configure Server Wizard
The VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat - Server Conguration wizard (Congure Server wizard) is used to
modify the communications between the Primary and Secondary servers and recongure other components
of vCenter Server Heartbeat. When using the Congure Server wizard, vCenter Server Heartbeat must not be
running.
Procedure
1 Stop vCenter Server Heartbeat.
2 Click the Congure Server icon on the desktop or navigate to Start > All Programs > VMware > VMware
vCenter Server Heartbeat > Congure Server to launch the Congure Server wizard.
The Congure Server wizard is displayed. If vCenter Server Heartbeat was not stopped before launching
the Congure Server wizard, a message stating that changes made in the Congure Server wizard will not
be saved is displayed.
Figure 2- 1. Configure Server Wizard Introduction
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Configuring the Machine
The Machine tab is used to set the Server Identity, Active Server, and Client Connection Port.
Configuring the Machine Identity
The machine identity is either Primary or Secondary and once assigned does not change during the life of the
server.
Caution The machine Identity should only be changed when directed to do so by VMware Support or when
instructed to do so by a knowledge base article.
Procedure
1 Click the Machine tab and select a Physical Hardware Identity for the local machine.
2 Click either Next or Finish.
Figure 2- 2. Configure Server wizard Machine Tab
Chapter 2 Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
Configuring the Server Role
Note Before changing the role of the local server, verify that the other (remote) server in the pair is not already
performing the same role. vCenter Server Heartbeat is designed not to allow two passive or two active servers
to connect.
Procedure
To change the server role, click the Machine tab, select the server that is currently active (Primary or
◆
Secondary), and click Next or Finish.
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Configuring the Client Connection Port
Clients such as the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console use the Client Connection Port to connect to vCenter Server
Heartbeat. Do not change this port unless another application is using it.
Procedure
To change the Client Connection Port, click the Machine tab, edit the default entry (52267) and click Next
◆
or Finish.
Configuring the VMware Channel
The Congure Server wizard Channel tab is used to congure the Channel Routing, Default Channel Port, and
Low Bandwidth Optimization.
Configuring Channel Routing
Channel IP routing denes the IP addresses used to communicate between the Primary and Secondary servers.
Each link has a pair of addresses, one for the Primary, and one for the Secondary.
To add an additional VMware Channel after installing the NICs and conguring them:
Procedure
1 Click the Channel tab. Click Add Row to add the new IP addresses for both the Primary and Secondary
server to the VMware Channel IP Routing table.
2 Use the drop-down menu to view a list of available IP addresses on the local server.
3 Type the remote server IP address.
Figure 2- 3. Configure Server wizard — Channel Tab
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Chapter 2 Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
4 To change the VMware Channel IP addresses, select and edit the entry in the table.
5 Click Next or Finish.
Configuring the Default Channel Port
VMware Channel uses the Default Channel Port to communicate between the Primary and Secondary server.
Do not change this port unless another application is using it.
Procedure
To change the Default Channel Port, click the Channel tab, edit the default entry (57348), and click Next or
◆
Finish.
Configure Low Bandwidth Optimization
Low Bandwidth Optimization is congured automatically during installation based upon the conguration
options selected during Setup. Low Bandwidth Optimization can be congured for: High Availability (HA)
when deployed as a pair in a LAN or Disaster Recovery (DR) when deployed over a WAN.
In a High Availability (HA) server pair, the queues and buers are optimized for a high-speed local area
network (LAN) connection, compression is disabled, and automatic failover between servers is enabled.
In a Disaster Recovery (DR) pair, the queues and buers are optimized for a low-bandwidth wide area network
(WAN) connection, compression may be used, and automatic failover between servers is disabled.
In a vCenter Server Heartbeat server pair you can choose the HA or DR topology. However, if you have
manually congured a non-standard topology, for example, by changing the Auto-Failover setting, then
Non-Standard will appear in the menu and you can choose to leave the non-standard topology option as it is,
or reset it to one of the standard topologies.
Note The same HA/DR conguration must be set on both servers in the pair.
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Procedure
◆
To change Low Bandwidth Optimization after installation, select the Channel tab of the Congure Server
wizard and use the HA/DR Topology drop-down to select the appropriate topology. Click Next or Finish
to accept changes.
Figure 2- 4. Configure Server wizard - Channel tab
Configuring Public IP Addressing
vCenter Server Heartbeat servers are typically congured with one shared Principal (Public) IP address in a
LAN or two Principal (Public) IP address in a WAN. These are the addresses used by clients to connect to the
protected application.
During installation, vCenter Server Heartbeat congures the Principal (Public) IP address(s) and further
conguration is not normally necessary.
In the event that you must add a Management IP address or Principal (Public) IP address for your environment,
vCenter Server Heartbeat allows you to add these addresses using the Congure Server wizard.
Configuring Principal (Public) IP Addressing
vCenter Server Heartbeat's Congure Server wizard is used to add or modify Management IP and Principal
(Public) IP addresses when required by your environment such as during a migration from a LAN deployment
to WAN deployment.
Procedure
1 Select the Public tab of the Congure Server wizard and verify that Non-Identical is selected in the Public
Identity Mode pane.
2 Verify the vCenter Server or SQL Server Public name in the Name used to connect to vCenter or SQL Server
eld.
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Chapter 2 Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
3 In the NIC eld, select the Principal (Public) network connection in the drop-down.
Note Adjacent IP addresses should be reserved and used for the Principal (Public) IP address and the
management IP addresses for the Primary and Secondary servers when installing vCenter Server Heartbeat
on servers running Windows Server 2008.
4 Enter the Principal (Public) IP address in the Public IP eld.
5 Enter the Principal (Public) IP address Subnet Mask in the rst Mask eld.
6 Enter the reserved Management IP address in the Mgmt IP eld.
7 Enter the reserved Management IP address Subnet Mask in the second Mask eld.
Note The Public IP Addresses table allows multiple entries. The table also allows you to congure Public
(Public IP)and Management (Mgmt IP) IPs for the same network adapter on separate lines to accommodate
multiple Public IPs in the same or dierent subnets and multiple Mgmt IPs in the same or dierent subnets.
The following rules apply to the table:
Each row must identify a network adapter
■
Each row must identify either a Public IP/subnet mask or Mgmt IP/subnet mask
■
For each network adapter listed, you must have at least 1 Public IP/subnet and 1 Mgmt IP/subnet,
■
however these may be congured on separate rows
8 Click Next or Finish.
Figure 2- 5. Configure Server wizard — Public tab
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Administrator Guide
Managing vCenter Server Heartbeat License Keys
To manage vCenter Server Heartbeat license keys, select the License tab of the Congure Server wizard.
Adding an Entry to the License Keys Table
Procedure
1 Click the Add Row icon and enter your VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat serial number.
2 Manually type or paste (using Ctrl-V) your license key into the table.
3 Click Next or Finish.
Figure 2- 6. Configure Server wizard — License tab
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Configuring the Logs
vCenter Server Heartbeat allows you to change the default location for the logs used for storing data in the
queue.
Configuring Message Queue Logs
The server temporarily stores replication data received in the passive server’s receive queue and the replication
data waiting in the active server’s send queue in message queue logs. This conguration only aects the local
server. Logs can be in dierent locations on the Primary and Secondary servers.
Procedure
1 Click the Logs tab.
2 Click Browse to navigate to the folder to store the message queue logs.
3 Select the folder and click Next or Finish.
Figure 2- 7. Configure Server Wizard — Logs
Chapter 2 Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
Configuring the Maximum Disk Usage
The Congure Server wizard allows you to congure the maximum disk space allocated for logging.
Log les can increase in size on the active server under the following conditions:
If the active server cannot communicate with the passive server
■
Certain operations on the passive server
■
If the server is under heavy load
■
When the disk reaches quota, replication stops and the system is no longer protected.
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Administrator Guide
If using a dedicated disk for log les, consider disabling the quota. To do this, set the quota to zero. If vCenter
Server Heartbeat runs out of disk space, it must be shut down before it can resume replication. Set the quota
with sucient overow space so vCenter Server Heartbeat can stop replicating gracefully.
Procedure
◆
To congure Maximum Disk Usage, click the Logs tab, type the maximum dedicated disk space allocated
for message queue log les, and click Finish.
28 VMware, Inc.
Protection against operating system or hardware failure aecting the active server is facilitated by two instances
of the vCenter Server Heartbeat that monitor one another by sending “I’m alive” messages and reciprocating
with acknowledgments over the VMware Channel. If the passive server detects that this process (the heartbeat)
has failed, an automatic switchover is initiated.
Additionally, vCenter Server Heartbeat proactively monitors the capability of the active and passive servers
to communicate with the rest of the network by polling dened nodes around the network, including by
default, the primary DNS server, default gateway, and the Global Catalog server at regular intervals. If all
three nodes fail to respond, for example, due to a network card or local switch failure, vCenter Server Heartbeat
can initiate an automatic switchover, allowing the passive server to assume the role of the active server.
This chapter includes the following topics:
“Checking the Server Pair Status,” on page 29
■
“Monitoring the Status of Servers,” on page 31
■
“Conguring Heartbeat Settings,” on page 31
■
Checking the Server Pair Status
3Server Protection
The Server: Summary page is the default page that opens when administering a pair of servers. The Server:
Summary page allows you to view the roles that the servers are performing (active or passive), the actions that
the servers are currently performing, and summary information on the status of communications and data
replication between servers. The lower pane displays status information for each server in the pair.
Note To change the currently displayed server, click the server graphical representation in the upper pane,
or select the server Identity tab (Primary or Secondary Server) in the bottom pane.
The following table lists the possible system statuses and their meanings.
Table 3- 1. System Status
DescriptionIconStatus
The Heartbeat service is shut down.Heartbeat service
shutdown
The Heartbeat service is starting up.Initializing
Replicating
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(Normal status) File and registry changes on the active server are intercepted and
replicated to the passive server. The protected applications are monitored.
Administrator Guide
Table 3- 1. System Status
Not replicating
server
server
Stopping replication
DescriptionIconStatus
File and registry replication is in the process of stopping and all protected
applications may be closing down.
The system is in the process of performing a switchover.Switching active server
VMware Channel connections have been established between the two servers.Connecting to peer
VMware Channel connections have been lost between the two servers.Disconnecting from peer
File replication is in the process of being stopped and, optionally, all protected
applications may be closing down.
The replication process is starting and protected applications are optionally starting.Starting replication
Starting as active server
Heartbeat service
shutting down
Lost active server
The Heartbeat service is initializing on the active server and starting protected
applications.
The Heartbeat service is stopping. The Heartbeat service is shutting down, and will
no longer participate in replication. Optionally, protected applications may be
stopped.
The passive server has lost connection to the active server. If this condition persists
for the failover timeout, and failover is permitted between the pair of servers, then
a failover will occur.
A failover has occurred,Active following failover
The Heartbeat service cannot be contacted on the server.Server not responding
When viewing the status of the passive server, the status of the le system and registry are displayed graphically.
The following tables list possible synchronization statuses and their meanings.
Table 3- 2. File System and Registry Status
DescriptionIconStatus
Fully synchronized.Synchronized
There are les that are currently unchecked. A full system check did not complete.Unchecked
Not synchronized.Out-of-Sync
Displayed when the Heartbeat service is starting up or shutting down.Uninitialized
The registry is currently in the process of synchronization.Checking
Not synchronized.Error
When the vCenter Server Heartbeat pair establishes a connection, it triggers a le synchronization and
verication process to ensure all protected les on both servers are identical. The process checks each 64K
block of each protected le and performs a checksum to determine whether the blocks dier. If the blocks are
the same, the block is marked as synchronized. If the blocks dier, then the block is replicated to the passive
server and then marked as synchronized. The le verication and synchronization process is nished after all
blocks of all stipulated les are marked as synchronized.
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