Chapter 2 Before You Begin

This chapter describes what you need to know before you begin administering the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. Here you also learn about the Sun Cluster infrastructure that is required by the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. You also can find here common Sun Cluster concepts and tasks you need to understand before administering the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. This chapter also provides an example configuration that is used throughout this guide to illustrate the common Sun Cluster Geographic Edition administration tasks.

This chapter discusses the following topics:

Overview of Sun Cluster Administration Concepts

You must be an experienced Sun Cluster administrator to administer Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.

This section describes some specific Sun Cluster administration topics that you need to understand before you administer Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.

Configuring Resources and Resource Groups

You use either the scrgadm command or the SunPlex Manager to create failover and scalable resource groups.

For more information about administering resources and resource groups in Sun Cluster software, see the Sun Cluster Data Services Planning and Administration Guide for Solaris OS.

Configuring Logical Hostnames

The logical hostname is a special high availability (HA) resource. The geoadm start command configures the logical hostname that corresponds to the cluster name. The IP address and host maps for the logical hostname must be set up before you run this command. Before assigning hostnames, familiarize yourself with the legal names and values described in Appendix B, Legal Names and Values of Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Entities.

For more information about using the geoadm start command , see Enabling the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software.

Note –

If you are using Sun StorEdge^TM Availability Suite 3.2 for data replication, one logical hostname is created for each device group to be replicated. For more information, see Chapter 6, Replicating Data With Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Software.

The following table lists the Sun Cluster and Sun Cluster Geographic Edition components that need to be assigned IP addresses. Add these IP addresses to the following locations:

All naming services that are being used
The local /etc/inet/hosts file on each cluster node, after you install Solaris software

Table 2–1 IP Addresses Required by Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software


Component	Number of IP Addresses Needed
Sun Cluster administrative console	1 per subnet
IP Network Multipathing groups	Single-adapter groups – 1 primary IP address. For the Solaris 8 release, also 1 test IP address for each adapter in the group. Multiple-adapter groups – 1 primary IP address plus 1 test IP address for each adapter in the group.
Cluster nodes	1 per node, per subnet
Domain console network interface (Sun Fire^TM 15000)	1 per domain
Console-access device	1
Logical addresses	1 per logical host resource, per subnet
Sun Cluster Geographic Edition infrastructure hostname	1 logical IP address per cluster infrastructure For example, if you have two clusters in your Sun Cluster Geographic Edition infrastructure, you need two IP addresses.
Replication with Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 software	1 dedicated logical IP address on the local cluster for each device group to be replicated For example, if you have two clusters in your Sun Cluster Geographic Edition infrastructure, you need two IP addresses.

For more information about configuring the IP address and host maps during the installation of Sun Cluster software, refer to Chapter 2, Installing and Configuring Sun Cluster Software, in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.

Managing Device Groups

A device group is a hardware resource that is managed by the Sun Cluster software. A device group is a type of global device that is used by the Sun Cluster software to register device resources, such as disks. A device group can include the device resources of disks, Solaris Volume Manager disksets, and VERITAS Volume Manager disk groups.

For information about configuring device groups in Sun Cluster software, refer to Chapter 4, Administering Global Devices, Disk-Path Monitoring, and Cluster File Systems, in Sun Cluster System Administration Guide for Solaris OS.

The Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software configures Sun Cluster device groups to include replication.

For more information about configuring data replication in Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software, see Chapter 6, Replicating Data With Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Software and Chapter 9, Replicating Data With Hitachi TrueCopy Software.

Overview of Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Administration Tasks

This section provides a starting point for administering the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. It contains the following topics:

Prerequisite Administration Tasks

Before you begin administering the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software, you must identify the Sun Cluster installations you need to host protection groups. Then, you need to adjust the Sun Cluster configuration and environment to support the formation of partnerships and protection groups with the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software. The following table describes these prerequisite tasks.

Table 2–2 Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Prerequisite Tasks


Task	Description
Set the `SC-clustername` to the cluster name you want to use with the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	Use the scconf(1M) command. For more information, see How to Enable Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software.
Set up the IP address and host maps for the cluster that is enabled to run Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	See Chapter 2, Installing and Configuring Sun Cluster Software, in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.
Install and configure your data replication product.	See the Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 or Hitachi TrueCopy documentation. This step is required before you can create protection groups with the `geopg create` command.
Port and configure application configuration and corresponding resource groups on clusters that are candidates for partnership.	You can use the Sun Cluster `scsnapshot` tool to facilitate porting of application resource groups. See Creating and Modifying a Partnership for more information.
Enable the common agent container on all the nodes of both clusters.	See Enabling the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software.

Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Administration Tasks

After you have completed the prerequisite administration tasks, you can install, configure, and administer the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software as described in the following table.

Table 2–3 Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Administration Tasks


Task	Description and Documentation
Install Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	See the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Installation Guide.
Set up security between the candidate partner clusters.	Exchange certificates, as described in Configuring Secure Cluster Communication Using Security Certificates. (Optional) Configure a secure logical hostname that uses IP Security Architecture (IPsec), as described in Configuring Secure Cluster Communication Using IPsec.
Enable the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	Use the `geoadm start` command. For more information, see Enabling the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software.
Create partnerships.	See How to Create a Partnership. This procedure includes the following: Modifying the default heartbeat. For more information, see Chapter 12, Administering Heartbeats. Configuring loss of heartbeat notification. For more information, see Configuring Loss of Heartbeat Notification.
Configure data replication.	For information about replicating data using Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1, see Chapter 6, Replicating Data With Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Software For information about replicating data using Hitachi TrueCopy, see Chapter 9, Replicating Data With Hitachi TrueCopy Software.
Create protection groups.	Create a protection group. See How to Create and Configure a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group or How to Create and Configure a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group. Add data replication device groups. See How to Add a Data Replication Device Group to a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group or How to Add a Data Replication Device Group to a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group. Add application resource groups to the protection group. See How to Add an Application Resource Group to a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group orHow to Add an Application Resource Group to a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group. Create a protection group that does not require data replication. See Creating a Protection Group That Does Not Require Data Replication
Bring the protection groups online.	See How to Activate a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group or How to Activate a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group.
Test the configured partnership and protection groups to validate the setup.	Perform a trial a switchover or takeover and test some simple failure scenarios. See Chapter 8, Migrating Services That Use Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Data Replication or Chapter 11, Migrating Services That Use Hitachi TrueCopy Data Replication.
Migrate services to the partner cluster.	See How to Switch Over a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group From Primary to Secondary or How to Switch Over a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group From Primary to Secondary.
Take over services from primary to secondary during a disaster.	See How to Force Immediate Takeover of Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Services by a Secondary Cluster orHow to Force Immediate Takeover of Hitachi TrueCopy Services by a Secondary Cluster.
Recover from a takeover	Data recovery and error repair outside of the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition infrastructure. See the Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 or Hitachi TrueCopy documentation. Resynchronize the partner clusters. See Recovering Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Data After a Takeover or Failback of Services to the Original Primary Cluster on a System That Uses Hitachi TrueCopy Replication.
Take a protection group offline.	See How to Deactivate a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group or How to Deactivate a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group.
Delete a protection group.	See How to Delete a Sun StorEdge Availability Suite 3.2.1 Protection Group or How to Delete a Hitachi TrueCopy Protection Group.
Delete a partnership.	See Leaving or Deleting a Partnership.
Disable the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	See How to Disable the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Software.
Uninstall the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition software.	See the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Installation Guide.

Example Sun Cluster Geographic Edition Cluster Configuration

The following figure describes an example Sun Cluster Geographic Edition cluster configuration that is used throughout this guide to illustrate the Sun Cluster Geographic Edition administration tasks. The primary cluster, cluster-paris contains two nodes, phys-paris–1 and phys-paris-2. The secondary cluster, cluster-newyork, also contains two nodes, phys-newyork-1 and phys-newyork-2.

Figure 2–1 Example Cluster Configuration

The figure illustrates an example cluster configuration
between cluster-paris and cluster-newyork.