Testing System Setup 3.x for cDOT on Simulated Cluster

[pspringfield]

I have an interesting dilemma that I'd welcome feedback on.

Essentially I'm trying to reproduce the Lab on Demand System Setup lab within the Sim environment so I can run off-line.

I'm using VMware Fusion and a couple of 8.3 nodes, I've set the distinct environment variables for the 2nd node and set the IP addresses for e0c in each case during the pre-boot phase.

Essentially, I now have two "raw" nodes sitting ready to be discovered.

Runing the latest version of System Setup does discover both nodes on adjacent IP address and recognises their distinct serial numbers but does not select both nodes so it's not possible to proceed with a full cluster setup.

Referring back to the LoD session, I see that the System Setup tool automatically selects both discovered nodes and it's not possible to CTRL-Click to un-select or select the nodes so it's not a question of simply selecting the other node in the tool. 

Other than setting the alternative serial number and completeting the IP, Subnet and gateway adrresses for each node, I've made no other changesto the Node VM.

It is possible to Ping each e0c port from the Windows SVR2012 on which the System Setup tool is running.

I suspect I've missed a vital step but can't think what at the moment. 

[shatfield]

To work with both nodes they need to be in an HA config.  

[pspringfield]

I take your point here and appreciate it.

But, I'm not sure how you achieve this without completing the "create cluster" element of the Sim configuration routine and that is what I thought the System Setup tool was for.

[shatfield]

System setup can create the cluster, but because the sims on your laptop are not capable of forming an HA pair you can only create a single node cluster.  The disks aren't shared, there's no HA interconnect, etc.

This is more like the old version of that lab, where system setup created a single node cluster.  

[aborzenkov]

I had no problems creating SIM cluster manually. So it could be System Setup limitation. Is the goal to get working cluster or to test system setup workflow?

[pspringfield]

It is in fact possible to create a cluster pair with the current SIM model as I did this manually (and thanks to aborzenkov for confirming this).

Further, the intention is to demonstrate to partners the ease of cluster creation with the System Setup tool (again, a perceptive comment). It's possible that the tool isn't compatible with a VMware fusion / OSX environment. 

However, the Lab on Demand serive uses sims and the tools works fine in that environment, I 've asked for some background information on how their SIms are configured just in case.

[shatfield]

I've been able to construct an HA pair running locally in fusion 7.1.1, using the host's nfsd for shared sim disk access.  I'll see if system setup works against it.  In the past its been tempermental running against ha sims but if its reliable enough for LoD things may have improved since then.    

[pspringfield]

Agreed, I'm definitely sensing that the System Setup tool is temperamental in a Sim environment.

No reply from the LoD people yet. Strictly speaking it's not a problem for them but hey, we are all on the same side so it wouldn't hurt for them to help me out a little bit.

Regards,

[shatfield]

Running the nodes in an HA pair did allow both to be selected, but timeouts during cluster creation prevented me from completing setup.  

I was able complete cluster creation manually, but I discovered system setup had set the MTU on the cluster network ports to 9000, which doesn't work in fusion, so the 2nd node was never able to join, hence the timeouts.  If that can be overcome it might work, but its a pretty demanding mini lab.  My 8gb i7 MBA could barely run it.  

Cluster83::*> 
Cluster83::*> cluster show
Node                 Health  Eligibility   Epsilon
-------------------- ------- ------------  ------------
Cluster83-01         true    true          false
Cluster83-02         true    true          false
2 entries were displayed.

Cluster83::*> cluster ha show
      High Availability Configured: true
      High Availability Backend Configured (MBX): true


Cluster83::*> storage failover show
                              Takeover          
Node           Partner        Possible State Description  
-------------- -------------- -------- -------------------------------------
Cluster83-01   Cluster83-02   true     Connected to Cluster83-02
Cluster83-02   Cluster83-01   true     Connected to Cluster83-01
2 entries were displayed.

Cluster83::*> node show
Node      Health Eligibility Uptime        Model       Owner    Location  
--------- ------ ----------- ------------- ----------- -------- ---------------
Cluster83-01 
          true   true             00:58:18 SIMBOX
Cluster83-02 
          true   true             00:09:39 SIMBOX
2 entries were displayed.

Cluster83::*> run * cf monitor
2 entries were acted on.

Node: Cluster83-01
  current time: 23Jun2015 00:00:19
  UP 00:55:35, partner 'Cluster83-02', CF monitor enabled
  RDMA Interconnect is up (Link up), takeover capability on-line
  partner update TAKEOVER_ENABLED (23Jun2015 00:00:19)

Node: Cluster83-02
  current time: 23Jun2015 00:00:24
  UP 00:10:15, partner 'Cluster83-01', CF monitor enabled
  RDMA Interconnect is up (Link up), takeover capability on-line
  partner update TAKEOVER_ENABLED (23Jun2015 00:00:23)

Cluster83::*>