Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with VMware

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Usin

HP Service

uard for Linux with VMware

Virtual Machines

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 2

Scope ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Virtual Machine configuration considerations .......................................................................................... 3

Using VMware NIC teaming to avoid Single Points of Failure ................................................................... 4

Shared storage .................................................................................................................................... 5

Time synchronization on VMware Host ............................................................................................... 9

VMware guest tools ........................................................................................................................... 10

Installing the VMware Tools ............................................................................................................. 10

About vminfo ................................................................................................................................. 11

Installing vminfo ............................................................................................................................. 11

About sg_persist ............................................................................................................................ 11

Installing sg_persist on Red Hat ........................................................................................................ 12

Serviceguard on VM guests................................................................................................................. 12

Cluster configuration options ............................................................................................................... 12

Data integrity during package failover ................................................................................................. 13

Package parameter for a VM cluster .................................................................................................... 14

Migrating legacy packages to a VM cluster .......................................................................................... 14

Requirements, Guidelines, and Support Information ............................................................................... 15

Requirements: ................................................................................................................................ 15

Recommendations: ......................................................................................................................... 15

Support Information: ....................................................................................................................... 15

For More Information ......................................................................................................................... 16

Summary of content (16 pages)

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Using HP Serviceguard for Linux with VMware Virtual Machines Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Scope.................................................................................................................................................
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Executive Summary Virtual machine technology is a powerful capability that can reduce costs and power usage while improving utilization of resources. HP is also applying virtualization to other aspects of the data center and uniting virtual and physical resources to create an environment suitable for deploying missioncritical applications. HP Serviceguard for Linux A.11.18.02 (A.11.18 with the October 2007 patches) is certified for deployment on Linux Virtual machines created on VMware ESX server 3.0.
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• Serviceguard for Linux rolling upgrade feature allows for less planned downtime. o Using just VMware HA requires that the target virtual server be brought down for an o operating system upgrade. Similarly an application must usually be down while it is upgraded. With Serviceguard for Linux, an application (packages) can be moved off a virtual machine and restarted on another node in the cluster.
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Timer. The “Timer” function of virtual machines is implemented in software, whereas physical machines implement it in hardware. It is possible for timer interrupts to be missed if too many virtual machines, along with their applications, are run on a single physical machine, and this could result in Serviceguard missing heartbeats. In that case, the heartbeat interval needs to be increased on all clusters running on that VM node.
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VMware recommends switches that are compatible with 802.3ad, but ESX NIC teaming will work with regular switches and will still support the outbound load balancing and failover. Performance is not guaranteed if you deploy enterprise switches without link aggregation features. Serviceguard requirement. Serviceguard requires a highly available network for applications. Use VMware NIC teaming at the host level as described above for the networks used by applications running in the VMware guests.
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Figure. 2 Select Raw device mapping In the next screen, select Raw Device Mappings as shown in Figure.2. If the RDM option is disabled, it indicates that there is no free LUN available for mapping. If the LUNs are exposed to the ESX server and if it is found that no LUNs are available for mapping, you may need to reboot the ESX server. Make sure that all VMs are powered down when the ESX server is rebooted.
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In the next screen, shown in Figure 3, you need to select the target LUN. Figure 3 Select one LUN from the list Figure. 4 Specify a data store to keep LUN mapping In the next screen, you need to select a disk to keep the LUN mapping file, as shown in Figure 4. Virtual machines running on the same ESX server can map to this device as to any other virtual disk. This is useful in “cluster-in-a-box” configurations.
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The next option is to select the compatibility mode. You should select “physical” as shown in Figure.5. This allows the guest OS to access the LUN directly. Figure. 5 – Select compatibility mode physical Figure. 6 Selecting virtual device node Virtual Machines do not support HBAs and so LUNs are attached to virtual SCSI controllers. In the next screen (shown in Figure 6) the pull-down will show SCSI(0:0), SCSI(0:1) ……..
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Now go to the Virtual Machine Properties screen shown in Figure.7. For the newly added SCSI controller, select “Physical” SCSI bus sharing; this allows virtual disks to be shared between virtual machines on any server. Figure.
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VMware guest tools When Serviceguard is running on a guest, the guest should be running the VMware Tools. If HP stalled in your Serviceguard A.11.18.02 or subsequent patches of Serviceguard A.11.18 is installed environment, then you must install the vminfo command. For more information on installing vminfo, see the Installing vminfo section. In some cases, you need to install the sg_persist command (which is part of the Linux distribution, not part of Serviceguard for Linux) on the guest.
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6. Use the following command on the ESX host to see a list of the VM configuration files: # vmware-cmd –l 7. On the ESX host, enable the option for time synchronization between host and guest operating systems by setting tools.syncTime = "TRUE" in the .vmx configuration file for this VM. If this entry is not in the .vmx file, add it manually. 8. Boot the VM guest. 9.
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Installing sg_persist on Red Hat On Red Hat, the sg_persist command is included in sg3_utils. It is available only on RedHat 4 Update 5 (and later) and RedHat 5. To install the rpm, use the command # rpm –Uvh sg3_utils-version.arch.rpm where version must be 1.223-3.
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A Serviceguard cluster consisting of a VM guest and a physical server is shown in Figure 8. This cluster provides HA for the applications against failures of physical nodes, VMware ESX hypervisor, VM guest, and failure of the application itself. A failed application can be restarted on the same VM guest, or failed over to the physical node.
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a cluster that includes VMware guests MUST support persistent reservation. (Persistent reservation becomes effective only when at least one node of the cluster is a Virtual Machine.) Package parameter for a VM cluster (from Serviceguard A.11.18.02 to later patches of Serviceguard A.11.
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Requirements, Guidelines, and Support Information Requirements: • Configure NIC teaming at the host level for networks that will be used for applications. Use teamed NICs in VM data networks. Teamed NICs may be used for heartbeat links as well. • Synchronize time of all ESX hosts. • Install VMware guest tools on all VMs and select the time synchronization option. • Use Raw Device Mapping (RDM) to attach shared LUNs to virtual machines.
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For More Information 1. VMware ESX Server: A comprehensive guide to how ESX virtualizes HP ProLiant servers http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/downloads/vmwareESXserver_virtualiz e_ProLiant_1005.pdf 2. VMware Infrastructure 3, architecture: How VMware virtualizes HP ProLiant servers and storage products http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/downloads/VMware_Infrastructure_ 3_architecture.pdf 3. Server Configuration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_server_config.pdf 4.