SFHA Solutions 6.2: New VCS configuration wizards introduced on AIX, Linux, and Solaris
The Symantec Cluster Server (VCS) Cluster Configuration Wizard and Symantec High Availability Configuration Wizard are introduced on all supported AIX, Linux and, Solaris distributions in this release. The two new wizards replace the Symantec High Availability Configuration Wizard. The earlier wizard provided a combined workflow for cluster configuration and application (high availability) configuration, and was supported only on Linux. You can launch the new wizards from the Symantec High Availability view. In a VMware virtual environment, you can launch the wizards from the Symantec High Availability view in the VMware vSphere Web Client. Symantec has recently launched an add-on for Veritas Operations Manager called Symantec HA Plug-in for vSphere Web Client. The add-on lets you integrate VCS and ApplicationHA tasks with VMware GUI, while eliminating the need to install the Symantec High Availability Console. For more information on the add-on, see the followingtechnical note. For steps to launch the VCS Cluster Configuration Wizard, see: Launching the VCS Cluster Configuration wizard (AIX,Linux,Solaris,) For steps to configure a cluster using the VCS Cluster Configuration wizard, see: Configuring a cluster by using the VCS Cluster configuration wizard (AIX,Linux,Solaris) For steps to launch the Symantec High Availability Configuration Wizard, see: Launching the Symantec High Availability Configuration wizard (AIX,Linux,Solaris) For steps to configure an application the wizard-based steps to configure the following applications for availability monitoring with VCS, see: Configuring application monitoring for generic applications (Linux,Solaris,AIX) Configuring the agent to monitor Oracle (Linux) Configuring the agent to monitor SAP (Linux) Configure the agent to monitor WebSphereMQ (Linux)Symantec ApplicationHA 6.2: Monitoring applications with Intelligent Monitoring Framework
Symantec ApplicationHA 6.2: Monitoring applications with Intelligent Monitoring Framework Introduced in this release, the Intelligent Monitoring Framework (IMF) feature improves ApplicationHA efficiency with: Faster detection of application faults Ability to monitor a large number of application components, with minimal effect on performance IMF is automatically enabled, if you use the Symantec High Availability Wizard to configure an application for monitoring. The feature was introduced in ApplicationHA 6.1 for Windows. In ApplicationHA 6.2, it is extended to AIX, Linux, and Solaris. For details, see the following topics: How intelligent monitoring works:AIX,Linux (KVM), Linux (VMware), andSolaris. Enabling debug logs for IMF:AIX,Linux (KVM),Linux (VMware), andSolaris. Gathering IMF information for support analysis:AIX,Linux (KVM),Linux (VMware), andSolaris. This release introduces IMF support for the folloing ApplicationHA agents: Apache HTTP Server DB2 Database (not applicable to Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment) Oracle Database Generic (custom) applications The following topics describe how to use the Symantec High Availability wizard to configure each supported application for IMF-enabled monitoring: Configuring application monitoring for Apache:AIX,Linux (KVM),Linux (VMware), andSolaris. Configuring application monitoring for DB2:AIX,Linux (KVM),and(Linux (VMware). Configuring application monitoring for Oracle:AIX,Linux (KVM),(Linux (VMware), andSolaris. Configuring application monitoring for generic applications:AIX,Linux (KVM),(Linux (VMware), andSolaris. You can use Symantec Cluster Server (VCS) commands to perform more advanced IMF actions. ApplicationHA and VCS documentation is available on the SORTwebsite.
SFHA Solutions 6.2: VCS support for SmartIO
The SmartIO feature on Linux was introduced in Storage Foundation and High Availability (SFHA) 6.1. Beginning in this release, SmartIO is also supported on AIX and Solaris.SmartIO enables data efficiency on your solid state drives (SSDs) through I/O caching. For information about administering SmartIO, see the Symantec Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions SmartIO for Solid State Drives Solutions Guide. In an SFHA environment, applications can failover to another node. On AIX, Linux, and Solaris, beginning in this release,the SFCache agent allows you to enable caching for an application if there are caching devices.The SFCache agent also allows you to failover the application to a node that does not have caching devices. The SFCache agent monitors: Read caching for Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) cache Read and writeback caching for Veritas File System (VxFS) cache For volume-level caching, the cache objects are disk groups and volumes. For file system level caching, the cache object is the mount point. You can: Modify the caching mode at runtime Set the default caching mode when you mount the VxFS file system Configure the MountOpt attribute of the Mount agent to specify the default caching mode using the smartiomode option For more information about the smartiomode option, see the mount_vxfs(1m) manual page. If the cache faults, the application still runs without any issues on the same system, but with degraded I/O performance.You can configure the SFCache agent’s CacheFaultPolicy attribute and choose to either ignore or initiate failover. If SmartIO is not enabled on a node, the SFCache resource acts as a dummy resource and is reported as ONLINE or OFFLINE depending on the group state, but caching-related operations are not performed. For more information, see: SFCache agent Mount agent Symantec Storage Foundation and High Availability documentation for other releases and platforms can be found on the SORT website.SFHA Solutions 6.2 (Solaris): Dynamic application failover in a virtual environment
The AdaptiveHA feature was introduced in Storage Foundation and High Availability (SFHA) 6.1. Beginning in this release, Symantec Cluster Server (VCS) supports dynamic selection of target nodes for a virtual machine service group (VMSG). In this release, this feature is supported only on Oracle VM Server for SPARC. When you install VCS, this feature is enabled by default. In a VMSG, you do not need to include CPU, Memory, and Swap values when specifying the Load because the Load is auto-populated by aggregating resource utilization. VCS monitors and forecasts the available capacity of the physical server in terms of SCPU and SMem.SCPU and SMem are resource-level meters. If you set the FailOverPolicy service group attribute to BiggestAvailable, VCS dynamically selects the biggest available target physical server to bring the VMSG online, or switch or failover the VMSG. For more information about dynamic application failover in a virtual environment, see: About defining failover policies About AdaptiveHA Prerequisites for enabling resource level metering for a virtual machine service group Disabling metering Re-enabling metering The following table lists the attributes that are modified or newly introduced for this feature. Cluster attributes HostAvailableMeters HostMeters MeterControl MeterUnit MeterWeight Resource attribute Utilization Resource type attributes AvailableMeters MeterEnabled MeterRegList MeterRetryLimit Meters MeterTimeout Service group attribute Load System attributes ServerAvailableCapacity ServerAvailableForecast ServerCapacity ServerReservedCapacity Symantec Storage Foundation and High Availability documentation for other releases and platforms can be found on the SORT website.
Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1.1 Documentation Available
Documentation for Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator (SDRO) 6.1.1 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) is now available at the following locations: Product guides (PDFs and HTMLpages): SORT documentation page Software compatibility list: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH228292 Late breaking news: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH209084 The SDRO 6.1.1 for AWS documentation set includes the following manuals: SDRO Release Notes SDRO Getting Started Guide SDRO Configuration Guide for SQL Server 2008 R2 SDRO Configuration Guide for SQL Server 2012 SDRO Administration Guide SDRO Deployment Guide Third-Party Software License AgreementsSDRO 6.1: How to configure and test an on-premises-to-Microsoft Azure disaster recovery configuration
Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 (SDRO) lets you configure on-premises applications for disaster recovery (DR) or migration to the Microsoft Azure cloud. After you configure an application for DR or migration, you can run fire drills on the configuration. As part of a fire drill, SDRO tests whether an application can be migrated to or recovered in the cloud in case of a failure at the on-premises site. During the testing, SDRO brings the application online in a separate cloud network, without disrupting your production environment. The Console installation wizard prompts you to specify the network and subnet to be used for fire drills. You may specify these values at the time of installation, or later, using the Console UI. For information about creating a virtual network in the cloud for performing fire drills, see the Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Deployment Guide. You may also need to enable clients to access applications within a fire drill network. For information about performing fire drills and changing the fire drill settings for an application, see the Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Administration Guide. To configure and run a fire drill, perform the following tasks from the Console UI: Use the Disaster Recovery Orchestrator Configuration Wizard to configure an application for DR or migration to the cloud. The wizard configures the components that are required for performing fire drills on the application. Specify the bubble network and the subnet to be used for fire drills on the Settings tab of the application in the Console UI. The existing values are based on the recovery settings of the Console. You may change these values for your application. Run a fire drill to test the application recovery configuration. Optionally, you may view the reports of the fire drill operations that were performed earlier. For more information, see the following topics: Enabling clients to access applications within a fire drill network Configuring an application for disaster recovery Changing the disaster recovery settings of an application Testing a disaster recovery configuration by performing a fire drill Viewing reports of disaster recovery operations Additional SDRO documentation can be found on the SORT website.SDRO 6.1: How to configure SQL Server for disaster recovery or migration to Microsoft Azure
Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 (SDRO) lets you configure your on-premises SQL Server 2008 R2 or 2012 instances for disaster recovery (DR) or migration to the Microsoft Azure cloud. You need to make identical SQL Server configurations, including users and privileges, on the on-premises and the cloud hosts. The Disaster Recovery Orchestrator Configuration Wizard lets you select the SQL Server instances that you want to configure for monitoring and the detail monitoring options as well. The wizard detects the application data folders and automatically selects them for replication. For more information, refer to the following guides: Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Agent for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Configuration Guide Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Agent for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Configuration Guide Additional SDRO documentation can be found on the SORT website.SDRO 6.1: How to configure an on-premises application for disaster recovery or migration to Microsoft Azure
Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator (SDRO) 6.1 lets you configure an on-premises custom application for disaster recovery (DR) or migration to the Microsoft Azure cloud. For information about preparing the cloud infrastructure for SDRO and installing the product, see the Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Deployment Guide. For information about configuring the application for DR or migration, see the Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator 6.1 Administration Guide. To configure an application for DR or migration: Identify a virtual machine in the cloud or create a new one to host the application in case a failure occurs at the on-premises site. Install and configure the application on the virtual machine to match the setup at the on-premises host. Use the Disaster Recovery Orchestrator Configuration Wizard to: Select an application from your on-premises environment. Select a virtual machine in the cloud to host the application after DR or migration. Configure the application for monitoring on its on-premises and cloud hosts. Select the application data folders that need to be replicated for consistency. For more information, see the following topics: About creating virtual machines in Azure Considerations for configuring an application for recovery Configuring an application for disaster recovery Additional SDRO documentation can be found on the SORT website.SDRO 6.1: Hotfix available for using SFW or VSS COW snapshots
A new hotfix for Symantec Disaster Recovery Orchestrator (SDRO) 6.1 lets you correctly handle snapshots. Without this hotfix, SDRO cannot correctly handle snapshots created using Symantec Storage Foundation for Windows (SFW) or Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) Copy-on-Write (COW). You can use SFW or VSS COW to create snapshots of the application data volumes or the replication volumes that are associated with an application recovery configuration. However, after you create the snapshots, if you start, stop, pause, or resume the replication activity, the system crashes. Hotfix_6_1_00001_129_3504056 addresses this issue by updating the kernel component that manages the file replication. The VxRep.sys file is updated to version 6.1.1.129. After you apply this hotfix, SDRO 6.1 can correctly handle the snapshots of application data volumes and replication volumes that are created using SFW or VSS COW. For information about the pre-installation, installation, and post-installation procedures, refer to the Readme file that is available with the hotfix at: https://sort.symantec.com/patch/detail/8784 For information about SDRO 6.1, refer to the product guides (PDFs and HTMLpages) that are available on the SORT documentation page.