Installing and Maintaining CA AppLogic › BFC User Guide › Working with Servers on a Grid

Working with Servers on a Grid

This section contains the following topics:

Review Network Configuration Data

View the Server Properties and State

Quarantine or Unquarantine a Server

Power Off or Power Cycle a Server

Force Manual Power On or Off for a Server

Remove a Server from the Grid

Delete a Server

Manage Servers Using Tags

Review Network Configuration Data

The BFC collects data for all NICs found during installation and discovery. Detailed information is displayed for all discovered servers.

Reviewing this diagnostic data helps you analyze potential server issues, for example:

• When a grid fails due to a network problem.
• When a system is quarantined due to network problems detected during discovery.

Additional information helps you diagnose configuration issues, for example, to check if two NICs use the same switch ID. The information also helps you easily identify your backbone and external networks.

You can review the full list of network diagnostic checks for more information on how the checks are performed and the results are displayed.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Servers in the left menu.

   The Servers Overview Page opens.

2. Click the name of the server you want to work with.

   The Server Properties page opens.

3. Click the Hardware tab. The following information displays:

   Description

   (optional) Displays a textual description of the server.

   CPU Cores

   Displays the number of CPU cores for the server.

   CPU Speed

   Displays the CPU speed in GHz.

   Memory

   Displays server memory in GB.

   Total Disk Capacity

   Displays total disk capacity for the server.

   Note: In some hardware environments, you may be required to implement hardware RAID (redundant array of independent disks) before you can create a grid. If this requirement exists, when a server without hardware RAID is discovered, the Total Disk Capacity for the Server displays 0 GB.

   To correct this, you must enable hardware RAID for the disk inventory to display the correct results.

4. The following information displays for each NIC (Network Interface Controller) on your system:

   MAC

   Displays the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the network card.

   NETWORK

   Displays the network type for the NIC.

   • Backbone - The boot NIC is in the backbone network of the BFC.
   • Backbone, External - The boot NIC is in the backbone network of the BFC, and also can be used in the external network.
   • External - The NIC is in the external network of the BFC.
   • Unconnected - The NIC is not connected.
   • Unknown - The NIC is connected to an unknown network that is not backbone or external.

   IP ADDRESS

   Displays the numeric IP address of the network card.

   INTERFACE

   Displays the name of the interface type, for example, eth0, eth1.

   SPEED

   Displays the server speed in Mbps. NICs should meet the minimum required bandwidth of 1000 Mbps.

   SWITCH

   Displays the ID from the connected switch.

   SW. TYPE

   Displays the switch type, including the manufacturer information. For example: 'Cisco WS-C3750G-48TS'.

   SW. PROTOCOL

   Displays the manufacturer switch protocol. For example:

   • cdp - Cisco discovery protocol
   • dtp - dynamic trunk protocol
   • loop - keep alive checks
   • stp - Spanning Tree Protocol

   STP PORT

   The Spanning Tree Protocol is a network protocol that ensures a loop-free topology. The following STP Port information displays:

   • default

     Indicates that the STP switch port does not work as an Edge port. You should configure in Edge port/portFast mode.

   • Edge port

     Indicates that the STP switch port is configured as an Edge port. This provides significantly faster spanning tree convergence after a topology change and is required for ports where servers are connected.

   Note: You must disable Spanning Tree Protocol on the backbone network.

You can customize the column display in the table. MAC, NETWORK, IP ADDRESS, and INTERFACE appear by default. To change the display, click the drop-down menu in the first row of any column and select or clear the check box for the item to display. Click Save to save your settings for future sessions.

Network Diagnostic Checks

Network diagnostic checks are performed at server discovery. Status information provides information about the checks, but it is also helpful to understand the range of checks automatically performed, and the expected result.

The following diagnostic checks are supported:

• Check if the STP switch protocol is active on the backbone network.

  This test checks if the STP switch protocol is active on the backbone network. If the switch is active, the following error message displays, and the server is quarantined:

  Server quarantined because the STP protocol in the switch of the backbone network is enabled.

• Check that the STP switch protocol is active on the external network.

  This test checks that the STP switch protocol is active, and that the port to the NIC of the backbone network is not configured as "edge port". If this occurs, the following error message displays, and the server is quarantined:

  Server quarantined because the STP protocol in the switch of the external network is enabled, and the corresponding port is not configured as “port fast” or “edge-port”.

• Check interfaces for backbone and external networks.

  The following tests check that the server has one interface for the backbone network and at least one interface to the external network.

1. An external interface exists, but a connection to the BFC is not verified.

   If external interfaces exist, but a connection cannot be made to the external network of the BFC, the following warning displays:

   Network {0} assigned to interfaces [{1}] but the connection to the BFC could not be verified.

2. Check for available interfaces.

   If enough interfaces are not available ("not connected" interfaces), the following error message displays and the server is quarantined:

   Server quarantined because there are not enough connected interfaces available. No unique mapping between networks and interfaces possible. Interface {0} with MAC {1} not connected.

3. Check for free addresses for the external network.

   If there are no more free IP addresses for the external network, the following error message displays, and the server is quarantined:

   Server quarantined because the network {0} could not be assigned to an interface. No more IP addresses available.

• Check that the backbone interface speed is less than 1000 mbps.

  If a speed less than 1000 mbps is detected, the following warning displays:

  Server quarantined because the following network interfaces do not provide a speed of at least 1000 mbps [{0}].

• Check that the external interface speed is less than 1000 mbps.

  If a speed less than 1000 mbps is detected, the following warning displays:

  The following network interfaces do not provide a speed of at least 1000 mbps [{0}].

• Check if the backbone and external NIC are connected to the same switch.

  This check tests if the backbone NIC and external NIC are connected to the same switch. If the switch ID is the same, the following warning displays:

  The backbone interface {0} and the external interface {1} are connected to the same switch [{2}]. External network and backbone network should be different L2 domains. This requires a tagged VLAN configuration for the external network.

• Check if an interface is connected to both the backbone and external network.

  This check tests if one backbone connection (backbone test IP) and one external connection (extern test IP) use the same NIC (same MAC and interface name for the backbone and the external connection). If detected, the following warning displays:

  Interface {0} is connected to more than network: [{1}]. Check whether the backbone switch and the external switch are connected.

• Check if any interfaces are not connected.

  If any interfaces without a connection are detected, the following status text displays:

  Interface {0} with MAC {1} is not connected.

View the Server Properties and State

You can view the properties of a server (such as, the MAC address, external IP, backbone IP, CPU cores, CPU speed, memory, and total disk capacity) and the server state/status on the Servers page.

To view the server properties and state

1. Select Servers from the left Menu.

   The Servers page opens. The state of the server can be Enabled or Quarantined.

2. To sort the column, click the column name.
3. To add or remove the columns that appear on the page, click the down arrow to the right of the column and then select or clear the desired column names.

Quarantine or Unquarantine a Server

The BFC enables you to quarantine and unquarantine servers as needed. For example, you want to replace a hard disk on one of your servers in a grid you can quarantine the server so that other grids cannot add the server to their grid.

Note: For hardware maintenance, we recommend that you follow the procedure to remove a server from the grid before you quarantine it.

Follow these steps:

1. Select Servers from the left Menu.

   The Servers page opens.

2. Select the check box next to the desired servers.
3. Select Quarantine or Unquarantine from the Server Actions drop-down list.

Power Off or Power Cycle a Server

The BFC enables you to power down or power cycle any server not allocated to a grid.

To power down, or power cycle a server

1. Quarantine the desired server. The server must be quarantined before performing any power operations on the server. This prevents the grids from allocating a server during this procedure.
2. Select Servers from the left Menu.

   The Servers page appears.

3. Select the checkbox next to the desired server.
4. Select Power Off or Power Cycle from the Server Actions drop-down list.

Force Manual Power On or Off for a Server

Use the Force Manual Power option to address power controller issues in a server by forcing it to be manually powered. You can undo the action to restore the server status to manual power.

When you use this feature, consider the following requirements:

• To force a server to manual power, it must be powered on.
• To undo a force manual power action, you must first quarantine the server. This action prevents the grids from allocating a server during this procedure.

Follow these steps:

1. Select Servers from the left Menu.

   The Server Overview page opens.

2. Select the checkbox next to the server you want to work with.
3. Select Force Manual Power or Undo Force Manual Power from the Server Actions drop-down list.

   The Force Manual Power option can be set to a server when the server is in the ON state. Servers with the force manual power status do not change, across reboots, inventory, and so on, until you undo the force manual power action.

Remove a Server from the Grid

You can remove a server from a grid using Server Actions in the Grid Properties page.

You may need to decrement the minimum server value if you indicated an equal value for the minimum number and target number. For example, your grid has five servers with the values set to 5/5/5 for minimum/target/maximum. You want to set the minimum value to 4 because svr5 is underutilized.

Note: If the minimum server value is less than the target value, you do not have to adjust the minimum value first. For example, if you indicated 5/7/7 for minimum/target/maximum, you can remove two servers without adjusting the minimum value.

Follow these steps:

1. From the BFC UI, open the Xen or VMware tab of the Grid Properties page.
2. Enter 4 as the minimum value.
3. Open the grid shell.
4. Execute the following command:

   3t srv disable srv<n>
   

   n

   The server number that you want to remove from the grid.

   Note: This step is optional if you select the Force Removal check box in Step 5d.

5. Complete the following steps:
   1. From the BFC UI, select the Servers tab on the Grid Properties page.
   2. Select the server that you want to remove, then click Remove from the Server Actions drop-down list.
   3. If you do not want another grid to select the server, enable the Quarantine option.
   4. To remove servers that are not disabled in CA AppLogic, select the Force Removal option.

Delete a Server

Deleting a server enables you to remove the server from the BFC. If you decide to add the server back to the BFC, simply power on the server and the Auto Discovery process will add the server back into the BFC.

To delete a server

1. Quarantine the desired server. The server must be quarantined before it can be deleted.
2. Select Servers from the left Menu.

   The Servers page appears.

3. Select the checkbox next to the desired servers.
4. Select Delete from the Server Actions drop-down list.

   A confirmation dialog appears.

5. In the confirmation dialog, specify if you want to prevent rediscovery of the server. In Manual Configuration ("whitelist") mode, this removes the server's entry from the whitelist. In Auto Discovery ("blacklist") mode, this adds the server's entry to the Auto Discovery list. In either case, the server will not be discovered when it boots.
6. Click OK on the confirmation dialog to delete the server.