1. Preparing a Site for VCS Implementation

2. Topic 1: Planning for Implementation
After completing this topic, you will be able to plan for implementing VCS.
This is <topic 1>, <topic one title>.
As a reminder, the objective(s) for this topic is/are: <topic 1 objective(s)>.

3. The Implementation Plan
Prepare a plan stating the impact of VCS implementation on running services and operations.
For example, you may need to add network interfaces, patch the operating system, or upgrade applications.
Determine how to minimize downtime for existing services, taking into consideration the time needed for operational testing.
Plan any actions necessary to prepare the environment for VCS installation as described throughout this lesson. Consider how these activities may affect running services.
Prepare or complete a design worksheet that is used during VCS installation and configuration, if this worksheet is not provided.
Installation Planning
Your installation plan should take into account how VERITAS products can be installed with minimal impact on the service already running. You can use an installation plan to:
Approximate the impact the installation will have on services.
Minimize the time period during which services will not be available.
Set the customer’s expectations about the impacts on staff and services during the implementation.
Depending on the scope of engagement, installation planning ranges from informal discussions through detailed planning documents.

4. Topic 2: Hardware Requirements and Recommendations
After completing this topic, you will be able to describe general VCS hardware requirements.
This is <topic 1>, <topic one title>.
As a reminder, the objective(s) for this topic is/are: <topic 1 objective(s)>.

5. Hardware Requirements and Recommendations
Supported hardware (HCL)
Minimum configurations
Redundant cluster interconnect
Hardware recommendations:
Redundant public network interfaces and infrastructures
Redundant HBAs for shared storage (Fibre or SCSI)
Redundant storage arrays
Uninterruptible power supplies
Identically configured systems
System type
Network interface cards
Storage HBAs
support.veritas.com

6. SCSI Controller Configuration Requirements
scsi-initiator-id
scsi-initiator-id 5 7 7
Typical
default
Not applicable for fibre attached storage
If using SCSI for shared storage:
Use unique SCSI IDs for each system.
Check the controller SCSI ID on both systems and the SCSI IDs of the disks in shared storage.
Change the controller SCSI ID on one system, if necessary.
Shut down, cable shared disks, and reboot.
Verify that both systems can see all the shared disks.
Solaris
AIX
HP-UX
Linux

7. Hardware Verification
Inspect the hardware:
Confirm that the hardware being used in the implementation is supported.
Cable the cluster interconnect.
Ensure that the hardware is configured properly for the HA environment:
Confirm public network connectivity for each system.
Confirm that multiple channels to storage exist.
Can the operating system detect all storage?
Are arrays configured properly?
Hardware may have been installed but not yet configured, or improperly configured. Some basic considerations and potential “gotchas” are described below.
Network
Test the network connections by temporarily assigning network addresses and use telnet or ping to verify communications. You must use different IP network addresses to ensure traffic actually uses the correct port. VERITAS also provides a layer-2 connectivity test called “dlpiping” that can be used to test network connectivity without configuring IP addresses.
Also, depending on operating system, ensure network interface speed and duplex settings are hard set, and auto negotiation is disabled.
Storage
VCS is designed as a “shared data” high availability product. In order to failover an application from one node to another, both nodes must have direct access to the data storage. This can be accomplished with dual-hosted SCSI or a Storage Area Network.
To configure a dual hosted SCSI configuration, one SCSI Initiator or SCSI Host ID must be set to a value different than its peer. The most common problem seen in configuring shared SCSI storage is duplicate SCSI Ids. A duplicate SCSI ID will, in many cases, exhibit different symptoms depending on whether there are duplicate controller IDs or a controller ID conflicting with a disk drive. A controller conflicting with a drive will often manifest itself as “phantom drives”. For example, on a Sun system with a drive ID conflict, the output of the format command will show 16 drives, ID 0-15 attached to the bus with the conflict. Duplicate controller Ids are a very serious problem, yet are harder to spot. An initiator, as the name implies, initiates commands to targets, such as SCSI drives. In a normal communication sequence, a target can only respond to a command from an initiator. If an initiator sees a command from an initiator, it will be ignored. The problem may only manifest itself during simultaneous commands from both initiators.
The method of setting the SCSI Initiator ID is dependent on the system manufacturer. Sun Microsystems provides two methods. One is at the EEPROM level and affects all SCSI controllers in the system. It is set by changing the scsi-initiator-id. This change affects all SCSI controllers, including the internal controller for the system disk and CD-ROM. Be careful when choosing a new controller ID to not conflict with the boot disk, floppy drive or CD-ROM. Sun systems can also set SCSI ID on a per controller basis if necessary by editing the SCSI driver control file in /kernel/drv.
Other considerations when checking hardware include:
- Switched-fabric zoning configurations in a SAN
- active-active versus active-passive on disk arrays

8. Topic 3: Software Requirements and Recommendations
After completing this topic, you will be able to describe general VCS software requirements.
This is <topic 1>, <topic one title>.
As a reminder, the objective(s) for this topic is/are: <topic 1 objective(s)>.

9. Software Requirements and Recommendations
Determine supported software.
Modify the PATH environment variable.
Software recommendations:
Use the same operating system version and patch level on all systems.
Use identical configurations:
Configuration files
User accounts
Disabled abort sequence (Solaris)
ssh or rsh configured during installation
Use volume management software for storage.
support.veritas.com

10. Software Verification
Inspect the software:
Confirm that the operating system version is supported.
Verify that the necessary patches are installed.
Verify that software licenses are available or installed for VCS and applications.
Verify that the operating system and network configuration files are the same.
Verify that all operating system concerns identified in the design phase have been addressed. As in hardware verification, document non-compliance and corrective action, and if necessary, impact if the action is not taken.
There can be system configuration considerations that have absolutely nothing to do with VERITAS software, but will prevent the HA solution from working. For example, when adding a second server to create an active-passive Oracle RDBMS cluster it is common for the shared memory parameters to not be set on the second server. Don’t overlook any kernel, /etc/system or boot prom parameters that might have been customized, or need to be.
vlicense.veritas.com
Sales representative
Technical Support for upgrades

11. Topic 4: Preparing Cluster Information
After completing this topic, you will be able to prepare your environment for VCS installation.
This is <topic 1>, <topic one title>.
As a reminder, the objective(s) for this topic is/are: <topic 1 objective(s)>.

12. Preparing Cluster Information
Verify that you have the information needed for the
VCS installation procedure:
System names
License keys
Cluster name, ID number
Network interfaces for cluster interconnect
VCS user names and passwords
Network interface for Web GUI
IP address for Web GUI
SMTP server name and addresses
SNMP Console name and message levels
Root and authentication broker nodes for security
Optional
Pre-installation Tasks
The following tasks are recommended in preparation for installing VCS:
Reviewing the hardware requirements
Check latest VCS release notes
VERITAS Customer Support at
VERITAS Sales Support at
Check for a list of each country’s contact information
Reviewing the list of supported software
Solaris - 2.6, 7 and 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Download Solaris patches for Java
Before running the installvcs utility, download and install the latest Solaris patches for the Java Runtime Environment. You can obtain the patches from:
Setting up the private network
Setting up the shared storage
Preparing NFS Services
When systems are sharing external disks, the major and minor numbers for the shared partition must be the same to prevent NFS stale mounts. Run on each machine: ls -lL /dev/dsk/cxtxdxsx
Disabling the abort sequence
When a system under is halted with the abort sequence, it stops producing VCS heartbeats. To disable the abort sequence on Solaris systems, add the following line to the /etc/default/kbd file (create the file if it does not exist): KEYBOARD_ABORT=disable (reboot)
Obtaining VCS license keys
Setting the PATH variable
Add the directories containing VCS executables to the PATH variable in /.profile
Enabling ssh/rsh communication between systems
Preparing cluster information