Automating HP StoreVirtual VSA Failover

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In part two we installed and configured HP StoreVirtual VSA on vSphere 5.1 in this blog post we are going to look at automating failover.

I think a quick recap is in order. If you remember we received a warning when adding SATAVSA01 and SATAVSA02 to the Management Group SATAMG01. Which was:

‘to continue without installing a FOM, select the checkbox below acknowledging that a FOM is required to provide the highest level of data availability for a 2 storage system management group configuration. Then click next’.

This error message is about quorum, a term that I’m sure alot of you are familiar with when working with Windows clusters. Each VSA run’s whats known as a ‘manager’ which is really a vote. When we have two VSA’s we have two votes, which is a tie. Let’s say that one VSA has an issue and goes down, how does the the remaining VSA know that? Well it doesn't. It could be that both VSA’s are up and they have lost’s the network between them. This then result’s in split brain scenario.

This is where the Failover Manager comes into play. So what exactly is a Failover Manager? Well it's specialized version of the SAN/iQ software which runs under ESXi, VMware Player or the elephant in the room (Hyper V). It's purpose in life is to be a 'manager' and maintain quorum by introducing a third vote ensuring access to volumes in the event of a StoreVirtual VSA failure. The Failover Manager is downloaded as an OVF and the good news is we already have a copy which we have extracted.

A few things to note about the Failover Manager.

- Do not install the Failover Manager on a StoreVirtual VSA you want to protect,as if you have a failure the Failover Manager will loose connection.
- Ideally it should be installed at a third physical site.
- Bandwidth requirements to the Failover Manager should be 100 Mb/s
- Round trip time to the Failover Manager should be no more than 50ms

Read more here