How to Create a Failover Zone in a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-...

Sign In/Register Help Country

Products
Oracle Technology Network
Application Development
Framework
Application Express

Articles

Solutions

Communities

Downloads

I am a...

Store

I want to...

Support

Search

Training

Partners

About

OTN

Server and Storage Administration

How to Create a Failover Zone in a Cluster

Using Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 on Oracle Solaris 11

by Venkat Chennuru, December 2011

Big Data
Business Intelligence
Cloud Computing

How to quickly and easily configure an Oracle Solaris Zone in failover mode using the Oracle Solaris Cluster High Availability agent for
Oracle Solaris Zones.

Communications
Database Performance &
Availability
Data Warehousing
Database
.NET
Dynamic Scripting Languages
Embedded
Digital Experience
Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise Management
Identity & Security
Java
Linux
Service-Oriented Architecture
Solaris
SQL & PL/SQL
Systems - All Articles
Virtualization

Introduction
Oracle Solaris Zones technology isolates software applications and services using flexible, software-defined boundaries, which enables you to create
many private execution environments within a single instance of Oracle Solaris. Deploying applications within Oracle Solaris Zones offers many
advantages, such as fault and security isolation, optimization of hardware compute resource utilization, and reduction of software licenses through
resource capping.
When you deploy mission-critical applications, you can combine the advantages of Oracle Solaris Zones with
clustering technologies to obtain the appropriate application service level. Oracle Solaris Cluster, the high
availability (HA) solution for Oracle Solaris, offers close integration with Oracle Solaris Zones and extends Oracle
Solaris 11 to provide a highly available infrastructure for deploying virtualized workloads.
Oracle Solaris Cluster provides two different types of configuration for Oracle Solaris Zones on Oracle Solaris.
Oracle Solaris Zones clusters extends the Oracle Solaris Zones model across multiple clustered nodes to a
virtual cluster. This feature allows you to protect applications running within the zones through policy-based
monitoring and failover. It also enables reliable operation of multitiered workloads in isolated "virtual" zone
clusters. (For more information, see the Zone ClustersHow to Deploy Virtual Clusters and Why white paper.)

OTN is all about helping

you become familiar
enough with Oracle
technologies to make an
informed decision. Articles,
software downloads,
documentation, and more.
Join up and get the
technical resources you
need to do your job.

In addition to zone clusters, Oracle Solaris Cluster offers a means for protecting the zone itself: the failover zone.
This zone is considered to be a black box, and it is monitored and controlled by the Oracle Solaris Cluster HA
agent for zones, which starts, stops, and probes the zone. The agent also moves the zone between servers in the event of a failure or upon an
on-demand request.

This article describes how to set up a failover zone on a two-node cluster. For more details, check the Oracle Solaris Cluster Software Installation
Guide.
Assumptions and Preinstallation Checks
This section discusses preinstallation checks and configuration assumptions for two-node clusters.

Configuration Assumptions
This article assumes the following conditions are met:
The cluster is already installed and configured with Oracle Solaris 11 and Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0.
The repositories for Oracle Solaris and Oracle Solaris Cluster are already configured on the cluster nodes.
The cluster hardware is a supported configuration for Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 software.
A two-node SPARC cluster is installed. However, the installation procedure is applicable to x86 clusters as well.
Each node has two spare network interfaces to be used as private interconnects, also known as transports, and at least one network interface that is
connected to the public network.
SCSI shared storage is connected to the two nodes.
Your setup looks like Figure 1, although you might have fewer or more devices, depending on your system or network configuration.
Note: It is recommended, but not required, that you have console access to the nodes during administration.

Figure 1. Oracle Solaris Cluster Hardware Configuration

Preinstallation Checks
The zonepath of an Oracle Solaris Zone in an HA zone configuration must reside on a highly available local file system. The zone must be configured
on each cluster node on which the zone can reside. The zone is active on only one node at a time, and the zone's address is plumbed on only one
node at a time.
Make sure you have a shared disk available to host the zonepath for the failover zone (see in Listing 1). You can use /usr/cluster

1 of 4

6/20/14, 4:19 PM

How to Create a Failover Zone in a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-...

/bin/scdidadm -L or /usr/cluster/bin/cldevice list to see the shared disks. Each cluster node has a path to the shared disk.
Listing 1. Verifying Availability of Shared Disk
root@phys-schost-1:~# /usr/cluster/bin/cldevice show d3
=== DID Device Instances ===
DID Device Name:
Full Device Path:
17B52C00002B9D4EB40DB5d0
Full Device Path:
17B52C00002B9D4EB40DB5d0
Replication:
default_fencing:

/dev/did/rdsk/d3
phys-schost-2:/dev/rdsk/c0t60080E5000
phys-schost-1:/dev/rdsk/c0t60080E5000
none
global

root@phys-schost-1:~#
Enabling an Oracle Solaris Zone to Run in a Failover Configuration
In a failover configuration, the zone's zonepath must be on a highly available file system. Oracle Solaris Cluster provides a specific service for
managing failover systems: the SUNW.HAStoragePlus resource type.
Register the SUNW.HAStoragePlus (HASP) resource type:
phys-schost-1# /usr/cluster/bin/clrt register SUNW.HAStoragePlus
Create the failover resource group:
phys-schost-1# /usr/cluster/bin/clrg create zone-rg
Create a zpool on a shared disk to host the zonepath for the failover zone:
phys-schost-1# zpool create -m /ha-zones ha-zones \ /dev/rdsk/c0t60080E500017B52C00002B9D4EB40DB5d0
phys-schost-1# zpool export ha-zones
Register the zpool with the HASP resource, and create a resource (of type HASP) for the zones's disk storage (the zpool).
phys-schost-1# /usr/cluster/bin/clrs create -t SUNW.HAStoragePlus -g zone-rg \ -p zpools=ha-zones ha-zones-hasp-rs
phys-schost-1# /usr/cluster/bin/clrg online -emM -n phys-schost-1 zone-rg
phys-schost-1# zfs create ha-zones/solaris
Create and configure the zone on all nodes that can host this failover zone.
There is no restriction on the zone configuration except the zpool hosting the zonepath must be on a shared disk.
For our two-node cluster, the zone configuration, which is done using zonecfg, must be executed on both nodes, phys-schost-1 and
phys-schost-2. Here is an example using phys-schost-1. Perform the same actions on phys-schost-2.
phys-schost-1# zonecfg -z solarisfz1 \ 'create -b;
set zonepath=/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1;
set autoboot=false; set ip-type=shared;
add attr; set name=osc-ha-zone; set type=boolean; set value=true; end;
add net; set address=zone-hostname ; set physical=sc_ipmp0; end;'
Verify that the zone is configured on both nodes:
phys-schost-1# zoneadm list -cv
ID NAME
STATUS
0 global
running
- solarisfz1
configured

PATH
/
/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1

BRAND
solaris
solaris

IP
shared
shared

phys-schost-2# zoneadm list -cv

ID NAME
STATUS
PATH
BRAND
IP
0 global
running
/
solaris shared
- solarisfz1
configured
/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1
solaris shared
Install the zone using zoneadm on phys-schost-1, which is where the ha-zones zpool is online. The output from the installation is shown in
Listing 2.
Listing 2. Installing the Zone
phys-schost-1:~# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 install
Progress being logged to /var/log/zones/zoneadm.20030401T184050Z.solarisfz1.inst
all
Image: Preparing at /ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1/root.
Install Log:
AI Manifest:
SC Profile:
Zonename:
Installation:

/system/volatile/install.3349/install_log
/tmp/manifest.xml.QGa4Gg
/usr/share/auto_install/sc_profiles/enable_sci.xml
solarisfz1
Starting ...

Creating IPS image

Installing packages from:
solaris
origin: http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release/
ha-cluster
origin: http://localhost:1008/ha-cluster/2c76b8fe7512dde3
9c04c11f28f6be4603f39c66/
DOWNLOAD
PKGS
FILES
XFER (MB)
Completed
167/167 32062/32062 175.8/175.8$<3>
PHASE
Install Phase

ACTIONS
44313/44313

PHASE
Package State Update Phase
Image State Update Phase
Installation: Succeeded

ITEMS
167/167
2/2

Note: Man pages can be obtained by installing pkg:/system/manual

done.
Done: Installation completed in 550.217 seconds.
Next Steps: Boot the zone, then log into the zone console (zlogin -C)
to complete the configuration process.
Log saved in non-global zone as /ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1/root/var/log/zones/

2 of 4

6/20/14, 4:19 PM

How to Create a Failover Zone in a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-...

zoneadm.20030401T184050Z.solarisfz1.install
Verify that the zone was successfully installed and can boot up successfully on phys-schost-1.
First, verify that the zone was installed:
phys-schost-1# zoneadm list -cv
ID NAME
STATUS
PATH
BRAND
IP
0 global
running
/
solaris shared
- solarisfz1
installed
/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1
solaris shared
Then, in a different window (for example, from an ssh, rlogin, or telnet window), log in to the zone's console and then boot the zone:
phys-schost-1# zlogin -C solarisfz1
phys-schost-1# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 boot
Follow the prompts through system configuration interactive screens to configure the zone.
Shut down the zone and switch the resource group to another node in the resource group nodelist.
phys-schost-1# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 shutdown
phys-schost-1# /usr/cluster/bin/clrg switch -n phys-schost-2 zone-rg
phys-schost-1# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 detach -F
phys-schost-1# zoneadm list -cv
ID NAME
STATUS
PATH
BRAND
IP
0 global
running
/
solaris shared
- solarisfz1
configured
/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1
solaris shared
Assign the UUID for the active boot environment (BE) from the first node, phys-schost-1, to the active BE on the second node, phys-schost-2.
First, get the universally unique identifier (UUID) for the active BE on phys-schost-1.
phys-schost-1:~# beadm list -H
b175b-fresh;70db96a2-5006-c84e-da77-f8bd430ba914;;;64512;static;1319658138
s11_175b;b5d7b547-180d-467e-b2c4-87499cfc1e9d;NR;/;8000659456;static;1319650094
s11_175b-backup-1;aba7a813-feb9-e880-8d7b-9d0e5bcd09af;;;166912;static;1319658479
phys-schost-2:~# beadm list -H
b175b-fresh;c37d524b-734a-c1e2-91d9-cf460c94110e;;;65536;static;1319471410
s11_175b;1d0cca6d-8599-e54a-8afa-beb518b1d87a;NR;/;8096948224;static;1319293680
s11_175b-backup-1;db2b581a-ea82-6e8c-9a3d-c1b385388fb7;;;167936;static;1319472971
Set the UUID for the active BE of the global zone on phys-schost-2 to the same as that of phys-schost-1. The active BE has flag N in the third
field separated by a semicolon. The UUID is set on the data set of the BE. You can get the UUID by running df -b /.
phys-schost-2:~# df -b /
Filesystem
avail
rpool/ROOT/s11_175b
131328596
root@vzoolah3a:/#
phys-schost-2:~# zfs set org.opensolaris.libbe:uuid=b5d7b547-180d-467e-b2c4-87499cfc1e9d \ rpool/ROOT/s11_175b
Attach the zone and verify the zone can boot on the second node.
First, attach the zone:
phys-schost-2# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 attach -F
From another session, connect to the zone console:
phys-schost-2# zlogin -C solarisfz1
Boot the zone and observe the boot messages on the console:
phys-schost-2# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 boot
If the bootup succeeded, shut down and detach the zone:
phys-schost-2# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 shutdown
phys-schost-2# zoneadm -z solarisfz1 detach -F
On both nodes, install the failover container agent if it is not already installed. The following example shows performing this on phys-schost-1:
phys-schost-1# pkg install ha-cluster/data-service/ha-zones
Create the resource from any one node (in the example below, phys-schost-1 is shown). Then edit the sczbt_config file and set the
parameters on both nodes.
First, register the resource:
phys-schost-1# clrt register SUNW.gds
Then, on both nodes, edit the sczbt_config file and set the parameters. (In the example in Listing 3, phys-schost-1 is shown.)
Listing 3. Setting the Parameters
phys-schost-1# cd /opt/SUNWsczone/sczbt/util
phys-schost-1# cp -p sczbt_config sczbt_config.solarisfz1-rs
phys-schost-1# vi sczbt_config.solarisfz1-rs
RS=solarisfz1-rs
RG=zone-rg
PARAMETERDIR=/ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1/params
SC_NETWORK=false
SC_LH=
FAILOVER=true
HAS_RS=ha-zones-hasp-rs
Zonename="solarisfz1"
Zonebrand="solaris"
Zonebootopt=""
Milestone="svc:/milestone/multi-user-server"
LXrunlevel="3"
SLrunlevel="3"
Mounts=""
On phys-schost-2, create the params directory, as shown in the sczbt_config file.
phys-schost-2# mkdir /ha-zones/solaris/solarisfz1/params
On one node, configure the zone-boot resource. The resource is configured with the parameters that you set in the sczbt_config file.
phys-schost-2# ./sczbt_register -f ./sczbt_config.solarisfz1-rs
One one node, enable the failover zone resource that was created.
phys-schost-2# /usr/cluster/bin/clrs enable solarisfz1-rs
One one node, check the status of the resource groups and resources, as shown in Listing 4.
Listing 4. Checking the Status
phys-schost-2# /usr/cluster/bin/clrs status -g zone-rg
=== Cluster Resources ===
Resource Name
-------------------

3 of 4

Node Name
-------------

State
-----

Status Message
-------------------

6/20/14, 4:19 PM

How to Create a Failover Zone in a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-...

solarisfz1-rs

phys-schost-1
phys-schost-2

Offline
Online

Offline
Online

ha-zones-hasp-rs

phys-schost-1
phys-schost-2

Offline
Online

Offline
Online

phys-schost-2#
Verify with zlogin -C solarisfz1 that the zone successfully boots up, and then switch to other the node to test the switchover capability, as
shown in Listing 5.
Listing 5. Checking Swithover Capability
phys-schost-2# /usr/cluster/bin/clrg switch -n phys-schost-1 zone-rg
phys-schost-2# /usr/cluster/bin/clrs status -g zone-rg
=== Cluster Resources ===
Resource Name
------------------solarisfz1-rs

Node Name
------------phys-schost-1
phys-schost-2

State
----Online
Offline

Status Message
------------------Online
Offline

ha-zones-hasp-rs

phys-schost-1
phys-schost-2

Online
Offline

Online
Offline

phys-schost-2#
Verify with zlogin -C solarisfz1 that zone has successfully switched over to the other node.
Summary
This article described how to set up a failover zone on a two-node cluster with Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 on Oracle Solaris 11. It also described how
to verify that the cluster is behaving correctly by switching over the zone from one node to the other.
For More Information
For more information on configuring Oracle Solaris Cluster components, see the resources listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Resources
Resource
Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 documentation
library
Oracle Solaris Cluster Software Installation
Guide
Oracle Solaris Cluster Data Services
Planning and Administration Guide
Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.0 Release Notes
Oracle Solaris Cluster training
Oracle Solaris Cluster downloads

URL
http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=E23623
http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=E23623&
id=CLIST
http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=E23623&
id=CLDAG
http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=E23623&
id=CLREL
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage
/solaris-cluster/training/index.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage
/solaris-cluster/downloads/index.html

Revision 1.0, 12/02/2011

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Oracle Blogs.

E-mail this page

ORACLE CLOUD
Learn About Oracle Cloud
Computing
Get a Free Trial
Learn About PaaS
Learn About SaaS
Learn About IaaS
Learn About Private Cloud
Learn About Managed Cloud

JAVA
Learn About Java
Download Java for Consumers
Download Java for Developers
Java Resources for Developers
Java Cloud Service
Java Magazine

Subscribe Careers Contact Us Site Maps Legal Notices Terms of Use Privacy

4 of 4

CUSTOMERS AND EVENTS

Explore and Read Customer
Stories
All Oracle Events
Oracle OpenWorld
JavaOne

COMMUNITIES
Blogs
Discussion Forums

SERVICES AND STORE

Log In to My Oracle Support
Training and Certification

Wikis
Oracle ACEs

Become a Partner
Find a Partner Solution

User Groups
Social Media Channels

Purchase from the Oracle

Store

Printer View

CONTACT AND CHAT

Phone: +1.800.633.0738
Global Contacts
Oracle Support
Partner Support

Cookie Preferences Oracle Mobile

6/20/14, 4:19 PM