HP Integrating HA Applications with Serviceguard, Checklist for Integrating HA Applications

C Integrating HA Applications with Serviceguard

The following is a summary of the steps you should follow to integrate an application into the Serviceguard environment:

1.Read the rest of this book, including the chapters on cluster and package configuration, and the Appendix “Designing Highly Available Cluster Applications.”

2.Define the cluster's behavior for normal operations:

•What should the cluster look like during normal operation?

•What is the standard configuration most people will use? (Is there any data available about user requirements?)

•Can you separate out functions such as database or application server onto separate machines, or does everything run on one machine?

3.Define the cluster's behavior for failover operations:

•Does everything fail over together to the adoptive node?

•Can separate applications fail over to the same node?

•Is there already a high availability mechanism within the application other than the features provided by Serviceguard?

4.Identify problem areas

•What does the application do today to handle a system reboot or panic?

•Does the application use any system-specific information such as uname() or gethostname(), SPU_ID, or MAC address which would prevent it from failing over to another system?

5.Only applications specified by HP (or vendor approved) should be deployed in environments using an HP Serviceguard Storage Management Suite bundle with Veritas Cluster File System (CFS). If you are creating your own application for use in a CFS environment, some things to consider include:

•Can the application be installed cluster-wide?

•Does the application work with a cluster-wide file name space?

•Will the application run correctly with the data (file system) available on all nodes in the cluster? This includes being available on cluster nodes where the application is not currently running.

•Does the application have a robust shutdown procedure to guarantee it will be down on one node before it is started up on an other node?

NOTE: Check the Serviceguard/SGeRAC/SMS/Serviceguard Manager Plug-in Compatibility and Feature Matrix and the latest Release Notes for your version of Serviceguard for up-to-date information about support for CFS (http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-serviceguard-docs).

Checklist for Integrating HA Applications

This section contains a checklist for integrating HA applications in both single and multiple systems.

Defining Baseline Application Behavior on a Single System

Define a baseline behavior for the application on a standalone system:

354 Integrating HA Applications with Serviceguard