Resource Coordinator VE is a server management product which improves the usability and availability of server systems. It uniformly manages physical servers as well as virtual servers created using server virtualization software (VMware and others).
The level of functionality provided by Resource Coordinator VE differs depending on the managed hardware environment. For details, refer to the corresponding "Note" in "1.2 Hardware Environment" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Installation Guide".
This section explains some of the features provided by Resource Coordinator VE.
Integrated management of physical and virtual servers
Resource Coordinator VE provides an integrated management console for environments composed of virtual and physical servers. It helps administrators manage server configurations, monitor hardware failures, and determine the cause and impact of system errors by automatically detecting and displaying the following information.
Resource Coordinator VE provides a tree-based view of server hardware and their operating systems (physical OS, VM host or, VM guest). This helps tracking relationships between chassis, servers, and operating systems.
This enables easy confirmation of relationships between chassis, servers, and operating systems.
Resource Coordinator VE monitors server hardware and displays icons representative of each server status.
Resource Coordinator VE also allows administrators to manage both physical and virtual servers in a uniform manner. Once registered, resources can be managed uniformly regardless of server models, types of server virtualization software, or differences between physical and virtual servers.
Auto-Recovery of failed servers
The function allows failed applications to automatically recover onto an available spare server by pre-allocating spare servers to managed servers.
Depending on the server's boot method, one of the three following switchover methods can be used to recover applications on a spare server:
Backup and restore
This method is used in local boot environments where servers boot from an internal disk. Backing up the system disk of a primary server in advance allows automatic restoration and startup of the spare server when the primary server fails.
HBA address rename
This method is used in SAN boot environments where servers start from boot disks located in SAN storage arrays. If the primary server fails, its World Wide Name (WWN) is inherited by the spare server, which then automatically starts up from the same SAN disk. This is made possible by the I/O virtualization (*1) capabilities of the HBA address rename function, which is able to dynamically re-configure the WWN of an I/O adapter (HBA).
VIOM profile exchange method [Windows]
This method is used in SAN boot environments where servers start from boot disks located in SAN storage arrays or on a storage device connected to the LAN. If the primary server fails, the World Wide Name (WWN) and MAC address, boot configuration, and network configuration set in its server profile are inherited by the spare server, which then automatically starts up from the same boot disk. This is made possible by the I/O virtualization (*1) capabilities of the HBA address rename function, which is able to dynamically re-configure the WWN of an I/O adapter (HBA).
For details on server profiles, refer to the ServerView Virtual-IO Manager manual.
*1: Refer to "I/O virtualization".
The following LAN switch settings can also be exchanged between primary and spare servers during server switchover.
VLAN
Port groups (For PRIMERGY BX900 LAN switch blades operating in IBP mode)
Several servers can share one or more common spare servers, irrespective of the kind of servers used (physical or virtual), or the applications that are running on them.
Spare servers can also be shared between physical and virtual servers. This is done by combining the Auto-Recovery with the high availability feature provided with the server virtualization software used.
Note that the Auto-Recovery function differs from clustering software (such as PRIMECLUSTER) in the following respect:
Server failure detection
The Auto-Recovery function can detect hardware failures using server management software (such as ServerView Agents) and server management devices (management blades, management boards, or remote management controllers). It cannot detect system slowdowns or hang-ups.
Automated server installation and setup
The following three features simplify server installation and setup:
Deploying multiple servers via server cloning
Server cloning is a feature that distributes a cloning image (collected from the system disk of a reference server) to other physical servers. When a cloning image is created, network-specific configuration such as host names and IP addresses are removed from the cloning image. This network-specific configuration is dynamically re-configured on the servers to which the cloning image is distributed. This makes it possible to create duplicates of existing servers that will use the same operating system and software.
Simplified server installation with I/O virtualization
I/O virtualization via HBA address rename (*1) allows storage devices to be set up independently and prior to the rest of the server installation process. Servers can then be installed and set up without the involvement of storage administrators.
*1: Refer to "I/O virtualization".
Multiple server installations using the pre-configuration feature
The pre-configuration feature can be used to configure various Resource Coordinator VE settings (registration of managed resources and others settings) in one operation. All settings required for a Resource Coordinator VE setup can be defined in a system configuration file, which can then be easily imported from the RC console.
The system configuration file is in CSV format and can be edited easily even in environments where Resource Coordinator VE is not installed.
Streamlined server maintenance
The following features help to identify which servers need to be replaced, and assist administrators with maintenance required after replacement of a server:
Automatic maintenance LED activation on failed servers. (*1)
*1: Depending on the hardware being used, this feature may or may not be available. For details, refer to the corresponding "Note" in "1.2 Hardware Environment" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Installation Guide".
In SAN boot environments, the I/O virtualization (*1) provided by either HBA address rename or VIOM makes it possible to restore a failed server's original WWN definition to the replacement server. Resource Coordinator VE is able to quickly reconnect a replaced server to its original volume(s) and start it up from the same operating system without accessing any storage device.
Moreover, with the ability to automatically re-define MAC addresses, boot configuration, and network configuration using VIOM, it is no longer necessary to re-configure network devices or applications that depend on MAC address values.
*1: Refer to "I/O virtualization".
In local boot environments, a system image backed up beforehand can be easily restored to the replaced server to simplify server replacement.
Easy server monitoring
When managing PRIMERGY BX servers, BladeViewer can be used to easily check server statuses and perform other daily operations. In BladeViewer, server statuses are displayed in a format similar to the physical configuration of a blade server system, making server management and operation more intuitive. BladeViewer provides the following features:
Display of server blades' mount statuses.
Provides an intuitive way to monitor and control multiple servers' power statuses.
Makes it easier to visualize which applications are running on each server blade. This helps to quickly identify any affected applications when a hardware fault occurs on a server blade.
Easy network monitoring
For PRIMERGY BX servers, Resource Coordinator VE provides a Network Map function, which helps visualize and relate physical networks (between servers and LAN switches) together with virtualized networks (from VLANs or virtual switches used in server virtualization software). The Network Map provides the following features:
Automatically detects and displays network connections (topology) and link statuses between heterogeneous network resources.
Facilitates overall network consistency diagnostics and identification of the resources (physical and virtual) affected by a network issue.
Displays comprehensive content that can be used as a communication basis for server and network administrators, thus smoothing out coordination between the two parties.
Monitoring of power consumption
By activating the power monitoring feature, it is possible to monitor trends in power consumption for resources equipped with power monitoring capabilities, or resources connected to a registered power monitoring device (PDU or UPS). The power consumption data regularly collected from the power monitoring environment can be output to a file in CSV format or a graph.
Relocation of VM guests
By integrating with VM management software (such as VMware vCenter Server or others) and VM hosts (such as Citrix XenServer or others), Resource Coordinator VE provides the ability to migrate VM guests between physical servers directly from the RC console. When used with other Resource Coordinator VE functions, this enables the following:
Regroup all VM guests to a subset of servers and shut down any unused server or chassis to reduce overall power consumption.
When server maintenance becomes necessary, VM guests can be migrated to alternative servers and their applications kept alive during maintenance work.
I/O virtualization
I/O adapters (HBA) for servers are shipped with an assigned physical address that is unique across the world. This World Wide Name (WWN) is used by the storage network to identify servers. Until now, the WWN settings on storage networks needed to be updated whenever servers were added, replaced, or switched over. Resource Coordinator VE uses I/O virtualization technology that makes server-side I/O control possible. It does this by replacing physically-bound WWNs with virtual WWNs assigned to each server based on its role in the system. Resource Coordinator VE can handle two different I/O virtualization technologies (HBA address rename and VIOM).
With VIOM, the ability to re-define MAC addresses of network interfaces, boot configuration, and network configuration means that it is no longer necessary to re-configure network devices or applications that depend on Mac address values.
Note
The "I/O Virtualization Option" is required when using HBA address rename.
ServerView Virtual-IO Manager should be installed on the admin server when integrating Resource Coordinator VE with VIOM.
The following functions are not available if ServerView Deployment Manager is used on the same subnet (admin LAN) as Resource Coordinator VE. In such cases, it is recommended to use ServerView Deployment Manager and ServerView Virtual-IO Manager instead.
Cloning
Backup and restore
HBA address rename
Server switchover based on HBA address rename, or backup and restore.
Refer to "Appendix H Co-Existence with ServerView Deployment Manager" for details.
