A server switchover can be triggered either manually from the user, or automatically with the Auto-Recovery function.
Regardless of what triggered a switchover, the user must decide whether to switch back applications to their original server (failback), or let the spare server indefinitely take over those applications (takeover). Choosing takeover will result in the spare server becoming the new active server.
For details, refer to "10.3 Post-Switchover Operations".
Different switchover methods are available according to each managed server's hardware configuration.
For details, refer to the "Note" in "1.2 Hardware Environment" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Installation Guide".
Note
In configurations where a server OS is operating on a spare server, if the boot methods of primary servers and spare servers are different, server switchover may fail and damage the primary server OS. Ensure that the boot methods are the same.
During switchover, server restarts and configuration changes may trigger SNMP Traps (which are shown in the Event Log).
For details, refer to "Chapter 1 Resource Coordinator VE Messages" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Messages".
When using the backup and restore switchover method, do not start up the original primary server during or after the switchover operation.
The primary server and spare server both run the same system image. Having the two servers running together will cause conflicts of IP addresses and other information. This can adversely affect the applications recovered on the spare server.
If it becomes necessary to start the primary server, for maintenance or other tasks, ensure that it does not start up from the same system image as that of the spare server. This can be done by turning off the spare server first, or by stopping the primary server at its BIOS screen (before startup of the OS).
When using PRIMERGY BX servers, the maintenance LED of a switched over server is automatically activated.
If switchover takes place when a spare server is operating, the spare server is turned off.
When switching over to the spare server of a VM host, the VM host of the spare server will be placed into VM maintenance mode.
After shutting down a spare server, if the power is not turned off within 15 minutes, the spare server will be forcibly powered off.
Auto-Recovery
For PRIMERGY BX servers and PRIMERGY Partition Model servers
By enabling Auto-Recovery in the spare server settings of a server, it will be automatically switched over to a spare server when its status changes to either "error" or "fatal", and no response is obtained from its OS.
For rack mount, tower servers, and SPARC Enterprise
By enabling Auto-Recovery in the spare server settings of a server, it will be automatically switched over to a spare server when it receives an "Error" level SNMP trap, and no response is obtained from its OS.
For the decision criteria for whether an OS has stopped, refer to "9.4 Conditions Required for Auto-Recovery" in the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Setup Guide".
Manual Switchover
Use the following procedure to manually switch over applications from a primary server to a spare server.
Manual switchover can be either performed at will when necessary, or to verify that the switchover process operates properly.
For details on the conditions for a server switchover, refer to "Conditions for Server Switchover" in "9.3 Server Switchover Conditions" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Setup Guide".
In the RC console server resource tree, right-click the physical OS or VM host to be switched, and select [Spare Server]-[Switchover] from the popup menu.
The [Execute Switchover Operation] dialog is displayed.
Select the switchover destination server.
If "Automatic allocation" is selected, the switchover destination server is automatically selected.
Click <OK>.
The primary server stops, and the physical OS or VM host starts on the spare server.
Information
Manual switchover can be performed regardless of the status of the primary server.
If "Automatic allocation" is selected for Auto-Recovery or manual switchover, the spare server to be allocated will be selected based on the following order of priority:
Physical servers with no settings configured
Physical servers for which HBA address rename information or a VIOM server profile is configured
Physical servers with no agents registered
Spare servers are selected based on the names of their physical servers, in the following order of priority.
"-"
Numbers
Uppercase letters
Lowercase letters
