To activate high availability (HA) for a VMware Aria Operations cluster, specify one of the data nodes to become a replica of the primary node.

Note: If the cluster is running, activating HA restarts the cluster.

You can add HA to the VMware Aria Operations cluster at installation time or after VMware Aria Operations is up and running. Adding HA at installation is less intrusive because the cluster has not yet started. For more information, see the "High Availability Considerations" topic in the Reference Architecture guide and the "High Availability (HA)" topic in the VMware Aria Operations Best Practices guide.

Prerequisites

  • Create nodes by deploying the VMware Aria Operations vApp.
  • Create and configure the primary node.
  • Create and configure a data node with a static IP address.
  • Note the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of the primary node.

Procedure

  1. In a Web browser, navigate to the primary node administration interface.
    https://primary-node-name-or-ip-address/admin
  2. Enter the VMware Aria Operations administrator user name of admin.
  3. Enter the VMware Aria Operations administrator password and click Log In.
  4. Under High Availability, click Activate.
  5. Select a data node to serve as the replica for the primary node.
  6. Select the Activate High Availability for this cluster option, and click OK.
    If the cluster was online, the administration interface displays progress as VMware Aria Operations configures, synchronizes, and rebalances the cluster for HA.
  7. If the primary node and replica node go offline, and the primary remains offline for any reason while the replica goes online, the replica node does not take over the primary role, take the entire cluster offline, including data nodes and log in to the replica node command-line console as a root.
  8. Open $ALIVE_BASE/persistence/persistence.properties in a text editor.
  9. Locate and set the following properties: 
    db.role=PRIMARY
db.driver=/data/vcops/xdb/vcops.bootstrap
  10. Save and close persistence.properties.
  11. In the administration interface, bring the replica node online, and verify that it becomes the primary node and bring the remaining cluster nodes online.

What to do next

After creating a primary replica node, you have the following options.

  • New, unstarted clusters:
    • Create and add data nodes.
    • Click Start VMware Aria Operations to start the cluster, and log in to finish configuring the product.

      The cluster might take from 10 to 30 minutes to start, depending on the size of your cluster and nodes. Do not make changes or perform any actions on cluster nodes while the cluster is starting.

  • Established, running clusters:
    • Create and add data nodes.
  • To deactivate high availability, click Deactivate HA and follow the steps in the admin UI. The deativation timeline depends on the cluster size and the data retention period. Please wait for the deactivation to complete.