Configuring Provider High Availability

You can configure Provider High Availability during or after deployment of your VMware Data Services Manager installation.

When you set up a Provider High Availability cluster, you deploy multiple Provider VMs. You must designate one node as the Primary; any other node that you add is a Standby Provider node. Every Standby Provider must register with the Primary node to complete its configuration.

You will perform the following Steps when you configure a Provider HA cluster in VMware Data Services Manager:

Step 1: Review the Pre-Deployment Considerations
Step 2: Review the Prerequisites
Step 3: Deploy the Providers
Step 4: Register the Standbys with the Primary
Step 5: Verify the Provider High Availability Setup
Step 6: Configure a Load Balancer
Step 7: Configure Elastic Search Settings (Optional, Recommended)

Step 1: Reviewing the Pre-Deployment Considerations

Consider the following as you configure your Provider High Availability cluster:

1. Review the Provider high availability restrictions.

2. VMware recommends that you configure an external load balancer to front the nodes in the Provider HA cluster. This load balancer may be configured with TLS passthrough, and must direct https requests to every node in the HA cluster.

3. Configuring Elastic Search for log aggregation is recommended. If you choose not to configure this service, you are responsible for generating a system log bundle for each Provider and aggregating the logs yourself.

4. VMware recommends that you deploy each Provider VM on a separate ESXi host, and that each VM access a different datastore.

Step 2: Reviewing the Prerequisites

Before you configure Provider High Availability, ensure that:

• You can identify the number of Standby Providers that you will add to the cluster. VMware Data Services Manager supports a minimum of 3 (1 Primary, 2 Standby), and a maximum of 4 (1 Primary, 3 Standby), nodes in a Provider HA cluster.
• You assign each Provider in the HA cluster a unique public RabbitMQ IP address and port number combination.
• The eth0 IP address of all Providers are accessible to each other directly. (If the Providers have private IP addresses, then they must be on the same network.)
• The eth1 IP address of all Providers are accessible to each other directly. (If the Providers have private IP addresses, then they must be on the same network.)
• You deploy each Provider with the same version of the .ova file.
• You configure each Provider with the same Rabbitmq Server admin password.
• You configure each Provider with the same NTP Server.

Step 3: Deploying the Providers

You must deploy or identify the Primary Provider, and then deploy 1-3 Standby Providers:

1. Deploy the Primary Provider, or identify a previously-deployed Provider as the Primary.
2. Deploy Standby Provider 1.
3. (Recommended) Deploy Standby Provider 2.
4. (Optional) Deploy Standby Provider 3.

Note: VMware recommends that you take a snapshot of the Primary Provider VM before you register additional nodes for it.

Step 4: Registering the Standby Providers with the Primary

Each Standby Provider must register with the Primary Provider node to complete its configuration.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you can identify:

• The IP Address of each Standby Provider VM.
• The login credentials of a VMware Data Services Manager Provider Administrator user on each of the Standbys.
• The IP Address of the Primary Provider VM.
• The login credentials of a Provider Administrator user on the Primary.

Procedure

Perform the following procedure for each Standby Provider to register the Standby with the Primary Provider:

1. Log in to the VMware Data Services Manager console on the Standby Provider VM.

2. Select Settings from the left navigation pane.

   This action displays the Settings view, Information tab.

3. Locate the High Availability pane and click SETUP.

   The High Availability Setup form displays.

4. Set the properties to identify the Primary Provider VM:

   Property Name	Value
   Primary Provider IP	The IP address of the Primary Provider VM.
   Provider Email	The VMware Data Services Manager login user name for the Provider Administrator on the Primary.
   Provider Password	The VMware Data Services Manager login password for the Provider Administrator on the Primary.

5. Click CONFIRM.

6. Examine the thumbprint displayed in the Trust Primary Provider Certificate dialog, and click CONTINUE if you trust the host.

   VMware Data Services Manager initiates the operation.

   Note: It may take some time to configure the Primary Provider. When the operation completes, you may be required to re-log in to the VMware Data Services Manager console if your session timed out.

7. Locate again the High Availability pane of the Settings view, Information tab.

   The High Availability Setup form displays.

8. VMware Data Services Manager adds an entry to the High Availability table, and updates the Role of the Provider(s).

Step 5: Verifying the Provider HA Setup

Verify the Provider HA setup by logging in to the VMware Data Services Manager console on each of the Primary Provider and Standby Providers, and examining the Settings view, Information tab, High Availability pane:

• Status should be On.
• Each Provider should be listed in the table.
• The Primary Provider row should specify Primary Role.
• The Standby Provider rows should specify Secondary Role.

Step 6: Configuring a Load Balancer

Choose and configure a load balancer based on your organization's requirements. This load balancer may be configured with TLS pass through, and must direct https requests to every Provider node in the HA cluster.

Step 7: Configuring Elastic Search Settings

Configuring Elastic Search Settings describes the procedure required to configure Elastic Search in your VMware Data Services Manager installation.

If you choose to configure this service, you are responsible for managing the logs in your Elastic Search installation.