InfoScale™ Virtual Business Services - Availability User's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)
Platform: AIX,Linux,Solaris,Windows
  1. Overview of Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About Virtual Business Services
    2.  
      Features of Virtual Business Services
    3.  
      Sample virtual business service configuration
    4. VMware virtualization support prerequisites for InfoScale Operations Manager Virtual Business Services
      1.  
        VMware virtualization support in VBS
    5.  
      About the InfoScale Operations Manager policy checks for Virtual Business Services
    6.  
      Supported operating systems for Virtual Business Services
    7.  
      Internationalization (I18N) support
  2. Installing and configuring Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About Virtual Business Services components
    2.  
      Virtual Business Services workflow
    3.  
      Support matrix for VBS
    4.  
      Prerequisites for Configuring VBS
    5.  
      Installing the Virtual Business Services package using InfoScale Operations Manager
    6. Configuring a virtual business service
      1.  
        Considerations for creating a virtual business service
      2. Creating virtual business services
        1.  
          Create Virtual Business Service panel options
      3. Editing virtual business services
        1.  
          Edit Virtual Business Service panel options
      4.  
        Deleting virtual business services
      5.  
        Virtual Business Services daemon
      6.  
        Communication among VBS daemons
      7.  
        Auto discovery of VBS Daemon on each cluster
      8.  
        Configuring auto discovery for each cluster in VBS
    7. Configuring dependencies for a virtual business service
      1.  
        Configure Virtual Business Service dependencies - Specify service group dependencies panel options
      2.  
        Link Service Groups panel options
      3.  
        Unlink Service Groups panel options
      4.  
        Specify Script Execution details panel options
      5.  
        Configure Virtual Business Service dependencies - Specify VMs start or stop panel options
    8. Managing Microsoft Failover Clustering from VBS
      1.  
        About installing VBS on Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      2.  
        Installing VBS on Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      3.  
        Upgrading VBS on the Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
      4.  
        Uninstalling VBS from Microsoft Failover Clustering nodes
    9.  
      Uninstalling the VRTSvbs package
    10.  
      Uninstalling VBS from Microsoft Failover Clusters
  3. Virtual Business Services operations
    1. Starting and stopping Virtual Business Services
      1. Starting a virtual business service
        1.  
          Virtualization workflow for virtual business service start operation
      2. Starting a virtual business service from the command line
        1.  
          Start Virtual Business Service panel options
      3. Stopping a virtual business service
        1.  
          Virtualization workflow for virtual business service stop operation
        2.  
          Stop Virtual Business Service panel options
      4.  
        Stopping a virtual business service from the command line
      5.  
        About propagation behavior for start and stop operations
    2.  
      Viewing the information on a Virtual Business Service
    3.  
      Viewing Virtual Business Services in the data center
    4.  
      Viewing the service groups associated with Virtual Business Services
    5.  
      Viewing the clusters associated with virtual business services
    6.  
      Viewing the virtual business services status from the command line
    7.  
      Viewing the information on a virtual business service in the Server perspective
    8.  
      Viewing the dependency associated with Virtual Business Services in the Server perspective
    9.  
      Viewing the dependency associated with Virtual Business Services
    10.  
      Viewing the properties of a virtual business service
    11.  
      Viewing application recovery point and startup time of a VBS
    12. Tracking VBS operations
      1. Tracking information about tasks performed on a VBS
        1.  
          Task states
      2.  
        Tracking information about tier-level sub-tasks performed as a part of a VBS task
      3.  
        Tracking step-by-step progress of a VBS task
    13. Logs of a virtual business service
      1.  
        Logs of a Virtual Business Service panel options
    14.  
      Fault management for a virtual business service
  4. Virtual Business Services security
    1. About the Virtual Business Services security model
      1.  
        Virtual Business Services security model example
      2.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C1
      3.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C2
      4.  
        Security mechanism for cluster C3
      5.  
        Authentication for start and stop operations
  5. Fault management in Virtual Business Services
    1. Fault management overview
      1.  
        VCS dependencies in Virtual Business Services
      2.  
        Parallel and failover service groups
      3.  
        Shared service groups
      4.  
        Types of faults handled
      5.  
        Fault propagation for virtual machines
      6. Custom script execution
        1.  
          Limitations of custom script execution for soft dependencies
        2.  
          Configuring custom script execution for soft dependencies
  6. Disaster recovery in Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      About disaster recovery for Virtual Business Services
    2.  
      Prerequisites
    3.  
      Sample disaster recovery configuration
    4.  
      Disaster recovery alerts
    5.  
      Disaster recovery limitations
    6.  
      About the disaster recovery plan
    7.  
      Bringing up Virtual Business Services at the DR site
    8.  
      Performing planned migration of virtual business services
    9.  
      Concurrency violation
  7. Upgrading Virtual Business Services
    1.  
      Prerequisites for upgrading to VBS version 9.0
    2.  
      Upgrading the VRTSvbs package using InfoScale Operations Manager
    3.  
      Considerations for renaming a cluster
  8. Appendix A. Command reference
    1.  
      Virtual Business Services commands
  9. Appendix B. Troubleshooting and recovery
    1. Troubleshooting Virtual Business Services
      1.  
        Command line cannot connect to the VBS daemon
      2.  
        Virtual business service state is unknown
      3.  
        Disaster recovery of a virtual business service fails
    2.  
      Virtual Business Services log files
  10. Appendix C. Known issues and limitations
    1. Known issues and limitations
      1.  
        Complete cluster fault is not handled
      2.  
        Fault propagation for shared service groups
      3.  
        Propagation of multiple child fault or recovery events may be missed if fault action on parent service group is in progress (2745323)
      4.  
        ClusterService group having vbsapp resource does not link vbsapp to newly created gcoip (2713002)
      5.  
        CLI command returns incorrect state of the virtual machine in VBS (2789621)
      6.  
        VBS dependencies get deleted during the upgrade of SFWHA configured in a VBS [2832599]
      7.  
        VBS start operation may fail from InfoScale Operations Manager when VM start/stop is enabled [2848118]
      8.  
        Clusters running on SFWHA 5.1SP1 or 5.1SP2 configured with virtual IP addresses cannot migrate to VIP-less communication (2845412)
      9.  
        Pop up showing error message during VBS uninstallation on Windows remains hidden behind other windows (2872716)
      10.  
        Events generated for VBSD lack correct description (2833160)
      11.  
        DR fails to start in VBS 9.0 or lower for VBS formed of global service groups [3240419]
      12.  
        Installation or upgrade of VRTSsfmh or VRTSvbs package from InfoScale Operations Manager may fail if publisher is set (3306997)
      13.  
        Operation performed on service groups with disabled resources remains stuck or fails by timing out [3280718, 3288725]
      14.  
        Recover and takeover messages are not displayed during DR of a VBS with a global service group [3315435]

Sample virtual business service configuration

This section provides a sample virtual business service configuration comprising a multi-tier application. Figure: Sample virtual business service configuration shows a Finance application that is dependent on components that run on three different operating systems and on three different clusters.

  • Databases such as Oracle running on Solaris operating systems form the database tier.

  • Middleware applications such as WebSphere running on AIX operating systems form the middle tier.

  • Web applications such as Apache and IIS running on Windows and Linux virtual machines form the Web tier.

    Each tier can have its own high availability mechanism. For example, you can use Cluster Server for the databases and middleware applications for the Web servers.

Figure: Sample virtual business service configuration

Sample virtual business service configuration

Each time you start the Finance business application, typically you need to bring the components online in the following order - Oracle database, WebSphere, Apache and IIS. In addition, you must bring the virtual machines online before you start the Web tier. To stop the Finance application, you must take the components offline in the reverse order. From the business perspective, the Finance service is unavailable if any of the tiers becomes unavailable.

When you configure the Finance application as a virtual business service, you can specify that the Oracle database must start first, followed by WebSphere and the Web servers. The reverse order automatically applies when you stop the virtual business service. When you start or stop the virtual business service, the components of the service are started or stopped in the defined order.