Managing Serviceguard Eighteenth Edition, September 2010

3. Edit or create the /etc/nsswitch.conf file on all nodes and add the following
text, if it does not already exist:
• for DNS, enter (two lines):
hosts: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] dns [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=return]
ipnodes: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] dns [NOTFOUND=return
UNAVAIL=return]
• for NIS, enter (two lines):
hosts: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=return]
ipnodes: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] nis [NOTFOUND=return
UNAVAIL=return]
If a line beginning with the string hosts: or ipnodes: already exists, then make
sure that the text immediately to the right of this string is (on one line):
files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] dns [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=return]
or
files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=return]
This step is critical, allowing the cluster nodes to resolve hostnames to IP addresses
while DNS, NIS, or the primary LAN is down.
4. Create a $SGCONF/cmclnodelist file on all nodes that you intend to configure
into the cluster, and allow access by all cluster nodes. See “Allowing Root Access
to an Unconfigured Node” (page 216).
NOTE: HP recommends that you also make the name service itself highly available,
either by using multiple name servers or by configuring the name service into a
Serviceguard package.
Ensuring Consistency of Kernel Configuration
Make sure that the HP-UX kernel configurations of all cluster nodes are consistent with
the expected behavior of the cluster during failover. In particular, if you change any
kernel parameters on one cluster node, they may also need to be changed on other
cluster nodes that can run the same packages.
Enabling the Network Time Protocol
HP strongly recommends that you enable network time protocol (NTP) services on
each node in the cluster. The use of NTP, which runs as a daemon process on each
system, ensures that the system time on all nodes is consistent, resulting in consistent
timestamps in log files and consistent behavior of message services. This ensures that
applications running in the cluster are correctly synchronized. The NTP services daemon,
xntpd, should be running on all nodes before you begin cluster configuration. The
NTP configuration file is /etc/ntp.conf.
For information about configuring NTP services, refer to the HP-UX manual HP-UX
Internet Services Administrator’s Guide posted at www.hp.com/go/
hpux-networking-docs.
222 Building an HA Cluster Configuration