Intel_RAID_HA_Solution_RHEL_WhitePaper

Intel® RAID High Availability Solution for Red Hat* Linux Systems White Paper Installation
Revision 1.0 Intel Confidential
17
2.9.2 Configure the Fence Devices
Fencing is the process of locking resources away from a node whose status is uncertain. There
are a variety of fencing techniques available:
 Power fencing – A fencing method that uses a power controller to power off an
inoperable node.
 Fibre Channel switch fencing – A fencing method that disables the Fibre Channel port
that connects storage to an inoperable node.
 GNBD fencing – A fencing method that disables an inoperable node's access to a GNBD
server.
 IPMI fencing – A fencing method that uses IPMI protocal and BMC to power off an
inoperable node.
The user should select proper fencing method according to actual needs.
Intel server usually has BMC and supports IPMI spec 2.0. IPMI fencing has the advantage of a
lower cost with no additional HW investment. This section uses IPMI fencing configuration as an
example.
1. Set up the BMC IP address, account, and password for each node in the cluster. Refer
to the Intel
®
Server Management Guide
(http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-030462.htm) for how to set up
the BMC properties. For example:
Nodes Name
BMC IP
BMC Account Name
BMC Account Password
HA01.SH
192.168.144.21
admin
password
HA02.SH
192.168.144.32
admin
password
2. Install IPMItool on each node with command yum install ipmitool.
3. Verify the BMC configuration.
Run the following ipmitool command on node HA02.SH to check the system power status
of HA01.SH. You cannot check the power status of HA02.SH on the same node.
Figure 12. Verify IPMI Settings
The BMC configuration is well if you can get its power status.
4. Add a fence method for the node, providing a name for the fence method with the
following command:
ccs -h host --addmethod method node