6.3

Table Of Contents
Reference Guide
66 VMware, Inc.
Causes
Themostcommoncausesoftwoactiveservers(Splitbrainsyndrome)areasfollows:
LossoftheVMwareChannelconnection(mostcommoninaWANenvironment)
Theactiveserveristoobusytorespondtoheartbeats
IncorrectconfigurationofthevCenterServerHeartbeatsoftware
YoumustdeterminethecauseoftheSplitbrainsyndromeandresolvetheissuetopreventthisconditionfrom
recurring.
Resolution
ToresolveSplitbrainsyndrome,identifytheserverwiththemostuptodatedata.Ifyouidentifythewrong
serveryourisklosingdata.Youmustreinstatethecorrectserver.
To identify the server with the most up-to-date data
1Checkthedateandtimeoffilesonbothservers.Makethemostuptodateservertheactiveserver.
2FromaclientPConaLAN,runnbtstat -A 192.168.1.1wheretheIPaddressisthePrincipal(Public)
IPaddressoftheserver.ThiscanhelpidentifytheMACaddressoftheservercurrentlyvisibletoclient
machines.
To resolve two active servers (Split-brain syndrome)
1Identifytheserverwiththemostuptodatedataortheserverto
makeactive.
2ShutdownvCenterServerHeartbeatonbothservers(ifrunning).
3Ontheservertomakepassive,rightclicktheTaskbaricon,andselecttheServerConfigurationwizard.
4ClicktheMachinetabandsettheserverroletopassive.Donotchangetheidentityoftheserver(Primary
or
Secondary).
5ClickFinish.
6Restartthisserver.
7StartvCenterServerHeartbeat,ifrequired,andcheckthattheTaskbariconnowreflectsthechangesby
showingP/‐(PrimaryandPassive)orS/‐(SecondaryandPassive).
8Ontheactiveserver,rightclicktheTaskbariconandselecttheServerConfiguration
wizard.
9ClicktheMachinetabandverifythattheserverroleissettoactive.Donotchangetheidentityofthe
server(PrimaryorSecondary).
10 ClickFinish.
11 Restartthisserver.Astheserverrestarts,itconnectstothepassiveserverandstartsreplication.Theactive
serveroverwritesdataonthe
passiveserver.
12 StartvCenterServerHeartbeat,ifrequired,andcheckthattheTaskbariconnowreflectsthechangesby
showingP/A(Primaryandactive)orS/A(Secondaryandactive).
13 StartvCenterServerHeartbeatConsole.
14 Checkthattheservershaveconnectedandreplicationhasstarted.
NOTEIfbothactiveserverswereservicingclients,perhapsatdifferentWANlocations,youcanmake
onlyoneserveractive.BothserverscontainrecentdatathatcannotbemergedusingvCenterServer
Heartbeat.Torestartreplication,makeoneserveractiveandoneserverpassive.Whenreplicationrestarts,
theactiveserveroverwrites
alldataonthepassiveserver.Youcanmanuallyextracttheuptodatedata
fromthepassiveserverpriortorestartingreplication.ConsulttheMicrosoftknowledgebasefor
informationonvarioustoolsforthispurpose.Forfurtherinformation,contactyourVMwaresupport
representative.