6.4
Table Of Contents
- Administrator Guide
- Contents
- About This Book
- Getting Started
- Introduction
- Configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat
- System Administration and Management
- Server Protection
- Network Protection
- Application Protection
- Application Protection Overview
- Applications: Applications Tab
- Reset the Application Health Status
- View Application Status
- Setting the Application Timeout Exception
- Remove an Application
- Manually Start and Stop Applications
- Configuring Applications
- Application Maintenance Mode
- Reviewing the State of an Application
- Reviewing the Applications Log
- Filtering Application Log Entries
- Applications: Services Tab
- Applications: Tasks Tab
- Applications: Plug-ins Tab
- Status and Control
- vCenter Server Heartbeat Console
- About vCenter Server Heartbeat Console
- Work with Groups and Pairs
- Add, Edit, Move, and Remove Pairs in VCenter Server Heartbeat Groups
- Review the Status of vCenter Server Heartbeat Groups and Pairs
- Exit vCenter Server Heartbeat Console
- Shut Down Windows Without Stopping vCenter Server Heartbeat
- Controlled Shutdown
- vSphere Client Plug-in
- Uninstall vCenter Server Heartbeat
- Performance Protection
- Data Protection
- Alerts and Events
- Troubleshooting
- Troubleshooting Unexpected Behaviors
- Two Active Servers
- Two Passive Servers
- Synchronization Failures
- Registry Status is Out of Sync
- Channel Drops
- Subnet or Routing Issues
- MaxDiskUsage Errors
- MaxDiskUsage Error Messages
- [L9]Exceeded the Maximum Disk Usage (VCChannelExceededMaxDiskUsageException)
- [L9]Exceeded the Maximum Disk Usage on the ACTIVE Server
- [L9]Exceeded the Maximum Disk Usage on the PASSIVE Server
- [L20]Out of Disk Space (VCChannelOutOfDiskSpaceException)
- Application Slowdown
- Poor Application Performance
- Both Servers Can Accommodate the Initial Load but the Load Has Increased
- One Server Can Provide Adequate Resource Support, but the Other Cannot
- Scheduled Resource Intensive Tasks
- Glossary
VMware, Inc. 11
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This chapter includes the following topics:
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts” on page 11
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Protection Levels” on page 12
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Communications” on page 15
“vCenter Server Heartbeat Switchover and Failover Processes” on page 16
vCenter Server Heartbeat Concepts
vCenter Server Heartbeat is a Windows based service specifically designed to provide high availability
protection for vCenter Server configurations without requiring any specialized hardware.
Architecture Overview
vCenter Server Heartbeat uses an active / passive architecture which enables it to provide High Availability in
a Local Area Network (LAN) or Disaster Recovery in a Wide Area Network (WAN) for vCenter Server, View
Composer and SQL Server. The vCenter Server Heartbeat software is installed on an existing production
server known as the Primary server running the protected applications (vCenter Server, View and SQL
Server). An additional server, known as the Secondary server, operates as a ready standby server to provide
service in the event of an application, system, or hardware failure, or when the Administrator needs to perform
system maintenance. The terms Primary and Secondary refer to the identity of each server instance, and
normally these identities do not change.
Active / Passive Roles
The applications protected by vCenter Server Heartbeat will run on the active server. Only one server can be
active at any one time and the active server will host the Principal (Public) IP address which is used by clients
to access the application. The passive server is only accessible on the network via its assigned management IP
address. Active and passive refer to the role that the server is performing. The role can be changed by a failover
or when the administrator performs a switchover. To ensure the servers can provide a seamless switchover /
failover experience for clients, the servers need to be symmetrical. To ensure that the Secondary server has all
the programs and components installed in the same location, the install process includes a cloning procedure.
Clients will continue to connect to vCenter Server or SQL Server using the original and unique fully qualified
domain name that was used previously by clients. During installation, a service name is configured in vCenter
Server Heartbeat which will continue to resolve in DNS to the Public (Principal) IP address.
Introduction
1