6.6

3 Start intercepting updates to protected data and store the updates in the send queue of the local node.
4 Start all protected applications.The applications use the replicated application data to recover, and then
accept re-connections from any clients. Any updates that the applications make to the protected data are
intercepted and logged.
At this point, the originally active node is offline and the originally passive node is filling the active role and
running the protected applications. Any updates completed before the auto-failover are retained. Application
clients can reconnect to the application and continue running as before.
Resulting from a failed application or service
When an auto-failover occurs as the result of a failed protected application, auto-failover changes the roles of
the nodes but then stops vCenter Server Heartbeat on the previously active node to allow the administrator to
investigate the cause of the auto-failover and verify the integrity of the data.
After the cause of the auto-failover is determined and problems are corrected, the administrator can use the
Heartbeat tab of the vSphere Web Client or the vCenter Server Heartbeat Console to return the node roles to
their original state.
Figure 1- 8. Auto-Failover (protected application failure)
1 Stop the protected applications on the active node. After the protected applications stop, no more disk
updates are generated.
2 Send all updates that are still queued on the active node to the passive node. After this step, all updates
are available on the passive node.
3 Re-designate the Secondary as the new active node. After this step, vCenter Server Heartbeat:
■
Reassigns the Public IP address to the Secondary in a LAN or updates DNS in a WAN.
■
Makes the newly active node visible on the network. The newly active node begins to intercept and
queue disk I/O operations for the newly passive node.
4 vCenter Server Heartbeat causes the newly passive node to begin accepting updates from the active
node.
5 vCenter Server Heartbeat starts the same protected applications on the new active node. The protected
applications become accessible to users.
16 VMware, Inc.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Administrator's Guide