SAP HANA System Replication Scale-Out - Performance Optimized Scenario #

This document describes how to set up an automation of an SAP HANA scale-out system replication cluster installed on two sites based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2. This concept can also be used with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 or newer.

To give a better overview the installation and setup is subdivided into seven steps.

Figure 1: [Planning] [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

After the setup process you will have a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications cluster controlling two 'swarms' of SAP HANA scale-out in a system replication configuration. The architecture is named the 'performance optimized scenario'.

Figure 2: Cluster with SAP HANA SR - performance optimized #

 

Planning the installation is essential for a successful SAP HANA cluster setup.

Figure 3: Planning [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

What you need before you start:

3.1 Minimum lab requirements and prerequisites #

 

This section defines some minimum requirements to install SAP HANA scale-out.

Note

The minimum lab requirements mentioned here are no SAP sizing information. These data are provided only to rebuild the described cluster in a lab for test purposes. Even for such tests the requirements can increase depending on your test scenario. For productive systems ask your hardware vendor or use the official SAP sizing tools and services.

Note

Refer to SAP HANA TDI documentation for allowed storage configuration and file systems.

Figure 4: Simplified NFS share structure of a 2+1:2+1 SAP HANA system replication #

 

Requirements with 3 SAP instances per site (2+1 : 2+1) - with a majority maker:

• 6 VMs with each 32 GB RAM, 50 GB disk space

• 1 VM with 2 GB RAM, 50 GB disk space

• 1 shared disk for SBD with 10 MB disk space

• 2 NFS pools (one per site) with a capacity of each 96 GB

• 1 additional IP address for takeover

Figure 5: Simplified NFS share structure of a 3+2:3+2 SAP HANA system replication #

 

Requirements with 5 SAP HANA instances per site (3+2 : 3+2) - with a majority maker:

• 10 VMs with each 32 GB RAM, 50 GB disk space

• 1 VM with 2 GB RAM, 50 GB disk space

• 1 shared disk for SBD with 10 MB disk space

• 2 NFS pools (one per site) with a capacity of each 132 GB

• 1 additional IP address for takeover

The SBD based fencing needs up to 3 shared block devices.

Figure 6: Additionally to the NFS shares: All cluster nodes need to have access to the SBD block devices #

 

3.3 Scale-out scenario and resource agents #

 

To automate the failover, the High Availability Extension built into SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is used. Two resource agents have been created to handle the scenario.

The first is the SAPHanaController resource agent (RA), which checks and manages the SAP HANA database instances. This RA is configured as a master/slave resource.

The master assumes responsibility for the active master name server of the SAP HANA database running in primary mode. All other instances are represented by the slave mode.

Figure 7: Cluster resource agents and master/slave status mapping #

 

The second resource agent is SAPHanaTopology. This RA has been created to make configuring the cluster as simple as possible. It runs on all nodes (beside the majority maker) of a SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 12 cluster. It gathers information about the statuses and configurations of the SAP HANA system replication. It is designed as a normal (stateless) clone resource.

SAP HANA system replication for scale-out is supported in the following scenarios or use cases:

Performance optimized, single container (A > B)

This scenario and setup is described in this document. In the performance optimized scenario an SAP HANA RDBMS on site "A" is synchronizing with an SAP HANA RDBMS on a second site "B". As the SAP HANA RDBMS on the second site is configured to preload the tables the takeover time is typically very short.

Performance optimized, multi-tenancy also named MDC (%A > %B)

Multi-tenancy is supported for all of the above scenarios and use cases. This scenario is supported since SAP HANA 1 SPS12. The setup and configuration from a cluster point of view is the same for multi-tenancy and single containers. Thus you can use the above documents for both types of scenarios.

Multi-tenancy is the default installation type for SAP HANA 2.0.

3.5 Important prerequisites #

 

Read the SAP Notes and papers first.

The SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut resource agent software package supports scale-out (multiple-box to multiple-box) system replication with the following configurations and parameters:

• The cluster must include a valid STONITH method.

• As the STONITH mechanism SBD is recommended.

• Both sites are either in the same network segment (layer 2) to allow an easy takeover of an IP Address, or you need a technique like overlay IP addresses in virtual private clouds.

• Technical users and groups, such as <sid>adm are defined locally in the Linux system.

• Name resolution of the cluster nodes and the virtual IP address should be done locally on all cluster nodes to not depend on DNS services (as it can fail, too).

• Time synchronization between the cluster nodes using reliable time services like NTP.

• Both SAP HANA sites have the same SAP Identifier (SID) and instance number.

• The SAP HANA scale-out system must have only one active master name server per site. It should have up to three master name server candidates (SAP HANA nodes with a configured role 'master<N>').

• The SAP HANA scale-out system must have only one failover group.

• The cluster described in this document does not manage any service IP address for a read-enabled secondary site.

• There is only one SAP HANA system replication like from site "A" to site "B" but no third site "C" (also called multi-tier or multi-target).

• The setup implements the performance optimized scenario but not the cost optimized scenario.

• The saphostagent must be running. saphostagent is needed to translate between the system node names and SAP host names used during the installation of SAP HANA.

• The replication mode should be either 'sync' or 'syncmem'.

• All SAP HANA instances controlled by the cluster must not be activated via sapinit autostart.

Important

Automated registration of a failed primary after takeover is possible. But as a good starting configuration for projects, it is recommended to switch off the automated registration of a failed primary, therefore the AUTOMATED_REGISTER="false" is the default.

In this case, you need to register a failed primary after a takeover manually. Use SAP tools like SAP HANA Cockpit or hdbnsutil.

• Automated start of SAP HANA instances during system boot must be switched off.

• You need at least SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut version 0.161, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 and SAP HANA 1.0 SPS12 (121) or SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 2 for all mentioned setups.

Important

You must implement a valid STONITH method. Without a valid STONITH method, the complete cluster is unsupported and will not work properly.

This setup-guide focuses on the performance optimized setup as it is the only supported scenario at the point of writing this guide.

If you need to implement a different scenario, it is strongly recommended to define a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) with SUSE. This PoC will focus on testing the existing solution in your scenario. The limitation of most of the above items is mostly due to testing limits.

This section includes information you should consider during the installation of the operating system.

Figure 8: [Planning] OsSetup [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

In this document, first SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is installed and configured. Then the SAP HANA database including the system replication is set up. Finally the automation with the cluster is set up and configured.

zypper remove SAPHanaSR

Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following 3 packages are going to be REMOVED:
  patterns-sap-hana SAPHanaSR yast2-sap-ha

The following pattern is going to be REMOVED:
  sap-hana

3 packages to remove.
After the operation, 494.2 KiB will be freed.
Continue? [y/n/...? shows all options] (y): y
(1/3) Removing patterns-sap-hana-12.3-6.8.2.x86_64 ..............................[done]
(2/3) Removing yast2-sap-ha-1.0.0-2.5.12.noarch .................................[done]
(3/3) Removing SAPHanaSR-0.152.21-1.1.noarch ....................................[done]

zypper in SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-doc

Refreshing service 'Advanced_Systems_Management_Module_12_x86_64'.
Refreshing service 'SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_for_SAP_Applications_12_SP3_x86_64'.
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following 2 NEW packages are going to be installed:
  SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-doc

2 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 539.1 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 763.1 KiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/...? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-0.161.1-1.1.noarch                                                                            (1/2),  48.7 KiB (211.8 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-0.161.1-1.1.noarch.rpm ....................................[done]
Retrieving package SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-doc-0.161.1-1.1.noarch                                                                        (2/2), 490.4 KiB (551.3 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-doc-0.161.1-1.1.noarch.rpm ................................[done (48.0 KiB/s)]
Checking for file conflicts: .............................................................[done]
(1/2) Installing: SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-0.161.1-1.1.noarch ..................................[done]
(2/2) Installing: SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut-doc-0.161.1-1.1.noarch ..............................[done]

zypper in --type pattern ha_sles

# zypper patch

# zypper update

4.2 Configuring SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications to run SAP HANA #

 

4.2.1 Tuning or modifying #

 

Operating system tuning are described in SAP note 1275776 and 2205917. The SAP note 1275776 explains three ways to implementing the settings.

Example 4: Using saptune (preferred) #

 

# saptune solution apply HANA

The SAP note 2205917 covers the following modifications:

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 GA (no SP) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 Linux kernel upgrade

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 Linux kernel upgrade

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 Linux kernel upgrade

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 Linux kernel upgrade

• Additional 3rd-party kernel modules

• Configure tuned to use profile "sap-hana" (applies to Intel-based systems only)

• Increase UserTasksMax

• Turn off NUMA balancing

• Disable transparent hugepages

• Configure C-States for lower latency in Linux (applies to Intel-based systems only)

• CPU Frequency/Voltage scaling (applies to Intel-based systems only)

• Energy Performance Bias (EPB, applies to Intel-based systems only)

• Turn off kernel samepage merging (KSM)

• IBM EnergyScale for POWER8 Processor-Based Systems (applies to IBM Power systems only)

• Linux page cache limit

• Network settings

• Intel Cluster-On-Die (COD) / sub-NUMA clustering technology

4.2.2 Enabling SSH access via public key (optional) #

 

Public key authentication provides SSH users access to their servers without entering their passwords. SSH keys are also more secure than passwords, because the private key used to secure the connection is never shared. Private keys can also be encrypted. Their encrypted contents cannot easily be read. For the document at hand, a very simple but useful setup is used. This setup is based on only one ssh-key pair which enables SSH access to all cluster nodes.

Note

Follow your company security policy to set up access to the systems.

Example 5: SSH key creation and exchange #

 

As user root create an SSH key on one node.

# ssh-keygen -t rsa

The ssh-key generation asks for missing parameters.

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:ip/8kdTbYZNuuEUAdsaYOAErkwnkAPBR7d2SQIpIZCU root@<host1>
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
|XEooo+ooo+o      |
|=+.= o=.o+.      |
|..B o. + o.      |
|   o  . +... .   |
|        S.. *    |
|     . o . B o   |
|    . . o o =    |
|     o . . +     |
|      +.. .      |
+----[SHA256]-----+

After the ssh-keygen is set up, you will have two new files under /root/.ssh/ .

# ls /root/.ssh/
id_rsa  id_rsa.pub

To allow password-free access for the user root between nodes in the cluster copy id_rsa.pub to authorized_keys and set the required permissions.

# cp /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
# chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Collect the public host keys from all other node. For the document at hand, the ssh-keyscan command is used.

# ssh-keyscan

The SSH host key is automatically collected and stored in the file /root/.ssh/known_host during the first SSH connection. To avoid to confirm the first login with "yes", which accepts the host key, collect and store them beforehand.

# ssh-keyscan -t ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 <host1>,<host1 ip> >>.ssh/known_hosts
# ssh-keyscan -t ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 <host2>,<host2 ip> >>.ssh/known_hosts
# ssh-keyscan -t ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 <host3>,<host3 ip> >>.ssh/known_hosts
...

After collecting all host keys push the entire directory /root/.ssh/ from the first node to all further cluster members.

# rsync -ay /root/.ssh/ <host2>:/root/.ssh/
# rsync -ay /root/.ssh/ <host3>:/root/.ssh/
# rsync -ay /root/.ssh/ <host4>:/root/.ssh/
...

4.2.3 Setting up disk layout for SAP HANA #

 

An SAP certified storage system with a validated storage API is generally recommended. This is a prerequisite of a stable and reliable scale-out installation.

• /hana/shared/<SID>

• /hana/data/<SID>

• /hana/log/<SID>

Create the mount directories on all SAP HANA nodes.

# mkdir -p /hana/shared/<SID>
# mkdir -p /hana/data/<SID>
# mkdir -p /hana/log/<SID>
# mkdir -p /usr/sap

The SAP HANA installation needs a special storage setup. The NFS setup used for this guide must be reboot-persistent. You can achieve this with entries in the /etc/fstab.

Note

NFS version 4 is required in the setup at hand.

Example 6: Create permanent mount entries for all NFS pools #

 

Create /etc/fstab entries for the three NFS pools.

<nfs1>  /hana/data/<SID>      nfs4  defaults  0 0
<nfs2>  /hana/shared/<SID>    nfs4  defaults  0 0
<nfs3> /hana/log/<SID>        nfs4  defaults  0 0

In the sample environment those lines are as follows:

/exports/HA1_WDF1/shared  /hana/data/HA1      nfs4  defaults  0 0
/exports/HA1_WDF1/data  /hana/shared/HA1    nfs4  defaults  0 0
/exports/HA1_WDF1/log /hana/log/HA1        nfs4  defaults  0 0

Mount all NFS shares.

# mount -a

Create other directories (optional).

# mkdir -p /sapsoftware

File systems

/hana/shared/<SID>

The mount directory is used for shared files between all hosts in an SAP HANA system. This directory needs to be accessible to each of the servers in the SAP HANA cluster.

/hana/log/<SID>

The default path to the log directory depends on the system ID of the SAP HANA host.

/hana/data/<SID>

The default path to the data directory depends on the system ID of the SAP HANA host.

/usr/sap

This is the path to the local SAP system instance directories. It is possible to join this location with the Linux installation.

/sapsoftware

(optional) Space for copying the SAP install software media. This NFS pool is mounted on both sites and contains the SAP HANA installation media and installation parameter files.

Set up host name resolution for all machines.

You can either use a DNS server or modify the /etc/hosts on all nodes.

With maintaining the /etc/hosts file, you minimize the impact of a failing DNS service. Replace the IP address and the host name in the following commands.

vi /etc/hosts

Insert the following lines to /etc/hosts. Change the IP address and host name to match your environment.

192.168.201.151 suse01
192.168.201.152 suse02
...

Enable NTP service on all nodes.

Simply enable an ntp service on all node in the cluster to have proper time synchronization.

yast2 ntp-client

The infrastructure is set up. Now install the SAP HANA database on both sites. In a cluster a machine is also called a node.

Figure 9: [Planning] [OsSetup] SAPHanaInst [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

In the example at hand, to make it easier to follow the documentation, the machines (or nodes) are named suse01, …​ suseXX. The nodes with odd numbers (suse01, suse03, suse05, …​) will be part of site "A" (WDF1) and the nodes with even numbers (suse02, suse04, suse06, …​) will be part of site "B"(ROT1) .

The following users are automatically created during the SAP HANA installation:

This section describes the setup of the system replication (HSR) after SAP HANA has been installed properly.

Procedure

Figure 10: [Planning] [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] SAPHanaHsr [Integration] [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

For more information read the Section Setting Up System Replication of the SAP HANA Administration Guide.

6.1 Backing up the primary database #

 

First back up the primary database as described in the SAP HANA Administration Guide, Section SAP HANA Database Backup and Recovery.

Below find examples to back up SAP HANA with SQL Commands:

Example 14: Simple backup for the system database and all tenants with one single backup call #

 

As user <sid>adm enter the following command:

~> hdbsql -i {refInst} -u SYSTEM -d SYSTEMDB \
   "BACKUP DATA FOR FULL SYSTEM USING FILE ('backup')"

You get the following command output (or similar):

0 rows affected (overall time 15.352069 sec; server time 15.347745 sec)

Example 15: Simple backup for a single container (non-MDC) database #

 

Enter the following command as user <sid>adm:

~> hdbsql -i <Inst> -u <dbuser> \
   "BACKUP DATA USING FILE ('backup')"

Important

Without a valid backup, you cannot bring SAP HANA into a system replication configuration.

~> hdbnsutil -sr_enable --name=WDF1

nameserver is active, proceeding ...
successfully enabled system as system replication source site
done.

~> hdbnsutil -sr_stateConfiguration

checking for active or inactive nameserver ...
System Replication State
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mode: primary
site id: 1
site name: WDF1
done.

~> sapcontrol -nr <Inst> -function StopSystem

cd /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/global/security/rsecssfs
rsync -va {,<node1-siteB>:}$PWD/data/SSFS_<SID>.DAT
rsync -va {,<node1-siteB>:}$PWD/key/SSFS_<SID>.KEY

~> hdbnsutil -sr_register --name=<site2> \
     --remoteHost=<node1-siteA> --remoteInstance=<Inst> \
     --replicationMode=sync --operationMode=logreplay

adding site ...
checking for inactive nameserver ...
nameserver suse02:30001 not responding.
collecting information ...
updating local ini files ...
done.

~> sapcontrol -nr <Inst> -function StartSystem

~> hdbnsutil -sr_stateConfiguration

System Replication State
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mode: sync
site id: 2
site name: ROT1
active primary site: 1

primary masters: suse01 suse03 suse05
done.

~> HDBSettings.sh systemReplicationStatus.py

| Database | Host   | .. Site Name | Secondary | .. Secondary | .. Replication
|          |        | ..           | Host      | .. Site Name | .. Status
| -------- | ------ | .. --------- | --------- | .. --------- | .. ------
| SYSTEMDB | suse01 | .. WDF1      | suse02    | .. ROT1      | .. ACTIVE
| HA1      | suse01 | .. WDF1      | suse02    | .. ROT1      | .. ACTIVE
| HA1      | suse01 | .. WDF1      | suse02    | .. ROT1      | .. ACTIVE
| HA1      | suse03 | .. WDF1      | suse04    | .. ROT1      | .. ACTIVE

status system replication site "2": ACTIVE
overall system replication status: ACTIVE

Local System Replication State
~~~~~~~~~~

mode: PRIMARY
site id: 1
site name: WDF1

Figure 11: [Planning] [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] Integration [Cluster] [Testing] #

 

Proceed with the following steps:

Procedure

7.1 Implementing the Python hook SAPHanaSR #

 

This step must be done on both sites. The hook must be available on all SAP HANA nodes. SAP HANA must be stopped to change the global.ini and allow SAP HANA to integrate the HA/DR hook script during start. Use the hook script SAPHanaSR.py from the SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut package. See manual pages SAPHanaSR.py(7) and SAPHanaSR-manageProvider(8) for details.

• Install the HA/DR hook script into a read/writable directory

• Integrate the hook into global.ini (SAP HANA needs to be stopped for doing that offline)

• Check integration of the hook during start-up

Note

All hook scripts should be used directly from the SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut package. If the scripts are moved or copied, regular SUSE package updates will not work.

Stop SAP HANA.

~> sapcontrol -nr <Inst> -function StopSystem

Example 24: Adding SAPHanaSR via global.ini #

 

[ha_dr_provider_SAPHanaSR]
provider = SAPHanaSR
path = /usr/share/SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut
execution_order = 1

[trace]
ha_dr_saphanasr = info

[system_replication]
operation_mode = logreplay

# SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut needs for srHook
<sid>adm ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/crm_attribute -n hana_<sid>_glob_srHook -v *

# SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut needs for srHook
Cmnd_Alias SOK   = /usr/sbin/crm_attribute -n hana_<sid>_glob_srHook -v SOK   -t crm_config -s SAPHanaSR
Cmnd_Alias SFAIL = /usr/sbin/crm_attribute -n hana_<sid>_glob_srHook -v SFAIL -t crm_config -s SAPHanaSR
<sid>adm ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: SOK, SFAIL

# SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut needs for srHook
ha1adm ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/crm_attribute -n hana_ha1_glob_srHook -v *

~> sapcontrol -nr <Inst> -function StartSystem

11.06.2018 18:30:16
StartSystem
OK

~> sapcontrol -nr <Inst> -function WaitforStarted 300 20

cd /hana/shared/myHooks; ll

-rw-r--r-- 1 <sid>adm sapsys 4890 May  4 14:40 SAPHanaSR.py
-rw-r--r-- 1 <sid>adm sapsys 4932 Jun 11 15:00 SAPHanaSR.pyc

suse01:ha1adm> cdtrace
suse01:ha1adm> awk '/ha_dr_SAPHanaS.*crm_attribute/ \
     { printf "%s %s %s %s\n",$2,$3,$5,$16 }' nameserver_suse01.*
2018-05-04 12:34:04.476445 ha_dr_SAPHanaS...SFAIL
2018-05-04 12:53:06.316973 ha_dr_SAPHanaS...SOK

This chapter describes the configuration of the SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability cluster. The SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. Further, the integration of SAP HANA System Replication with the SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability cluster is explained. The integration is done by using the SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut package which is also part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications.

Figure 12: [Planning] [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] Cluster [Testing] #

 

Procedure

# zypper in -t pattern ha_sles

# zypper in SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut

zypper patch

8.2 Configuring the basic cluster #

 

After having installed the cluster packages, the next step is to set up the basic cluster framework. For convenience, use YaST or the ha-cluster-init script.

Important

It is strongly recommended to add a second corosync ring, implement unicast (UCAST) communication and adjust the timeout values to your environment.

Prerequisites

• Name resolution

• Time synchronization

• Redundant network for cluster intercommunication

• STONITH method

8.2.1 Setting up watchdog for "Storage-based Fencing" #

 

It is recommended to use Storage-based Fencing (SBD) as central STONITH device, as done in the example at hand. Each node constantly monitors connectivity to the storage device, and terminates itself in case the partition becomes unreachable. Whenever SBD is used, a correctly working watchdog is crucial. Modern systems support a hardware watchdog that needs to be "tickled" or "fed" by a software component. The software component (usually a daemon) regularly writes a service pulse to the watchdog. If the daemon stops feeding the watchdog, the hardware will enforce a system restart. This protects against failures of the SBD process itself, such as dying, or getting stuck on an I/O error.

Example 28: Set up for Watchdog #

 

Important

Access to the watchdog timer: No other software must access the watchdog timer. Some hardware vendors ship systems management software that uses the watchdog for system resets (for example, HP ASR daemon). Disable such software, if watchdog is used by SBD.

Determine the right watchdog module. Alternatively, you can find a list of installed drivers with your kernel version.

# ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/watchdog

Check if any watchdog module is already loaded.

# lsmod | egrep "(wd|dog|i6|iT|ibm)"

If you get a result, the system has already a loaded watchdog. If the watchdog does not match your watchdog device, you need to unload the module.

To safely unload the module, check first if an application is using the watchdog device.

# lsof /dev/watchdog
# rmmod <wrong_module>

Enable your watchdog module and make it persistent. For the example below, softdog has been used which has some restrictions and should not be used as first option.

# echo softdog > /etc/modules-load.d/watchdog.conf
# systemctl restart systemd-modules-load

Check if the watchdog module is loaded correctly.

# lsmod | grep dog

Testing the watchdog can be done with a simple action. Ensure to switch of your SAP HANA first because watchdog will force an unclean reset / shutdown of your system.

In case of a hardware watchdog a desired action is predefined after the timeout of the watchdog has reached. If your watchdog module is loaded and not controlled by any other application, do the following:

Important

Triggering the watchdog without continuously updating the watchdog resets/switches off the system. This is the intended mechanism. The following commands will force your system to be reset/switched off.

# touch /dev/watchdog

In case the softdog module is used the following action can be performed:

# echo 1> /dev/watchdog

After your test was successful you can implement the watchdog on all cluster members. The example below applies to the softdog module. Replace <wrong_module> by the module name queried before.

# for i in suse{02,03,04,05,06,-mm}; do
    ssh -T $i <<EOSSH
        hostname
        rmmod <wrong_module>
        echo softdog > /etc/modules-load.d/watchdog.conf
        systemctl restart systemd-modules-load
        lsmod |grep -e dog
EOSSH
done

8.2.2 Setting up the initial cluster using ha-cluster-init #

 

For more detailed information about ha-cluster-* tools, see section Overview of the Bootstrap Scripts of the Installation and Setup Quick Start Guide for SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension at https://documentation.suse.com/sle-ha/12-SP4/html/SLE-HA-install-quick/art-ha-install-quick.html#sec-ha-inst-quick-bootstrap

Create an initial setup by using ha-cluster-init command. Follow the dialog steps.

Note

This is only to be done on the first cluster node. If you are using SBD as STONITH mechanism, you need to first load the watchdog kernel module matching your setup. In the example at hand the softdog kernel module is used.

The command ha_cluster-init configures the basic cluster framework including:

• SSH keys

• csync2 to transfer configuration files

• SBD (at least one device)

• corosync (at least one ring)

• HAWK Web interface

# ha-cluster-init -u -s <sbd-device>

As requested by ha-cluster-init, change the password of the user hacluster on all cluster nodes.

Note

Do not forget to change the password of the user hacluster.

8.2.3 Configuring the cluster for all other cluster nodes #

 

The other nodes of the cluster could be integrated by starting the command ha-cluster-join. This command asks for the IP address or name of the first cluster node. Then all needed configuration files are copied over. As a result the cluster is started on all nodes. Do not forget the majority maker.

If you are using SBD as STONITH method, you need to activate the softdog kernel module matching your systems. In the example at hand the softdog kernel module is used.

# ha-cluster-join -c <host1>

8.2.4 Checking the cluster for the first time #

 

Now it is time to check and optionally start the cluster for the first time on all nodes.

Note

All nodes should be started in parallel. Otherwise unseen nodes might get fenced.

Check the cluster status with crm_mon. Use the option -r to also see resources which are configured but stopped.

# crm_mon -r

The command will show the "empty" cluster and will print something like the screen output below. The most interesting information in this output is that there are seven nodes in the status "online" and the message "partition with quorum".

Stack: corosync
Current DC: suse05 (version 1.1.16-4.8-77ea74d) - partition with quorum
Last updated: Mon Jun 11 16:55:04 2018
Last change: Mon Jun 11 16:53:58 2018 by root via crm_attribute on suse02

7 nodes configured
1 resource configured

Online: [ suse-mm suse01 suse02 suse03 suse04 suse05 suse06 ]

Full list of resources:

stonith-sbd     (stonith:external/sbd): Started suse-mm

# vi crm-file<XX>
# crm configure load update crm-file<XX>

# vi crm-bs.txt

property $id="cib-bootstrap-options" \
              no-quorum-policy="freeze" \
              stonith-enabled="true" \
              concurrent-fencing="true" \
              stonith-action="reboot" \
              stonith-timeout="150s"
rsc_defaults $id="rsc-options" \
              resource-stickiness="1000" \
              migration-threshold="50"
op_defaults $id="op-options" \
              timeout="600"

crm configure load update crm-bs.txt

# vi crm-fencing.txt

primitive stonith-sbd stonith:external/sbd \
	params pcmk_action_limit=-1 pcmk_delay_max=1

# crm configure load update crm-fencing.txt

# crm configure property maintenance-mode=true

suse01:~ # vi crm-saphanatop.txt

primitive rsc_SAPHanaTop_<SID>_HDB<Inst> ocf:suse:SAPHanaTopology \
    op monitor interval="10" timeout="600" \
    op start interval="0" timeout="600" \
    op stop interval="0" timeout="300" \
    params SID="<SID>" InstanceNumber="<Inst>"

clone cln_SAPHanaTop_<SID>_HDB<Inst> rsc_SAPHanaTop_<SID>_HDB<Inst> \
    meta clone-node-max="1" interleave="true"

primitive rsc_SAPHanaTop_HA1_HDB00 ocf:suse:SAPHanaTopology \
    op monitor interval="10" timeout="600" \
    op start interval="0" timeout="600" \
    op stop interval="0" timeout="300" \
    params SID="HA1" InstanceNumber="00"

clone cln_SAPHanaTop_HA1_HDB00 rsc_SAPHanaTop_HA1_HDB00 \
    meta clone-node-max="1" interleave="true"

# crm configure load update crm-saphanatop.txt

# vi crm-saphanacon.txt

primitive rsc_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst> ocf:suse:SAPHanaController \
    op start interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op stop interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op promote interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op monitor interval="60" role="Master" timeout="700" \
    op monitor interval="61" role="Slave" timeout="700" \
    params SID="<SID>" InstanceNumber="<Inst>" \
        PREFER_SITE_TAKEOVER="true" \
        DUPLICATE_PRIMARY_TIMEOUT="7200" AUTOMATED_REGISTER="false"

ms msl_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst> rsc_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst> \
        meta clone-node-max="1" master-max="1" interleave="true"

primitive rsc_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00 ocf:suse:SAPHanaController \
    op start interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op stop interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op promote interval="0" timeout="3600" \
    op monitor interval="60" role="Master" timeout="700" \
    op monitor interval="61" role="Slave" timeout="700" \
    params SID="HA1" InstanceNumber="00" PREFER_SITE_TAKEOVER="true" \
        DUPLICATE_PRIMARY_TIMEOUT="7200" AUTOMATED_REGISTER="false"

ms msl_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00 rsc_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00 \
    meta clone-node-max="1" master-max="1" interleave="true"

# crm configure load update crm-saphanacon.txt

# vi crm-vip.txt

primitive rsc_ip_<SID>_HDB<Inst> ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2 \
    op monitor interval="10s" timeout="20s" \
    params ip="<IP>"

primitive rsc_ip_HA1_HDB00 ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2 \
    op monitor interval="10s" timeout="20s" \
    params ip="192.168.201.109"

# crm configure load update crm-vip.txt

# vi crm-cs.txt

colocation col_saphana_ip_<SID>_HDB<Inst> 2000: rsc_ip_<SID>_HDB<Inst>:Started \
    msl_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst>:Master

order ord_SAPHana_<SID>_HDB<Inst> Optional: cln_SAPHanaTop_<SID>_HDB<Inst> \
    msl_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst>

location SAPHanaCon_not_on_majority_maker msl_SAPHanaCon_<SID>_HDB<Inst> -inf: <majority maker>
location SAPHanaTop_not_on_majority_maker cln_SAPHanaTop_<SID>_HDB<Inst> -inf: <majority maker>

colocation col_saphana_ip_HA1_HDB00 2000: rsc_ip_HA1_HDB00:Started \
    msl_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00:Master

order ord_SAPHana_HA1_HDB00 Optional: cln_SAPHanaTop_HA1_HDB00 \
    msl_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00

location SAPHanaCon_not_on_majority_maker msl_SAPHanaCon_HA1_HDB00 -inf: suse-mm
location SAPHanaTop_not_on_majority_maker cln_SAPHanaTop_HA1_HDB00 -inf: suse-mm

# configure load update crm-cs.txt

# crm_attribute -G  -n hana_<sid>_glob_srHook

scope=crm_config  name=hana_<sid>_glob_srHook value=SFAIL

suse01:ha1adm> /usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/saphostctrl -function ListInstances
 Inst Info : HA1 - 00 - suse01 - 749, patch 418, changelist 1816226

# crm configure property maintenance-mode=false

Testing is one of the most important project tasks for implementing clusters. Proper testing is crucial. Make sure that all test cases derived from project or customer expectations are defined and passed completely. Without testing the project is likely to fail in production use.

Figure 13: [Planning] [OsSetup] [SAPHanaInst] [SAPHanaHsr] [Integration] [Cluster] Testing #

 

The test prerequisite, if not described differently, is always that all cluster nodes are booted, are already normal members of the cluster and the SAP HANA RDBMS is running. The system replication is in state SYNC represented by 'SOK'. The cluster is idle, no actions are pending, no migration constraints left over, no failcounts left over.

In the current version of this setup guide a plain list of test cases is provided. A more detailed description of the test cases is planned for future versions. These details will be provided either in an updated version of this guide or the test cases will be extracted to a separate test plan document.

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