Extending Your NFS Hierarchy

After you have created a hierarchy, you will want to extend that hierarchy to another server in the cluster. There are two possible scenarios to extend your resource instance from the template server to a target server. The first scenario is when you “Continue” from creating the resource into extending that resource to another server. The other scenario is when you enter the Extend Resource Hierarchy task from the edit menu as shown below. Both scenarios take you through the same dialog boxes (with a few exceptions, which are detailed below).

1. If you are entering the Extend Wizard from the LifeKeeper GUI menu, select Edit, then Resource. From the drop-down menu, select Extend Resource Hierarchy. This will launch the Extend Resource Hierarchy wizard.

2. The first dialog box to appear will ask you select the Template Server where your NFS resource hierarchy is currently in service. It is important to remember that the Template Server you select now and the Tag to Extend that you select in the next dialog box represent an in service resource hierarchy. An error message will appear if you select a resource tag that is not in service on the template server you selected. The drop-down box in this dialog provides the names of all the servers in your cluster.

*Note: If you are entering the Extend Resource Hierarchy task immediately following the creation of a NFS resource hierarchy, this dialog box will not appear, since the wizard has already identified the template server in the create stage. This is also the case when you right click on either the NFS resource icon in the left hand pane or right‑click on the NFS resource box in the right hand pane on the of the GUI window and choose Extend Resource Hierarchy.

*Note: If you click the Cancel button at any time during the sequence of extending your hierarchy, LifeKeeper will cancel the extension process to that particular server. LifeKeeper will also unextend any dependent resources in the hierarchy (IP address or file system) that are currently extended past the cancellation point. However, if you have already extended the NFS resource hierarchy to another server, that instance will continue to be in effect until you specifically unextend it.

For example, let’s say you have created your resource on Server 1 and extended that resource to Server 2. In the middle of extending the same resource to Server 3, you change your mind and click on the Cancel button inside one of the dialog boxes. This will cancel only your action to extend the resource to Server 3, not the extension you created to Server 2. If you want to remove Server 2 from this hierarchy, you must unextend the resource from Server 2.

Click Next to proceed to the next dialog box.

3. Select the Tag to Extend. This is the name of the NFS instance you wish to extend from the template server to the target server. The wizard will list in the drop down menu all the resources that you have created on the template server, which you selected in the previous dialog box.

*Note: Once again, if you are entering the Extend Resource Hierarchy task immediately following the creation of an NFS resource hierarchy, this dialog box will not appear, since the wizard has already identified the tag name of your NFS resource in the create stage. This is also the case when you right-click on either the NFS resource icon in the left hand pane or on the NFS resource box in the right hand pane of the GUI window and choose Extend Resource Hierarchy.

Click Next to proceed to the next dialog box.

4. Select the Target Server where you are extending your NFS resource hierarchy. The drop-down box provides the names of the servers in your cluster that are not already in the selected hierarchy.

Click Next to proceed to the next dialog box.

5. Select the Switchback Type. This dictates how the NFS instance will be switched back to the primary server when it comes back into service after a failover to the backup server. You can choose either intelligent or automatic. Intelligent switchback requires administrative intervention to switch the instance back to the primary/original server. Automatic switchback means the switchback will occur as soon as the primary server comes back on line and is under LifeKeeper protection.

The switchback type can be changed later, if desired, from the General tab of the Resource Properties dialog box.

Click Next to proceed to the next dialog box.

6. Select or enter a Template Priority. This is the priority for the NFS hierarchy on the server where it is currently in service. Any unused priority value from 1 to 999 is valid, where a lower number means a higher priority (1=highest). The extend process will reject any priority for this hierarchy that is already in use by another system. The default value is recommended. Note: This selection will appear only for the initial extend of the hierarchy.

Click Next.

7. Select or enter the Target Priority. This is the priority for the new extended NFS hierarchy relative to equivalent hierarchies on other servers. Any unused priority value from 1 to 999 is valid, indicating a server’s priority in the cascading failover sequence for the resource. A lower number means a higher priority (1=highest). Note that LifeKeeper assigns the number “1” to the server on which the hierarchy is created by default. The priorities need not be consecutive, but no two servers can have the same priority for a given resource.

Click Next.

8. An information box will appear explaining that LifeKeeper has successfully checked your environment and that all the requirements for extending this NFS resource have been met. If there were some requirements that had not been met, LifeKeeper would not allow you to select Next, and the Back button would be enabled.

If you click Back, you can make changes to your resource extension according to any error messages that may appear in the information box.

If you click Cancel now, you will need to come back and extend your NFS resource hierarchy to another server at some other time to put it under LifeKeeper protection.

When you click Next, LifeKeeper will launch you into the Extend Resource Hierarchy configuration task and the NFS Tag dialog box will display.

9. This screen provides information about the Template Server, Tag to Extend, Target Server and the default NFS Tag. The NFS Tag is a tag name given to the NFS hierarchy extension. You can select the default or enter your own tag name.

Click Next to proceed to the next dialog box.

10. An information box will appear verifying that the extension is being performed.

*Note: If you have not already extended the IP resource to the target server, the NFS Server Recovery Kit extends it in the process of extending the NFS resource. Before displaying the extension verification information box, the Recovery Kit displays several additional dialog boxes related to the extension of the IP resource.

Click Next Server if you want to extend the same NFS resource instance to another server in your cluster. This will repeat the Extend Resource Hierarchy operation.

If you click Finish, LifeKeeper will verify that the extension of the NFS resource was completed successfully.

11. If you click Finish, the following screen appears.

12. Click Done to exit.

*Note: Be sure to test the functionality of the new instance on both servers.