SIOS TECHNOLOGY CORP.

Setting up LifeKeeper with Ansible

Overview

This guide describes the steps to automate the installation of LifeKeeper on multiple nodes with Ansible based on a response file. It is primarily intended to be used as a reference by users who are already using Ansible when adding LifeKeeper into their environment. This guide provides a sample of the required Ansible tasks. The settings should be changed according to your environment.

Environment

In this document, we are creating a 2-node configuration.

OS: CentOS 8.0
Python: 3.6.8
Ansible: 2.9.9
LifeKeeper: 9.5.1

Setting up Targets to Install LifeKeeper

Configuring a Host Name and Name Resolution Service

LifeKeeper must be able to resolve target names in the cluster. Configure the DNS service or /etc/hosts so that name resolution can be performed between cluster nodes. In this guide we configure /etc/hosts on each node. The settings are changed as shown below.

hosts.yml

---
# Register all the hosts on which ansible is executed in /etc/hosts
- name: update /etc/hosts
  lineinfile:
    dest: /etc/hosts
    state: present
    insertafter: EOF
    regexp: "^{{ item.address }}"
    line: "{{ item.address }}\t{{ item.hostname }}"
  with_items:
    - address: "10.1.6.88"
      hostname: "target1"
    - address: "10.1.6.89"
      hostname: "target2"
    - address: "10.1.6.87"
      hostname: "control-node"

Configuring a Firewall

If a firewall is enabled it is necessary to configure the firewall on each target. LifeKeeper communicates between targets using TCP port 7365. In this guide the port is set to the default: public zone.

firewall.yml

---
  - name: enable lifekeeper port
    firewalld:
      zone: public
      port: 7365/tcp
      permanent: yes
      state: enabled
    register: firewalld
 
  - name: reload
    command: firewall-cmd --reload
    when: firewalld.changed

Configuring SELinux

In order to use LifeKeeper, SELinux must be disabled. The settings are changed as shown below.

selinux.yml

---
- name: disable SELinux
  become: yes
  selinux: state=disabled
  register: selinux
 
- name: reboot a node
  become: yes
  reboot:
  when: selinux.reboot_required

Preparing for LifeKeeper Installation and Licensing

In order to install LifeKeeper non-interactively, a response file is required. If you already have a response file you can skip this step.

  1. Download the create_response_file script.

The create_response_file script can be obtained from the same FTP directory that contains the SIOS Protection Suite for Linux product image.

  1. Specify the file name and run the create_response_file script to create the configuration file.
# ./create_response_file /root/LifeKeeper/LKCONF
  1. When starting the create_response_file script the following menu screen is displayed.

  1. Select the Recovery Kits you want to install from the Recovery Kit Selection Menu.
  1. After setting up, select Done. Select Yes to exit and save the response file.

  1. Inspect the generated LKCONF file to confirm that your setup is correct. The following example shows a sample response file in which the user has selected the Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, DataKeeper for Linux, and Apache Recovery Kits.
# LifeKeeper setup response file
# DO NOT EDIT MANUALLY
LKCONF_INSTALL_JRE="y"
LKCONF_SELONLY="y"
LKCONF_AUTH="y"
LKCONF_LKUSER_lkadmin="root"
LKCONF_steeleye_lkORA="y"
LKCONF_steeleye_lkPGSQL="y"
LKCONF_steeleye_lkSQL="y"
LKCONF_steeleye_lkDR="y"
LKCONF_steeleye_lkAPA="y"

Distribute each Obtained File and Specify the Directory

  1. Distribute the obtained installation image, licenses for all cluster nodes, and the previously created response file to the control-node machine. The following example shows the directory structure used in this guide.
/root/lifekeeper/
   |- -sps.img: # LifeKeeper installation image
   |- -LKCONF: # Setup file for non-interactive LifeKeeper installation
   |- -licenses/
           |- - target1 # Set of license files for target1
           |- - target2 # Set of license files for target2

inventory

[targets]
target1
target2
  1. Specify the directories to use.

defaults/main.yml

---
# Directory to save files required for installation on the control-node
control_node_dir: /root/lifekeeper
# Directory to save files that are temporarily required for installation on the target
target_dir: /tmp/lifekeeper
# Mount directory of the installation image on the target
target_mnt: /mnt/LifeKeeper

The following steps must be performed on the targets.

Distribute the LifeKeeper Installation Image, License and Configuration File

deploy.yml

---
  - name: deploy to lifekeeper install files
    copy:
      src: "{{ control_node_dir }}/"
      dest: "{{ target_dir }}"

Mount the LifeKeeper Installation Image

mount.yml

---
  - name: mount setup image
    mount:
      path: "{{ target_mnt }}"
      src: "{{ target_dir }}/sps.img"
      fstype: iso9660
      state: mounted

Install LifeKeeper

install.yml

---
  - name: install lifekeeper
    shell:
      # If you run setup directly, it will fail.
      cmd: script -q -e -c "{{ target_mnt | quote }}/setup -f {{ target_dir | quote }}/LKCONF -q y" {{ target_dir | quote }}/lifekeeper_install.log

Add LifeKeeper Environment Changes

bash_profile.yml

---
  - name: update lifekeeper PATH in bash_profile
    blockinfile:
      path: /root/.bash_profile
      marker: "# {mark} ANSIBLE MANAGED BLOCK: LifeKeeper"
      block: |
        PATH=$PATH:/opt/LifeKeeper/bin
        MANPATH=$MANPATH:/opt/LifeKeeper/man
        export PATH MANPATH

Installing the LifeKeeper License

license.yml

---
- name: install lifekeeper license
  shell:
    cmd: |
      for file in `ls`; do
        /opt/LifeKeeper/bin/lkcli license --file $file
      done
    chdir: "{{ target_dir }}/licenses/{{ inventory_hostname }}"

Start LifeKeeper

lkstart.yml

---
- name: start lifekeeper
  command: /opt/LifeKeeper/bin/lkcli start
 
- name: lifekeeper status
  command: /opt/LifeKeeper/bin/lkcli status

Delete Unnecessary Files after Setting up LifeKeeper

clean.yml

---
  - name: unmount a mounted lifekeeper image
    mount:
      path: "{{ target_mnt }}"
      state: absent
  - name: delete lifekeeper files
    file:
      path: "{{ target_dir }}"
      state: absent

Sample Ansible Playbook

Once all of the task files in the previous sections have been created, they can be combined to create a play similar to the one given in the example playbook shown below.

deploy_lifekeeper.yml

---
- name: deploy and install lifekeeper on all targets
  hosts: targets
  tasks:
    - include_vars: main.yml
    - include_tasks: hosts.yml
    - include_tasks: firewall.yml
    - include_tasks: selinux.yml
    - include_tasks: deploy.yml
    - include_tasks: mount.yml
    - include_tasks: install.yml
    - include_tasks: bash_profile.yml
    - include_tasks: license.yml
    - include_tasks: lkstart.yml
    - include_tasks: clean.yml

This sample playbook can be executed as root with the command:

# ansible-playbook deploy_lifekeeper.yml -i inventory

or can be incorporated into an existing Ansible playbook.

After completing all tasks described in this guide, Ansible has been successfully configured to automatically install LifeKeeper on all cluster nodes specified in the inventory file.

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