PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4 for AIX Enterprise Edition Notes®

New functions and features

Simplify SVC PPRC configuration tasks by using automatic discovery
Configuring SAN Volume Controller (SVC) Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) mirrors was a manual process in earlier releases. In PowerHA® SystemMirror® Version 7.2.4, or later, you can automatically configure SVC PPRC mirrors by using a discovery facility.
Non-root SVC mirror management
You can now specify alternative credentials instead of the root user credentials, which PowerHA SystemMirror uses to access the SVC storage management functions.

Software requirements

Before you install PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4, you must install all available service packs for AIX® and PowerHA SystemMirror from the IBM® Fix Central website.

PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4 is supported on the following versions of the AIX operating system:
  • IBM AIX 7.1 with Technology Level 4 with Service Pack 8, or later
  • IBM AIX 7.1 with Technology Level 5 with Service Pack 4, or later
  • IBM AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 1 with Service Pack 6, or later
  • IBM AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 2 with Service Pack 4, or later
  • IBM AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 3 with Service Pack 3, or later
  • IBM AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 4 with Service Pack 1, or later

Hardware requirements

PowerHA SystemMirror graphical user interface (GUI) requires IBM POWER7® or later technology-based servers.

Installation and migration

From any earlier versions of PowerHA SystemMirror, you can upgrade to the subsequent three versions of PowerHA SystemMirror only. If you want to upgrade to an even higher version of PowerHA SystemMirror, you must first upgrade to an intermediate PowerHA SystemMirror version. You can then upgrade to the PowerHA SystemMirror version that you want. For example, if you are running PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.1.3 or PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.0 and if you want to upgrade to PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4, you must first upgrade to PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.1, PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.2, or PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.3, and then upgrade to PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4.

For more information, see Supported upgrade PowerHA SystemMirror versions.

PowerHA SystemMirror GUI

You do not need to install the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server in a PowerHA SystemMirror cluster, but the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agent must be installed in a cluster. When you migrate a PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agent, an attempt is made to restart the agent service when the migration completes. When you migrate a PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server, an attempt is made to maintain the original state of the agent service. If the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server is active when the migration begins, an attempt is made to restart the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server when the migration completes.

For more information about migration, see the Upgrading a PowerHA SystemMirror cluster topic.

Additional information

PowerHA SystemMirror GUI

  • If you cannot add a cluster to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, or create a new cluster from the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, consider the following points:
    • Verify that the nodes in the cluster have a host name that can be routed to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server. You cannot use a routed service IP addresses to manage a cluster.
    • Verify that SSH connection from the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server to the remote system that you are trying to connect is working. For example:
      # ssh 172.19.67.49 /bin/hostname
The authenticity of host '172.19.67.49 (172.19.67.49)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is 41:19:ea:f6:4f:46:91:29:f5:a0:fd:89:91:f7:28:97.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
      In the current version of PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, you must also respond to the prompt to establish the SSH connection. You must respond by entering yes to add the host to the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file of the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server. After adding the host name to the hosts files the prompt is not displayed again.
    • Only a root user can create or add a cluster. After the cluster is added in the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, a non-root user can also manage clusters through the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI. If you do not have root credentials, a root user must configure the sudo command such that it can be run on one of the nodes in the cluster. For more information, see Logging in as a non-root user. If you have root credentials, Secure Shell (SSH) service must be configured on the cluster to allow root access. The value of the PermitRootLogin parameter must be set to yes in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. You must restart the SSH service after you modify the sshd_config file.
    • SSH service can be used with a key or with a password. For a key, the key must not have a passphrase. The configPasswordAuthentication parameter must be set to yes in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. You must restart the SSH service after you modify the sshd_config file.
  • If the status of a cluster is incorrect in the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, consider the following points:
    • The PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server does not poll the cluster nodes for status. The PowerHA SystemMirror GUI listens for status change notifications from each node as indicated in the following actions:
      • Core PowerHA SystemMirror GUI events are sent to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server immediately after they occur.
      • When the clmgr command is used to modify the configuration of a cluster, a notification is sent to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server.
    • Verify that the network and firewall settings are allowing traffic between the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server and PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agents by checking the following items:
      • The default port for the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server is 8080. You can specify a different value for the port in the /usr/es/sbin/cluster/ui/server/configuration-server.json file.
      • The default port for the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agent is 8081. You can specify a different value for the port in the /usr/es/sbin/cluster/ui/agent/configuration-agent.json file.

      For more information about changing the values for the ports, see the Changing ports.

    • Synchronize the cluster by running the following command: 
      clmgr synchronize cluster

      After you synchronize the cluster, if the sync PASSED event does not appear in the event viewer for that cluster or if the cluster status in the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI is not correct, the problem might require IBM Support assistance.

      See Troubleshooting the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI for more assistance.

  • In the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI, you must avoid changing the host name of the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server. If you must modify the host name of the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server, clusters that are managed by the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI might not be able to communicate status updates to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server. You can avoid this issue in one of the following ways:
    • Remove the cluster from the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server before you modify the host name, and add the cluster after you modify the host name.
    • Modify the host name of the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server, and manually update the /usr/es/sbin/cluster/ui/agent/configuration-agent.json file on each cluster node. Replace the old server IP address with the new IP address in the serverURI property. Restart the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agent after you modify the file.
  • PowerHA SystemMirror GUI cannot identify temporary host name changes that are made by using the hostname command. You can modify the host name permanently in the following ways:
    • Use the/usr/es/sbin/cluster/ui/agent/bin/cl_set_hostname utility.
      cl_set_hostname -p [-P] [-a <ADDRESS>] <NEW_HOSTNAME>
    • Update the /etc/hosts file and add the new host name. The previous host name must not be removed.
    • Run smitty hostname and set the new hostname.
    • Run any of the following commands:
      chdev -l inet0 -a hostname=<NEW_HOSTNAME>
      /usr/sbin/hostid [hostname]
      /usr/lib/lpd/pio/etc/piodmgr -c > /dev/null 2>&1
  • The option to authenticate by using an SSH key is not available from the open terminal feature. SSH authentication is supported only though a password.
  • You do not need to install the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server in a PowerHA SystemMirror cluster, but the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agent must be installed in a cluster. If the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server is installed within a PowerHA SystemMirror cluster, the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI can be used to keep the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server highly available.
  • The PowerHA SystemMirror GUI can manage AIX and Linux clusters concurrently, and with full multi-tenancy support. For more information, see Cluster zones.
  • If you install the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server within a cluster, you must install it on only one of the nodes in the cluster unless you are configuring the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI for high availability. For more information, see Configuring the GUI to be highly available.
  • By default, the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server uses the IP address that is associated with the default host name of the system on which it is running. The PowerHA SystemMirror GUI agents use IP address of the host name to communicate the cluster status to the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI server. If you want to use an alternative IP address for the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI communication, specify the IP address in the serverAddress property in the /usr/es/sbin/cluster/ui/server/configuration-server.json file. For more information, see Configuring the PowerHA SystemMirror GUI.

Documentation

To view the latest updates to the documentation, see the What's new in PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.4 for AIX topic.

To view the documentation in PDF files, see the PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX PDFs topic.

Man pages

The man pages for the PowerHA SystemMirror commands are provided in the cluster.man.en_US.es.data fileset. To view the man pages, from the command line, enter man command_name (where command_name is the name of the command). You can also view the man pages in the IBM Knowledge Center, PowerHA SystemMirror commands.

You can use the clmgr command to perform most of the PowerHA SystemMirror operations. For more information about the operations that you can perform by using the clmgr command, see the clmgr command: Quick reference topic.