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VERITAS Cluster Simulator

VERITAS CLUSTER SERVER SIMULATOR

VERITAS Cluster Server Simulator is a new feature included with the release of VERITAS Cluster Server 4.x.
VERITAS Cluster Server Simulator allows users to simulate application failover scenarios. By simulating
application failover scenarios, users can be sure that applications are running on the most optimal servers in the
cluster configuration and ensure that applications, with complex dependencies are failed to a target server based
on the user’s expectations. Since the Simulator can be running on any laptop or desktop, the feature is an
excellent tool to demonstrate application configuration using the same GUI interface of VERITAS Cluster Server.

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The VERITAS Cluster Simulator is one of three new features that have been introduced by VERITAS to enable
users to test, plan and prepare before disaster strikes.

WHAT IS THE VERITAS CLUSTER SIMULATOR?

The VCS Simulator enables you to design and test VERITAS Cluster Server configurations and simulate real-life
application scenarios (i.e. resource fault, system fault, etc) without test clusters or changes to existing
configurations.

WHERE DO YOU RUN VERITAS CLUSTER SIMULATOR?

You can run the VERITAS Cluster Simulator on any desktop or laptop.

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BESIDES DOWNLOADING THE VERITAS CLUSTER SIMULATOR PACKAGE FROM VERITAS ARCHITECT
NETWORK, WHERE ELSE CAN I OBTAIN IT?
VERITAS Cluster Simulator is included for free in the VERITAS Cluster Server 4.0 product.

HOW DO I INSTALL, CONFIGURE, AND USE THE VCS SIMULATOR?

Please refer to the Using VCS Simulator section found in Chapter 6 of the Solaris VERITAS Cluster Server 4.0
User's Guide:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/266481.htm

HOW DO I USE THE VCS SIMULATOR TO SIMULATE A GCO CONFIGURATION?

Please refer to the Simulating Global Clusters Using VCS Simulator section found in Chapter 15 of the Solaris
VCS 4.0 User's Guide:

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http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/266481.htm

HOW DO I USE THE VERITAS CLUSTER MANAGER (JAVA CONSOLE)?

Please refer to Chapter 7 Administering the Cluster from Cluster Manager (Java Console) of the Solaris VCS
4.0 User's Guide:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/266481.htm

IS THERE ANYTHING I NEED TO DO PRIOR TO INSTALLING THIS SPECIAL .ZIP PACKAGE THAT
CONTAINS THE VERITAS CLUSTER SIMULATOR?
Be sure all other prior cluster server installations are uninstalled on your desktop or laptop.

HOW DO I CONNECT THE JAVA CONSOLE TO A RUNNING INSTANCE OF THE VCS SIMULATOR?

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Start the Java Console and from the Cluster Monitor menu, select File, then New Simulator...
Assuming that the Simulator and Java GUI are running on the same machine, enter localhost for "Host name",
and the simulator port that you used to start the VCS simulator for "Port". In addition, select the OS platform of
the cluster configuration that you are simulating from the "Configuration for" drop down menu. After you have
entered all information, click on the OK button.

This will add a new cluster entry to the Cluster Monitor. To log in, simply click on the new cluster entry and enter
a valid username and password from the main.cf configuration. See graphics below:

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HOW DO I START THE SIMULATOR USING MY OWN NON-GCO MAIN.CF CONFIGURATION?

Copy all required .cf files into the "default_clus\conf\config" directory, and verify that the configs are valid by
issuing "hacf -verify ." in the same directory.
After you have verified the configs to be correct, you can start the simulator using "hasim -start"
Issuing "hasim -start" without specifying the -clus option will start the Simulator using the configuration found in
the default_clus directory. In addition, the simulator port number will default to 14153 (use this port number
when connecting the Java Console to the Simulator).

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CAN I SAVE MULTIPLE NON-GCO CONFIGS FOR USE IN MY SIMULATOR?

Yes, you can use the "hasim -setupclus" command to add multiple configurations to your simulator.
Given you have the configurations (i.e. main.cf, types.cf, etc.) for 2 different VCS clusters: C1 and C2:

1. Add a cluster entry for C1 in the simulator by issuing the following command:
hasim -setupclus C1 -simport <simulator_port_number>
This command will create a directory called C1 in the top-level VCS simulator directory. Please note,
there is no need to specify -wacport since this is not a GCO configuration.

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2. Copy all required config files (i.e. .cf files) for C1 into the C1\conf\config directory.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for C2's configuration files. Please note, you can use the same
<simulator_port_number> for both C1 and C2 if you know that you will never be running simulators for
both C1 and C2 at the same time.

4. To start the VCS Simulator with C1's configuration, open a command box, set the VCS_SIM_PORT
environment variable to C1's <simulator_port_number>, then issue the following command:
hasim -start <any_system_in_C1_config> -clus C1
After the simulator has started, you have the option of starting the remaining systems in C1, or issue
various HA commands using the hasim utility.

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5. Repeat step 4 for cluster C2. Please note, if you specified the same <simulator_port_number> for
both C1 and C2, ensure that the simulator for C1 is shut down before starting the simulator for C2.

WHAT CONFIGURATIONS ARE INCLUDED IN THE VERITAS CLUSTER SIMULATOR .ZIP FILE?
The configurations that are included in the .zip file are as follows:

Platform: Windows Platform: Linux

Application: SQL Server 2000 Application: NFS
Wide Area or Local: Wide Area – Global Wide Area or Local: Local
Cluster Option Replication: No replication required (local
Replication: VERITAS Volume Replicator cluster)

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Platform: Solaris Platform: HP-UX

Application: Oracle Application: NFS
Wide Area or Local: Wide Area – Global Wide Area or Local: Local
Cluster Option Replication: No replication required (local
Replication: EMC SRDF cluster)

Platform: Solaris Platform: AIX

Application: Oracle Application: NFS
Wide Area or Local: Local Wide Area or Local: Local
Replication: No replication required (local Replication: No replication required (local
cluster) cluster)

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HOW CAN I TELL IF THE VCS SIMULATOR IS UP AND RUNNING?

You can issue the following command in the same window in which you started the VCS Simulator:

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hasim -sys -state

If you get a listing of all the system states in the cluster, then the Simulator is up and running. However if you
receive the following message after issuing the hasim command, then the Simulator is not running:
WARNING V-16-1-40001 Cannot connect to VCS simulator.
You can also use the Windows Task Manager (or ps -aef output on Unix) to see if there are hadsim processes
running.

DOES THE VCS SIMULATOR GENERATE ANY LOG FILES?

Yes, it does...
If you started the simulator without specifying the -clus option, the log files can be found under the following
directory:
default_clus\logs

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If you started the simulator using the -clus option, the log files can be found under the following directory:
<cluster_name>\logs

WHY DOESN'T SIMULATOR START? WHEN I ISSUE "HASIM -SYS -STATE" IT SHOWS THE SYSTEM IN
STALE_ADMIN_WAIT.
This indicates that there is a .stale file in the conf\config directory of the cluster. The .stale file is created as a
result of either of the following:
1. The VCS configuration is invalid. To ensure that the main.cf configuration is valid, issue the following
command in the conf\config directory:
hacf -verify

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2. The VCS configuration was left in "read-write" mode before the simulator was terminated. Simply
delete the .stale file and restart the simulator.

WHEN I LOOK IN THE WINDOWS TASK MANAGER, I SEE 1 OR MORE HADSIM PROCESSES RUNNING. I
HAD ALREADY CLOSED THE WINDOW, WHICH HAD THE SIMULATOR RUNNING. WHAT DO I DO?
There are two options:

1. Kill the running hadsim process from the Windows Task Manager
2. Open up another command box, set the VCS_SIM_PORT environment variable accordingly, then
issue "hasim -stop"

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I HAVE 2 CLUSTERS, C1 AND C2, IN MY GCO CONFIGURATION, AND I AM ABLE TO GET THE
SIMULATOR UP AND RUNNING FOR BOTH CLUSTERS. HOWEVER, CLUSTER C1 IS UNABLE TO
CONNECT TO CLUSTER C2. WHAT COULD BE WRONG?
While the simulators are not running, ensure the following:

The main.cf files for both clusters are valid GCO configurations. A valid GCO configuration contains each of the
following:
• one or more remotecluster definitions
• one or more heartbeat definitions (i.e. Icmp)
• one heartbeat Arguments entry for each remotecluster defined in main.cf
• a ClusterService group containing a resource definition for the wide-area connector (wac).

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• (optional) a global group definition. A global group is a service group with a ClusterList attribute
containing the local cluster and one or more remote clusters.

The ClusterAddress attribute for the cluster and remotecluster definitions in both main.cf configurations are set
to the local machine's IP or loopback address (i.e. 127.0.0.1).

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The Arguments Icmp heartbeat attribute is set to the local machine's IP or loopback address (i.e. 127.0.0.1).

The WACPort attribute for the cluster and remotecluster definitions in both main.cf configurations match the
corresponding wacport entries found in the simconfig.txt file found under the top level VCS Simulator directory.

While both simulators are running, ensure the following:

The ClusterService group is in ONLINE state. If not, issue the following command:
hasim -grp -online ClusterService -any

Using the Windows Task Manager (or ps -aef output on Unix), for each cluster that you have up and running,
there should be one wacsim process running.

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If the number of running wacsim processes is incorrect, that could mean the ClusterService group is not in
ONLINE state; online the service group on the clusters where it is offline.

If all else fails, check the various VCS logs found in the following directory (under the top level VCS Simulator
directory) for suspicious log messages:
<cluster_name>\logs

WHEN I TRY TO CONNECT THE JAVA CONSOLE TO THE SIMULATOR, I GET THE FOLLOWING ERROR
MESSAGE: "VCS ERROR V-16-10-3 INCORRECT USERNAME AND/OR PASSWORD" WHAT COULD BE
WRONG?
First of all, ensure that you have entered a valid username and password from the main.cf configuration that you
are simulating.

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If you are certain that the username and password are correct, then you may be simulating an older main.cf
configuration (i.e. pre-VCS 3.5) that is using an outdated password encryption algorithm. You can fix this in one
of 2 ways:
1. Shutdown the Simulator, and replace the UserNames cluster attribute value with one that is from a
more current configuration (i.e. VCS 3.5 or above). Then restart the simulator and log into the GUI using
the new username and password

2. If you don't have a current cluster configuration available, you can shutdown the Simulator, and modify
the UserNames cluster attribute to match the one below:
UserNames = { admin = gmnFmhMjnInnLvnHmk }
Then restart the simulator and log into the GUI using the username "admin" and password "password".

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WHEN I TRY TO CONNECT THE JAVA CONSOLE TO THE SIMULATOR, THERE IS A DIALOG BOX
SAYING: "CONNECTING TO <SYSTEM NAME>... IT'S BEEN LIKE THIS FOR A WHILE...WHAT SHOULD I
DO?
First of all, ensure that you have a Simulator instance up and running.
If you indeed have a Simulator instance running, ensure that you have set the port number in the GUI settings to
the same VCS_SIM_PORT value that you used to start the Simulator instance, then retry connecting the GUI to
the Simulator.

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IF I AM A NOVICE VERITAS CLUSTER SERVER USER, OR HAVE NOT USED VERITAS CLUSTER SERVER
BEFORE, WHERE CAN I LEARN ABOUT THE PRODUCT?
VERITAS Cluster Server User’s Guide:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/266481.htm
VERITAS Cluster Server Datasheet:
http://www.veritas.com/Products/van?c=product&refId=20
VERITAS Software
WHERE CAN Corporation
I SEND
For additional information about VERITAS
VCS SIMULATOR ENHANCEMENT REQUESTS, COMMENTS, AND/OR QUESTIONS?
Corporate Headquarters Software, its products, or the location of an
All comments and suggestions can go through the VERITAS Architect Network Cluster Server discussion forum.
350 Ellis Street office near you, please call our corporate
Mountain View, CA 94043 headquarters or visit our Web site at
650-527-8000 or 866-837-4827 www.veritas.com.
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