B.0 Setting Up Auto-Failover

Auto-failover is available beginning in Novell Business Continuity Clustering 1.1. To set up the auto-failover feature, you must enable it, then configure the auto-failover settings.

WARNING:Auto-failover is disabled by default and is not recommended. It should only be enabled after a thorough examination and review of your network and geographic site infrastructure. You should seriously consider the adverse conditions that might occur as a result of enabling this feature.

These conditions may include but are not limited to:

  • Data loss at one or more geographic sites

  • Data corruption at one or more geographic sites

  • Data divergence at one or more geographic sites

For example, if there is a loss of communication between two clusters and auto-failover has been enabled and configured, each cluster will assert ownership of BCC-enabled cluster resources. These resources then automatically load on both clusters.

When communication between cluster has been restored, some of the data on each cluster is different. This is called data divergence. Also, the mirroring or synchronization process either fails, or attempts to overwrite any changed data on one cluster. This causes either data loss or data corruption.