17.2 Planning GroupWise Monitor in a Linux Cluster

A major system configuration difference between the Monitor Agent and other GroupWise agents is that the Monitor Agent needs access to a domain during installation but does not need permanent access to a domain thereafter.

Section 17.6, Monitor Agent Clustering Worksheet lists information you need as you set up Monitor in a clustering environment. You should print the worksheet and fill it out as you complete the planning tasks listed below

17.2.1 Selecting a Domain for Access during Monitor Agent Installation

During installation, the Monitor Agent Installation program needs access to a domain database (wpdomain.db) in order to obtain information about agents to monitor. You might want to use the domain you created for use with the Internet Agent, as described in Section 15.2.1, Creating a Domain for the Internet Agent, although you can use any domain in your GroupWise system.

MONITOR CLUSTERING WORKSHEET

Under Item 2: Domain Name, specify the domain and domain directory that the Monitor Agent Installation program can use to obtain information about your GroupWIse system.

17.2.2 Selecting an MTA for the Monitor Agent to Access after Installation

After installation, you can configure the Monitor Agent to be independent of a domain database. To do this, you configure the Monitor Agent to communicate with an MTA by way of TCP/IP.

MONITOR CLUSTERING WORKSHEET

Under Item 3: MTA IP Address, specify the MTA IP address and message transfer port that the Monitor Agent can use after installation to communicate with an MTA to obtain agent information.

17.2.3 Selecting the Monitor Agent Partition and Secondary IP Address

As with the MTA and the POA, the Monitor Agent needs a secondary IP address that remains the same no matter which node in the cluster it is running on. You can associate the Monitor Agent with the domain that was accessed during installation or with any other domain, so that they fail over together, or you can associate the Monitor Agent with its own shared partition, so that it fails over independently of any domain.

MONITOR CLUSTERING WORKSHEET

Under Item 1: GroupWise Partition for Monitor Agent, specify the secondary IP address for the Monitor Agent.

17.2.4 Determining an Appropriate Failover List for the Monitor Agent

By default, a GroupWise partition is configured to have all nodes in the cluster in its failover list, organized in ascending alphanumeric order. Only one node at a time can have a particular GroupWise partition mounted and active. If a GroupWise partition’s preferred node fails, the partition fails over to the next node in the failover list. You should customize the failover list for each GroupWise partition based on the fan-out-failover principle.

As with the other agents, you need to decide which nodes in the cluster would be appropriate locations for the Monitor Agent to fail over to. You must install the Monitor Agent software on all of the nodes where you want the Monitor Agent to be able to fail over. For a review of failover lists, see Section 13.6.2, Determining Appropriate Failover Lists for the Agents, which describes the issues in the context of planning MTA and POA installations.

MONITOR CLUSTERING WORKSHEET

Under Item 4: Monitor Agent Failover List, list the nodes that you want in the Monitor Agent failover list.

17.2.5 Determining Cluster Resource Information for the Monitor Agent

A cluster resource is a shared partition, secondary IP address, application, service, Web server, etc., that can function successfully anywhere in the cluster. Cluster resources include the GroupWise agents and the Messenger agents. When using the Configure GroupWise for Clustering option, the GroupWise Installation program needs to know the mount point for the GroupWise partition where it can access a domain database in order to gather information about agents to monitor. The Installation program also needs to know the secondary IP address of the GroupWise partition.

MONITOR AGENT CLUSTERING WORKSHEET

Under Item 5: Cluster Resource Information, list the mount point and secondary IP address for the GroupWise partition where the domain and post office will be located.

17.2.6 Planning the Monitor Agent Installation

Aside from the cluster-specific issues discussed in the preceding sections, the considerations involved in planning to install the Monitor Agent are the same in a clustering environment as for any other environment. Review the installation instructions in Installing the Linux Monitor Agent in Installing GroupWise Monitor in the GroupWise 7 Installation Guide. Use the GroupWise Monitor Installation Worksheet to record the types of planning information you need as you install the Monitor Agent in your cluster.

IMPORTANT:Do not install the Monitor Agent software until you are instructed to do so in Section 17.3, Setting Up GroupWise Monitor in a Linux Cluster.