7.2 Identifying Cluster and Resource States

The Cluster State view in ConsoleOne, the Cluster Management link in Novell Remote Manager, and the Management link in iManager give you important information about the status of servers and resources in your cluster.

Cluster servers and resources display in different colors, depending on their operating state. When servers and resources are green, they are in a normal operating condition. When a server that has been part of the cluster is red with a break in the icon, it has failed. When a resource is red, it is waiting for administrator intervention. When a server is gray with no break in the icon, either that server is not currently a member of the cluster or its state is unknown. When a resource is blank or has no colored icon, it is unassigned, offline, changing state, or in the process of loading or unloading.

The yellow ball in the middle of the server icon designates the master server in the cluster. The master server is initially the first server in the cluster, but another server can become the master if the first server fails.

The Epoch number indicates the number of times the cluster state has changed. The cluster state will change every time a server joins or leaves the cluster.

Clicking the Event Log tab in ConsoleOne gives you a detailed history of your cluster. Every time the cluster state changes, a new event is added to the event log. You can sort the events in the log by clicking the column headings of the table. You can reverse the sort order by pressing the Shift key while clicking a column heading. The event log is stored on the special cluster partition that was created during the Novell Cluster Services installation, which ensures it is always available. You can also save the event log to a file.

Clicking the HTML Report tab in ConsoleOne in the Cluster State view screen launches a more detailed report of the state of your cluster. You can view this report or save it to an HTML file for printing or viewing with a browser.

The following table identifies the different resource states and gives descriptions and possible actions for each state. The possible actions describe steps for using ConsoleOne to complete each action. You can also use iManager or Novell Remote Manager to perform the same actions. In Novell Remote Manager, in the left column, select Clustering, select Cluster Management and then select the desired resource. In iManager, click Clusters, then click Cluster Manager to view a list of resources and resource states.

Table 7-1 Cluster Resource States and Actions

Resource State

Description

Possible Actions

Alert

Either the Start, Failover, or Failback mode for the resource has been set to Manual. The resource is waiting to start, fail over, or fail back on the specified server.

Click the Alert status indicator. Depending on the resource state, you will be prompted to start, fail over, or fail back the resource.

Comatose

The resource is not running properly and requires administrator intervention.

Click the Comatose status indicator and offline the resource. After resource problems have been resolved, the resource can be put back online (returned to the running state).

Loading

The resource is in the process of loading on a server.

None.

NDS_Sync

The properties of the resource have changed and the changes are still being synchronized in Novell eDirectory™.

None.

Offline

Offline status indicates the resource is shut down or is in a dormant or inactive state.

Click the Offline status indicator and, if desired, click the Online button to load the resource on the best node possible, given the current state of the cluster and the resource's preferred nodes list.

Quorum Wait

The resource is waiting for quorum to be established so it can begin loading.

None.

Running

The resource is in a normal running state.

Click the Running status indicator and choose to either migrate the resource to a different server in your cluster or unload (offline) the resource.

Unassigned

There isn't an assigned node available that the resource can be loaded on.

Click the Unassigned status indicator and, if desired, offline the resource. Offlining the resource will prevent it from running on any of its preferred nodes should any of them join the cluster.

Unloading

The resource is in the process of unloading from the server it was running on.

None.

Upgrade

The cluster is in a temporary upgrade state. This is a normal part of the rolling upgrade process from NetWare® 6 to NetWare 6.5.

None.