WARP can be configured to provide site redundancy where inbound connectivity to Internet accessible servers is critical. The servers can be located in geographi- cally separate locations and have identical or similar information in both loca- tions. This technology utilizes Site Failover, and is an optional feature available upon request. Please refer to the back of the manual for general contact infor- mation or contact your local FatPipe representative for purchasing information. To implement Site Failover, two or more sites should be configured and ready to accept incoming requests for domain names. SmartDNS on all sites can be con- figured identically to respond with local and remote IP addresses. All IP addresses should be registered for each configured domain name.
The failover system determines the status of each site in a site failover group. If a site is determined to be unavailable, it will be marked as Down. The system will mark one unit as Active of all the non-failing units, and all others as Standby. Only one unit from the Active site will be answering DNS requests, and it will answer with its IP addresses only, and thus this will be the only unit serving DNS. A Standby site will take over for the Active site if the Active site becomes unavailable.
Initial setup
Several parameters have to be defined to configure a unit for site failover. You must specify all units within the failover group and communication paths (Channels) between units. Tests can be used to specify when a site unit should be considered Down. Priorities can be used to control which site unit will be selected as Active.
The following instructions explain all the parameters that can be configured for Site Failover. They are listed in the order of recommended setup.
Click on Site Failover to access all the parameters related to failover configura- tion (see Figure 7.1). Select the Enable Failover check box. This will enable all other parameters for setup.
The most important failover settings are Unit List, Local Unit ID, and Channel List.
Unit List specifies all the WARP units in a site failover group. Each unit is assigned a unique ID to differentiate units within the group, a short description for Unit Name, and a priority value.
A lower priority value designates higher priority, so the unit with the lowest number will be Active. All units within the group should be assigned different priorities. User assigned priorities are used only if "User Specified Priority" is selected. By default, priorities are set automatically.
Local Unit ID should be one of the IDs specified in Unit List.
Channel List specifies the IP addresses used for communication between the units in the site failover group. See the next chapter, Creating Channels, for a detailed explanation.
Figure 7.1
The additional settings are Group ID, Port Number, and User Specified Priority. Group ID is used to specify the site failover group the unit belongs to. The default value only needs to be changed if there are more then one site failover group connected to the same networks. In particular, if Site Failover is config- ured along with Unit Failover, each failover group must have a different Group ID.
Port Number is the UDP port used for communication between units. Unit Failover and Site Failover must use different ports.
User Specified Priority allows users to define priority values for each unit. Priorities are set automatically if User Specified Priority is not selected. The first unit online is given the highest priority.
Creating Channels
Reliable communication between the units at the different sites is extremely important for setting up responsive site failover functionality. Site Failover can utilize all existing network links between units. It is recommended that you configure each site failover unit to connect from each WAN interface to all reach- able WAN interfaces of the other site failover units.
Channels are used to configure how the site unit will be connected to other site units. A Channel is a combination of an interface used for communication, a unique IP address added to this interface, and IP addresses to communicate to. It is recommended that you define as many Channels as possible, and utilize in each Channel as many destination IP addresses as possible. In a typical setup, each WAN interface of the site unit would communicate to all WAN interfaces of other site units.
When Channels are created, be sure to use unique IP addresses for source and destination. Also, be sure that these IP addresses are different from those used on the LAN and WAN pages. Once a Channel is created, the specified Source IP address is assigned to the designated interface. there are additional fields for specifying network Mask and Gateway because the Channel Source IP address and the main IP address on the interface can belong to different networks, (only available for WAN interfaces).
To configure a Channel, click on the Add button next to Channel List on the main Site Failover page (see Figure 7.1).
The following fields are listed in the Add/Edit Channel configuration page (see Figure 7.2):
Source Interface is a drop-down menu that allows Administrators to choose which source interface of the FatPipe will be used for the channel.
Destination IP is a comma-separated list of IP addresses a channel will be con- necting to. The destination IP addresses should correspond to the Source IP addresses of other WARP units in the failover group.
Figure 7.2
Figure 7.3
Advanced Configuration
The Advanced Configuration window (see Figure 7.3) can be accessed by click- ing on the Advanced button on the main configuration page (see Figure 7.1). Heartbeat Timeoutspecifies the time to wait for a heartbeat from another failover unit before determining that the connection to the unit in question is lost.
Heartbeat Intervalspecifies time interval between two heartbeats sent from the unit to other units of the group.
The heartbeat is a small network packet sent periodically through Channels. The absence of the heartbeat from Active box within Heartbeat Timeout will sig- nal hardware failure and it will initiate failover.
Heartbeats use UDP protocol that does not guarantee delivery. Therefore, it is important to have Heartbeat Timeout at least several times longer than Heartbeat Interval. The timeout should be bigger then any possible network delay to avoid false positives. When setting a timeout it is also important to consider a balance between network load and speed of failover (faster failover means that more heartbeats per second have to be sent).
Transition Timeoutspecifies a time interval after failover during which connec- tivity problems will be ignored. This could be necessary should MAC and IP addresses change as a result of transition (if Unit Failover and Site Failover are both enabled), and routers/switches need some time to relearn routes. During this timeout all site units in site failover group will ignore lack of heartbeats from other site units. In addition, site units that were involved in transition will ignore failed tests (see below), and will ignore the first result of each test after timeout.
Test Listconfigures the unit to perform additional tests to determine if a unit is eligible to become Active. The example shown in Figure 7.4 shows: "xstat" is a default test for Site Failover. This test will guarantee that if Unit Failover and Site Failover are both enabled, then only Active Units in Unit Failover will be eli- gible to be Active or Standby (Up) in Site Failover. This test does not affect the other configurations, and should always be enabled. Another test that can be used is "xping." For example, "xping yahoo.com:80" will test connectivity to specified address and port. Once this address is unavailable, the test will fail, and the status of the unit will change to Down, which in turn will prevent it from becoming Active.
It is important to specify tests for all connections and servers for which availabil- ity is crucial for WARP functionality to ensure stable WARP performance. These tests should be specified on separate lines, so that failure of any one of these tests will signal site failure.
It is also important to avoid false positives. For example, a user specified a remote server to test overall connectivity to the Internet, and the remote server
went down, but Internet connectivity is still intact. To minimize chances of false positives, specify several tests separated by commas on one line. This will tell WARP that only failure of all the tests should signal site failure.
Available tests are:
xstat Tests if Unit Failover does not block Internet connectivity. This test should always be enabled in Site Failover.
devstat ethN
This test uses the result of the route tests performed by WARP for each interface. E.g. devstat eth1
xping host[:port] [interval [timeout [retry_count]]]
This will test connectivity to the specified host. If a port is specified then TCP connectivity to the port will be tested, otherwise, ICMP packets will be used. The default settings are: interval is 1 sec, timeout is 2 sec, and
retry_count is 1. Group Status
Click on Show Group Status on the main Site Failover page (see Figure 7.1) to view the Group Status window (see Figure 7.4)
For each unit in the group, three parameters are shown: unit ID, unit state, and unit priority. Unit state is specified with the letter A (Active), U (Up/Standby), or D (Down). If User Specified Priority is not enabled (the default), then unit priority is assigned dynamically: Active unit uses a priority of 1 and Standby (Up) or Down units use a priority between 2 and 99. A priority of 100 is assigned when you set a unit to use Lowest priority and a priority of 0 is assigned when you set a unit to use Highest priority.
Advanced information regarding the current unit is also shown. This includes overall result of tests (passed or failed), whether tests or heartbeats are currently being ignored due to transition (see Transition Timeout), and any specific tests that are failing.
If User Specified Priority is not enabled, you can change the priority of the local unit by clicking on the Lowest or Highest button. Changing the local unit priori- ty may be used to alter the status of the unit. For example, if you set the Active unit to lowest priority while another Standby (Up) unit is online, then failover will occur and the local unit will go into Standby (Up) state, and another unit will become Active.
Figure 7.4
Technical Support
For technical support on FatPipe products, please contact FatPipe Networks directly by calling (800) 724-8521 or (801) 281-3434, Ext. 2237, Monday through Friday, 7:00am to 6:00pm MST. Press number three (3) for Technical Support. You can schedule installations and upgrades outside the normal Technical Support hours with the FatPipe Technical Support team. You may also visit our website for answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Our web- site is located at http://www.fatpipeinc.com. Send us an e-mail by writing to [email protected].
Contact FatPipe Networks' Technical Support team for more detailed information regarding Support options. FatPipe Networks does not charge for standard Technical Support for the first 90 days from the purchase date and never impos- es a charge for current version updates. Feature enhancements and version upgrades are available with a support agreement package.
FatPipe Networks
4455 South 700 East, First Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84107
Telephone: (800) 724-8521 or (801) 281-3434 Fax: (801) 281-0317
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FatPipe Product Warranty
©2000 - 2003 FatPipe Networks™, Inc. All rights reserved. Patents existing and patents pending in the U.S.A. and elsewhere. WARP® is a registered trademark of FatPipe Networks. Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other companies and products names are trademarks of their respective companies. All specifications are subject to change without notice.
FatPipe Networks makes no warranty, either expressed or implied for the hardware enclosed herein UNLESS the Warranty Registration Card, which accompanies this product, has been filled out and returned to FatPipe Networks. With the return of the Warranty Registration Card, FatPipe Networks warrants its hardware products to the original purchaser against defects in materials and workmanship for one year, as long as the product is used in its original installation.
If you discover a defect, FatPipe Networks will at its option repair, replace or refund the purchase price of the product at no charge to you, provided it is returned during the warranty period. Transportation charges will be prepaid to FatPipe Networks. (You can obtain additional information directly from FatPipe Networks, 4455 South 700 East, First Floor, Salt Lake City UT 84107). For each product returned for warranty service, please attach your name, address, and telephone number, a description of the problem, and a copy of the bill of sale bearing the appropriate serial numbers as proof of the date of the original retail purchase.
Returns
To return the unit to FatPipe Networks for repairs, please contact the Customer Service Department at FatPipe Networks to get a Return Merchandise Authorization Number (RMA # ). You must write this number on the outside of the package where it can be easily seen. No unit will be accepted without an RMA #. For help, call toll free: 800-724-8521 or (801)-281-3434.
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