Can't Enable High Availability Feature

doboscs87

Hi everybody,

I'm new to the XCP - XOA environment, so I started with a fresh install on two physical servers (currently with free edition, trial or premium not activated). Currently, I have version 8.2.1 installed without any pending updates. For storage, I am using FC to access our storage. I have created an SR for HA with an ext filesystem, and it's accessible/visible to both servers. The test VMs are located here.

When I try to enable the HA feature, I get the following error message:
"This operation cannot be performed because this VDI could not be properly attached to the VM.
vdi: d79e5eb9-653f-4d0b-ae4e-0f0e38918039 (Statefile for HA)"

I checked, and 2 files are created on the storage when I trigger this action:

Metadata for HA
Statefile for HA
In the /var/log/xensource.log, I have the following entries with error status:

Jun  7 12:38:39 esxi6 xapi: [error||10101 :::80||backtrace] VDI.generate_config R:3e789d303273 failed with exception Server_error(INTERNAL_ERROR, [ Storage_error ([S(Backend_error);[S(SR_BACKEND_FAILURE_46);[S();S(The VDI is not available [opterr=VDI d79e5eb9-653f-4d0b-ae4e-0f0e38918039 not found]);S()]]]) ])*
Jun  7 12:38:39 esxi6 xapi: [error||10101 :::80||backtrace] Raised Server_error(INTERNAL_ERROR, [ Storage_error ([S(Backend_error);[S(SR_BACKEND_FAILURE_46);[S();S(The VDI is not available [opterr=VDI d79e5eb9-653f-4d0b-ae4e-0f0e38918039 not found]);S()]]]) ])*
Jun  7 12:38:50 esxi6 xapi: [error||21658 :::80||backtrace] pool.enable_ha R:298e6a9eee31 failed with exception Server_error(VDI_NOT_AVAILABLE, [ OpaqueRef:120fc8a7-6634-4978-95a1-4da09d3211ee ])
Jun  7 12:38:50 esxi6 xapi: [error||21658 :::80||backtrace] Raised Server_error(VDI_NOT_AVAILABLE, [ OpaqueRef:120fc8a7-6634-4978-95a1-4da09d3211ee ])
Jun  7 12:38:50 esxi6 xapi: [error||21658 :::80||backtrace] 1/16 xapi Raised at file ocaml/xapi/xapi_ha.ml, line 1931

Does anyone have any idea why I am getting this error?

Thanks in advance!

doboscs87

@olivierlambert Thanks! With HBA SR the HA feature is on for now

olivierlambert

How could an ext filesystem be accessible from multiple hosts at the same time?

You need a shared SR for HA. I'm not sure of what you did, but probably not a shared one

doboscs87

@olivierlambert I made a shared ext.

name-label ( RW): XCP-EXT-HA
        name-description ( RW):
                    host ( RO): <shared>
      allowed-operations (SRO): VDI.enable_cbt; VDI.list_changed_blocks; unplug; plug; PBD.create; VDI.disable_cbt; update; PBD.destroy; VDI.resize; VDI.clone; VDI.data_destroy; scan; VDI.snapshot; VDI.mirror; VDI.create; VDI.destroy; VDI.set_on_boot
      current-operations (SRO):
                    VDIs (SRO): fae0e223-13bb-4caf-9e00-c9f7e2a8928b; d79e5eb9-653f-4d0b-ae4e-0f0e38918039; f4070d66-c4da-4e99-bc78-b4d26037035e; 717a035a-e341-4a65-9996-9f9f7d1a47d8; 31810223-5c7f-42c5-9ba4-120ef26f0293; 8d9cf777-2b94-4623-addc-2c36bf0992c0
                    PBDs (SRO): c40d5fd2-8710-89f2-728c-ac345df67ab3; 9b68146c-f32f-b485-2b9c-5f9a9a0adbb1
      virtual-allocation ( RO): 174214877184
    physical-utilisation ( RO): 59885895680
           physical-size ( RO): 527282995200
                    type ( RO): ext
            content-type ( RO):
                  shared ( RW): true
           introduced-by ( RO): <not in database>
             is-tools-sr ( RO): false
            other-config (MRW):
               sm-config (MRO): devserial: scsi-3600000e00d3200000032641000060000
                   blobs ( RO):
     local-cache-enabled ( RO): false
                    tags (SRW):
               clustered ( RO): false

olivierlambert

You can't share a regular filesystem (not clustered) between multiple hosts. This will just corrupt the filesystem, because there's no lock or ways to know who writes where.

doboscs87

@olivierlambert
If I create Shared LVM over Fibre Channel should be ok for HA?

doboscs87

@olivierlambert I have re-created the SR with LVM shared parameters, but I can't enable the HA, seems the created SR not meets the HA requirements...

# xe pool-ha-enable
An HA statefile could not be created, perhaps because no SR with the appropriate capability was found.

The SR parameters are:

# xe sr-param-list uuid=dbf6be9a-6180-f420-fa87-b6b783108ef0
uuid ( RO)                    : dbf6be9a-6180-f420-fa87-b6b783108ef0
              name-label ( RW): XCP-LVM-HA
        name-description ( RW):
                    host ( RO): <shared>
      allowed-operations (SRO): VDI.enable_cbt; VDI.list_changed_blocks; unplug; plug; PBD.create; VDI.disable_cbt; update; PBD.destroy; VDI.resize; VDI.clone; VDI.data_destroy; scan; VDI.snapshot; VDI.mirror; VDI.create; VDI.destroy; VDI.set_on_boot
      current-operations (SRO):
                    VDIs (SRO):
                    PBDs (SRO): 02b44491-0135-3e60-265b-ac49dc12a490; 72f70ee5-aa3e-e422-40fb-3d5c222c3bba
      virtual-allocation ( RO): 0
    physical-utilisation ( RO): 4194304
           physical-size ( RO): 536858329088
                    type ( RO): lvm
            content-type ( RO):
                  shared ( RW): true
           introduced-by ( RO): <not in database>
             is-tools-sr ( RO): false
            other-config (MRW):
               sm-config (MRO): allocation: thick; use_vhd: true; devserial: scsi-3600000e00d3200000032641000060000
                   blobs ( RO):
     local-cache-enabled ( RO): false
                    tags (SRW):
               clustered ( RO): false

# xe pool-ha-enable heartbeat-sr-uuids=dbf6be9a-6180-f420-fa87-b6b783108ef0
The SR backend does not support the operation (check the SR's allowed operations)
sr: dbf6be9a-6180-f420-fa87-b6b783108ef0 (XCP-LVM-HA)

Any other ideas to solve this problem?

olivierlambert

You need to create a shared HBA SR, not a local one. HA supports: NFS, iSCSI, HBA & XOSTOR types of SR.

doboscs87

@olivierlambert Thanks! With HBA SR the HA feature is on for now