Running XO / XCP's on a "backup" network
-
We're replacing our 10GB switch with a redundant 10GB network next weekend. During this maintenance our 10GB network will be off and our normal 1GB network (WAN network) will remain active. Our 10GB network isnt used for any client facing / WAN traffic, it's only really there to facilitate backups and off course access between the XOA appliance and the various XCP hosts (they are all on the same private LAN).
During maintenance we still want to get a "view" of the hosts to ensure we can ensure these remain active (our teams work seperately and will not be at the DC, so the network team wants to ensure that we have access to the hosts whilst the 10GB network is taken out, new cabling etc which can take a couple of hours).
Our plan is to setup a temp XOA appliance that will run on the WAN network and add the hosts to the temp XOA via a designated IP range we will setup. This is where we need some assistance.
For example:
1 - 10GB LAN (current) - 10.1.1.0/24 (where each servers management IP is configured on the 10GB interface with an IP of say 10.1.1.1 and the XOA appliance is setup also on a 10GB port
2 - We want to setup a "temp" network on the 1GB network for each host and appliance, for example (1GB LAN 10.1.2.0/24) and give each host an additional IP (not management) on one of the 1GB interfaces and setup a XOA appliance with the same range say 10.1.2.1 for the host and 10.1.2.2 for the applianceWe have tested this in our testbench and it seems to work. We're able to access the XCP hosts on one of the 1GB nics instead of the 10GB nic using a seperate XOA server, our only concern is about the "management" part. We dont want to change the management interfaces of each host to the 1GB during this period, we effectively just want a "view" to see hosts are still online and operational. This is a short term option for a couple of hours so changing management interfaces seems like a bit of overkill as we will terminate the temp XOA after the maintenance is completed.
So questions:
- As it appears I am able to access the host on both switches in independant subnets (providing the XOA has access to the subnet either via firewall or just being on the same subnet, what is the difference between this and a "management" interface. As the management interface will remain in the example 10.1.1.0/24 range but I am still able to add the server on another subnet, what actions may not be operational if my access is not on the management interface but on another interface?
- Second question is related to the new redundant 10GB network. Currently each host has a single 10GB port on which the management interface is setup. After this, we need to create a LACP bond that goes to each switch. What is the process in achieving this as we would like to then have the management interface on the bond and not a single interface as it's now. I assume we need to create a new network > bond > choose the interfaces and choose LACP, but as the management interface is already setup on one of the interfaces we want to add to the bond, would we even be able to create a bond if the interface is active?
We have our testbench here and happy to run some individual tests, but hoping the XCP community can assist us here with some tips considering the above.
-
just bumping my post
Hoping someone has some recommendations?
