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HP OpenVMS Systems |
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HP Advanced Server for OpenVMS
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To properly represent the time in your local environment, you must set up the OpenVMS time zone information before the server is started, as explained in the HP Advanced Server for OpenVMS Server Installation and Configuration Guide. If your server is moved to a location in a different time zone, you must set the new time zone information accordingly. If your server system resides in an area that observes daylight saving time, the time zone information must be modified appropriately when daylight saving starts and ends. You can use the OpenVMS SYS$EXAMPLES:DAYLIGHT_SAVINGS.COM procedure to adjust the system time and TDF automatically twice a year.
You check and set the time zone and time differential factor (TDF) settings on your system by running the OpenVMS command procedure UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM. (This command procedure defines the logicals needed by the Advanced Server.) From the SYSTEM account, enter the following command to begin the procedure:
$ @SYS$MANAGER:UTC$TIME_SETUP.COM |
When you elect to change the time zone or TDF setting, or both, the changes are also made clusterwide if your server participates in an OpenVMS Cluster.
If you change any time zone information, you must restart the server for the time to be properly represented.
For more information about running the command procedure and resetting
the time zone and TDF, refer to the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual.
2.4 Advanced Server in OpenVMS Clusters
Some servers in your network may be configured in an OpenVMS Cluster environment. Advanced Servers running in an OpenVMS Cluster share the same copy of the user accounts and shares databases and assume a single role, either a primary domain controller, a backup domain controller, or a member server. They operate as a single entity identified by the Advanced Server cluster alias name.
When you change the server role on one member of an OpenVMS Cluster, the role on all cluster members running the Advanced Server is also changed accordingly.
Use the SHOW COMPUTERS command to display a list of all the nodes in the cluster with the server role. Because of the way a Windows NT Server detects the cluster, the information displayed by the Windows NT Server Manager may not reflect the cluster role information accurately when the cluster is a primary domain controller.
The following sections discuss the Advanced Server cluster alias and cluster load balancing in LANs and WANs:
In an OpenVMS Cluster, an Advanced Server cluster alias name allows all the members of the OpenVMS Cluster that are running the Advanced Server to be addressable as a single entity.
Unlike the DECnet and TCP/IP cluster aliases, the Advanced Server cluster alias is transport independent. (The TCP/IP cluster alias is also referred to as the TCP/IP cluster impersonator name.)
Clients can access resources on the OpenVMS Cluster by connecting to the cluster using the Advanced Server cluster alias or the name of a specific Advanced Server cluster member. Make sure a static entry for the Advanced Server cluster alias is defined in each client's LMHOSTS file, or a static multihomed entry is defined in the WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) database; however, if load balancing and failover are desired for LAN or WAN environments, remove any static entries for the cluster alias from the LMHOSTS file, the local hosts file, and the WINS database to ensure that the cluster alias is resolved appropriately. Failover occurs when the node to which the client is connected becomes unavailable; the client is reconnected (using the Advanced Server alias) to the cluster member that is least loaded. For more information about load balancing, see Section 2.4.3, Cluster Load Balancing in LANs, and Section 2.4.4, Dynamic Cluster Load Balancing in WANs.
If LMHOSTS is the only method you are using for resolving NetBIOS names, other domain controllers (including the PDC) that are not in the same subnet as the Advanced Server cluster must add an entry for the Advanced Server cluster alias to their LMHOSTS file. The LMHOSTS file does not offer any means for mapping multiple IP addresses to a single NetBIOS name. Therefore, the entry for the Advanced Server cluster alias must be mapped to the IP address of one specific server cluster member. If the Advanced Server is stopped on that cluster member, you must modify the LMHOSTS file on all clients and servers to map the cluster alias name to the IP address of a cluster member on which the Advanced Server is still running. On systems running a Microsoft Windows operating system, the NetBIOS name cache must also be reloaded using the command NBTSTAT -R (capital R required). Due to the LMHOSTS limitations noted above, it is difficult (and perhaps unmanageable) to gain the benefits of load balancing and failover using an LMHOSTS file. |
You define the Advanced Server cluster alias name when you run the PWRK$CONFIG configuration procedure. The Advanced Server cluster alias name is a NetBIOS name that is unique among domain names and server names. OpenVMS Clusters running DECnet may have a DECnet cluster alias name defined as well. The DECnet cluster alias name is used by the DECnet transport only. OpenVMS Clusters running TCP/IP may have a cluster alias defined for the purpose of providing failover for Network File System (NFS) clients. The Advanced Server cluster alias can be the same as the TCP/IP cluster alias and/or the DECnet cluster alias; however, HP strongly recommends that the Advanced Server cluster alias not be the same as the TCP/IP cluster alias.
Do not use the name of the domain as the Advanced Server cluster alias; if they are the same, the NetLogon service will fail to start. |
During the initial configuration process (when you run PWRK$CONFIG.COM), you can accept the default Advanced Server cluster alias name (nodename_ALIAS), or you can specify a different name. For more information about the PWRK$CONFIG.COM command procedure and configuring the Advanced Server alias, refer to the HP Advanced Server for OpenVMS Server Installation and Configuration Guide.
When an Advanced Server running on an OpenVMS Cluster joins a domain, a computer account by the name of the cluster alias is created in the domain security database; a separate account is not created for each cluster member running the Advanced Server.
Clients using the Advanced Server cluster alias to obtain Advanced Server services can gain the benefit of load balancing, in which the alias is resolved to the Advanced Server cluster member that has the least load. For more information about cluster load balancing, see Section 2.4.3, Cluster Load Balancing in LANs, and Section 2.4.4, Dynamic Cluster Load Balancing in WANs.
Note that when a client connects to a server using the Advanced Server cluster alias, the connection is associated with the network address of the cluster member to which the client is actually connected. Additional connections made from the same client to the Advanced Server alias are made directly to the same cluster member. Once a client is connected, no further load balancing for that client is done. When the node to which the client is connected becomes unavailable, failover is possible: the client is reconnected (using the Advanced Server alias) to the cluster member that is least loaded.
To perform administrative functions on a particular cluster member, you must connect to that member by using its specific node name, rather than the cluster alias. |
The Advanced Server cluster alias is stored in the OpenVMS Registry as value AliasName in the following key:
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName |
To display the current Advanced Server cluster alias, as defined in the OpenVMS Registry, use the following command:
$ REGUTL SHOW VALUE * ALIASNAME |
For more information about using REGUTL, see Section 7.3.4, Using the PWRK$REGUTL Utility to Manage Advanced Server Parameters in the OpenVMS Registry.
2.4.3 Cluster Load Balancing in LANs
The Advanced Server cluster alias makes load balancing possible for clients that are on the same LAN as the server. To gain the benefits of load balancing and failover, clients must connect to the Advanced Server on the OpenVMS Cluster by using the Advanced Server cluster alias. The clients use the NetBIOS broadcast facility to request resolution of the Advanced Server cluster alias. Only one Advanced Server node in the cluster is designated to respond to the request: the Advanced Server node that is the least loaded of the servers in the cluster. The relative loads of the servers in the cluster are checked periodically, and so the node designated to respond will change from time to time.
Cluster load balancing is not available if clients using Windows
Internet Name Service (WINS) to resolve the Advanced Server cluster alias
have a static entry for this alias in the WINS database.
2.4.4 Dynamic Cluster Load Balancing in WANs
Dynamic cluster load balancing is available for service requests from WAN clients that are outside the server cluster's LAN. Dynamic cluster load balancing for WAN environments is provided by HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS (Version 5.0A or later), and uses a Domain Name System (DNS) server to resolve the Advanced Server cluster alias name, instead of WINS or LMHOSTS. The Advanced Server cluster alias name should be registered as a cluster name (that is, as having multiple A resource records for a single host name) at the authoritative DNS server for the TCP/IP domain to which the cluster belongs. This DNS name server must support dynamic updates (Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) server, Version 8.1.1 or later).
The DNS server associates the Advanced Server cluster alias name with an ordered list of the IP addresses of all, or more typically, a subset of, associated cluster nodes that are running the Advanced Server. The order of the list is based on the relative loads of the servers in the cluster. The DNS name server returns this ordered list to any client querying for the server cluster alias name. Periodically, the cluster load balancing software dynamically updates this cluster alias entry at the DNS server, providing a new ordered list of associated IP addresses, based on the latest relative loads on the servers running in the cluster.
To have DNS resolve NetBIOS names, you must enable NetBIOS name resolution using DNS, as described in Section 7.2.6.2, Selecting NetBIOS Name Resolution. To correctly resolve the Advanced Server cluster alias and gain the benefits of cluster load balancing, all clients and servers should enable NetBIOS name resolution using DNS. |
The Advanced Server encompasses many of the features of the OpenVMS operating system, including OpenVMS Clusters and symmetric multiprocessing. Advanced Servers in your network that are configured in an OpenVMS Cluster environment share the same copy of the domain security accounts and shares databases and assume a single role, either a PDC, BDC, or member server.
For Advanced Servers in an OpenVMS Cluster, you must define a server cluster alias so that client workstations and network nodes can address the Advanced Servers in the OpenVMS Cluster as a single entity.
Clients should connect to the Advanced Server using the Advanced Server
cluster alias; the client is connected to the least-loaded server in
the OpenVMS Cluster. To gain the benefits of load balancing and
failover using DNS, remove any entries for the cluster alias from the
LMHOSTS file and local hosts file on clients, and you might need to
remove any static entries for the cluster alias from the WINS database
on WINS servers that are used by clients. (If Windows 95, Windows 98,
or Windows NT clients are configured to use both WINS and DNS for
NetBIOS name resolution, they first query the WINS server to resolve
the name.)
2.4.4.2 The Software for Dynamic Cluster Load Balancing in WANs
The Advanced Server for OpenVMS in conjunction with TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS provides dynamic load balancing through use of the load broker. The load broker is a configurable software component that calculates the relative loads of Advanced Server cluster members so that client requests for services can be distributed appropriately among these members. For information about configuring the load broker, refer to the latest TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS documentation of cluster load balancing with BIND servers.
The load broker periodically polls the Metric Server running on the cluster members to determine the current load on each member and then compiles a list of all cluster members associated with the Advanced Server cluster alias, dropping any systems that are not responding, and ordering the list based on the relative loads. The load broker provides this list when it sends a dynamic update request to a specified DNS server. The DNS server then updates the Advanced Server cluster alias name entry in the DNS name server database.
The DNS name server uses this ordered list to answer client requests
for the Advanced Server cluster alias name. In addition, to further
balance the load among the server members of the cluster, the name
server uses round-robin scheduling. For every consecutive request for
resolving the Advanced Server cluster alias, the name server returns a
new list, rotated by one (the second server in the preceding list now
being the first server in the new list, and so on).
2.4.4.3 Setting Up Dynamic Cluster Load Balancing in WANs
The following section describes how to set up dynamic cluster load balancing when HP's TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS, V5.0A or later, is in use. For setting up this feature when the Multinet for OpenVMS or TCPWare for OpenVMS products are in use, refer to the appropriate product documentation.
To set up dynamic cluster load balancing in WANs, observe the following:
Review the following guidelines:
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