Application Failover Requirements

To deploy NNMi in an application failover cluster, install NNMi on two servers. This section refers to these two NNMi management servers as the active and standby servers. During normal operation, only the active server is running NNMi services.

The active and standby NNMi management servers are part of a cluster that monitors a heartbeat signal from both of the NNMi management servers. If the active server fails, resulting in the loss of its heartbeat, the standby server becomes the active server.

For application failover to work successfully, the NNMi management servers must meet the following requirements:

  • Both NNMi management servers must be running the same type of operating system. For example, if the active server is running a Linux operating system, the standby server must also be running a Linux operating system.
  • Both NNMi management servers must be running the same NNMi version. For example, if NNMi 10.30 is running on the active server, the identical NNMi version, NNMi 10.30, must be on the standby server. The NNMi patch levels must also be the same on both servers.
  • The system password must be the same on both NNMi management servers.
  • Do not completely disable HTTP access to NNMi before configuring application failover. After successfully configuring the application failover cluster, you can disable HTTP and other unencrypted access.
  • For NNMi installations on Windows operating systems, the %NnmDataDir% and %NnmInstallDir% system variables must be set to identical values on both servers.
  • Both NNMi management servers must be running the same database. For example, both NNMi management servers must be running Oracle or both NNMi management servers must be running the embedded database. You cannot mix the two database types if you plan to use the application failover feature.
  • Both NNMi management servers must have identical licensing attributes. For example, the node counts and licensed features must be identical.

  • Do not enable application failover until NNMi is in an advanced stage of initial discovery. For more information see Evaluate Discovery.

For application failover to work successfully, open TCP ports 7800-7810 and UDP port 45588For application failover to function correctly, the active and standby servers must have unrestricted network access to each other. After meeting this condition, complete the steps shown in Set Up Application Failover. For more information see NNMi and NNM iSPI Default Ports.

Note If you have purchased NNMi (only), NNMi Advanced, and the NNM iSPI NET features bundled with NNMi there are two types of licenses for use with application failover environments:

  • Production - This is the main license that is purchased for NNMi, NNMi Advanced, or NNM iSPI NET whether you have an application failover or high availability environment. Associate this license with the IP address of the primary server.
  • Non-production - This license is purchased separately for use in application failover environments. Associate this license with the IP address of the secondary (standby) server.

Do not use production and non-production licenses on the same server.

If you have purchased NNMi Premium or NNMi Ultimate, instead of using a non-production license as directed, you need to use the license key or license keys you requested from the Password Delivery Center for use with application failover. Obtain two license keys; one for the physical IP address of the primary server and one for the physical IP address of the standby server.

Also see the documentation for each NNM iSPI, available at: https://softwaresupport.softwaregrp.com/.

Any software that locks files or restricts network access can cause NNMi communication problems. Configure these applications to ignore the files and ports used by NNMi.

During an NNMi installation or upgrade, the NNMiinstallation chooses a network interface for NNMi Cluster communications. The network interface chosen is generally the first non-loopback interface on the system. When the NNMi Cluster is configured, the configuration uses the chosen interface. If you have to adjust the interface, do the following:

  1. Edit the following file:

    • Windows: %NnmDataDir%\conf\nnm\props\nms-cluster-local.properties
    • Linux: $NnmDataDir/conf/nnm/props/nms-cluster-local.properties
  2. Adjust the com.hp.ov.nms.cluster.interface parameter to point to the desired interface.

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