Tips for a redundant freenas server

[mvcad]

Hi All,
How do you guys go about setting up a freenas server to be used as production in case the main server fails?

I am thinking maybe using replication in the first place, Ideally I would like something with minimal changes required so everyone would not notice I change the server. And minimal down-time.

Is there anything wrong with reading the config file from the main server, setting up a different IP address, and setting up replication? After that in the event of the main server failing, just turning off the main server and setting up the redudant server with the main server ip address?

Would this work? Any other tips?

Thank you

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

How much downtime are you allowed between a primary server failure and the secondary server needing to be online and fully-functional?

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

Replication is the way. If you have a DFS namespace and assuming you are serving files over SMB then you could create two name entries one 'enabled' and the other (replica) 'disabled'. In the event of disaster you can flip the name entries in DFS. If really bad and your primary is shot then enable write access to your replica with zfs set readonly=off parentdataset

You need to make sure your sharemounts on each server are the same as they don't get replicated and that your user-base is the same ideally something like Active Directory.

 

[kdragon75]

Yeah I would copy the main servers config to the backup, disable smb, setup replication and use DNS to switch from one to the other. The issue with this is that stubborn clients may cache the DNS and require flushing. You can mitigate some of this with a short ttl value on the a record.

 

[mvcad]

How much downtime are you allowed between a primary server failure and the secondary server needing to be online and fully-functional?

Cheers,
Matt

I don't really have a limit but I reckon probably 1 hour shoud be reasonable. Do you think it would be feasible?

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

probably 1 hour shoud be reasonable. Do you think it would be feasible?

Yes. That's plenty of time. I didn't know if you needed some sort of always-live, or automatically failing over cluster of some sort. Yes, with an hour in which to work, you can get the secondary up and running in a dozen different ways. (Also, with an hour window, DNS TTL is less likely to be a problem.)

When you're looking at fall over solutions, be sure to get the procedure for moving back to the primary, too. A lot of people have great ideas about how to get over to the backup but moving the other direction isn't always well-documented.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

When you're looking at fall over solutions, be sure to get the procedure for moving back to the primary, too. A lot of people have great ideas about how to get over to the backup but moving the other direction isn't always well-documented

Well said, I second that.

 

[Alexandre Trevizoli]

Hi guys!
I have another challenge. I use Freenas Storage with SMB with HYPER-V Cluster, it's working OK, but if we have any problem with Storage, we have all machines stopped on fail-critic status. And it's a big problem on our environment, because it's a VPS Rent Environment.
I really love to implement something like GlusterFS on FreeNas. I searched a lot on internet and found nothing.
If anyone can help me, I can pay for the service!
I need to make a cluster of FreeNas (around 3 or 4 Storages initially).
I read something like be possible to install in Freenas Jail.

 

[kdragon75]

Hi guys!
I have another challenge. I use Freenas Storage with SMB with HYPER-V Cluster, it's working OK, but if we have any problem with Storage, we have all machines stopped on fail-critic status. And it's a big problem on our environment, because it's a VPS Rent Environment.
I really love to implement something like GlusterFS on FreeNas. I searched a lot on internet and found nothing.
If anyone can help me, I can pay for the service!
I need to make a cluster of FreeNas (around 3 or 4 Storages initially).
I read something like be possible to install in Freenas Jail.

It sounds like you need the Enterprise version of FreeNAS, TrueNAS.

 

[Alexandre Trevizoli]

Thanks kdragon75!
Unfortunately IX not sell TrueNAS software, only Hardware+Software, and we already have hardware.

 

[kdragon75]

Thanks kdragon75!
Unfortunately IX not sell TrueNAS software, only Hardware+Software, and we already have hardware.

Well you could use CTLs HA and build a ZFS pool with the devices from that. You would still need to use CARP for a virtual IP and udev (and more) to trigger your own scripted failovers (import/export of the pools). If you are not intimately with EVERY part of what I just said, dont waste you time and look into http://www.high-availability.com/freebsd-high-availability-resource-page/

In other words, you can't use FreeNAS for any kind of seamless failover.