9.5.01 HP P4000 SAN Solution User Guide (AX696-96168, February 2012)

9 Using specialized managers
The SAN/iQ software provides two specialized managers that are used in specific situations. The
Failover Manager is used in two-system and in Multi-Site SAN configurations to support automatic
quorum management in the SAN. A virtual manager is added to a management group but is only
started manually on a storage system if needed to maintain or regain quorum.
NOTE: You can only use one type of specialized manager in a management group. The Failover
Manager is recommended for two-system configurations and in Multi-Site SAN configurations. The
Virtual Manager is automatically added to two-system configurations if a Failover Manager is not
added. However, the Failover Manager is the recommended solution for maintaining fault-tolerance
on the SAN.
Definitions
Terms used in this chapter:
• Failover Manager (FOM)—A specialized manager running as a VMware guest operating
system that can act as a quorum tie-breaker system when installed into a third location in the
network to provide for automated failover/failback of the Multi-Site SAN clusters. It also added
to two-system management groups to provide the optimum quorum configuration.
• Virtual manager—A manager which is added to a management group but is only started on
a storage system if needed to regain or maintain quorum.
• Regular manager—A manager which is started on a storage system and operates according
to the description of managers found in “Managers overview” (page 107).
• Manager—Any of these managers.
Failover Manager
The Failover Manager is a specialized version of the SAN/iQ software designed to run as a virtual
appliance in either a VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V Server environment. The Failover Manager
participates in the management group as a real manager in the system; however, it performs
quorum operations only, not data movement operations. It is especially useful in a Multi-Site SAN
configuration to manage quorum for the multi-site configuration without requiring additional storage
systems to act as managers in the sites.
Planning the virtual network configuration
Before you install the Failover Manager on the network, plan the virtual network configuration,
including the following areas:
• Design and configuration of the virtual switches and network adapters.
• Windows Server or ESX Server on which to install Failover Manager files, and a designated
host name, and IP address.
• An iSCSI network for the virtual machine. The Failover Manager should be on the iSCSI
network. If you do not have an existing virtual machine network configured on the iSCSI
network/vswitch, create a new virtual machine network for the Failover Manager.
Failover Manager requirements
• Static IP address, or a reserved IP address if using DHCP.
• Server—not on the P4000 SAN—on which to install the Failover Manager.
• Only one Failover Manager per management group.
• Only a Failover Manager or a virtual manager in the a management group, not both.
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