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Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

30. Jun 30, 2008 11:35 PM in response to: JRink
Click to view mittell's profile Champion
mittell
3,096 posts since
Apr 25, 2006
Hi JR,

JRink wrote:

I just figured out the problem. The VM does NOT allow you to enter IP addresses that have "0" in an octet.

I have seen this problem before on a UPS unit's SNMP management card. You couldn't configure the IP if it had a "0" octet. Likely a programming issue.

Anyways, I changed my 10.0.0.x network to a 10.1.1.x network and it finally took the values.

JR


I can confirm this is a bug. I'll get it fixed shortly and put out a new release.

JRink wrote:

More issues with this....

It seems like when rebooting either of my ESX hosts, whether sometimes doing clean shutdowns or simulating a server crash by pulling the plug, the 2 LVS nodes do NOT want to communicate anyone and do not even offer up iSCSI. When I try started the LVS nodes, the iSCSI storage never comes online. Furthermore, going into the LVS node menu and selecting Start Node never ends up synchronizing with the other node. The only thing it says is

" 0: cs:standalone st: secondary/unknown ds:consistent/dunkown r----

ns:0 nr:0 dw:0 al:0 bm:0 lo:0 pe:0 ua:0 ap:0

resync: use: 0/31 hits:0 misses:0 starving:0 dirty:0 changed:0

act_log: used:0/127 hits:0 misses:0 starving:0 dirty:0 changed:0

BOTH nodes are showingthe identical thing. Again, the iSCSI storage is not online.... The only way I can seem to fix this is to reset both nodes and reconfigure both nodes (I can't find a way OUT of that screen when it's trying to sync... ctrl-c, etc. nothing worked to get back to the menu...).

ON a side note, aside from THIS issue, I am having problems wiht the sole VM that is running on Node1. It's a Win2003 VM and is constantly crashing and becoming unpingable for no apparant reason.....

Is there ANY support available for this? I know it's free.. but I would like to introduce this to a couple clients, however I can't really do so if I'm having problems even getting this up and running.

Please advise. a bit frustrated with this...


Sorry for the delay spotting your posts, and some issues getting the XVS to work. Standalone mode is a state where the nodes are refusing to speak to eachother for some reason, usually a split-brain scenario. This seems likely because both nodes believe they are in a consistent state so you end up with a dead-lock. The reason the iSCSI storage won't come up is because in secondary mode the storage is read-only. You'll need to run some commands at the console to fix this state.

I've not seen these issues in my dev setup and have been using the XVS to host lots of test Windows VMs for some time without issue, so I'm sure we can fix the problems. Can you send me some details of your setup, the hardware you're running, exactly how you failed the node, etc, to support@xtravirt.com? I'll do my best to try and get you up and running.

Cheers,

Alex

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

31. Jul 4, 2008 12:17 AM in response to: mittell
Click to view JRink's profile Hot Shot
JRink
151 posts since
Jan 10, 2007

Sent a couple emails tonight per your request...

JR

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

32. Jul 5, 2008 1:41 AM in response to: JRink
Click to view SimonG-ioko's profile Novice
SimonG-ioko
13 posts since
Jun 30, 2005
I also get the same problem, if I reboot the 2nd ESX box (or even just the SAN VM) it won't come back up (pic attached)

Let me know if/what further info you need?

Cheers

Attachments:

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

33. Jul 14, 2008 3:28 AM in response to: SimonG-ioko
Click to view pauldavidbarker's profile Novice
pauldavidbark…
32 posts since
Jan 17, 2006
I also get this problem has then been an update I missed

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

34. Jul 14, 2008 7:06 AM in response to: pauldavidbark…
Click to view JRink's profile Hot Shot
JRink
151 posts since
Jan 10, 2007

Not that I'm aware of. I sent their support a couple of emails about 10 days ago with lots of information, but haven't heard back at all.

JR

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

35. Jul 17, 2008 6:23 AM in response to: JRink
Click to view mittell's profile Champion
mittell
3,096 posts since
Apr 25, 2006
Sorry for the delay replying guys, been on holiday in sunny Wales (har har).

JRink - replied to all your emails, looks like a network connection issue causing the nodes to go offline to prevent split-brain.

SimonG - the node being in standalone happens for one of two reasons, the network connection cannot be established or both nodes think they hold consistent copies of th storage so refuse to connect (again to prevent split brain). How did you shut down the appliance on the second ESX server? Did you shut down the services as per the documentation, or just pull the plug?

If you could email the contents of /var/log/mesages from the XVS nodes to support@xtravirt.com I'll take a look and try and work out what's going on.

Cheers,

Alex

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

36. Jul 17, 2008 10:30 AM in response to: mittell
Click to view JRink's profile Hot Shot
JRink
151 posts since
Jan 10, 2007

Alex,

I'm not sure how it could be a network connection issue when the 2 hosts are connected via crossover cable. ??

I will take some time tonight to go over your email replies more thoroughly and get back to you with more information.

JR


Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

37. Aug 8, 2008 2:12 PM in response to: JRink
Click to view jgal's profile Lurker
jgal
2 posts since
Aug 8, 2008

Jrink you mind posting some of those emails. We are having a problem using cross over cables as well. After the initial setup it takes a few reboots or to wait some time until we can start the first sync

If we try to sync after configure it never connects. I do rember reading something in the logs that says it didnt want to be the primary. We have full connectivity and the only thing that fails is the ntp sync since its on a crossover network between 2 host.


Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

38. Sep 5, 2008 2:27 AM in response to: mittell
Click to view rvsharpe's profile Lurker
rvsharpe
4 posts since
Jan 12, 2007

Is there any update regarding using Xtravirt with IP addresses with a "0" octet?

rvs

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

39. Sep 10, 2008 12:01 AM in response to: rvsharpe
Click to view rvsharpe's profile Lurker
rvsharpe
4 posts since
Jan 12, 2007
Never mind...I just changed the network to a 192.168.1.x network. Installation was fine after that. As stated previously in this thread, the application seems to have problems when resyncing after rebooting or shutting down and re-starting one of the nodes..neither node will communicate with each other and a reconfiguration is needed, at least in my case..

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

40. Nov 9, 2008 4:45 PM in response to: rvsharpe
Click to view TechFan's profile Enthusiast
TechFan
110 posts since
Dec 12, 2006

Ok. So that explains why it wasn't taking the IP address I was trying to use. . .it has a 0. We have been testing with the default IP configuration and it was working okay until I updated one of the test ESX server and restarted it. . .and didn't stop the services first. Now they both seem to "sync" forever. . .never finish.

Is there any way to get to the data again or is it all lost? That is a bit scary for real use if we lose complete access because one node goes down uncleanly. . .

I don't seen any updated releases. . .

Ok, I am not sure if this is the only way, but I deleted the VMDK on the 2ndary and created a new one, then set them to do an initial sync. That is going to be a very long restore process if we have a full 400GB in production. . .I hope there is another way to get them back in sync.

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

41. Nov 9, 2008 8:15 PM in response to: TechFan
Click to view TechFan's profile Enthusiast
TechFan
110 posts since
Dec 12, 2006
Another question I just thought of. . .does this Virtual Appliance have jumbo frame support on the guest OS level? Apparently, ESXi doesn't support it at the kernel level, only for guest OS's directly. Could make a big difference in sync speeds. . .

I should also ask here if anyone has seen a similiar appliance providing syncronized NFS accessed data stores. . .

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

42. Nov 10, 2008 9:46 PM in response to: TechFan
Click to view rvsharpe's profile Lurker
rvsharpe
4 posts since
Jan 12, 2007
Techfan,

I have run into the issue of not synching even after a "graceful"
shutdown...i.e. shutting down the Xtravirt services on one of the nodes
for instance. According to the Xtravirt folks, the application should
failover to the other san appliance but I have yet to experience a
successful failover. I ususlly have to run the initial synchronization
on one or sometimes both of the nodes to get synchronization to start
after shutting down one of the nodes either gracefully or by pulling the
plug to simulate a disaster. I have to agree though, synchronization is
slow using this recovery method.

As far as recovering your data, I have successfully been able to access
data once the sync completes.

One good sign though is that I did receive a response from Xtravirt when
I left an email using the support link on their website. The contact
there instructed me to send logs and even offered to look at my servers
remotely. Unfortunately I have not had the chance to continue to trouble
shoot..I eventually moved my VM's back to a Network SAN device for now.
I suggest that you send Xtravirt support an email regarding this issue.

In closing, I removed the application with the intention of reinstalling
shortly. Let me know how you make out.

Ramon

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

43. Nov 11, 2008 4:41 PM in response to: rvsharpe
Click to view TechFan's profile Enthusiast
TechFan
110 posts since
Dec 12, 2006

Is there any way to get these to be thin provisioned disks. . .like replacing the empty disk after initial syncronization? I am finding that one disk is staying thin, but the other is fully expanded.

I actually have only had that resync issue once so far. All my other power downs and shutdowns have come back online. That first one, I just added a new disk and did resyncronization.

What I really want to know is how to force mount a single part, so I can provide access to the data until a planned support window to resyncronize. . .I'll have to write them.

Re: Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

44. Nov 13, 2008 1:50 PM in response to: TechFan
Click to view mfoley@prainc.com's profile Novice
mfoley@prainc…
7 posts since
Jun 2, 2006

I get the split brain situtaion as well and am using a cross-over cable. I don't see how this coul dbe the problem but has anyone else got a split brain when they didn't use the crossover?

I contacted xtravirt for support and they helped me fix th eproblem but I'd like it to be more reliable...and I wouldn't mind paying for commercial support.

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