Clustering - General

Can a collector VM be clustered?

No. Clustering of collector VMs is not supported.

Does
VMware Aria Operations for Networks
need a load balancer like
VMware Aria Operations for Logs
?

VMware Aria Operations for Networks
clustering is a scale-out solution and not an HA solution. If the primary platform VM/primary node fails, then the whole service becomes unavailable.

What happens if connection between remote collector & platform goes down?

In case connection between platform and collector VM is down, collector VM will store data locally (depending on the diskspace) and will send it whenever it is connected again.

Is
VMware Aria Operations for Logs
integrated with
VMware Aria Operations for Networks
?

Yes,
VMware Aria Operations for Logs
has been integrated with
VMware Aria Operations for Networks
3.4. The alerts are sent to syslog which can be
VMware Aria Operations for Logs
.

What happens if a node reboots?

If a node reboots, it automatically joins the cluster and continues to be operational. If it is the primary node, then there is a complete loss of service during the time it was down.

How to change IP of any platform node or a collector in a cluster?

In a cluster, you can change IP of any collector or platform node using the CLI commands.
The appliance reboots at the end of the process. So you must perform these steps on the VM console.
  • To change the collector IP, run the
    change-network-settings
    command.
  • To change the platform IP,
    1. Run the
      change-network-settings
      command to change the IP.
      Ensure that the platform VM reboots successfully before you run the next command.
    2. For every platform whose IP is changed, run
      update-IP-change
      command on all the other nodes.
      For example, for the IP change of platform1 from IP1 to IP2, run the
      update-IP-change
      command on platform2 and platform3 with IP1 and IP2 as the arguments. For the IP change of platform2, run the
      update-IP-change
      command on platform1 and platform3.
    3. Run
      finalize-IP-change
      command on platform1 after step1 and step 2 are completed.
    4. Run the
      show-connectivity-status
      command on a collector and search for
      Platform VM IP/URL
      to identify if it is associated to this platform.
    5. Run
      pair-collector
      to reflect new platform IP on associated collectors.
      Scenarios
      Procedure
      In a 3-Node cluster, only the platform2 IP is changed. No collector shows associated with it.
      1. Run the
        change-network-settings
        to change the IP on platform2.
        Ensure that the platform VM reboots successfully before you run the next command.
      2. Run
        update-IP-change
        command on all the other nodes, except platform2.
        For example, for the IP change of platform2, run the
        update-IP-change
        command on platform1 and platform3.
      3. Run
        finalize-IP-change
        command on platform1 after step1 and step 2 are completed.
      In a 3-Node cluster, platform1 and platform2 IPs are changed.
      1. Run
        change-network-settings
        on platform1.
      2. Run
        change-network-settings
        on platform2.
        Ensure that the platform VM reboots successfully before you run the next command.
      3. Run
        update-IP-change platform1-oldIP platform1-newIP
        on platform2 and platform3.
      4. Run
        update-IP-change platform2-oldIP platform2-newIP
        on platform1 and platform3.
      5. Run
        finalize-IP-change
        command on platform1.
      6. Run the
        show-connectivity-status
        command on all the collectors and search for
        Platform VM IP/URL
        to identify the associated platform nodes.
      7. Run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform-newIP
        on collectors that are associated with platfrom1 and platform2.
        For example, if the CollectorA is associated to platform2, rest are associated to platform3, run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform2-newIP
        .
      8. Run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform-newIP
        on collectors that are associated with platfrom1 and platform2.
        For example, if the CollectorA is associated to platform2, rest are associated to platform3, run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform2-newIP
        .
      In a multi-node cluster setup, all the platform and collector IP are changed.
      1. Run
        change-network-settings
        command on all platforms to change the IP.
        Ensure that the platform VM reboots successfully before you run the next command.
      2. Run
        update-IP-change
        command on all the nodes.
        For example, in a 3-node cluster, to update IP of platform1 from IP1 to IP2, run the
        update-IP-change
        command on platform2 and platform3 with IP1 and IP2 as the arguments. To update IP of platform2, run the
        update-IP-change
        command on platform1 and platform3.
      3. Run
        finalize-IP-change
        command on platform1.
      4. To change the collector IP, run the
        change-network-settings
        command.
      5. Run the
        show-connectivity-status
        command on all the collectors and search for
        Platform_VM_IP/URL
        to identify the associated platform nodes.
      6. Run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform-newIP
        on all collectors.
        For example, if the CollectorA is associated to platform2, run
        pair-collector set-platform –-ip-or-fqdn platform2-newIP
        .

How much disk space is needed on platform1?

Platform1 requires more disk space compared to other nodes in cluster as some of the configuration data is stored on Platform1 only.

What happens if any of the node ran out of disk space?

The UI starts showing error messages when disk space on any particular platform node reaches a certain threshold. Add more disk space to the platform node by logging in to
VMware vCenter
.

How many times data is replicated in cluster?

The data replication mechanism is depending on the components present in the platform node.

How to change the hostname of a platform or a collector node?

You can update the hostname of a platform or a collector VM using the
hostname update
command. Updating the hostname helps you easily identify the collector VM or the platform VM in your data center and align the naming convention of the VM with other VMs in your data center.
To change the hostname of platform VMs or collector VMs, perform these steps:
  1. Log in to the respective VM console.
  2. Switch to a Ubuntu user.
  3. Run the
    hostname show
    command to view the present hostname of
    VMware Aria Operations for Networks
    collector or platform VMs.
    hostname show
  4. To view the supported options, run the following command:
    hostname update --help
    You use the
    hostname update
    command to update the hostname.
    Option
    Description
    --dryrun
    This option validates the new hostname without updating the hostname in
    VMware Aria Operations for Networks
    .
    --hosts
    This option updates the hostname of your VMs in
    VMware Aria Operations for Networks
    .
  5. Run the
    hostname update --dryrun
    command to validate the new hostname.
    Syntax:
    • To validate the hostname of a platform or a collector VM in a single node
      VMware Aria Operations for Networks
      instance, run the following command:
      hostname update --dryrun --hosts <new_hostname>
    • To validate hostnames of platform VMs in a cluster, run the following command:
      hostname update --dryrun --hosts platform1:<new_hostname1> platform2:<new_hostname2> platform3:<new_hostname3>
    • Use the following guidelines for hostnames:
      • Use only alphanumeric characters, period ("."), and hyphens("-") in the hostname.
      • Use less than 64 characters.
      • Do not start or end the hostname with a period or a hyphen.
  6. Run the
    hostname update --hosts
    command to update the hostname.
    Syntax:
    To update the hostname of a platform or a collector VM in a single node
    VMware Aria Operations for Networks
    instance, run:
    hostname update --hosts <new_hostname>
    To update the hostname of one or more platform VMs in a cluster, run the following command:
    hostname update --hosts platform1:<new_hostname1> platform2:<new_hostname2> platform3:<new_hostname3>
After changing the hostname, it takes up to an hour for the hostname to reflect on the
VMware Aria Operations for Networks
UI.