IPfailsafe Continually Moving NIC's

[Robert Atkinson]

I installed IPfailsafe on a test node a few days ago. It went in remarkably easily (which should have been my first warning light).

Having signed it off, I let our Developers loose on the node a day or two later. They came back saying that they kept getting logged out.

I checked and found the following :-

10:17:01 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:16:30.87 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:01 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:17:01 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 fail
10:17:01
10:17:01 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:16:30.89 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:01 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:01 %TCPIP-W-FSINTUNAVL, WE3 interface unavailable
10:17:01
10:17:01 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:16:30.89 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:01 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:01 %TCPIP-I-FSIPADDRUP, WE1 192.168.243.240 alias active on node DELTA, interface W
10:17:01 E1
10:17:01
10:17:31 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:00.82 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:31 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:17:31 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 -fail
10:17:31
10:17:31 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:00.86 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:31 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:31 %TCPIP-I-FSINTAVAIL, WE3 interface available
10:17:31
10:17:31 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:00.86 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:31 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:31 %TCPIP-I-FSIPADDRUP, WE3 192.168.243.240 primary active on node DELTA, interface
10:17:31 WE3
10:17:31
10:17:31 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:00.89 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:31 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:17:31 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - route add -net -inet default 192.168.243.254 -dev WE3
10:17:31
10:17:31 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:00.89 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:31 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:17:31 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - interface has become functional
10:17:31
10:17:39 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:08.85 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:39 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:17:39 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 fail
10:17:39
10:17:39 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:08.87 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:39 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:39 %TCPIP-W-FSINTUNAVL, WE3 interface unavailable
10:17:39
10:17:39 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:08.87 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:17:39 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:17:39 %TCPIP-I-FSIPADDRUP, WE1 192.168.243.240 alias active on node DELTA, interface W
10:17:39 E1
10:17:39
10:18:09 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:38.81 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:09 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:18:09 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 -fail
10:18:09
10:18:09 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:38.85 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:09 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:18:09 %TCPIP-I-FSINTAVAIL, WE3 interface available
10:18:09
10:18:09 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:38.85 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:09 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:18:09 %TCPIP-I-FSIPADDRUP, WE3 192.168.243.240 primary active on node DELTA, interface
10:18:09 WE3
10:18:09
10:18:09 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:38.88 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:09 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:18:09 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - route add -net -inet default 192.168.243.254 -dev WE3
10:18:09
10:18:09 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:38.89 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:09 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:18:09 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - interface has become functional
10:18:09
10:18:17 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:46.86 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:17 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:18:17 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 fail
10:18:18
10:18:18 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:46.88 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:18 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:18:18 %TCPIP-W-FSINTUNAVL, WE3 interface unavailable
10:18:18
10:18:18 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:17:46.88 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:18 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:18:18 %TCPIP-I-FSIPADDRUP, WE1 192.168.243.240 alias active on node DELTA, interface W
10:18:18 E1
10:18:18
10:18:47 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:18:16.81 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:47 Message from user TCPIP$FSAFE on DELTA
10:18:47 TCPIP-I-FAILSAFE, WE3 - ifconfig WE3 -fail
10:18:47
10:18:47 %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 10-NOV-2009 10:18:16.84 %%%%%%%%%%%
10:18:47 Message from user INTERnet on DELTA
10:18:47 %TCPIP-I-FSINTAVAIL, WE3 interface available
10:18:47


As you can see, it continually jumps backwards and forwards. As soon as I disabled IPfailsafe, it remained on WE3 and is quite happy.

As far as I can see, there's nothing wrong with the hardware, so any ideas why it keeps hopping about?

Rob.

[Robert Atkinson]

Umm, really weird. I've rebooted and it's OK again.

I've found some more info on the IPfailsafe internals (http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v2/articles/tcpip.html) so I'll see if it happens again, and do some more checking.

Rob.

[Hoff]

FailSAFE IP has become FlailSAFE IP? Whoops. :-)

Without intending any snark here, what makes you believe that there is nothing wrong with the hardware or the LAN here? What evidence do you have (LANCP device counters, other LAN traffic, previous experience with these NICs, etc) that the LAN here is correctly configured and is stable and working?

General sequence: verify that the current TCP/IP Services patches are loaded, skim through the details at:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/83final/6526/6526pro_006.html

and do verify that the network LANs have some on-going traffic (as a very quiet LAN is indistinguishable from a failed LAN), and then ring up HP for assistance.

[Steve Reece_3]

How many NICs do you have on the box(es) Rob? You need at least three really for failsafe IP to work properly. Otherwise, when one interface goes off the other one thinks that it's lost connectivity and moves the interface.
It's one of those documented items that you forget about until it hits you (or at least that was the way it was with me!)

Steev