FailSAFE IP on VMS8.3

[Zahid Ghani]

I have upgraded a four node Alpha cluster (Non production) from 7.3-2 to VMS8.3. I have come across an issue on FailSAFE IP under TCPIP5.6 Eco 2. When i disconnect the primary NIC services like FTP, telnet nslooup do not work.
The cluster remains up. FailSAFE correctly fails over to the other card.
But if disconnect the secondary card FTP, telnet work ok
I have regressed to 7.3-2 and there is no problem.
VMS8.3 release notes say Failsafe IP has been improved!!!
Any help would be welcomed.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

There is an eco 3
http://www11.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/patchDetail.do?patchid=DEC-AXPVMS-TCPIP-V0505-11ECO3-1&sel={openvms:alpha:8.3,}&BC=main|search|

But I can't take a look ar it because I'm on 7.3. I hope HP will one day give all the release notes in the web page instead of the kit. But since this is already an old pain I don't think it will be done soon.

Wim

[Zahid Ghani]

Wim,
I believe Eco 3 is for TCPIP 5.5 VMS8.2

[Ian Miller.]

Release notes are accessable via the ftp site so
TCPIP V5.5 ECO3
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/layered_products/alpha/DEC-AXPVMS-TCPIP-V0505-11ECO3-1.txt

TCPIP V5.6 ECO2
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/openvms_patches/layered_products/alpha/DEC-AXPVMS-TCPIP-V0506-9ECO2-1.txt

[Volker Halle]

Ian,

no - these release notes contain ZERO technical information.

Wim,

sometimes - just sometimes ! - the real release notes for TCPIP ECO kits are being posted on the DECUSERVE ECO notes conference:

http://eisner.decus.org/conferences/ECO_NEW.HTML

Volker.

[Volker Halle]

Zahid,

look at the output of $ ifconfig -a on both versions. It will tell you, on which interface the address is currently active. Can you ping the address locally ? From remote ? Is the 2nd NIC functioning o.k. at all ?

Volker.

[Zahid Ghani]

A bit more info.
The NICs are DE500-BA (dual port)
The NICs are configured to failover to each other so both are active. Ping tests to each address is ok.
The out from $ifconfig -a is:

WE0: Flags=C43 (UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,SIMPLEX>
Standby Address:
inet xxx.xxx.xxx.94 netmask ffffffe0 broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.95 (Active on NMAN WE1)
*inet xxx.xxx.xxx.74 netmask ffffffe0 broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.95 imptu 1500

WE1:Flags=C43 (UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,SIMPLEX>
Standby Address:
inet xxx.xxx.xxx.74 netmask ffffffe0 broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.95 (Active on NMAN WE0)
*inet xxx.xxx.xxx.94 netmask ffffffe0 broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.95 imptu 1500

[Volker Halle]

Zahid,

you can test failSAFE IP - without pulling cables - by using

$ DEFINE/SYSTEM TCPIP$FAILSAFE_FAILED_we0 1

The TCPIP Management Guide has steps for verifiyng failSAFE IP in chapter 5.3.5.1

Volker.

[Olivier B]

I don't known if it could help.

I had 2 NIC with an IP address on each and a FailSafe address on both. Failover were not working when I unplugged one NIC.

I1 : 10.x.x.a
I1 : 10.x.x.f active failsafe

I2 : 10.x.x.b
I2 : 10.x.x.f standbye failsafe

When 10.x.x.a and 10.x.x.b were deleted from the config, Failsafe works on 10.x.x.f.

Misunderstanding, Bug or Feature...

[Zahid Ghani]

I have logged a call with HP and will give an update once it has been resolved.
So Far it looks like when we fail the second interface the routing table looses the default gateway - though you can still ping it. ROUTE SHOW does not have all the routing info.
This used to work under 7.3-2.