OpenVMS Blade lost boot entry after shutdown

[smsc_1]

Got it, all is clear, only one thing is worrying me.

When the second node will be restored, I don't understand how the $1$DGA100:[000000]QUORUM.DAT will be created. Is it enough to boot it and the it joins the cluster creating the QUORUM.DAT? Or maybe I have to do other things?

e.g. leave the node starts and then add quorum disk to it and then restart it? Or use flag "-fl 1,1 (1 because is secondo node) to setup quorum disk? And what about the second node? Currently was boot up without quorum disk and votes=1, only later I added the quorum, but I didn't restart it.

Sorry, I'm just confused!

[Volker Halle]

Lucas,

so you've set up DISK_QUORUM and EXPECTED_VOTES on the first node using SYSGEN> WRITE CURRENT. Be aware, that this node won't boot alone, if EXPECTED_VOTES = 3 is set. You would have to manually set it to 1 - which you should do, to prevent a bad surprise, should this node boot unexpectedly, before the 2nd node is up and QUORUM.DAT has been created.

When you are ready to boot the 2nd node, boot conversationally ( -fl 1,1 ) and SYSBOOT> SET EXPECTED_VOTES 3 and DISK_QUORUM "$1$DGA100:". Then SYSBOOT> CONT and this node will join the cluster (quorum will be 2 and there will be 2 votes). Once the 2nd node has joined the cluster, it will automatically create QUORUM.DAT and add QDSKVOTES to the no. of votes in the cluster, giving the expected 3 votes.

Then boot the first node at your convenience to make sure, it also knowns about the QUORUM disk at boot time. If you don't do this and shut down the 2nd node, the first node will hang.

 Volker.

[smsc_1]

Perfect, this clear all my doubts, thank you.

So, when the second node will come up, I'll setup quorum disk and votes=3, then continue boot. Because there is other node active, the second node will join cluster creating the QUORUM.DAT. Then I can reboot the first node to check if the quorum_disk and votes=3 work as espected.

What is not clear is when you wrote "the quorum disk must be mounted !" is it something I have to do manually in SYSBOOT before the set quorum command?

[Volker Halle]

Lucas,

the OpenVMS cluster code can only create QUORUM.DAT, if the quorum disk is mounted. If your quorum disk is your system disk, nothing to worry about: it's always mounted.

If using a non-system disk, you have to make sure it's being mounted system-wide, before QUORUM.DAT can be created. Once QUORUM.DAT exists, the quorum disk file can be used, even if the disk is not mounted.

Volker.

[smsc_1]

Good, so because QUORUM DISK is setup as DGA100: and this is the system disk, I don't have to worry about it.

This afternoon (in Italy now is 10AM) HP will bring back the system board for the second node, so finally I can try to boot both nodes using VOTES=3. Let's cross fingers! I'll keep you informed.

[smsc_1]

VICTORY!!!

%LLB0, Logical LAN failset device connected to physical device EIA0
%CNXMAN, Sending VMScluster membership request to system NODE92
%CNXMAN, Now a VMScluster member -- system NODE91

Directory $1$DGA100:[000000]
QUORUM.DAT;1           16   6-OCT-2022 16:43:00.86

View of Cluster from system ID 1260  node: NODE91                                     
+-----------------------+---------+
|        SYSTEMS        | MEMBERS |
+--------+--------------+---------+
|  NODE  |   SOFTWARE   |  STATUS |
+--------+--------------+---------+
|  NODE91 | VMS V8.4     | MEMBER  |
|  NODE92 | VMS V8.4     | MEMBER  |
+--------+--------------+---------+

Volker, I don't know how can I thank you for your help! You saved me a lot of headache and I'm very grateful. Without your precious tips the server would remain down for a long time!