With you last post it seems that there are different perceptions or approaches related to the standard terminology imposed by vendors.
At first, according to Microsoft, Cluster resources/resource types are physical or logical entities managed by MSCS/WSFC cluster service such as: DISK, IP, or File Share. Microsoft -who owns the MSCS/WSFC technology- uses specific terminology about Hardware requirements & storage options to be used in Failover Clustering. At hardware level Microsoft states that physical disks (LUNs) mounted to shared storage (SAN) -accessible for read/write by all cluster nodes- that are NTFS provisioned- can used and added as Shared Data Disks to existing MSCS/WFSC for Cluster (failover) purposes.
In MSCS/WSFC Failover Cluster Manager the above Shared Data Disks appear as Cluster Disks (Volume Manager Disk Groups).
So, according to Microsoft, Shared Drive is treated mean as shared storage data disk (LUN) which is read/write enabled for all nodes upon their ad-hoc request (required for Failover cluster validation step) rather than available on both sides AT THE SAME TIME which is obviously a precondition for the quorum (heartbeat /heath state check), it is also applicable on Active/Active cluster deployments, but (the term SAME TIME) is not a precondition for an Active/Passive cluster, like in our case.
Original Message:
Sent: Tue September 26, 2023 11:32 AM
From: Francois Brandelik
Subject: New QMGR added to existing MQ Cluster resource / Installation Instance doesn't failover
what I am trying to say is there is no shared drive in MQ => MSCS.
There are cluster controlled drives that are defined as cluster role resources and they are dependencies for the qmgr resource on the role, just like the VIP is a cluster role resource and a dependency.
Shared drive meaning it is available on both sides at the same time. This is only for the MSCS cluster Heartbeat.
Point 5 says clearly:
Test the shared disk by using the MSCS Cluster Administrator to move it from one cluster node to the other and back again.
Talking about a shared disk is a misnomer comparing this to other mounts because, clearly, if you have to check the availability of the shared disk, it is not shared.
The point here is the Shared Disk is shared TO the cluster but NOT WITHIN the cluster. It is a cluster resource that is assigned to the active node in the role... and should not be confused with the heartbeat storage that is on a drive shared within the cluster.
Thanks
------------------------------
Francois Brandelik
Original Message:
Sent: Tue September 26, 2023 07:50 AM
From: NICK DAKORONIAS
Subject: New QMGR added to existing MQ Cluster resource / Installation Instance doesn't failover
Hi Francois,
At first thanks for your time.
There is no confusion at all. It is not about having instances of the same queue manager in different nodes or systems. It is just a new QMGR recently created and added under MSCS control moving its data & logs to MSCS Shared disk.
Yes it is a shared disk since this is the terminology used by IBM at hamvmqm and other statements in article posted at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/9.2?topic=mscs-moving-queue-manager-storage. It is actually reflects the MQ cluster resource with its own IP (MQ Service IP) where client apps target to.
Furthermore, in our case during failover (from active to passive) the QMGR keeps the same IP address (MQ Service IP) which is the desired instead of changing IP address as it happens during failover in Multi instance deployment.
Also, all QMGRs under MSCS control have been configured with manual startup type.
BTW, when you refer to shared disk for the heartbeat, you mean the quorum disk which is exclusively used for checking both cluster nodes health via private cluster connection (LAV).
Rgds, Nick.
------------------------------
Nick Dakoronias
Original Message:
Sent: Tue September 26, 2023 04:06 AM
From: Francois Brandelik
Subject: New QMGR added to existing MQ Cluster resource / Installation Instance doesn't failover
Ni Nick,
Are you sure you don't have any confusion between MSCS queue manager and multi-instance qmgr?
In the MSCS set up the shared disk is used for the cluster heartbeat.
Cluster storeage is used for the qmgr data and logs. Usually the cluster storeage is only on the active member of the cluster.
The start up of the queue managers is set to manual and controlled by the cluster resource.
Hope that helps clarify some of the setup.
------------------------------
Francois Brandelik
Original Message:
Sent: Mon September 25, 2023 09:58 AM
From: NICK DAKORONIAS
Subject: New QMGR added to existing MQ Cluster resource / Installation Instance doesn't failover
Hello MQ group users,
Any advise on the following will be much appreciated.
We have an existing MSCS MQ cluster (2 node setup Active / Passive: w000011880-w000012880) where two existing QMGRs (one active running, one test ended) are already deployed on MQ cluster instance named "A000011880 - IBM MQ" utilizing a common shared drive ("D: Disk_D") with low space usage.
A new QMGR has been lately (a few days ago) has been created for use with MSCS and added to the above MQ Cluster instance / moving its data & logs to the MSCS shared drive ("D") via hamvmqm command. The new QMGR (NBGCYT24PRD) has been started correctly and listed in the DSPMQ output command:
According to customer, all steps listed at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/9.2?topic=configurations-supporting-microsoft-cluster-service-mscs such as creating a QM for use with MSCS, Moving QM to MSCS storage, etc:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/9.2?topic=mscs-creating-queue-manager-use
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/9.2?topic=mscs-moving-queue-manager-storage
but after the patching sheduled for the first cluster node (w000011880) during last weekend and the failover performed from the first (active) node: w000011880 to the second (passive) node: W000012880, the new QMGR is not listed in the DSPMQ command output and also cannot be started as it doesn't exist...
FYI, all QMGR configuration still exists on cluster resource - shared drive "D" in the following path: D:\IBM\MQ\data\qmgrs\NBGCYT24PRD
and recovery logs at D:\IBM\MQ\log\NBGCYT24PRD
Could anybody advise what might be missing? Precise steps (if applicable) will be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Cheers, Nick.
------------------------------
Nick Dakoronias
------------------------------