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Stefan_Klotz's avatar
Stefan_Klotz
Icon for Cumulonimbus rankCumulonimbus
Jan 16, 2013

Question about HA Group Score communication

Hi guys,

 

in some of our network designs the BIG-IP is connected to two different switches. We are using network failover and the "heartbeat" VLAN is only configured towards one of the two switches. To catch an outage of the second switch and to avoid a non-fully isolated Active-Active situation we are planning to use HA groups to monitor the trunks towards both switches. Logic behind is clear, but I didn't find something in the documentation, how the score of both BIG-IPs will be communicated. Is this dedicated traffic, which will be send via the "heartbeat" VLAN? If yes, what happend if the switch with the "heartbeat" VLAN failed? How does the peer BIG-IP knows of the lower score and does a clear failover happend?

 

In short: via which interface/VLAN will the HA group calculation/score be communicated (and what would be the recommended design depending on the given answer)?

 

Thank you!

 

 

Ciao Stefan :)

 

config
design

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  • Stefan_Klotz's avatar
    Stefan_Klotz
    Icon for Cumulonimbus rankCumulonimbus
    Jan 24, 2013

    Sorry to push this thread, but didn't know someone how the HA-score will be handled?

     

    Without getting answered this question this feature makes no scense for me although it's really required (in case the answer will be positiv).

     

    Thank you!

     

     

    Ciao Stefan :)

     

  • What_Lies_Bene1's avatar
    What_Lies_Bene1
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Jan 24, 2013
    All failover related communication will take place over whichever HA/heartbeat VLAN you have specified. If configured, the mgmt interface of each unit can also be used as a backup. The serial cable can be used as an alternative.

     

     

    From a design point of view, if the units are close enough together I'd use the serial cable (max 50ft I think). If you can't do that, can you directly wire a dedicated Ethernet cable between devices for the HA VLAN (100m). If you can't do that, make sure your management interfaces are connected using different infrastructure to your HA VLAN related interfaces.

     

     

    Oh, and test it to death!