Central Service - Failover - Installation (Enterprise only)

Initial installation of a failover-capable MOVEit Central node is the same as any MOVEit Central install or upgrade, since the failover capabilities are built into all copies of MOVEit Central 3.2 or later. However, to make a MOVEit Central system failover-capable, some additional steps need to be taken on each of the two nodes after the software have been installed on both nodes.

See also Failover Overview.

Step-by-Step Instructions

These instructions assume that:

• The same version of MOVEit Central has been installed on both Node 1 and Node 2. The two nodes need to use the same database type (MySQL or Microsoft SQL Server).

  Note: If you use the MySQL database, MOVEit Central maintain the databases on Node 1 and Node 2. If you use Microsoft SQL Server, a single database is shared by Node 1 and Node 2 (and generally installed on a third node).

• The same tamper detection key has been entered during installation on both nodes. If this is not the case, use RegEdit to manually copy the registry value for HashKey from Node 1 to Node 2. This registry value, which can be found in one of the following locations:
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Standard Networks\MOVEitCentral\HashKey
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Standard Networks\MOVEitCentral\HashKey
  (Do not use the "Tamper" tab of the MOVEit Central Config utility.)
• Node 1 is where the current MOVEit Central configuration and database can be found. (If using Microsoft SQL Server, the database can be on a third node.)
• Node 1 can connect to Node 2 (and visa versa) with Windows connectivity.
• Any Windows users and groups used by MOVEit Central are already present on both nodes. (Note: Once failover is installed and running, any changes made to Windows users and groups used by MOVEit Central will automatically be replicated.)
• If using Microsoft SQL Server as the database, make sure the SQL Server Utilities are installed on both nodes. MOVEit Central will use these utilities to access the database on a daily basis to read and write the transaction records. When you install MOVEit Central and select to use a SQL Server database, or if you convert a MySQL installation to SQL Server, MOVEit Central installs the SQL Server Utilities. You can can also download the utilities from Microsoft's web site.

You should not proceed unless the above assumptions are in fact true.

1. Nodes 1 and 2: Using the "Permissions" dialog in MOVEit Central Admin, create a Windows user (either a local or domain user) named "centralfailover" into the "MOVEit Admin" Windows group on both nodes. Use the same password on both nodes.

   The "centralfailover" user will be used by the other node for replication. You may use an alternate username, but make sure it is the same username on both machines.

2. Nodes 1 and 2: Stop the MOVEit Central service on both nodes. Use MOVEit Central Admin's "Shut Down Service" command on Node 1 if tasks could be running. You may issue the command "net stop moveitcentral" or use the Windows control panel to stop the service on Node 2.
   
3. Nodes 1 and 2: If the MOVEit Central Config program is not already running, start it via the shortcut located in "Start | Programs | MOVEit Central" on both nodes.
   
4. Nodes 1 and 2: Enter the same failover-capable license key in the License tab on both nodes.
   
5. Nodes 1 and 2: Configure the email addresses of an administrator in the Errors tab on both nodes. If you do not enter these values, you will not be emailed when serious errors or failover events are encountered.
   
6. Node 1 ONLY: Go to the Failover tab and configure the following information:
   • This Node - Startup Role: Primary
   • This Node - Node Number: 1
   • This Node - Nodes to ping: (Optional: usually the IP address of trusted router, leave blank if unsure)
   • Other Node - Hostname or IP: [IP Address of Node #2]
   • Other Node - MOVEit Admin user: centralfailover
   • Other Node - Password: [centralfailover's Password]
   • Click the Apply button
   
   
7. Node 2 ONLY: Go to the Failover tab and configure the following information:
   • This Node - Startup Role: Secondary
   • This Node - Node Number: 2
   • This Node - Nodes to ping: (Optional: usually the IP address of trusted router, leave blank if unsure)
   • Other Node - Hostname or IP: [IP Address of Node #1]
   • Other Node - MOVEit Admin user: centralfailover
   • Other Node - Password: [centralfailover's Password]
   • Click the Apply button
   
   
8. Nodes 1 and 2: If you are using MySQL as your database, click the "Clear SQL Rep..." button on the Failover tab on both nodes.
   

   Note: The first time that you click "Clear SQL Rep...", you may see error messages that state that there is nothing to replicate. You can ignore these errors.

9. Node 2 ONLY: If you are using MySQL as your database: On node 2 only, click the "Copy Database" button on the Failover tab to do a one-time replication of the database from the primary node to the secondary node. This may take several minutes if your existing database is large.

   You may also need to change the "Copy from" value on the "Copy statistics database" dialog which will appear. If you encounter "'From' directory does not exist or cannot be accessed" errors, use the following command-line sequence to confirm this MOVEit Central can connect to the other MOVEit Central via Windows File Sharing, that the "centralfailover" user may be authenticated to the other MOVEit Central, and that "centralfailover" enjoys read access to the file share listed in the "Copy from" field.

   C:\>net use H: \\192.168.3.172\micstats /user:centralfailover
   The password or user name is invalid for \\192.168.3.172\micstats.
   
   Enter the password for 'centralfailover' to connect to '192.168.3.172': *******
   The command completed successfully.
   
   C:\>H:
   
   H:\>dir stats.myi
   09/22/2005  02:28 AM            53,248 stats.MYI
   
   H:\>copy stats.myi c:\
           1 file(s) copied.
       	

10. Node 1 and 2: If you are using Microsoft SQL Server as your database: On both nodes, make sure that you set the registry entry DWORD named SuppressDBRep to a value of 1. This registry entry is found in one of these locations (you may need to add the registry entry):
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Standard Networks\MOVEitCentral\Resil
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Standard Networks\MOVEitCentral\Resil
    You do not want the SQL Server database to be replicated because Node 1 and Node 2 share the same SQL Server database.
11. Node 1 ONLY: Start the MOVEit Central service. (From a command line, you may issue the command "net start moveitcentral".)
    
12. Node 2 ONLY: Start the MOVEit Central service. (From a command line, you may issue the command "net start moveitcentral".)
    
13. Node 1 ONLY: Open MOVEit Central Admin and connect to "localhost". Within about three minutes, MOVEit Central Admin's Failover tab should show that Node 1 is the primary MOVEit Central node and Node 2 is the secondary MOVEit Central node.
    
14. Node 1 ONLY: Use MOVEit Central Admin's Command | Reset Tamper Detection menu item to reset tamper detection for the failover system.

Securing Connections Between Nodes

It is also recommended that, on both nodes, you assign an SSL certificate and choose "Require encryption for remote control" in the MOVEit Central configuration program's General tab, if you have not already done so. This will allow MOVEit Central to use SSL-encrypted TCP connections to replicate settings.

Upgrades