|
| |
Communication Channels - you can consider that it is heartbeat communication interface between nodes within cluster. SIC provides 3 types of communication channels through serial ports, IP address, and Ethernet.
When you click on the Communication Channels on the plugin panel, following screen will appear.
You can see that when you expand the communication channels, the communication channels you have been created will be listed on the plugin panel. On the main panel, you can select 2 different ways to display those communication channels by clicking the buttons on the shortcut bar
Table 6-8. View format of Communication Channels
| Items | Icons | Descriptions |
|---|---|---|
| Icon View |
|
Display the available communication channels in icon view on main panel. |
| Detail View |
|
Display the available communication channels in table format with information on main panel. |
The communication channels use different icons to represent different channel types.
Table 6-9. Different Types of Communication Channels
| Communication Channel Types | Icons | Descriptions |
|---|---|---|
| Ethernet |
|
Using the MAC Address from the network interface controller to determine the communication channels. If you have IP address consideration, use ethernet heartbeat would be a good choice. |
| IP Address |
|
Using the IP Address from to determine the communication channels. If you need to cluster over WAN, IP address would be the one to use as communication channels. |
| Serial Port |
|
Using serial port to connect nodes to determine the communication channels. If you have only 2 machines, or you have limitation of using NIC, you can use serial connection as communication channels. |
The main panel of communication channels will gives you the information that you would need to know about the communication channel setting.
Table 6-10. Communication Channels Main Panel
| Items | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Communication Channel ID |
Using serial port to connect nodes to determine the communication channels. |
| Type |
Using serial port to connect nodes to determine the communication channels. |
| Keep Alive Time (ms) |
The communication channels will be determined based on the time that you set. By default, it will set to 3000 mini second. |
| Die Timeout(ms) |
When the communication channels cannot be able to determine with the die timeout, it will be considered as failure. Failover to another node will be performed. By default, it will set to 9000 mini second. |
| NOTE: Your Keep Alive Time MUST BE smaller then Die Timeout. | |
| Member List | |
| Member ID |
The nodes that group with the same communication channel will be listed in here. |
| Mac Address |
The list of nodes that use which MAC addresses as the interfaces for communication channels. |
| IP address |
The list of nodes that use which IP addresses as the interfaces for communication channels. |
| Serial Port Device File |
The list of nodes that use serial port as communication channels. |
You are understood that the different type of communication channels and now you shall be able to create a new communication channels. Following is an example of how to create, edit, and delete a communication channels from SIC.
1. Right click on the "Communication Channels"
- you will see three options,
> "Create New Communication Channel"
> "Switch to Icon View"
> "Switch to Detail View"
- select "Create New Communication Channel" and following screen will appear;
- Give a "Communication Channel ID" for this new channel
> Example - "cluster1_ccid3"
- Select 1 out of 3 channel type for this channel based on your setting.
> Example - select "Ethernet"
- Now you need to set the "Keep Alive Time (ms)" and "Die Timeout (ms)"
> Used the default value.
- Now you need to add members to this communication channels
> Click "ADD" button
- Select the node from "Member ID"
> Example - select "cluster1_node2"
- Since this is a Ethernet communication channel, you need to click "Probe" button to get the MAC address from the member
- The "Probe" button is only available when your channel type is either Ethernet or IP. If your channel type is "Serial Port", then you need to input the device file, such as "/dev/ttyS0" by yourself.
> Click "Probe" button
- A dialog box with all the available MAC address will appear. You can select the one you plan to use as the communication channel interface.
- If you are using IP as communication channel, make sure that DO NOT use any IP Address that is already use on the other communication channels. Use any used IP address is not allow in SIC environment.
> select the NIC that you would like to use for connection.
- Click "OK" button and add the other nodes to the channel
- After you add the new communication channel, you should be able to side it appear on the plugin panel and the main panel.
> You will see "cluster1_ccid3" or the name you use for this new channel appears on the "Communication Channel List" from main panel
> Also, on the plugin panel, "cluster1_ccid3" or the name you use for this new channel will appear too.
