Configure IPMI as a fencing device

In a high availability cluster that has only two management nodes, it is important to configure fencing on an IPMI device. Fencing is the process of isolating a node or protecting shared resources from a malfunctioning node within a high availability environment. The fencing process locates the malfunctioning node and disables it.

Use remote hardware control to configure fencing on an IPMI device.

Before you begin

This fencing method requires both management nodes to be controlled remotely using IPMI. If your management nodes are on a power system or using a different remote power control method, you must create the corresponding fencing script accordingly.

Procedure

  1. Create an executable fencing script on the shared file system. For example, you can use the example fencing script (fencing_ipmi.sh) that is found in the /opt/pcm/share/examples/HA directory. Run the following commands to create the script on a shared file system. Ensure that you modify fencing_ipmi.sh to your real environment settings.
    mkdir -p /install/failover
    cp /opt/pcm/share/examples/HA/fencing_ipmi.sh /install/failover
  2. Edit the HA controller service agent configuration file (ha_wsm.cfg) in the /opt/pcm/etc/failover directory on the active management node. In the [__Failover__] section, set the value for fencing_action parameter to the absolute path of your custom script. For example:
    fencing_action =/install/failover/fencing_ipmi.sh
  3. Restart the PCMHA service agent.
    pcm-ha-support start --service PCMHA