FreeBSD HA file cluster possibilities

[Rick van der Zwet]

RIck van der Zwet wrote:
> I been (re)searching and reading what the options are with regards to 
> H(igh) A(vailablility) file storage using FreeBSD, but cannot yet find a 
> proper working solution. Any advice welcome!
> 
> I like to be able to mirror a full identical disk between two server. So 
> in case of hardware failure of server A (Master). Server B (Slave) 
> immediately takes over, without any loss of data. The Network 
> configuration is easy using ucarp/vppr. But the file system is the hard 
> part. Paths I have investigated:
> 
> a) ggate & gmirror: Export system on Server B to Server A. Use gmirror 
> on Server A to keep identical disks. When the ggated on Server B 
> actually goes down, the whole setup freezes, until the ggated is back up 
> again. Second on network delays gmirror looses, having to sync all over 
> again. Leaving the machine at risk.

The freezing has come to a end, with the patch attached, but is the
patch the right way to go (as C coding is not my strongest point)?

To test:
   # Create backup filesystem & export it
   serverB$ truncate -s100m /root/ha-slave.img
   serverB$ echo "192.168.33.41 RW /root/ha-slave.img" > /etc/gg.exports
   serverB$ ggated

   # Apply attached patch
   serverA$ cd /usr/src/sbin/ggate/ggatec
   serverA$ patch < %%ATTACHED_FILE%%
   serverA$ make clean install
   # Local file image
   serverA$ truncate -s 100m /root/ha-master.img
   serverA$ mdconfig -t vnode -f /root/ha-master.img
   #Remote file image
   serverA$ ggatec create  192.168.33.42 /root/ha-slave.img
   # Mirror building
   serverA$ gmirror label hamirror ggate0 md0
   serverA$ newfs /dev/mirror/hamirror
   serverA$ mount /dev/mirror/hamirror /mnt

Note: if you have _not_ applied the patch and you kill ggated on
machineB you will notice machineA freeze when trying to write to
something on /mnt or call `gmirror status'. Same applies if you kill 
ggatec on machineA without patch.

Using net/ucarp I detect failures on serverA and terminate ggated and
mount the image on serverB.
/Rick

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