VPLEX SolVe Generator

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Topic
VPLEX Customer Procedures
Selections
Procedures: Configure
Configure: Configure VPLEX Witness
Select a configure procedure: Witness
Configure Cluster Witness for each release: 5.5

Generated: June 14, 2019 6:54 AM GMT

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Publication Date: June, 2019

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 Contents
Preliminary Activity Tasks .......................................................................................................3
Read, understand, and perform these tasks.................................................................................................3

VPLEX Witness: Install and Setup for Release 5.5.................................................................4

Purpose.........................................................................................................................................................4
Deployment workflow diagram......................................................................................................................5
Qualify site for VPLEX Witness.....................................................................................................................6
High availability requirements..................................................................................................................6
Server host requirements ........................................................................................................................7
Install VPLEX Witness ..................................................................................................................................9
Prerequisites..........................................................................................................................................10
Deploy Cluster Witness Server VM.............................................................................................................11
Configure ESX Server to Accept MAC address changes ......................................................................22
Verify and change network security configuration of ESX server ..........................................................22
Power on the Cluster Witness Server VM (first boot) .................................................................................27
Configure 3-way VPN between Cluster Witness Server and VPLEX clusters ............................................34
Validate IP connectivity..........................................................................................................................36
Configure Cluster Witness CLI context .................................................................................38
Enable VPLEX Witness.........................................................................................................39
Reference: Display VPLEX Witness CLI contexts and status...............................................40
Display VPLEX Witness status ..............................................................................................................40
Display VPLEX Witness components ....................................................................................................41
Display VPLEX Witness diagnostics......................................................................................................43

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Preliminary Activity Tasks
This section may contain tasks that you must complete before performing this procedure.

Read, understand, and perform these tasks

1. [ ] Table 1 lists tasks, cautions, warnings, notes, and/or knowledgebase (KB) solutions that you
need to be aware of before performing this activity. Read, understand, and when necessary perform
any tasks contained in this table and any tasks contained in any associated knowledgebase solution.

Table 1 List of cautions, warnings, notes, and/or KB solutions related to this activity

335501: To provide feedback on the content of generated procedures, please read article 335501

2. [ ] This is a link to the top trending service topics. These topics may or may not be related to this
activity. This is merely a proactive attempt to make you aware of any KB articles that may be
associated with this product.
VPLEX Top Service Topics

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xxxVPLEX-Witness-and-VM-Setup-revD

VPLEX Witness: Install and Setup for Release 5.5

VPLEX Witness consists of two components:
 Cluster Witness Server – a VM installed on a customer’s ESX server connected to both clusters in a
VPLEX Metro configuration.
 Cluster Witness CLI – CLI commands to configure, manage, and diagnose VPLEX Witness and its
functionality.
VPLEX Witness is installed as a virtual machine (VM) operating in a customer’s ESX server deployed in a
failure domain separate from either of the VPLEX clusters. This ensures that the VM is not affected by
faults that impact the VPLEX clusters. A failure domain is a collection of entities affected by the same
fault.
Before deciding to install and enable VPLEX Witness, read the VPLEX Administration Guide to
understand VPLEX Witness operation in a VPLEX Metro environment.
VPLEX Witness connects to both VPLEX clusters over a VPN tunnel over the IP management network.
Low bandwidth health-check heartbeats are used to observe the status of both clusters. VPLEX Witness
reconciles the status reported by the clusters with its own observations and provides guidance back to the
clusters, if necessary.
VPLEX Witness is applicable only to VPLEX Metro configurations. Before the Cluster Witness Server VM
is deployed, VPLEX software that supports the VPLEX Witness must be installed first. Ensure that you
follow VPLEX installation instructions before deploying and configuring VPLEX Cluster Witness Server
VM.

Note: VPLEX Witness provides its automatic guidance only to distributed volumes in synchronous
consistency groups that are configured with rule sets indicating a specific preference. Distributed
volumes outside of synchronous consistency groups, distributed volumes in synchronous consistency
groups configured with the no-automatic-winner rule, or distributed volumes in asynchronous consistency
groups leverage pre-configured preference rules and are not affected by VPLEX Witness and thus
VPLEX Witness will not direct I/O to continue at one Cluster. .

Purpose
This document provides instructions for installing VPLEX Witness in an installed VPLEX Metro
configuration. The VPLEX Witness provides guidance to the clusters in a VPLEX Metro using
synchronous consistency groups. For instructions on upgrading an existing VPLEX Witness, see the NDU
Guide for the release of GeoSynchrony you are installing.

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 Figure 1 VPLEX Witness deployment

Deployment workflow diagram

The following diagram shows the workflow for deploying VPLEX Witness functionality:
 Prepare the VPLEX clusters
 Qualify the site for VPLEX Witness
 Deploy the Cluster Witness Server on an ESX server
 Configure the VPN between the Cluster Witness Server and both clusters
 Configure and enable Cluster Witness on the VPLEX clusters

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 Figure 2 VPLEX Witness Deployment Work Flow Diagram

Qualify site for VPLEX Witness

VPLEX Witness should be deployed only in sites that meet the following high availability, server ,host,
and network requirements.

High availability requirements

The Cluster Witness Server VM must be deployed so any faults that may affect individual clusters do not
affect the Cluster Witness Server VM. This includes possible faults related to physical location, power,
and networking connectivity.
If desired, the Cluster Witness Server VM can be deployed as a fault-tolerant (FT) VM in a VMWare FT-
enabled cluster. Currently this deployment is only supported with VMWare-FT; it is not supported with
VMWare-HA.

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The following lists specific requirements for isolating possible fault conditions when deploying the Cluster
Witness Server VM.

CAUTION: Failure to meet these deployment requirements significantly increases the risk of Data
Unavailability when a single fault condition affects both a VPLEX cluster and the Cluster Witness Server.
If these requirements cannot be met, VPLEX Witness should not be deployed.

Cluster Witness Server VM

high availability requirement
Independent physical location
Independent power circuit
Physically separate network
Visible datastore
Description
Cluster Witness Server must be deployed in a separate physical location from
where the corresponding VPLEX clusters are deployed.
If the VPLEX clusters are deployed on separate floors in a data center, EMC
requires Cluster Witness Server be deployed on an independent floor (not a floor
where either cluster is deployed).
If the clusters are deployed in separate data centers, EMC requires Cluster
Witness Server be deployed in an independent data center.
Cluster Witness Server must be connected to a power circuit that is independent
from the circuits for either of the VPLEX clusters.
The IP Management network for the Cluster Witness Server must use physically
separate networking equipment from the inter-cluster networks used by the
VPLEX clusters.
NOTE: If the inter-cluster network is deployed over Fibre Channel, any long-haul
IP bridging must not utilize the same physical links as the IP Management
network.
If deploying on a fault tolerant cluster, make sure that the datastore is visible to all
hosts in the cluster.

Server host requirements

The host system for the Cluster Witness Server VM must meet the following criteria:

Server host requirement Description

Host hardware Refer to the ESSM for a list of supported ESX versions.
To ensure a trouble free installation of ESX:
1. Verify the hardware is compliant as described in the Hardware Compatibility
Guide. (http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php) including:
– System compatibility
– I/O compatibility (Network and HBA cards)
– Storage compatibility
– Backup software compatibility
2. Install and run only on servers with 64 bit x86 CPUs.
NOTE: 32 bit systems are no longer supported.
3. Verify Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) is enabled in the host's BIOS.
NOTE: VPLEX Witness VM is not supported on VMware Server, VMware Player,
VMware Fusion, or VMware Workstation.
CPU utilization Allocate one vCPU for the Cluster Witness Server guest VM.
NOTE : Adding extra CPU might throw up an error.
RAM utilization Allocate 512MB for the Cluster Witness Server guest VM.

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Server host requirement Description
Hard disk storage utilization Allocate 2.5GB of storage space for Cluster Witness Server guest VM. If deploying on
VMware-FT, the storage must be visible to all hosts in the VMware cluster.
Network interface card 1 GigE NIC with one Ethernet port connected to the IP management network.
Network adapter It must be possible to allocate two Virtual Network Adapters for use by Cluster
Witness Server guest VM.
Network addresses Host must be configured with a static IP address on a public network.
Power Host must be connected to a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Source) to protect against
power outages.
BIOS Host should enable BIOS Virtualization Technology (VT) extension in the BIOS.
This ensures proper functionality and performance of the Cluster Witness Server VM.
Security Access to the Cluster Witness Server host (the ESX Server) must be secured via a
password (assigned and configured by the customer).
The Cluster Witness Server must be connected to the same IP management network that provides inter-
cluster management connectivity.
Networking requirements for a Cluster Witness Server deployment are listed in the following table:

Network
requirement Description/details
High Availability The IP Management network for the Cluster Witness Server must use physically separate
networking equipment from either of the inter-cluster networks used by VPLEX.
CAUTION:Failure to meet this deployment requirement significantly increases the risk of Data
Unavailability in the event of simultaneous loss of inter-cluster connectivity as well as
connectivity with the Cluster Witness Server.
Accessibility Static IP addresses must be assigned to the public ports on each management server (eth3)
and the public port in the Cluster Witness Server VM (eth0).
If these IP addresses are in different subnets, the IP Management network must be able to
route packets between all such subnets.
To confirm connectivity between subnets:
Use the ping -I eth3 cws-public-ip-address command from either of the management servers to
the public IP address of the Cluster Witness Server. Note: -I flag uses the uppercase letter i.
Firewall configuration settings in the IP Management network must not prevent the creation of
IPsec tunnels. VPLEX Witness traffic as well as VPLEX management traffic use VPN tunnels
established on top of IPsec.
The following protocols must not be filtered in either the inbound or outbound direction:
 Authentication Header (AH): IP protocol number 51
 Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP): IP protocol number 50
The following ports must be open on the firewall
 Internet Key Exchange (IKE): UDP port 500
 NAT Traversal in the IKE (IPsec NAT-T): UDP port 4500
The IP Management network must be capable of transferring SSH traffic between management
servers and Cluster Witness Server.
The following ports must be open on the firewall and not filtered in either incoming or outgoing
direction:
 Secure Shell (SSH): TCP port 22
 Domain Name Service (DNS): UDP port 53
Ensure that both outgoing and incoming traffic for UDP port 53 (DNS) is allowed for the

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Network
requirement Description/details
network where ESX host with Cluster Witness Server VM is deployed.

The IP Management network must not be able to route to the following reserved VPLEX
subnets:
 128.221.252.0/24
 128.221.253.0/24
 128.221.254.0/24
IMPORTANT: If any of these networks are accessible from the public IP management network,
contact EMC Customer Support.
If VPLEX is deployed with an IP inter-cluster network, the inter-cluster network must not be
able to route to the following reserved VPLEX subnets:
 128.221.252.0/24
 128.221.253.0/24
 128.221.254.0/24
IMPORTANT: If any of these networks are accessible from the public IP management network,
contact EMC Customer Support.
Bandwidth A typical VPLEX Witness deployment generates 2-3 Kbps of duplex VPLEX Witness IP traffic
(transmitted over IP management network) per director per cluster.
For example; a quad engine cluster (8 directors) will generate 16-24 Kbps of duplex VPLEX
Witness IP traffic.
MTU The required minimum value for Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is 1500 bytes. Configure
MTU as 1500 or larger.
Latency Round trip latencies on the management network between the Cluster Witness Server and
both management servers in the VPLEX Metro should not exceed 1 second.

If deploying in a VMware-FT cluster, each host in the cluster must meet the server host requirements and
network requirements.

Install VPLEX Witness

The Cluster Witness Server is a Linux process that runs in a SLES 11 (64-bit) guest OS VM.
The VM is packaged as an Open VirtualizationFormat Archive (OVA).
In a typical ESX Server environment, a vCenter server manages tens or even hundreds of ESX Servers
and VMs within each ESX Server. Administrators can manage these ESX Servers by logging into a
vCenter server through a vSphere GUI client running on a local Windows-based computer.
The vSphere GUI client also allows ESX administrators to directly log in to an individual ESX Server if the
server is not managed by a vCenter server.
The following sections describe the deployment of a Cluster Witness Server VM on an ESX Server v4.0,
ESX Server v4.1, ESXi Server v5.0, ESXi Server v5.1, ESXi Server v5.5, or ESXi Server 6.0 using
vSphere GUI client and vCenter.
The deployment procedure is the same for deploying the Cluster Witness Server VM on an ESX Server
not managed by a vCenter Server.

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Use a vSphere client GUI to deploy the Cluster Witness Server OVA.
If needed, download the free vSphere Client for Windows platforms from the VMware web site.
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/,
Use the vSphere client to:
 Connect to an individual ESX host
 Connect to a vCenter server that manages multiple ESX hosts,
The deployment method depends on your VM management environment or your VM administration
policies.
Both methods use the Deploy OVF Template wizard. The wizard behaves identically when the vSphere
client is connected to a single ESX Server or a vCenter server.
Launch the vSphere client from a Windows-based computer that has access to either the ESX Server for
Cluster Witness Server OVA deployment, or to the vCenter server that is managing the ESX Server.

CAUTION: GeoSynchrony must be fully installed and configured on both clusters before deploying the
Cluster Witness Server VM.

Prerequisites
You should be familiar with the terms and technologies used in virtualized computing environments.
In addition, the following procedures assume that you have:
 Intermediate level of knowledge of VMware vSphere products and offerings.
 If deploying on a VMWare FT cluster, an advanced level of knowledge of VMWare products, including
VMWare HA and VMWare FT clustering.
 Access to an ESX host with enough storage and computing resources (refer to Cluster Witness
Server Host qualification requirements)
 If deploying in fault tolerant mode, a configured VMWare HA cluster licensed and configured for fault
tolerant operation. This deployment is only supported with VMWare-FT; it is not supported with
VMWare-HA if fault tolerant mode is not enabled.
 Installed a vSphere client v4.1 on a computer with proper user privileges
 Installed or have access to a vCenter Server v4.0 or v4.1 on a computer that has access to the ESX
Server for deployment of Cluster Witness Server VM.

Note: The vCenter Server is an optional requirement for a standalone deployment. If a vCenter
Server does not manage the ESX server, connect the vSphere Client directly to the ESX server.

 Access to the OVA image of Cluster Witness Server VM from the vSphere Client computer.
The OVA image is available on the EMC Support website (registration required).
Download the VPLEX Witness OVA file for the GeoSynchrony Release you are running on your
clusters. Refer to the release notes for your release of GeoSynchrony for details on the name of the
OVA file to use.
 Identified a static public IP address, netmask, default gateway, and DNS server for the Cluster
Witness Server VM.
 Installed and or upgraded VPLEX software on the VPLEX clusters for which the Cluster Witness
Server is being deployed.

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Deploy Cluster Witness Server VM
You can deploy the Cluster Witness Server OVA from a vCenter or directly from an ESX host.
Ensure that the target ESX Server is managed by the vCenter Server. If not, ask your vCenter
administrator to add this ESX Server to the inventory of "Hosts and Clusters" managed by vCenter server.
If you are logging in directly from a vSphere client into an ESX Server, ensure that the ESX Server is not
managed by a vCenter server.
3. [ ] Log in to a Windows system that has the vSphere client installed.
4. [ ] Launch vSphere client.
5. [ ] To log in to vSphere, in the VMware login window, do one of the following:
 To log into a vCenter:
1. Type the IP address or host name of the vCenter.
2. In the User name and Password fields, type the vCenter administrator credentials.
 To directly log into an ESX host:

1. Type the ESX host’s IP address or hostname.

2. In the User name and Password fields, type the root user credentials.
6. [ ] Click Login.
7. [ ] If VMware displays a security warning, click Ignore.

Figure 3 Security warning

Note: Step 8. [ ] through 10. [ ] are not required when the vSphere client is directly connected to
appropriate ESX Server.

8. [ ] On the home page, in the Inventory section, select the Hosts and Clusters icon.

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 Figure 4 Hosts and clusters

9. [ ] On the Hosts and Clusters screen, in the left pane, open the Inventory tree.

Figure 5 Hosts and clusters screen

10. [ ] Select the ESX Server on which to install the Cluster Witness Server OVA. If deploying on a
VMware cluster, select the cluster on which to install the Cluster Witness Server OVA
11. [ ] In the File menu, select File > Deploy OVF Template:
12. [ ] In the Select the source location window, do one of the following:
 If you are running ESX 6.0, select the source location and click Next.

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 Figure 6 Source screen

 If you are running ESX 4.1, ESXi 5.0, ESXi 5.1, or ESXi 5.5, do one of the following:
 Type a URL to download and install from the Internet.
 Type the full path to a file accessible from your computer.
 Click Next.
13. [ ] In the Open window, select the OVA package in the local machine (where the vSphere client is
running) or on a network share.
14. [ ] Click Next.

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 Figure 7 Open window

15. [ ] If an error displays, verify the values that you input and retry. In the Verify OVF template details
window, verify that the product and the version number are correct.

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 Figure 8 OVF Template details

16. [ ] Record the Size on disk: thick Provisioned parameter. You will need this value later in the
procedure (Datastore dialog box).
17. [ ] Click Next.
18. [ ] Review the agreement.
19. [ ] If you agree with the content of the agreement, click Next.
20. [ ] In the Name and Location window, specify a meaningful name for the Cluster Witness Server
VM.
When multiple Cluster Witness Server VMs are deployed on the same ESX Server, use names that
explicitly identify a VPLEX. For example: VPLEX_VirginiaDC1_CWS. The Cluster Witness Server VM
name is not the hostname for the guest VM. However, it is the best practice to associate or embed
the hostname in the VM name for VM inventory management purposes.
Set the hostname for the Cluster Witness Server VM hostname when configuring the static public IP
address during the first boot of the VM. The procedure to set the IP address during the first boot of
the VM is detailed in Power on the Cluster Witness Server VM (first boot).
The inventory location box is only displayed in vCenter and is not displayed when directly logging into
the ESX Server from a vSphere client.

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21. [ ] Click Next.

Figure 9 Name and Location screen

Note: The Storage window does not appear if the ESX server has only one datastore.

22. [ ] In the Storage window, identify the optimal datastore for VPLEX-CWS-VM based on the Size on
disk parameter recorded from the OVF Template Details window.

CAUTION: The datastore can not be based on storage from the VPLEX that this Cluster Witness is
monitoring. The datastore must be on storage from a separate failure domain. Allocating the
datastore from the VPLEX being monitored will result in the CWS failing to operate as designed,
resulting in data unavailability.

If deploying on a fault tolerant cluster, make sure that the datastore is visible to all hosts in the cluster.
23. [ ] Click the selected datastore.
24. [ ] Click Next.

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 Figure 10 Select Storage screen

CAUTION: Selecting thin provisioning may result in poor serviceability.

25. [ ] Do one of the following:

 If you are running ESX 4.0, proceed to step 27. [ ].
 If you are running on ESX 4.1, in the Disk Format window, select Thick provisioned Eager Zeroed.
 If you are running on ESXi 5.0, ESXi 5.1, ESXi 5.5, or ESXi 6.0 in the Disk Format window, select
Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed.

Note: ESXi 5.0, ESXi 5.1, ESXi 5.5, and ESXi 6.0 offer three disk formats.

26. [ ] Click Next.

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 Figure 11 Disk format screen

27. [ ] In the Network Mapping window, select a VM Network for the source network for both network
adapters.

Note: VPLEX-CWS-VM uses two network adapters. The wizard displays warnings regarding multiple
network adapters in VM. Ignore warnings regarding multiple adapters in VM.

Both network adapters must use a VM Network. Choose VM Network, if not set as default, for both
source networks.

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 Figure 12 Network Mapping screen

 You will manually configure one network interface during the first VM boot.
 The second network interface is automatically assigned a private reserved IP address
(128.221.254.3) during the second VM boot.
28. [ ] Click Next.
29. [ ] For ESX v4.1 and later, in the Network Properties window, click Next. Setting the network
properties will be done after the OVA is deployed and powered on.

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30. [ ] In the Ready to Complete window, verify the configuration settings for VPLEX-CWS-VM.
31. [ ] To begin the deployment, click Finish.

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 Figure 13 Ready to Complete screen

32. [ ] When the Deployment Completed Successfully dialog box displays, click Close.
33. [ ] To verify the successful deployment, on the vSphere Client main page, on the Summary tab, in
the left pane, click on the VPLEX name in the Inventory tree.

Note: The Cluster Witness Server VM (VPLEX_CWSxxx) is created. Before the VM can be used, it
must be powered on, and its network settings configured.

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 Figure 14 The Summary tab

34. [ ] If the Cluster Witness Server VM is present in your display, proceed to Power on the Cluster
Witness Server VM (first boot) and configure its network.
35. [ ] If configuring on a VMWare-FT cluster, right click on the VMname, click on Fault Tolerance, and
then click Enable Fault Tolerance.

Configure ESX Server to Accept MAC address changes

Verify whether the ESX Server on which the Cluster Witness Server OVA is deployed has Network
Security Configuration set to Accept MAC Address Changes. If it is set to Reject then it is possible that
the newly installed Cluster Witness VM may not be reachable and the ping tests to the public IP address
of the newly deployed VM will fail. Verify this configuration before you undertake the “Configure 3-way
VPN between Cluster Witness Server and VPLEX clusters” step for the newly deployed Cluster Witness
Server VM.

Verify and change network security configuration of ESX server

Note: The following steps are performed with the vSphere client connected to a vCenter Server. The
steps are identical when you connect the vSphere client directly to an ESX/ESX server except you don't
have to first select Home > Inventory > Hosts as the vSphere client is managing only one host.

1. [ ] In Home > Inventory > Hosts and Clusters, in the left pane, in the selection tree, select the ESX
server on which the Cluster Witness Server VM is deployed.
2. [ ] In the Configuration tab, on the right pane, in the Hardware section, select Networking. The
Virtual Switch diagram displays the Physical Adapters and Virtual Machine Port Group with the virtual
ports to each of the public Ethernet interfaces used by the VMs.

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 Figure 15 The Configuration tab

3. [ ] To see the Virtual Switch Properties dialog box, in the Configuration tab, above the Physical
Adapter, click Properties.

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 Figure 16 Setting the MAC address

4. [ ] To verify that the Security Default Policy for MAC Address Changes is set to Accept, on the
vSwitch properties page, in the left pane, select the vSwitch row.
5. [ ] If the default Policy for MAC Address Changes is set to Reject, change this setting to Accept by
following these steps:

1. At the bottom of the left pane, click Edit.

2. On the vSwitch0 properties dialog box, in the Security tab, select Accept.
3. Click OK.

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 Figure 17 Accepting MAC Address changes

6. [ ] To verify that the Security Effective Policy for Mac Address changes is set to Accept, in the
Virtual Switch Properties dialog box, in the Configuration Summary section, select the VM Network
row.

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 Figure 18 Change MAC address effective security setting

7. [ ] If the policy is set to Reject, then change this setting to Accept by following these steps:

1. To edit the VM Network Properties, click Edit.

2. In the Security tab, select the MAC Address Changes checkbox.
3. In the MAC Address Changes field, select Accept.
4. Click OK.

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 Figure 19 Setting the MAC address effective security setting

8. [ ] To return to the Hosts and Clusters view page, in the Virtual Switch Properties dialog box Click
Close.
9. [ ] Click on the newly deployed Cluster Witness VM on the left tree view to continue Network
Configuration of the VM.

Power on the Cluster Witness Server VM (first boot)

This procedure assumes that the VPLEX Cluster Witness Server VM has been deployed on an ESX host
or in a vCenter environment.

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Before you can use the VM, you must power it on and, during this first boot, you must configure its
network.
1. [ ] On the vSphere Client main page, right-click on the Cluster Witness Server VM, and select
Power > Power On from the menu:

Figure 20

10. [ ] Select the Console tab.

11. [ ] If you are running ESXi 5.0, skip to step 6. [ ].

WARNING: The default answer for the End User License Agreement is No. Answering No to the
EULA aborts the first boot and the Cluster Witness Server VM must be redeployed.
12. [ ] If you agree with the content of the End User License Agreement, Type yes and press Enter.
13. [ ] Wait while the first boot of the Cluster Witness Server VM completes.
14. [ ] In the Console tab message box, use the arrow keys to select Configure Network.

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 Figure 21

15. [ ] Press Enter.

Note: After you switch to the console window, cursor use is limited to the console window. To move
the cursor back to the main window, press the Ctrl and Alt keys at the same time.

16. [ ] To configure a static IP address for Cluster Witness Server, type 6 for the network interface eth0
for configuration. Cluster Witness Server VM requires only eth0 network interface to be configured.

Figure 22

17. [ ] Cluster Witness Server VM can be configured with IPv4 address only, or with both IPv4 and IPv6
addresses. Type y if an IPv6 address needs to be assigned, otherwise accept the default n.
To configure a static IPv6 address:
 Type n for 'Use of DHCPv6' (default y) since Cluster Witness Server VM needs a static IP address.
On subsequent lines, enter the static public IPv6 address to be assigned to Cluster Witness Server
VM and a prefix. For IPv6 addresses you can type two colons in a row (::) as shorthand for
repeated zeros. The prefix designates the number of bits in the routable network portion of the
address.
 Review the values and if they are correct, type y.

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 Figure 23

To configure a static IPv4 address:

 Type n for 'Use of DHCPv4', (default y) since Cluster Witness Server VM needs a static IP
address. On subsequent lines, enter the static IPv4 address and netmask in dotted decimal
notation.
 Review the values and if they are correct, type y.

Note: Cluster Witness Server VM requires a static IP address, and does not work with DHCP. Record
the static IP address for future reference.

Figure 24

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18. [ ] For a static IPv4 address, the default gateway and DNS servers needs to be configured. In the IP
Address field, type the public IP address assigned to this Cluster Witness Server VM.
 Setting the default Gateway. To configure the gateway:
 Go back to main menu and enter the number for setting the Default Gateway.
 Enter the network interface eth0 to be associated with the default gateway address.
 Enter the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses or only the IPv4 address of the default gateway for the
network interface eth0.

Figure 25

 Configure the DNS:

 On the main menu, enter 4 for setting the DNS.

Figure 26

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Page 31 of 44
 Note: The information in the screenshot is only an example.

 Change network configuration console output

 Enter the IPv4 address of the DNS servers and press Enter.
 Setting the Hostname : To configure the host name for static IP
 On the main menu, enter 3 for setting the Hostname.

Figure 27

 Enter the host name and domain name for the virtual appliance.
 If your entry is incorrect, you must repeat the procedure.

19. [ ] Ensure that the IP addresses of DNS servers are reachable from the ESX server on which the
Cluster Witness Server is being deployed. Also ensure that the network of the ESX server on which
the Cluster Witness Server is installed is fully qualified as described in Qualify site for VPLEX
Witness. To view the current network configuration, use menu option 0.

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 Figure 28

20. [ ] After waiting approximately two minutes, use the ping ip-address command from the system
where the vSphere client is running to test the configuration:

Note: ip-address is the public IP address for the Cluster Witness Server VM configured for the eth0
interface.

C:\>ping 10.31.25.235

Pinging 10.31.25.235 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.31.25.235: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=58

Reply from 10.31.25.235: bytes=38 time=8ms TTL=58
Reply from 10.31.25.235: bytes=37 time=8ms TTL=58
Reply from 10.31.25.235: bytes=43 time=8ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 10.31.25.235:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0%) loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 37ms, Maximum = 48 ms, Average = 41 ms

C:\>

When the ping test succeeds, the Cluster Witness Server VM is powered up and running with network
connectivity.
21. [ ] Ping the private IP adress of the cluster witness server from each management server.
C:\>ping 128.221.254.3
Pinging 128.221.254.3 with 32 bytes of data:

The ping to the private address should fail at this point and the private IP address should not be
reachable from both management servers because the VPN to Cluster Witness Server is not yet
setup.
If the ping succeeds, contact EMC Technical Support.

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Configure 3-way VPN between Cluster Witness Server and VPLEX clusters
Use this procedure to configure a VPN tunnel between the two management servers and the private
Ethernet port on the Cluster Witness Server VM.

Note: For the procedure to modify an existing VPN configuration (to modify the IP address of the
management server and reconfigure the 3-way VPN), refer to the Troubleshooting section of the
generator.

On the vSphere client UI, in the Summary tab, in the General section, the IP addresses field displays the
configured public IP address of the VM. Other details of the VM are also included in that tab.

CAUTION: VPN connectivity between the two clusters must be configured and operational before
configuring the 3-way VPN to Cluster Witness Server.

The following information is required to complete this command:

 Passphrase of the Certificate Authority Key that was provided during VPN configuration between
management servers.
If this is a fresh VPLEX install, the password lock-box automatically provides the passphrase.
If this is an upgrade to VPLEX, the passphrase is not automatically provided. If the passphrase
cannot be provided (lost passphrase), the VPN between the management servers must be
reconfigured. Reconfiguring the VPN will not affect I/O operations to VPLEX distributed virtual
volumes but will affect VPLEX CLI operations during the configuration.
Refer to VPLEX Witness Troubleshooting in the generator.
 Passphrase for creating the VPLEX Witness host certificate. EMC recommends that this passphrase
be different than the passphrase used to create host certificates for the management servers.

Note: Unlike, the Certificate Authority key which must be known, you are creating this passphrase as
part of this procedure. Record this passphrase when you enter it, because you will need it for future
operations.

1. [ ] On cluster-1, login to the management server as service.

2. [ ] At the shell prompt, type vplexcli:
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.

3. [ ] Login to the VPLEX CLI with username service and password.

Enter User Name: service
Password:
creating
logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T18377_20100922142015

VPlexcli:/>

4. [ ] Type the configuration cw-vpn-configure command, using the static public IP address of the
Cluster Witness Server VM:
VPlexcli:/> configuration cw-vpn-configure -i 10.31.25.235

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5. [ ] Confirm and acknowledge that your deployment meets all the Cluster Witness requirements
necessary for correct operation by entering yes at the prompt.
The IP Management network for the Cluster Witness Server must use physically
separate networking equipment from the inter-cluster networks used by the VPLEX
clusters.

CAUTION: Failure to meet this requirement makes the VPLEX Witness solution
ineffective and reduces the resiliency of the VPLEX system.

Have you read and do you acknowledge that the network requirements have been
met? (Y/N): y

Note: This acknowledgement is displayed only on cluster-1. If this warning is not acknowledged the
configuration is halted.

6. [ ] At the next prompt, type the Certificate Authority passphrase used to create the VPN between
the 2 clusters.
Please enter the passphrase for the Certificate Authority that was provided while
configuring VPN between Mangement Servers: CAPassphrase

Note: If this is an initial install of GeoSynchrony, the Certificate Authority passphrase is provided
automatically, and this question does not display.

7. [ ] Type the passphrase for the Cluster Witness Server. The passphrase must be at least 8
characters.
Enter the passphrase for Cluster Witness Server Host Certificate Key (at least 8
characters): HostCertificatePassphrase

Note: The passphrase should not be the same as the passphrase for the VPN between the two
clusters.

CAUTION: Keep a record of the Cluster Witness Server VPN passphrase.

8. [ ] Re-type the passphrase for the Cluster Witness Server.

Re-enter the passphrase for the Certificate Key: HostCertificatePassphrase

New Host certificate request /etc/ipsec.d/reqs/cwsHostCertReq.pem created

New Host certificate /etc/ipsec.d/certs/cwsHostCert.pem created and signed by the

CA Certificate /etc/ipsec.d/cacerts/strongswanCert.pem

VPN Host Certificate created successfully

9. [ ] Type the public IP address of the management server for cluster-2, and press Enter.
Please enter the IP address of the remote cluster management server in the plex
that will be involved in the 3 way VPN setup: 10.31.25.27

Verifying the VPN status between the management servers...

IPSEC is UP
Remote Management Server at IP Address 10.31.25.27 is reachable
Remote Internal Gateway addresses are reachable

Verifying the VPN status between the management server and the cluster witness
server...

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 Cluster Witness Server at IP Address 128.221.254.3 is not reachable

Verifying the VPN status between the management server and the cluster witness
server...
IPSEC is UP
Cluster Witness Server at IP Address 128.221.254.3 is reachable

Verifying the VPN status between the management servers...

IPSEC is UP
Remote Management Server at IP Address 10.31.25.27 is reachable
Remote Internal Gateway addresses are reachable

The VPN configuration between this cluster and the Witness server is complete.

The Setup Wizard has completed the automated portion of configuring your cluster.
From this point, please follow the manual procedures defined in the Installation
and Setup Guide.

VPlexcli:/>

Note: After IPsec configuration, the VPN connectivity between the Management Server and the
Cluster Witness Server is checked. This involves restarting the IPsec software stack on both the
Management Server and the Cluster Witness Server. Until both sides complete restarting the IPsec
software stack, you may see initial connectivity failure output such as:
Note: Cluster Witness Server at IP Address 128.221.254.3 is not reachable

10. [ ] Once the IPsec stacks of both sides complete the restart, the VPN connectivity check succeeds
as follows:
Verifying the VPN status between the management server and the cluster witness
server...
IPSEC is UP

11. [ ] On cluster-2, login to the management server as service.

12. [ ] Repeat steps 2. [ ] through 9. [ ] on cluster-2.

Note: The interview questions displayed by the configuration cw-vpn-configure command on cluster-2
are slightly different than on cluster-1. Since the host certificate on the VPLEX Witness Server is
already created (when the command was run from cluster-1), the command does not prompt for
Certificate Authority and Host passphrase. In Step 9. [ ], specify the IP address of the management
server for cluster-1.

For more information on VPLEX CLI commands, refer to the EMC VPLEX CLI Guide.

Validate IP connectivity
The following procedure validates proper IP connectivity following the deployment of Cluster Witness
Server and the establishment of 3-way VPN connectivity.

Confirm VPN connectivity

1. [ ] On cluster-1, login to the management server as service.
2. [ ] At the shell prompt, type vplexcli:
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.

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 Escape character is '^]'.

3. [ ] At the Enter User Name prompt, login to the VPLEX CLI with username service and password.
Enter User Name: service
Password:
creating
logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T18377_20100922142015

VPlexcli:/>

4. [ ] Type the vpn status command.

VPlexcli:/> vpn status
Verifying the VPN status between the management servers...
IPSEC is UP
Remote Management Server at IP Address 10.31.25.27 is reachable
Remote Internal Gateway addresses are reachable

Verifying the VPN status between the management server and the cluster witness
server...
IPSEC is UP
Cluster Witness Server at IP Address 128.221.254.3 is reachable

5. [ ] Confirm that all reported components are reachable.

Note: If all components are not reachable, contact EMC Customer Support.

6. [ ] On cluster-2, login to the management server as service.

7. [ ] At the shell prompt, type vplexcli:
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.

8. [ ] At the User Name prompt, login to the VPLEX CLI with username service and password.
Enter User Name: service
Password:
creating
logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T18377_20100922142015

VPlexcli:/>

9. [ ] Type the vpn status command.

VPlexcli:/> vpn status
Verifying the VPN status between the management servers...
IPSEC is UP
Remote Management Server at IP Address 10.31.25.26 is reachable
Remote Internal Gateway addresses are reachable

Verifying the VPN status between the management server and the cluster witness
server...
IPSEC is UP
Cluster Witness Server at IP Address 128.221.254.3 is reachable

10. [ ] Confirm that all reported components are reachable.

Note: If all components are not reachable, contact EMC Customer Support.

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Confirm VPN connectivity to Cluster Witness Server
1. [ ] On cluster-1, login to the management server as service.
2. [ ] At the shell prompt, use the ping -I eth3 IP address of Cluster Witness Server Guest VM to verify
connectivity to the Cluster Witness Server. Note: the -I flag is the uppercase letter i.
service@sms-tom:~> ping -I eth3 128.221.254.3

3. [ ] Confirm that the reported latency for all pings is less than 1 second. If the reported latency
exceeds 1 second, contact EMC Customer Support.
4. [ ] Log into the management server on cluster-2.
5. [ ] Repeat the ping commands to verify connectivity from cluster-2 to Cluster Witness Server. If any
commands above report lack of connectivity, contact EMC Customer Support.
6. [ ] At the shell prompt on either cluster, type the netstat command to confirm that MTU associated
with the public Ethernet port on either management server is 1500 bytes or larger:
service@ManagementServer:/bin> netstat -i
Kernel Interface table
Iface MTU Met RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth0 1500 0 1271950 0 0 0 1250780 0 0 0 BMRU
eth1 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BMU
eth2 1500 0 3188886 0 0 0 3854847 0 0 0 BMRU
eth3 1500 0 8417122 0 0 0 3720129 0 0 0 BMRU
lo 16436 0 102894 0 0 0 102894 0 0 0 LR

Configure Cluster Witness CLI context

After the 3-way VPN connectivity between the management servers and Cluster Witness Server has been
established and verified, use the following procedure to create the cluster-witness CLI context on both
management servers.
1. [ ] On either cluster, login to the management server as service.
2. [ ] At the shell prompt, type vplexcli:
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.

3. [ ] At the User Name prompt, login to the VPLEX CLI with username service and password.
Enter User Name: service
Password:
Creating
logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T18377_20100922142015

VPlexcli:/>

4. [ ] To display whether the cluster-witness context exists, type the ll /cluster-witness command.
VPlexcli:/> ll cluster-witness

5. [ ] If Cluster Witness CLI context does not exist, type the cluster-witness configure command. This
command creates the cluster-witness context.
ls: No context found for 'cluster-witness'

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 VPlexcli:/> cluster-witness configure

6. [ ] Type the ls /cluster-witness command to verify the cluster-witness context has been created.
VPlexcli:/> ls /cluster-witness/

/cluster-witness:

Attributes:
Name Value
------------------ -------------
admin-state disabled
private-ip-address 128.221.254.3
public-ip-address 10.31.25.235

Contexts:
Components

7. [ ] Login to the management server on the other cluster.

8. [ ] Repeat Steps 4. [ ] through 6. [ ].
9. [ ] After creating the cluster-witness context on both management servers, proceed to Enable
VPLEX Witness.

Enable VPLEX Witness

Use the following procedure to enable VPLEX Witness functionality.

Note: This procedure is run from only one management server. This procedure enables VPLEX Witness
functionality and causes all distributed virtual volumes in all synchronous consistency groups to adopt
VPLEX Witness failure behaviors (as described in the EMC VPLEX Administration Guide or the EMC
VPLEX Product Guide depending on your release of GeoSynchrony).

CAUTION: List all synchronous consistency groups and if you do not want Cluster Witness failure
handling semantics to apply to any of these consistency groups then do not enable Cluster Witness
functionality. If you enable Cluster Witness functionality, all synchronous consistency groups follow the
Cluster Witness failure handling semantics provided they have been configured with a specific preference
rule set.

To enable VPLEX Witness:

1. [ ] On either cluster, login to the management server as service.
At the shell prompt, type vplexcli:
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 0.0.0.0...
Connected to 0.
Escape character is '^]'.

2. [ ] Login to the VPLEX CLI with username service and password.

Enter User Name: service
Password:
creating
logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T18377_20100922142015

VPlexcli:/>

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 3. [ ] At the VPlexcli prompt, type the cluster-witness enable command.
VPlexcli:/> cluster-witness enable

4. [ ] Type the ls /cluster-witness command to verify the cluster-witness is enabled.

VPlexcli:/> ls /cluster-witness/

/cluster-witness:

Attributes:
Name Value
------------------ -------------
admin-state enabled
private-ip-address 128.221.254.3
public-ip-address 10.31.25.235

Contexts:
Components

Note: If the admin-state is disabled after using the cluster-witness enable command, contact EMC
Customer Support.

Reference: Display VPLEX Witness CLI contexts and status

The cluster-witness context does not appear in the VPLEX CLI unless the context has been created using
the cluster-witness configure command. The cluster-witness CLI context appears under the root context.
The cluster-witness context includes the following sub-contexts:
/cluster-witness/components/cluster-1
/cluster-witness/components/cluster-2
/cluster-witness/components/server

Display VPLEX Witness status

Use the ll command to display the overall status of VPLEX Witness.
From the cluster-witness context:
VPlexcli:/cluster-witness> ll

Attributes:
Name Value
------------------ -------------
admin-state enabled
private-ip-address 128.221.254.3
public-ip-address 10.31.25.235

Contexts:
Name Description
---------- --------------------------
components Cluster Witness Components

From the root context:

VPlexcli:/> ll /cluster-witness

/cluster-witness:

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 Attributes:
Name Value
------------------ -------------
admin-state enabled
.
.
.

Table 1 Display VPLEX witness field descriptions

Field Description
admin-state Identifies whether Cluster Witness functionality is enabled or disabled.
enabled - All components are reachable over the management network and report their
administrative state as enabled. The clusters send health observations to the Cluster
Witness Server. The Cluster Witness Server provides guidance to the clusters when the
Cluster Witness Server observes inter-cluster partition and/or cluster failures.
disabled - All components are reachable over the management network and report their
administrative state as disabled. The clusters follow configured preferred rule sets to
allow or suspend I/O to the distributed virtual volumes in all synchronous consistency
groups when inter-cluster partition or cluster failure occurs. There is no communication of
health observations and guidance between the clusters and Cluster Witness Server. All
distributed virtual volumes in all synchronous consistency groups use their pre-configured
preferred rule sets regardless of Cluster Witness Server.
unknown - There is only partial management network connectivity between this
management server and components that are supposed to report their administrative
state. To identify the component that is unreachable over the management network, refer
to the output of the individual component contexts.
inconsistent - All components are reachable over the management network but some
components report their administrative state as disabled while others report it as enabled.
This is an extremely rare state.
NOTE: Please call EMC Customer Service if admin-state is “inconsistent”.
private- ip-address Identifies the private IP address of the Cluster Witness Server VM (128.221.254.3) that is
used for cluster witness-specific traffic.
public-ip-address Identifies the public IP address of the Cluster Witness Server VM that is used as an
endpoint of the IPsec tunnel.
components Individual components that include both VPLEX clusters configured with Cluster Witness
functionality and the Cluster Witness Server.
Each sub-context displays details for the corresponding individual component

Display VPLEX Witness components

Use the ll /cluster-witness/components/ command to display the components on cluster-1, cluster-2, and
the Cluster Witness Server:
VPlexcli:/> ll /cluster-witness/components/

/cluster-witness/components:
Name ID Admin State Operational State Mgmt Connectivity
---------- -- ----------- ------------------- -----------------
cluster-1 1 enabled in-contact ok
cluster-2 2 enabled in-contact ok
server - enabled clusters-in-contact ok

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 Table 2 Display VPLEX witness components

Field Description
Name Name of component,
For VPLEX clusters – name assigned to cluster.
For VPLEX Witness server – “server”.
ID ID of a VPLEX cluster.
Always blank “-“ for Witness server.
Admin State Identifies whether VPLEX Witness is enabled/disabled. Valid values are:
enabled - VPLEX Witness functionality is enabled on this component .
disabled - VPLEX Witness functionality is disabled on this component.
unknown - This component is not reachable and its administrative state cannot be
determined.
Operational State Operational state of the corresponding component.
For clusters – Healthy state is in-contact. All other states indicate a problem.
For Cluster Witness Server – Healthy state is clusters-in-contact. All other states indicate a
problem.
For Cluster Witness Server:
clusters-in-contact - Both clusters are in contact with each other over the inter-cluster
network.
cluster-partition - The clusters are partitioned from each other over the inter-cluster network,
and the Cluster Witness Server can still talk to each cluster. See NOTE: below.
cluster-unreachable - One cluster has either failed or become isolated (that is partitioned
from its peer cluster and disconnected from the Cluster Witness Server). See NOTE: below.
unknown - Cluster Witness Server does not know the states of one or both of the clusters
and needs to learn them before it can start making decisions. Cluster Witness Server
assumes this state upon startup.
NOTE: When the server’s operational state is cluster-partition or cluster-unreachable, this
may not reflect the current observation of the Cluster Witness Server. The Cluster Witness
Server state and the guidance that it provides to the clusters based on its state is persistent
-- if Cluster Witness Server observes a failure (changes its state and provides guidance to
the clusters), the Cluster Witness Server maintains this state even if current observations
change. Cluster Witness Server maintains its failure state and guidance until both clusters
and their connectivity fully recover. This policy is implemented in order to avoid potential
data corruption scenarios due to split brain (that would be possible if this semantics were not
followed).
For VPLEX clusters:
in-contact - This cluster is in contact with its peer over the inter-cluster network. Rebuilds
may be in progress. Subject to other system-wide restrictions, I/O to all distributed virtual
volumes in all synchronous consistency groups is allowed from the perspective of VPLEX
Witness.
cluster-partition - This cluster is not in contact with its peer and the Cluster Witness Server
has declared that two clusters partitioned. Subject to other system-wide restrictions, I/O to
all distributed virtual volumes in all synchronous consistency groups (with specific
preference rule set) is allowed from the perspective of VPLEX Witness.
remote-cluster-isolated-or-dead - This cluster is not in contact with its peer and the Cluster
Witness Server has declared that the remote cluster (the peer) was isolated or dead.
Subject to other system-wide restrictions, I/O to all distributed virtual volumes in all
synchronous consistency groups (with specific preference rule set) is allowed from the
perspective of VPLEX Witness.
local-cluster-isolated - This cluster is not in contact with its peer and the Cluster Witness
Server has declared that the remote cluster (the peer) is the only proceeding cluster. This

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 Field Description
cluster must suspend I/O to all distributed virtual volumes in all synchronous consistency
groups regardless of cluster preference.
NOTE: When a cluster is isolated from both the remote cluster and Cluster Witness Server,
its state is unknown. When connectivity to VPLEX Witness server is restored, the state of
this cluster changes to local-cluster-isolated if this cluster remains partitioned from the peer
cluster.
unknown - This cluster is not in contact with its peer over the inter-cluster network and is
awaiting guidance from the Cluster Witness Server. I/O to all distributed virtual volumes in
all synchronous consistency groups is suspended regardless of cluster preference.
NOTE: When its state is local-cluster-isolated, the cluster does not receive guidance from
Cluster Witness Server. If connectivity with Cluster Witness Server is restored before the
inter-cluster link is restored state is local-cluster-isolated.
Mgmt Reachability of the specified Witness component over the IP management network from the
Connectivity management server where the CLI command is run.
ok - The component is reachable
failed - The component is not reachable

Display VPLEX Witness diagnostics

Use the ll components/* command to display diagnostic information:
VPlexcli:/cluster-witness> ll components/*
/cluster-witness/components/cluster-1:
Name Value
----------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
admin-state enabled
diagnostic INFO: Current state of cluster-1 is in-contact (last
state change: 0 days, 13056 secs ago; last message
from server: 0 days, 0 secs ago.)
id 1
management-connectivity ok
operational-state in-contact

/cluster-witness/components/cluster-2:
Name Value
----------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
admin-state enabled
diagnostic INFO: Current state of cluster-2 is in-contact (last
state change: 0 days, 13056 secs ago; last message
from server: 0 days, 0 secs ago.)
id 2
management-connectivity ok
operational-state in-contact

/cluster-witness/components/server:
Name Value
----------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
admin-state enabled
diagnostic INFO: Current state is clusters-in-contact (last state
change: 0 days, 13056 secs ago.) (last time of
communication with cluster-2: 0 days, 0 secs ago.)
(last time of communication with cluster-1: 0 days, 0
secs ago.)
id -
management-connectivity ok
operational-state clusters-in-contact

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 Table 3 Cluster Witness diagnostic

Field Description
diagnostic Additional information about the VPLEX clusters and the Cluster Witness Server.
INFO – VPLEX clusters and the Cluster Witness Server are operational and healthy. Displays
current operational state, time of the last state change, and time of the last message from the
Cluster Witness Server. If Cluster Witness is not enabled, displays the following:
“INFO: Cluster Witness is not enabled on cluster-1, so no diagnostic information is available.”
WARNING – Additional information displayed when there is no connectivity to a component,
operational status is something other than in-contact, or more than 60 seconds has elapsed since
receipt of a message. For example:
“WARNING: Cannot establish connectivity with Cluster Witness Server to query diagnostic
information.”
Refer to the Troubleshooting section of the generator.

Figure 29 CWS Virtual Machine deployed in a VMWare-FT Cluster

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