High Availability Manager Wizard
This wizard guides you through the process of creating and setting up a high-availability cluster.
To launch the wizard:
- Open High Availability Manager.
- Click Create HA cluster
Note:
- If you need to identify which server is the active server of a high-availability cluster, we recommend you download Synology's DS finder application and use its beep function, which can make the active server emit a short beep sound.
Before you start:
There are certain requirements for setting up a High Availability cluster.
- The two models need to be identical or compatible.
- The following configurations need to be identical.
- HDD/SSD
- The number of hard-drive/SSD, inserted slots, and the capacity
- Network
- All network related settings
- DSM and package versions
- The IP addresses of the two servers must be static IP.
Recommended network configurations:
The cluster and Heartbeat connections are the two primary connections to make the cluster work properly.This section will guide you through how to set up the two connections with built-in network interfaces for a better cluster performance.
Note:
- This network suggestion page only appears when no external network card is installed on both servers.
Set up network interfaces:
Choose the network interfaces on the both servers for the cluster connection and the Heartbeat connection. The drop-down menu lists all physical interfaces on your servers, and you can only select the connected ones. Please note that the network interface needs to be the same on both servers. Here are some important information about the two connections:
Heartbeat connection
Connect the two servers to each other. This connection shall serve as the "Heartbeat" connection between the two servers, facilitating communication and allowing data to be replicated from the active server to the passive server. To ensure the quality of the Heartbeat connection, the system will check whether this connection meets the following criteria when creating the high-availability cluster:
- Between the two servers, there are no other devices with IP addresses found in the same broadcast domain. If this Heartbeat connection passes through any switches, you must ensure the switches support multicast.
- Have a low-latency network connection. The response time of Ping between the two servers must be less than 1 ms, and transmission speed should be at least 500 Mbps.
- Use the same network interface on both servers. For example, if one end is connected to LAN 1 on one server, then the other end must be connected to LAN 1 on the other server.
- Use the fastest network interface on both servers. If the servers are equipped with 10GbE add-on network interface cards, this connection must use them.
Note:
- Heartbeat connection settings will produce two sets of IP addresses (e.g. 169.254.1.1 and 169.254.1.2) for the purposes of data replication from the active server to passive server. Please make sure that these two IP addresses are not used by any other equipment in the network.
- Enabling VLAN ID on the Heartbeat connection ports of your Synology NAS is not supported.
Cluster connection
Users can access the cluster via the cluster connection, which can be connected to a switch. Through the High Availability mechanism, you are able to access the cluster with a set of virtual IP address, which automatically connects you to the active server. If the active server is down due to errors, this set of IP will reconnect to the passive server to ensure that the passive server can take over the services shortly
Configuring Link Aggregation on the Heartbeat or data connections:
- To configure Link Aggregation on the Heartbeat or data connection, please set up Link Aggregation on two or more LAN ports at Control Panel > Network > Network Interface before launching the high availability creation wizard. Make sure Link Aggregation settings are identical on both servers (e.g. if you set up Link Aggregation on ports 1 and 2 of the active server, Link Aggregation must be set up on ports 1 and 2 of the passive as well).
- Heartbeat is equipped with failover and load balancing capabilities, but data connections depend on the mode of Link Aggregation you choose.
Enter passive server information:
Designate a Synology server to be the passive server. Under normal conditions, the passive server does not provide services. However, in the event of a malfunction, services can be transferred from the active server to the passive server. Once the Heartbeat connection is established, the system will be able to retreive the basic information of the passive server. Log in to continue the setup:
- Username: Log in with a user account that belongs to the administrator group.
- Password: Enter the password of the account.
Note:
- Once the high-availability cluster is created, all data on the passive server will be deleted. Please make sure that no important data is stored on the passive server.
Set up High Availability Cluster:
After the cluster is created, you should only access the cluster with the virtual cluster IP address and let it directs the connection to the active server. Avoid accessing the active server or passive server directly.
- Cluster hostname: A name for the cluster which cannot exceed 15 characters. This hostname must be different from the one of active server or passive server.
- Cluster IP: An un-used IP address within the network. This will be the static IP address for you to access the high availability cluster after the completion.
Verify the requirements:
All the requirements will be verified at this point. The errors listed will need to be addressed to proceed to the next step.
Select an action for existing data:
To ensure data consistency on both active and passive server, an initial storage replication will be performed when there are existing volumes/LUNs on the active server.This may take up to hours long, depending on the size of the volumes/LUNs.
If the data on the active server is no longer needed, it’s recommanded to erase all data/volumes/LUNs to speed up the initial data replication, which will take ten to fifteen minutes. When proceed, a message box will prompt that data will be erased on the active server. Enter the adminstrator’s password to continue.
You may also choose to keep all data on the active server, and the initial data replication will be performed after the cluster is created. Please note that the auto failover is unavailable until the initial data replication is complete.
Note:
- This page will only appear when existing volumes/LUNs are detected.
Confirm settings:
All settings you have set will be listed in the summary. Make sure all settings are as desired.