Some Enterprise Server configuration considerations ... - Micro Focus

Enterprise Server configuration considerations for Fail Over servers sharing data
with a Main server
The first thing to consider is how to get the Fail Over server to share the same Enterprise
Server repository.
The default repository location for Micro Focus Directory Server is
$COBDIR/etc/mfds
on Unix and Linux platforms and
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Micro
Focus\NetExpress\5.0\MFDS\
for Windows platforms.
On Unix and Linux platforms, if the product installation used to run the Fail Over ES
server is on a different disk to that of the main server, each will have a different
$COBDIR. On Windows, the same problem occurs if the drive chosen on installation is
not shared between the servers.
The following illustrates what happens when you change the Micro Focus Directory
Server (MFDS) repository location:
Supposing that $COBDIR/etc/mfds has been changed to /shareddir/mfds (at least
/shareddir must already exist, if the mfds subdirectory doesn't exist, it will be created)
- The definitions that are currently loaded in memory are saved to the new directory
/shareddir/mfds overwriting any definitions that were there previously (a warning
message will appear indicating this if any definitions are found there already).
- Any new changes to the definitions will be stored in the new directory
/shareddir/mfds.
- The next time that mfds is re-started (due to shutdown or because mfds has been
stopped) it will load from the new directory /shareddir/mfds.
It is very important to realise that if you have changed the repository location of the main
server to a directory in the shared disc, and you then change the Fail Over ES server to
use the same location as the main server, you will overwrite any definitions that were in
the shared location with the current definitions of the Fail Over server mfds, which is
probably just the ESDEMO server.
This may not be a problem if you haven’t defined any servers of your own yet, but if you
have any server defined, you don’t want to loose anything.
For this reason, it is better to change the repository location directory of the Fail Over
server first, and then change the repository location directory of the main server
afterwards. This way you make sure that the definitions of the main server prevail over
the definitions of the Fail Over server. From then on, they will both share the same
definitions.

Changing the default repository location for Micro Focus Directory Server
In the ES Administration pages
http://machinename:86/
select Configuration / Options in the left hand panel. This is what you should see in older
versions of Enterprise Server:
And in newer versions:

If for some reason you need to change the repository location of the main sever to a
common shared disc directory before you have the chance of changing the repository
location of the Fail Over server, then it will be necessary that you make a backup of the
main repository location just before you change it in the Fail Over server so you can
restore it when the definitions are overwritten.
These are the steps to follow:
Main Server is up
1) Change the default repository location to a shared disk, i.e. /shareddir/mfds, as
explained above.
2) Export the mfds repository of the main server to a backup location. This is better
done when all the servers are in Stopped status:
• select Action / Save in ES administration left hand panel
• enter your desired backup directory path, i.e. /shareddir/mfds/backup, and
press OK
3) Then stop the main server's mfds.
On Windows Micro Focus Directory Server (MFDS) runs as a service, so you stop it
using the Services tool within Control Panel / Administrative tools: Find Micro Focus
Directory Server in the list of Services and then right click on it and select Stop.

On Unix and Linux platforms, you can stop it on the left hand side panel of the
Enterprise Server Administration page (Actions / Shutdown) or from the
commandline:
mfds [-p port-number] –s 2 [username password]
(shutdown the Directory Server and any associated enterprise servers)
Main Server is down and Fail Over server is up
4) Change the repository location to the same directory in the shared disk as the
main server, i.e. /shareddir/mfds (Configuration / Options)
5) Restore the backup you created in step 2):
• select Action/ Restore in ES administration left hand panel
• enter your backup directory path, i.e. /shareddir/mfds/backup, and press
OK
Although a backup of the main server should be done every time that any important
information has been added/changed, it won't be necessary to restore it when the fail over
server is up after these changes have been applied (unless data has been corrupted), as
they both will be sharing the same repository from this moment on.
One important note to make is that only servers that have exactly the same Micro Focus
Directory Server version can share the repository location.
Finally it is important to notice that 2 mfds servers can not share the same repository at
the same time. Only one mfds can be active at a time. But naturally, the Fail Over server
should only be up if the main server is down…
Some other considerations with Fail Over severs that share the configuration with the
main server
By default, when you create a new Server using the Enterprise Server Administration, it
creates a new directory with exactly the same name as the ES server. This new directory
is created under
Unix
/var/mfcobol/es (on Unix and Linux platforms)
Windows
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\My Documents\Micro Focus\Net Express
5.0\WORKAREA (on later versions of the product, on earlier versions it would be on
productDirectory/Base/WORKAREA)
i.e. for ESDEMO on Unix, it would be
/var/mfcobol/es/ESDEMO

This directory is the ES server / region system directory and it is used to output files such
as console.log, log.html, dumps, etc... This should be different for both servers, the Fail
Over server and the main server should not share this directory. On Unix, if /var is in a
shared disk, you should change it so the main ES uses a different directory to the fail over
ES.
Also, if any of your servers is an MTO server, the ES server system directory is also used
by default for storing the data files for the TS and TD queues. The fail over server doesn't
need to use the same TS and TD data files if you are only planning to do a Cold Start. But
if you want to be able to warm start the fail over server with the same files the main
server was using when it failed, you need to configure it to store these files in a shared
disk. This is done in the SIT definition.
To edit your SIT, first check which SIT you are using within ESMAC (Edit your Sever
and select “ES Monitor & Control” in the Server / Control tab).
Then edit your SIT

And enter the path for the TS and TD queues

Other MTO/JCL considerations are to make sure that you define each one of the paths in
the MTO and JES tabs within Server / Properties to point to the shared disk. Don't leave
any field to its default value:
- Transaction Path
- File Path
- Map Path
- Resource Definition File Path
- JES Program Path
- System Catalog
- Default Allocated Dataset Location