Technical Note: Reloading master controller disables master status on slave controller

[sachitdas_FTNT]

Description

This article explains why reloading the master controller disables the master status on the slave controller.

Scope

All controller models, 6.x and above.

Solution

This is an expected behavior after 6.x, the following commands will disable the master status on slave controller.

1) Reload controller
2) Poweroff controller
3) Upgrade controller

Hostname     IP Address  Admin    Switch  Reason       Adverts  SW Version      Status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCMERU1     10.34.96.8  Disable  No      Down         -        -               -     

It is necessary to manually go to slave controller and enable master status manually.

NP1‐MC4200‐slave# configure terminal
NP1‐MC4200‐slave(config)# nplus1 enable <Master IP>
NP1‐MC4200‐slave(config)# end

The following example will illustrate the scenario:

Master controller IP: 10.34.96.8
Slave controller IP: 10.34.96.9
Controller used : MC4200 on SD7.0-8-0

1) Nplus1 setup

Master Nplus1 Status:

INCMERU1(15)# sh nplus1
-----------------------------------------------------
                 Master controller
                Master IP : 10.34.96.8
          Master Hostname : INCMERU1
            Master Status : Active
                 Slave IP : 10.34.96.9
             Slave Status : Passive
-----------------------------------------------------
INCMERU1(15)#

Slave Nplus1 Status:

[Kmc4200-S(15)# sh nplus1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Current State : Passive
         Heartbeat Period : 1000 milliseconds
      Heartbeat Threshold : 4 threshold
               Auto Revert: Disabled
                 Slave IP : 10.34.96.9
           Slave Hostname : mc4200-S
             License Type : Demo
License Usage (Used/Tot) : 1/1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Master Controllers
                                                                         Missed   
Hostname       IP Address  Admin    Switch  Reason           Adverts  SW Version        Status  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCMERU1       10.34.96.8  Enable   Yes     -                0        7.0-8-0           Active 
       mc4200-S(15)#

2) When initiating “reload controller” on the master controller, master "admin status" goes to "disable" in slave controller.

Slave nplus1 status when initiating reload controller on master controller.

mc4200-S(15)# sh nplus1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Current State : Passive
         Heartbeat Period : 1000 milliseconds
      Heartbeat Threshold : 4 threshold
               Auto Revert: Disabled
                 Slave IP : 10.34.96.9
           Slave Hostname : mc4200-S
             License Type : Demo
License Usage (Used/Tot) : 1/1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Master Controllers
                                                                         Missed 
Hostname       IP Address  Admin    Switch  Reason           Adverts  SW Version        Status 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCMERU1       10.34.96.8  Disable  No      Down             -        -                 -     

3) When the Master controller comes up, it will be seen in the slave controller that master status shows disable.

4) In the slave nplus1 logs the master role is seen to have changed from Down to Active.

Dec 21 11:01:35 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Is existing in full sync files(result:1)
Dec 21 11:01:35 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: np1ka_handleAdvertisement - Successfully checked that config file exist(masterIP:10.34.96.8, status:Syncing Config)
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Received Heartbeat Command from 10.34.96.8 Master Controller(cmd:STOP, status:Active)   -> Master reloaded
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Change 10.34.96.8's adminState to 'Disable'
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: INFO: Disabled Master Controller: Hostname: INCMERU1 IP: 10.34.96.8
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: For MC: 10.34.96.8 State: Up->Down when disabling Master Controller
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Received Heartbeat Command from 10.34.96.8 Master Controller(cmd:STOP, status:Active)
Dec 21 11:03:36 mc4200-S last message repeated 3 times
Dec 21 11:04:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: ******Heartbeat Timeout - Remote:[10.34.96.8], Timeout:4040 ms, Configured Timeout:4000 ms
Dec 21 11:04:36 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Changed Master Role('Active' -> 'Down')
Dec 21 11:06:27 mc4200-S nplus1_Slave: Changed Master Role('Down' -> 'Active') -> Master came back online

5) Re enable master controller on slave controller.

[Kmc4200-S # configure terminal
[Kmc4200-S (config)# nplus1 enable 10.34.96.8
[Kmc4200-S(15)# sh nplus1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Current State : Passive
         Heartbeat Period : 1000 milliseconds
      Heartbeat Threshold : 4 threshold
               Auto Revert: Disabled
                 Slave IP : 10.34.96.9
           Slave Hostname : mc4200-S
             License Type : Demo
License Usage (Used/Tot) : 1/1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Master Controllers
                                                                         Missed 
Hostname       IP Address  Admin    Switch  Reason           Adverts  SW Version        Status 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCMERU1       10.34.96.8  Enable   Yes     -                0        7.0-8-0           Active