Common cluster problems

You cannot start or restart a cluster node

This situation is typically due to some problem with your communications environment. To avoid this situation, ensure that your network attributes are set correctly, including the loopback address, INETD settings, ALWADDCLU attibute, and the IP addresses for cluster communications.

• The ALWADDCLU network attribute must be appropriately set on the target node if trying to start a remote node. This should be set to either *ANY or *RQSAUT depending on your environment.
• The IP addresses chosen to be used for clustering locally and on the target node must show an Active status.
• The LOOPBACK address (127.0.0.1) locally and on the target node must also be active.
• Verify that network routing is active by attempting to PING using the IP addresses used for clustering on the local and remote nodes; however, PING does not work between IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, or if a firewall is blocking it. If any cluster node uses an IPv4 address, than every node in the cluster needs to have an active IPv4 address (not necessarily configured as a Cluster IP address) that can route to and send TCP packets to that address. Also, if any cluster node uses an IPv6 address, than every node in the cluster needs to have an active IPv6 address (not necessarily configured as a Cluster IP address) that can route to and send TCP packets to that address.
• INETD must be active on the target node. When INETD is active, port 5550 on the target node should be in a Listen state. See INETD server for information about starting the INETD server.
• Prior to attempting to start a node, port 5551 on the node to be started must not be opened or it will, in fact, prevent the successful start of clustering on the subject node.

You end up with several, disjointed one-node clusters

This can occur when the node being started cannot communicate with the rest of the cluster nodes. Check the communications paths.

The response from exit programs is slow.

A common cause for this situation is incorrect setting for the job description used by the exit program. The MAXACT parameter may be set too low so that, for example, only one instance of the exit program can be active at any point in time. It is recommended that this be set to *NOMAX.

Performance in general seems to be slow.

There are several common causes for this symptom.

• The most likely cause is heavy communications traffic over a shared communications line.
• Another likely cause is an inconsistency between the communications environment and the cluster message tuning parameters. You can use the Retrieve Cluster Resource Services Information (QcstRetrieveCRSInfo) API to view the current settings of the tuning parameters and the Change Cluster Resource Services (QcstChgClusterResourceServices) API to change the settings. Cluster performance may be degraded under default cluster tuning parameter settings if using old adapter hardware. The adapter hardware types included in the definition of old are 2617, 2618, 2619, 2626, and 2665. In this case, setting of the Performance class tuning parameter to Normal is desired.
• If all the nodes of a cluster are on a local LAN or have routing capabilities which can handle Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) packet sizes of greater than 1,464 bytes throughout the network routes, large cluster message transfers (greater than 1,536K bytes) can be greatly speeded up by increasing the cluster tuning parameter value for Message fragment size to better match the route MTUs.

You cannot use any of the function of the new release.

If you attempt to use new release function and you see error message CPFBB70, then your current cluster version is still set at the prior version level. You must upgrade all cluster nodes to the new release level and then use the adjust cluster version interface to set the current cluster version to the new level. See Adjust the cluster version of a cluster for more information.

You cannot add a node to a device domain or access the System i Navigator cluster management interface.

To access the System i® Navigator cluster management interface, or to use switchable devices, you must have IBM® i Option 41, HA Switchable Resources installed on your system. You must also have a valid license key for this option.

You applied a cluster PTF and it does not seem to be working.

You should ensure that you have completed the following tasks after applying the PTF:

CEE0200 appears in the exit program joblog.

On this error message, the from module is QLEPM and the from procedure is Q_LE_leBdyPeilog. Any program that the exit program invokes must run in either *CALLER or a named activation group. You must change your exit program or the program in error to correct this condition.

CPD000D followed by CPF0001 appears in the cluster resource services joblog.

When you receive this error message, make sure the QMLTTHDACN system value is set to either 1 or 2.

Cluster appears hung.

Make sure cluster resource group exit programs are outstanding. To check the exit program, use the WRKACTJOB (Work with Active Jobs) command, then look in the Function column for the presence of PGM-QCSTCRGEXT.