Fail Over Service - Version 12010 and below

Availability of service desk application will be an important factor for the smooth running of service desk service. Unexpected hardware/software failure can make service desk application unavailable, which could have a big impact on business. ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) provides 'Fail Over Service' (FOS) feature to ensure availability of service desk application even during a software/hardware failure.

Topics Covered:

How does Fail Over Service work?

1. Shut down the current secondary server, which is acting as the primary server. That is, invoke <SERVICEDESK HOME>fosstopFOSService.bat in machine 2

2. Configure the rectified server as the primary server and start it. Invoke <SERVICEDESK HOME>fosstartFOSService.bat in machine 1.

3. Wait for the application to start the primary server fully. Then start the secondary server. (StartFOSService.bat from machine 2).

 

Pro-workflow
 
 
You can also configure a secondary server to take over when the Database server fails (from MSSQL setup). To learn more, click here.
 

PREREQUISITES FOR USING THE FOS FEATURE:

Server Requirements

     

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  • Use two virtual or physical machines with different nic card addresses to set up the FOS.
  • Common IP Address :

                    Common IP address is basically a virtual IP address in the local network, that is not bound to any specific machine. A simple way to check if an IP address can be used as a common one is to ping the IP address. If it's not reachable then it can be used as a common IP address.

 

ServiceDesk Configuration Requirements

Folder Share Permissions

Make sure to do the following if the folder is shared from an external machine:

 

     

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  • FOS needs to be purchased as an add-on even for the Enterprise edition.

SETUP PROCESS :

All the configurations must be done only in the primary installation and replicated to the secondary installation using mirrorSetup.bat

 

FOS Installation

 

  1. Install the build in machine 1
  2. The installation for the second machine will be copied during mirror operation.

 

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  • The entries in the registry will not be copied during the mirror operation as they are not required for the FOS to function.
  • Use the secondary setup only as a backup, in case of a failover to avoid data accumulation in the machine 2. Once the machine 1 is fixed, Please switch over to the standard mode with the machine 1 running as primary server.

 

  1. Share the machine 1's ManageEngine folder to machine 2 (with full read/write permission).
  2. Create a folder called ManageEngine in machine 2 and share this folder with machine 1 (with full read/write permission).
  3. Access machine 2's shared folders from machine 1 and vice versa, By accessing start menu->run-> \<machineIP>ManageEngine e.g: \192.168.3.11ManageEngine and provide the user name and password (if needed) to make sure an IPC connection is established between the machines.
  1. Supply the values for the given fields in the <SERVICEDESK HOME>fosfosInputs.conf file using the following file format.

    The sample file for fos inputs is as follows:

 

 

Please note,

  1. nicMachine1 refers to the nic card address for machine 1.
  2. nicMachine2 refers to the nic card address for machine 2.
  3. commonIP refers to the virtual IP address used to bind the active machine.
  4. machineURL1 refers to the URL for accessing servicedesk in machine 1.
  5. machineURL2 refers to the URL for accessing servicedesk in machine 2.

To set up a common alias URL for the above-mentioned commonIP, modify the following line in the fosInputs.conf file: 

commonIPAlias = ServiceDeskPlus.com 

 

The HTTP/HTTPS protocol should not be included in the fosInputs.conf file. However, if HTTPS protocol is used, then it is recommended to configure a value in fos/conf/wrapper-fos.conf file. Uncomment the following entry and configure the primary server IP address.

#wrapper.java.additional.4=-Dverifyhost=<ip of master machine>


For example, if the entry reads as follows:

#wrapper.java.additional.4=-Dverifyhost=192.168.240.45

Remove the hashtag (#) to uncomment the entry and configure your primary IP address in the place of "192.168.240.45".

 

Tool for identifying the nic card address:

  1. Use the iflist.exe tool inside the <SERVICEDESK HOME>fostools folder to obtain the nic card that is actively configured for the machine.
  2. Choose the nic card id of the network that is UP. (To be specific choose the NIC address for the IP to which the ServiceDesk application is bound)
  3. Copy the iflist.exe to the remote machine and run it to obtain the nic card id for that machine.

nic card address

 

Subnet Mask Change

 

By default, the subnet mask address is 255.255.255.0.  If you have a different subnet mask address, configure the fos.conf file > SDP_HOME/fos/conf 

Open the fos.conf file, find the following value and remove the "#" to configure the subnet value. 

clustering.fos.publicIPNetMask= <your ip range value>

Use <SERVICEDESK HOME>binchangeDBserver.bat and externalize the DB

Complete the DB, JAVA, Memory tuning in the required files (If needed).

Start Application :


Invoke <SERVICEDESK HOME>fosstartFOSService.bat in machine 1. This will also start SDP service in machine 1.

Invoke <SERVICEDESK HOME>fosstartFOSService.bat in machine 2. This will also start SDP service in machine 2.

SDP service must be started only through the bat file and not through windows SDP service or from the start menu.

Configure Credentials for FOS Replication (For build 10509 and higher only)

Announcement: For users using build 11136 and above.

Users with build 11136 and above are required to perform the following changes to ensure smooth FOS file replication:

1. The fos >> filelog folder must be renamed or deleted in their primary and secondary servers.
2. The next.pos file under fos >> repl-slave must be deleted in their primary and secondary servers.

 

FOS replication schedule will make use of these credentials to replicate files from the master machine to the slave machine when the application is running. 

To make sure the data is replicated in both the machines, do the following:


Similarly,


Note: Whenever you change the password for the user credential mentioned above, make sure to update it here too. If you fail to update the password, then the replication will fail. 

 

Failure Notifications

In case of critical failures like 'master_node_down,' specific technicians will be notified by email.

To configure the notification:

Go to admin>>self service portal settings, find "In case of failover notify to," add the email addresses as comma separated values, and click Save.

Note: For the emails to be sent, the outgoing mail server should be configured for the application.

Upgrade process:

FOS Upgrade

Follow these steps while upgrading the FOS.

Restore process :

Follow these steps while restoring the FOS.

         

             Note

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  • As a general rule run mirrorSetup.bat (under <SERVICEDESK HOME>fos folder) whenever there is a configuration change made in the machine 1 setup.
  • Configuration tips: Always do the configuration changes like changing the webserver port, theme changes, translations, etc in the machine 1 (Primary installation).
  • If the file attachments path is modified via UI then the corresponding conf file must be manually updated in the FOS service


     

     



Prerequisites for DC Add-on (If DC plugin installed):

 

File location path has to be changed to a network share that is accessible by both the installations(machine 1 & machine 2) for the following

DesktopCentral - Admin - Tools - Database Backup - Backup Directory

DesktopCentral - Admin - Software Repository - HTTP Repository - New Location

DesktopCentral - Patch Mgmt - Downloaded Patches - Settings - Patch Repository Location

Disabling FOS:

FOS will be disabled.

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  • The SDP service which was moved to the Manual mode must be reset to the Automatic mode manually.