Replicator

Replicator#

Replicator instances on Scrutinizer servers can forward or replicate packet streams from UDP sources/exporters to specified Scrutinizer collectors and other destinations.

This section contains guides and additional details for deploying Replicator as part of a Scrutinizer/Plixer One environment. Visit the Replicator online manual to learn more about Replicator-only deployments.

Local Replicator instance#

The local Replicator instance on a Scrutinizer standalone appliance or primary reporter can be enabled at any time by entering a valid license key on the Admin > Plixer > Replicator page in the web interface.

After an active license key has been applied, the Replicator UI tab/page of the Scrutinizer web interface becomes accessible, and the local Replicator instance is automatically added to the Admin > Resources > Replicators management view. The local instance (named ‘Local’ by default) also functions as the admin/configuration instance for additional headless Replicator instances.

See this section for further information and instructions on setting up and configuring packet replication.

Note

A single Replicator instance can replicate packets at rates close to line speed with sufficient CPU provisioning. However, the interface configuration and number of destination collectors must also be taken into consideration. If all packets are being replicated to two destinations, the outbound bandwidth utilization will be twice the inbound volume.

Changed in version 19.7.2: Replicator instances are now bundled with all Plixer One license types. The local instance will be enabled by default and can be used for flow data replication (including Auto Replicate) to collectors in the same distributed cluster.

Support for additional instances and replication to external devices can enabled by adding a Replicator license key. Contact Plixer Technical Support for more information.

Headless instances#

Additional Replicator instances (for greater replication capacity, high availability, etc.) can be deployed as “headless” instances to minimize their resource footprint. These deployments do not include the web interface component; they must be registered and managed from a remote administrative/configuration Replicator instance (Plixer One/Scrutinizer environment or standalone Replicator instance) and cannot be configured independently.

Note

  • Replicator hardware appliances that are upgraded to v20.0.2 can be used as either standalone (default) or headless instances. See these instructions for more details.

  • Additional Replicator instances must be supported by the current license key. Contact Plixer Technical Support for further details.

Registering a headless Replicator instance#

Before deploying a headless Replicator instance, it must first be registered on the admin instance as follows:

View instructions

  1. Navigate to Admin > Resources > Replicators in the web interface.

  2. Click the Add button.

  3. Enter a name to assign to the new Replicator instance, and then click Save.

  4. Click on the name of the new instance in the main view and note the authentication token shown in the tray.

Once the new instance has been registered, proceed to deploying the headless Replicator instance.

Activating a headless Replicator instance on a Scrutinizer server#

In distributed clusters, additional headless Replicator instances can be deployed by activating the Replicator service on the secondary reporter or any remote collector as follows:

View instructions

  1. After a new headless Replicator instance has been registered on the admin instance, SSH to the Scrutinizer server as the plixer user and run:

    /user/share/replicator/util/setup.sh

  2. Enter the following details when prompted:

    • IP address of the admin/configuration instance (typically the IP address of the Scrutinizer primary reporter or a standalone Replicator instance)

    • Authentication token generated when the headless instance was registered (see above)

    • Name given to the headless instance when it was registered

  3. Return to the Admin > Resources > Replicators page in the Scrutinizer web interface and verify that the new instance has successfully self-registered with the correct IP address.

Once the headless instance on the Scrutinizer server has been successfully registered and deployed, it can be configured for standalone replication or used in a high-availability pair from the Scrutinizer web interface.

Deploying a headless Replicator instance#

Follow these steps to deploy a headless Replicator instance after it has been registered on the admin instance:

View instructions

  1. Download the latest headless Replicator VM package for your hypervisor from the Plixer Customer Portal.

  2. Deploy the VM following the instructions here.

  3. Complete the basic appliance configuration.

  4. After it reboots, SSH to the appliance as the plixer user again.

  5. Enter the following details when prompted:

    • IP address of the admin/configuration instance (typically the IP address of the Scrutinizer primary reporter or a standalone Replicator instance)

    • Authentication token generated when the headless instance was registered (see above)

    • Name given to the headless instance when it was registered

  6. Return to the Admin > Resources > Replicators page in the Scrutinizer web interface and verify that the new instance has successfully self-registered with the correct IP address.

Once the headless Replicator instance has been successfully registered and deployed, it can be configured for standalone replication or used in a high-availability pair from the Scrutinizer web interface.

Changing IP addresses (headless instances only)#

Follow these steps to change the IP address of a headless Replicator instance:

View instructions

  1. SSH to the instance as the plixer user:

    ssh plixer@HEADLESS_IP_ADDRESS

  2. Stop the Replicator service:

    sudo systemctl stop replicator

  3. Update IPADDR in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (or ifcfg-bond0) with the new IP address (IP_NEW):

    sudo sed -i 's/^IPADDR=.*/IPADDR=IP_NEW/' /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

    or

    sudo sed -i 's/^IPADDR=.*/IPADDR=IP_NEW/' /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bond0

  4. On the admin instance (Scrutinizer local instance or standalone Replicator instance) run the following queries to replace the previous IP address (IP_PREV) with the new IP address (IP_NEW) in the configuration:

    psql plixer

BEGIN;
ALTER TABLE replicator.profiles DROP CONSTRAINT profiles_replicator_ip_fkey;
ALTER TABLE replicator.profiles ADD constraint profiles_replicator_ip_fkey FOREIGN KEY(replicator_ip) REFERENCES replicator.deployments(replicator_ip) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE CASCADE;

DELETE FROM replicator.collector_state  where replicator_ip='IP_PREV'; 
DELETE FROM replicator.exporter_state  where replicator_ip='IP_PREV';

UPDATE replicator.deployments SET replicator_ip='IP_NEW' WHERE replicator_ip='IP_PREV';
UPDATE replicator.deployments SET paired_ip='IP_NEW' WHERE paired_ip='IP_PREV';
COMMIT;

  5. Restart the Replicator service:

    sudo systemctl start replicator

When done, navigate to Admin > Resources > Replicators to verify that the IP address of the headless Replicator instance has been updated successfully.

Port restrictions#

Replicator instances (both standalone/admin and headless) on Scrutinizer servers can only receive exporter streams on ports that are not already in use by Scrutinizer.

Scrutinizer uses ports 2055, 2056, 2057, 4432, 4739, 9995, 9996, and 6343 for inbound traffic by default, but it can be configured to only listen on port 4739 (reserved for vitals/internal flows) to allow for additional ports for Replicator exporters/sources. This change can be made by editing the Listener Port list under Admin > Settings > Collector Settings.

If Scrutinizer is configured to use only port 4739 for inbound traffic, all Replicator collector configurations and Auto Replicate profiles must also be set to use port 4739.

Note

If exporter streams to Replicator can only be sent on port 4739, a separate appliance/VM can be deployed as a headless Replicator instance (but still managed from the same local/admin instance) to receive the streams.

Profile migrations#

Profile configuration data from a Replicator 19.1.1 server can be migrated to a different Replicator 20.0.2 appliance/instance using the migration utility included with Plixer One/Scrutinizer deployments and standalone Replicator appliances.

See this section of the Replicator manual for further details and step-by-step instructions.