Multi-Network High Availability configuration¶

The Multi-Network or traditional configuration for fault tolerance is meant for systems with two Plixer Replicators on different subnets. In this configuration, the secondary appliance actively monitors the state of the primary appliance and regularly syncs its database with the primary’s settings.

When the secondary Plixer Replicator detects that the primary appliance is offline, it attempts to reach all known Collectors. If the Collectors are reachable, the secondary Plixer Replicator takes over replication operations based on the Profiles configured when its database was last synced with the primary appliance. If Collectors are not reachable, it maintains its secondary state until a Collector or the primary Plixer Replicator becomes reachable again.

The secondary Plixer Replicator will continue to monitor the state of the primary appliance, even after it has taken over replication functions. When the primary Plixer Replicator is reachable again, the secondary will sync any updates to the primary’s database before reverting to its previous monitor-and-sync state.

Important

When a Plixer Replicator is set as a secondary appliance, its current configuration will be replaced by the database synced from the primary appliance and it will no longer allow changes to its settings. The role and show commands may still be issued in Interactive Mode, but any modification of its Profile and global settings must be done through the primary Plixer Replicator.

Requirements¶

The following are required to set up a fault tolerant configuration using the multi-network method:

A primary Plixer Replicator
A secondary Plixer Replicator
Exporters that are configured to send data to the IP addresses of the primary and secondary appliances

Configuring the secondary Plixer Replicator (Multi-Network)¶

To set up the Plixer Replicator as the secondary appliance in the multi-network configuration:

Deploy the appliance as normal following the instructions in the deployment guides.
Use the role command to set it as the secondary Plixer Replicator:
```
REPLICATOR> role set secondary [primary_ip:listner_port] [timeout]
```
The listener_port must be a port being used by the primary Plixer Replicator to actively listen for packets, and the timeout argument sets the number of polls the primary appliance must miss before the secondary attempts to take over replication functions. The default timeout value is 2 polls.
Test the the secondary Plixer Replicator’s connectivity to the primary appliance by running the following command:
```
REPLICATOR> role test secondary
```

If the test runs successfully, the secondary Plixer Replicator has been correctly configured for fault tolerance.

Disabling Multi-Network configuration¶

A secondary Plixer Replicator in the multi-network configuration can be set as a standalone appliance at any time by issuing the command:

REPLICATOR> role set primary