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Conference smurf::ase

Title:ase
Moderator:SMURF::GROSSO
Created:Thu Jul 29 1993
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2114
Total number of notes:7347

2040.0. "Sinmulate memory channel failure??" by DYOSW5::WILDER (Does virtual reality get swapped?) Wed Apr 30 1997 21:37

    Customer has 2 8000s in a test environment running TCR1.4 with memory
    channel and Oracle OPS. They want to test a "simulated" memory channel
    failure. I would assume that we can simply pull the mc cable off one
    system. Is this the best way to simulate an mc only failure?
    
    Thanks,
    
    /jim
    
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2040.1And the answer is???DYOSW5::WILDERDoes virtual reality get swapped?Wed May 07 1997 08:108
    Does the lack of a response mean that pulling the mc cable off IS the
    best way to simulate a memory channel failure? Has anyone done this? Is
    this the BEST way in a hubless environment?
    
    Thanks,
    
    /jim
    
2040.2yesAFW4::CLEMENCEWed May 07 1997 08:240
2040.3Thanks, now, what will happenDYOSW5::WILDERDoes virtual reality get swapped?Thu May 08 1997 08:0912
    Thanks.
    
    Now, what should we expect? This will cause a partitioned database
    (since we are running OPS). Therefore, I would expect one node to
    crash. Is there anyway to fresee which node? Will the node running the
    Director survive, or is it a coin toss? Or (heaven forbid) will both
    nodes crash, and let the reboot make the decision on the survivor?
    
    Thanks,
    
    /jim
    
2040.4KITCHE::schottEric R. Schott USG Product ManagementThu May 08 1997 13:503
Hi

 Do you have quorum disk setup?
2040.5Tie-breakers definedDYOSW5::WILDERDoes virtual reality get swapped?Fri May 09 1997 08:1418
    Yes, there is a quoru/tie-breaker disk. In fact, there are 3
    tie-breaker disks, one per HSZ pair.
    
    Now, I realize that with 3 disks, the system that sees at least 2 will
    be the winner. My question is, what do we expect to happen? Will the
    winner force the other system to crash? Reboot? What?
    
    If the losing system reboots, what will happen if we re-connect the
    Memory Channel cable while the systems are up?
    
    These are questions I know the customer will be asking, and I would
    like to try to appear knowledgable and have these answers BEFORE they
    ask.
    
    Thanks,
    
    /jim
    
2040.6And the result is.....DYOSW5::WILDERDoes virtual reality get swapped?Fri May 23 1997 10:5118
    Well, for those of you still wondering, we had to find out what would
    happen at the customer site (I love learning in front of the customer).
    
    When the MC cable was disconnected, the node with the tie-breaker disks
    survived. It forced the other node to panic. After that node crashed,
    it re-booted. When TCR came up, it found the surviving node on the
    network and the SCSI. However, when it discovered that it could NOT see
    it over the memory channel, it displayed the error message and shgut
    itself down to single user mode.
    
    Oracle performed exactly as we had predicted, recovering transactions
    that had not committed on the dead node, while the surviving node only
    paused once briefly.
    
    The customer is impressed!
    
    /jim