Bugzilla – Bug 748414
IDM 4.x documentation does not include cluster install instructions like 3.6.x did
Last modified: 2017-04-03 03:04:50 UTC
Identity Manager 4.0 SP1 Documentation A customer trying to upgrade to IDM 4.x has noticed that the documentation no longer includes mention of clustering support. As this was supported before it should be continued. Specifically documenting the -DCLUSTER_INSTALL option that was previously present (assuming it is still present) is required to install on multiple servers. IDM 3.6.x driver docs: http://www.novell.com/documentation/idm36/idm_install/data/bept5sb.html IDM 4.0.1 driver docs: http://www.novell.com/documentation/idm401/idm_framework_install/data/a7c9ie0.html Expected Results: Features documented in 3.6.x should be documented in 4.0.x as well to facilitate keeping current on products. Actual Results: Missing instructions on how to do installations as they were done in the past.
A customer in the support forums has noticed the missing documentation as well. Path: kovat.provo.novell.com!kortar.provo.novell.com!kovat.provo.novell.com.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Message-ID: <jlmasmit.58rdxz@no-mx.forums.novell.com> From: jlmasmit <jlmasmit@no-mx.forums.novell.com> Newsgroups: netiq.support.identity-manager.engine-drivers Subject: Cluster installation Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:36:01 GMT Lines: 29 Organization: forums.provo.novell.com User-Agent: vBulletin USENET gateway X-Originating-IP: 137.65.227.183 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 NNTP-Posting-Host: 137.65.225.252 X-Trace: kovat.provo.novell.com 1330623361 137.65.225.252 (Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:36:01 MST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:36:01 MST Xref: wintermute.is.niu.edu netiq.support.identity-manager.engine-drivers:1308 Hello, We have a requirement to install Identity Manager 4.0.1 into a cluster. Is there any supported installation of IDM4 in cluster? I haven't found anything in the documentation and searching on the web I have found only two references with old versions of IDM, SLES and Windows. 'Cool Solutions: AppNote: Clustering eDirectory and IDM on Windows 2003' (http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/appnote/14856.html) http://www.novell.com/support/php/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=http--wwwnovellcom-communities-it-node-1537-configurailability20cluster20idm20320and20edirectory2088&sliceId=&docTypeID=DT_ARTICLES_TIPS_1_1&dialogID=308112846&stateId=0%200%20308114159 We need a supported installation with the current versions of Windows (20008R2) and SLES (11) and with 64-bits operating systems. Many thanks, Regards, Josep Lluís. -- jlmasmit ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jlmasmit's Profile: http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=20336 View this thread: http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=452837
This should be added back with 4.0.2 as I have been told we will 100% support clustering in 8.8.7 and 4.0.2.
I not clearly recollect the reason for having clustering information removed from 40 doc. But I remember we were asked to remove it. I will add this information to 4.0.2 docs.
Can we get the 4.0.2 steps posted here please?
We have always supported our products running in a cluster. We in the process of documenting the process for SLES since we own the whole stack. Since it was never tested by enginering we had to remove the info from the docs until it was tested. This is a mandatory action for 4.0.2.
What wasn't tested? Just IDM 4 on a clustered eDirectory? With IDM 3.x and SLES10 + Heartbeat v2, I can say that it works fine as I've been doing it for several years here. I don't see any reason this would be different with SLES11/HA. I need to upgrade to IDM 4. Without cluster support, that's a non-starter. I have about two months to upgrade to IDM 4.x and get the Google Apps driver running in production for 150K mailboxes this summer. I need supported documentation for IDM 4.01, and I need it very, very soon. I don't think I can wait for IDM 4.02 to ship to be supported again.
David, I know of over 30 customers who will attest to the same. It is supported. We are just not actively stating such until 4.0.2 ships.
So if I follow the IDM 3.x upgrade instructions for a cluster, using IDM 4.01, it should probably work. Is there anything I should be aware of before attempting this? Can I get a draft of the IDM 4.02 docs, assuming that they exist?
IDM 3.6.1, Section 7.7 Installing Identity Manager in Clustering Environment This is *very* insufficient as far as documentation goes. The only real doc here is a link to a SLES9 / Heartbeat1 configuration on CoolSolutions. SLES10 with Heartbeat v2 is significantly different, and much better than SLES9 and Heartbeat v1. I'd be happy to share my own documentation for building a multinode SLES10 / HA2 cluster supporting eDirectory / IDM. But even that is old at this point. What should be documented is how to build a SLES11/HA cluster with eDir88 and IDM4. I'd be happy to contribute to this as well, if that would help.
I don't think any of the content exists yet. Send me an email reminder and I'll send you a doc showing how to setup on SLES11. The product doesn't know it's in a cluster so you would upgrade your x nodes as you normally would. A few notes. 1. The eDir team has recommended the nici files be stored on the shared storage as opposed to individual locations on each node so that new keys are seen by all nodes. There were instructions that didn't use the recommended process. 2. NICI changes are in process to recover for any corruption using a backup copy. 3. A Windows tool is being shipped to manage the registry rights and configuration file for NICI so that upgrades don't break a cluster node's nici configuration that points to shared storage.
Also the eDir team is charted with all the documentation for the 887 release.
The answer I received from the IDM Product Manager regarding IDM 4.0.1 support for clustering is as follows: (between the lines) ---------------- From an official positioning - IDM is cluster ready and is supported in a cluster environment. ---------------- It appears the Section entitled "Installing Identity Manager in Clustering Environment" in the IDM 3.6.1 documentation was pulled due to the fact that it references cool solutions. Cool Solutions can be created by Novell or external parties and are not supported by Novell Technical Support. Therefore it appears to be inappropriate to reference cool solutiosn in the Novell documentation so the section was removed. Additionally, IDM requires eDirectory. So documentation on enabling eDirectory in a Clustering enviroment is a pre-requisite to IDM Clustering documentation. It is anticpated that eDirectory 8.8.7 will have documentation for "eDirectory HA through clustering". Along with the release of eDirectory 8.8.7, it is anticipated that IDM 4.0.2 will also release documentation for best practices on deploying IDM in a clustering enviroment. But for now, the cool solutions contain the best unoffical documentation on enabling IDM in a clustering environment.
I definitely understand the importance of providing clustering information to customers. We are going to provide that. This is a documentation bug, I think we can bring down the severity from Major to Normal.
QA has be promising this documentation for over a decade.