Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Q: How do I tell how much RAM I have in my Nokia box?

A:
Use the cli command dmesg.

Q: I want to change the patching of one of my cluster interfaces without making the Nokias join and unjoin the cluster. How do I do this?

A:
We're asumming here you have two or more Nokias, each with an interface going to the same hub or swtich and want to work on the switch or repatch to a new switch. Whenever a Nokia detects a loss of link on any cluster interface, the whole Nokia leaves the cluster. This can cause undesirable connection drops on other cluster interfaces (even though it's not supposed to). UPDATE! Here's an elegant solution, so obvious I didn't see it: before doing the repatching, turn off power on all cluster members but one. Repatch everything before powering the other cluster members back up. That being said, here's the earlier, not-so-elegant solution: The only solution is to take the interfaces to that switch out of the cluster until the work is completed. Note that while doing this, the Nokia will leave and rejoin the cluster, but after that it should stay put. Here's how:
  1. Make a note of the cluster IP (and MAC) and the individual IPs of the interface you are working on (lets call it eth2).
  2. Log on to firewall 2 Voyage as admin (not cadmin). Go to config/clustering setup.
  3. If eth2 is a cluster interface, you'll see "yes" in the select column next to eth2c0. Change this to "no".
  4. Apply and save and see what happens. I think the node will leave and rejoin the cluster, and the segment on eth2 will still be up on the other Nokia.
  5. Log out of firewall2 and log into firewall1, as admin.
  6. Take this firewall's eth2 out of the cluster in the same way, apply and save. The node should leave and rejoin again. The hosts on your segment will be unreachable because the cluster IP will be gone.
  7. On firewall1, change the IP of the local eth1 to the former cluster IP. Now the segment should be reachable again.