Performing a Full Role Swap in Robot HA

 

A full role swap is used in the event of a planned or unplanned role swap. It may take a while to complete, but it exercises role swaps in both directions on both systems. Any user data changes made during the role swap are preserved.

Before You Begin

Read the following considerations before you perform a full role swap.

• Read Preparing for a Role Swap in the Role Swap User Guide. There are several steps you must take to ensure your data is replicated and up-to-date.

• Determine which third-party products you have running on your system that should be ended before attempting to run a role swap.

• Contact Technical Support to ensure everything is ready on both systems. They'll guide you through the process and make sure the role swap completes successfully.

• The role swap must be run with a QSECOFR-like profile (with *AUDIT authority).

• Decide whether you want to run the role swap interactively or in batch:

  • If running interactively, you must be signed on to the system console.

  • If running in batch, the role swap should be running in a job queue in the controlling subsystem (QBASE or QCTL, for example).

• If *SWAPIP is listed as the role swap type in the Initialize Robot HA (INZRSFHA) command, the system will IPL to allow the system name to change. Ensure that when you execute the role swap on the Role Swap panel (option 7, Role Swap Menu from the Robot HA Main Menu. Then, select 10, Role Swap) that the 'Set test flag' field is set to *NO.

  *SWAPIP with 'Set test flag' field set to *YES will NOT change the backup system's IP address and system name to match the production system's IP address and system name during Role Swap execution.

The Full Role Swap

To perform the role swap:

On the production system: Role Swap To Backup

1. [ ] Sign off the system and sign back on prior to running the role swap. This releases any locks you might have from working in the product.

2. [ ] Select option 7, Role Swap Menu from the Robot HA Main Menu. Then, select 10, Role Swap.

3. [ ] Do the following on the Role Swap to Backup panel:

   1. [ ] Choose whether you want to run the role swap from the system console, or specify *YES for Run in batch to submit the job to a job queue.

   2. [ ] If you want to flag the role swap as a test run, change Set test flag to *YES. Otherwise, leave the default as *NO. The option *NOCHG will use the value specified during the last role swap (this is helpful if your role swap needs to be restarted).

      Specifying *YES allows you to run different system startup programs, since it's flagged as a test role swap instead of a real one.

   3. [ ] Specify *YES for Are you sure?, otherwise the role swap won't proceed.

   4. [ ] Press Enter. 

4. [ ] After starting the role swap, watch for messages in the following places:

   • If running interactively, the messages will show up on the screen or in your interactive joblog.

   • If running in batch, watch for messages in QSYSOPR until the swap completes successfully.

5. [ ] Then, ensure the TCP/IP server has started and subsystem RSFHA is active. You may need to start them manually.

   • To check the server, navigate to the Control Menu and view the "TCP/IP Server is" status.

   • To check the subsystem, execute the WRKSBS command and look for RSFHA in the list of subsystems.

6. [ ] Job queue RSFUSER/RSFHA is automatically placed on hold after a role swap. To resume synchronization, release the job queue by executing the RLSJOBQ RSFUSER/RSFHA command.

On the backup system: Role Swap To Production

Complete the following steps on the backup system to swap it to the production role.

1. [ ] Sign off the system and sign back on prior to running the role swap. This releases any locks you might have from working in the product.

2. [ ] Select option 7, Role Swap Menu from the Robot HA Main Menu. Then, select 10, Role Swap.

3. [ ] Do the following on the Role Swap to Production panel:

   1. [ ] Choose whether you want to run the role swap from the system console, or specify *YES for Run in batch to submit the job to a job queue.

   2. [ ] If you want to flag the role swap as a test run, change Set test flag to *YES. Otherwise, leave the default as *NO. The option *NOCHG will use the value specified during the last role swap (this is helpful if your role swap needs to be restarted).

      Specifying *YES allows you to run different system startup programs, since it's flagged as a test role swap instead of a real one.

   3. [ ] Specify *YES for Are you sure?, otherwise the role swap won't proceed.

   4. [ ] Press Enter. 

4. [ ] After starting the role swap, watch for messages in the following places:

   • If running interactively, the messages will show up on the screen or in your interactive joblog.

   • If running in batch, watch for messages in QSYSOPR until the swap completes successfully.

5. [ ] Then, ensure the TCP/IP server has started and subsystem RSFHA is active. You may need to start them manually.

   • To check the server, navigate to the Control Menu and view the "TCP/IP Server is" status.

   • To check the subsystem, execute the WRKSBS command and look for RSFHA in the list of subsystems.

6. [ ] Job queue RSFUSER/RSFHA is automatically placed on hold after a role swap. To resume synchronization, release the job queue by executing the RLSJOBQ RSFUSER/RSFHA command.

When all steps in the role swap have been followed, users can sign back on and resume working. The systems should now be swapped, with the production system in the backup role and the backup system in the production role.

To end the role swap:

On the system in the production role:

1. [ ] Sign off the system and sign back on prior to running the role swap. This releases any locks you might have from working in the product.

2. [ ] Select option 7, Role Swap Menu from the Robot HA Main Menu. Then, select 10, Role Swap.

3. [ ] Do the following on the Role Swap to Backup panel:

   1. [ ] Choose whether you want to run the role swap from the system console, or specify *YES for Run in batch to submit the job to a job queue.

   2. [ ] Specify *YES for Are you sure?, otherwise the role swap won't proceed.

   3. [ ] Press Enter. This swaps the system back to the backup role.

4. [ ] After starting the role swap, watch for messages in the following places:

   • If running interactively, the messages will show up on the screen or in your interactive joblog.

   • If running in batch, watch for messages in QSYSOPR until the swap completes successfully.

5. [ ] Then, clear job queue RSFUSER/RSFHA.

6. [ ] Ensure the TCP/IP server has started and subsystem RSFHA is active. You may need to start them manually.

   • To check the server, navigate to the Control Menu and view the "TCP/IP Server is" status.

   • To check the subsystem, execute the WRKSBS command and look for RSFHA in the list of subsystems.

7. [ ] Job queue RSFUSER/RSFHA is automatically placed on hold after a role swap. To resume synchronization, release the job queue by executing the RLSJOBQ RSFUSER/RSFHA command.

On the system in the backup role:

Complete the following steps on the system in the backup role to swap it to production.

1. [ ] Sign off the system and sign back on prior to running the role swap. This releases any locks you might have from working in the product.

2. [ ] Select option 7, Role Swap Menu from the Robot HA Main Menu. Then, select 10, Role Swap.

3. [ ] Do the following on the Role Swap to Production panel:

   1. [ ] Choose whether you want to run the role swap from the system console, or specify *YES for Run in batch to submit the job to a job queue.

   2. [ ] Specify *YES for Are you sure?, otherwise the role swap won't proceed.

   3. [ ] Press Enter. This swaps the system back to the production role.

4. [ ] After starting the role swap, watch for messages in the following places:

   • If running interactively, the messages will show up on the screen or in your interactive joblog.

   • If running in batch, watch for messages in QSYSOPR until the swap completes successfully.

5. [ ] Then, clear job queue RSFUSER/RSFHA.

6. [ ] Ensure the TCP/IP server has started and subsystem RSFHA is active. You may need to start them manually.

   • To check the server, navigate to the Control Menu and view the "TCP/IP Server is" status.

   • To check the subsystem, execute the WRKSBS command and look for RSFHA in the list of subsystems.

On both systems:

[ ] Take option 1 on the Control Menu to start the servers, then take option 3 to resume synchronization.

When all steps in the role swap have been followed, users can sign back on and resume working. The systems should be in their normal roles again.