You can add a fresh and non-provisioned Hardware Appliance to an existing cluster. Alternatively, you can add it to another standalone Hardware Appliance to start a cluster. 

For general information about clustering and High Availability (HA) setup, see Availability and Clustering.


Prerequisites

You will need the following to connect a Hardware Appliance to a cluster:

  • Node 1 - Installed Hardware Appliance:
    This can be a Hardware Appliance in an existing cluster. It can also be a standalone Hardware Appliance – in that case you are starting a new cluster.
  • Node 2 - Fresh and unprovisioned Hardware Appliance to be connected to cluster / to start the cluster.
  • Domain Master Secret:
    You specified that when installing the first machine of your environment.
  • Security level requirements:
    PIN pad, the persons with their smart cards and their PINs.

For more information on the Domain Master Secret, the Appliance Security Level, and smart cards, see Initial Set-up > Step 5: Running WebConf Wizard, sections Hardware Security Module Settings and Security Settings - Secrets.

Product size variations

Do not mix product size variations - S, M, or L - in a cluster. A full disk will cause the database to stop working. The smallest node in your setup will fail first - reducing redundancy.

Connecting the system to a new or existing cluster

You will perform two basic steps to connect a Hardware Appliance to a new or existing cluster. Refer to the following sections for more details.

Cluster node requirements

  • All nodes in the cluster need to be installed with NTP servers. This ensures correct time synchronization in the cluster.
  • No node in the cluster should have a SignServer deployment. With a SignServer deployment, you will see the following warning:


Step 1: Create setup package on Node 1

On the installed Hardware Appliance - Node 1 - create and download a setup package. Node 1 can be part of a cluster or a standalone appliance. In the latter case, you will start a new cluster.

  1. On Node 1, open WebConf and go to the tab Cluster > Configuration.
  2. In the section Cluster Network Configuration, click Add node.
  3. Enter the Application IP Address of Node 2, the fresh Hardware Appliance that you want to connect, and click Apply.

  4. In the section Setup packages for new nodes, a new package is listed for the IP address you have specified. Click Create and download to download the package:

Step 2: Install Node 2 and connect it to the cluster

Install the fresh Hardware Appliance - Node 2 - via the setup option Connect to cluster and with the downloaded setup package.

  1. For Node 2, follow the steps described for the Initial Set-up until you reach the WebConf wizard's page with installation options.
  2. Click the installation option Connect to cluster.

  3. Click Browse and select the setup package that you downloaded in Step 1-4:

  4. Enter the Domain Master Secret that you used for installing Node 1 and click Process.
  5. If required, adjust the Network settings, then click Next.
  6. If required, adjust the Date and Time settings, then click Next.
  7. If Node 1 was installed with Master Backup Keys: Attach the pin pad to Node 2.
  8. Click Begin Installation.
  9. If Node 1 was installed with Master Backup Keys: You will be prompted to enter them.

  10. When the system is prepared, you will be prompted to click Finalize:

  11. When prompted, select the SuperAdmin certificate of Node 1 in your browser's dialogue:

  12. You are now connected to WebConf of Node 2 and have access to the Status page:

Step 3: Checking the installation result

In Node 1 and Node 2, you can check the WebConf page Cluster > Operation for the success of the installation. The page will look like the following example:

In a correctly functioning cluster, you will find here the following information:

  • Local Node ID: shows ID of the node
  • Node state: shows the value Active
  • Local Cluster View:
    - shows the value Local in the Link column of the current node.
    - shows the value Connected in the Link column of other nodes.
    - shows identical numerical values in the LTID.