Contents

Objective

Requirements

Introduction

Prerequisites and Precautions

Configuration

Verification

Conclusion

FAQ

Objective

For the nodes in Hot-Standby Backup Mode Cluster Controllers. The primary and secondary nodes need to be configured separately. This article is going to guide the customer on how to configure the primary and secondary nodes.

Requirements

• Omada Software Controller(Linux, v5.15.20 and above)/Omada Hardware Controller(OC300 / OC400, Built-in Controller v5.15.20 and above)
• Linux System(Ubuntu 20.04/22.04, Debian 8/9/10/11/12)

Introduction

A group of interconnected controllers that work together as a single system to enable high availability and can be recognized as a Cluster System. Each controller (node) in the cluster works on a part of the task. Hot-Standby Backup Cluster Mode is a type of Cluster Mode on Omada Controller.

It consists of 2 parts: Primary Node and Secondary Node. Generally, the Primary Node is responsible for network management and process running. The Secondary Node synchronizes data with the Primary Node. When the Primary node goes down, the Secondary Node will take over network and clients management. During the failover, the devices will go offline for a short time, then they will reconnect to the new Primary Node When the devices get connected again, all services will run normally. If the previous Primary Node recovers from failover, it will continue to run as a Secondary Node.

Prerequisites and Precautions

Before formally configuring and deploying Hot-Standby Backup nodes, the following suggestions and matters require attention.

• Please ensure that the JDK and MongoDB versions are consistent across all nodes.
• Set static Ips before enabling Cluster Mode. For Linux Controller we suggest our customer to use Static IP for Custer Mode. For Hardware Controller, it’s required to set static IP before enabling Cluster Mode.
• We recommend deploying all nodes within the same network segment.
• The original data of the Secondary Node will be overwritten by the data of the Primary Node. The settings will take effect after rebooting. This process involves data synchronization and may take a little longer.
• If you are using Hardware Controller, during startup, the Secondary Node needs to successfully connect to the master node before it can continue to startup, and the Web page of Hardware Controller may be unresponsive for a long time.

Configuration

Here we introduce the configuration way to set up Primary Node and Secondary Node.

Step 1. (For Linux Controller) Modifying the handle count of the system is a prerequisite for using the Controller Hot-Standby Backup Mode. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf, add the following parameters, save the file, log out and log back in to make the changes take effect.

* soft nofile 65535

* hard nofile 65535

Note: Please note that the methods of modifying handle number may vary by Linux version. Please modify the handle number according to Linux version.

Step 2. Set static IP addresses for your Controllers, and keep them in the same subnet.

• For Linux Controller, we suggest our customer to set static IP before enabling Cluster Mode to avoid abnormalities in the connections between nodes due to dynamic IP changes.
• For Hardware Controller, it’s a mandatory requirement that the IP of nodes should be static under Cluster Mode.

Step 3. Enable Cluster Mode.

Go to Global View > Settings > Cluster, and enable Cluster.

• For the Primary Node, Choose Hot-Standby Backup as Mode. Input the IP address of the Primary Node in the Local IP/Hostname field and the IP address of the Secondary Node in the Remote IP/Hostname field. Choose Primary as Initial Status. Customize the Key and remember it.

• For the Secondary Node, Choose Hot-Standby Backup as Mode. Input the IP address of the Secondary Node in the Local IP/Hostname field and the IP address of the Primary Node in the Remote IP/Hostname field. Choose Secondary as Initial Status. Input the same Key as the Primary Node’s.

Note: If you are going to set one running Controller as the Secondary Node, please migrate all the devices of this Controller to Primary Node or forget them all. We suggest you to backup your configuration if necessary. After it’s set as Secondary Node, its data will be overwritten by the data of the Primary Node.

Step 4. After clicking Apply, the Cluster Mode has been set. The Controller status will be shown in the status list.

Step 5. Reboot the Primary Node and the Secondary Node.

For Hardware Controller, just reboot the Controller with feature Reboot.

For Linux Controller, use the following command on your Linux System:

sudo tpeap restart

Verification

During the normal operation of the Primary and Secondary Nodes, the Controllers can be managed normally by accessing the address of the Primary or the Secondary Node.

Go back to Global View > Settings > Cluster and check the Cluster status in Primary Node and Secondary Node. Both Nodes will be shown in the Status Bar.

Conclusion

Now you have successfully configured Hot-Standby Backup Cluster on Omada Controller v5.15.20.

FAQ

How to Adjust the IP of Cluster Nodes

When Controller is running under Hot-Standby Backup Mode, if you want to modify the IP of a node, you need to follow these steps:

Step 1. Modify the network card IP of the specified node so that it binds both the old and new IPs simultaneously.

Step 2. On the Cluster interface of any node, change the IP of the specified node to the new IP.

Step 3. Reboot the Node with changed IP：

• Linux Controller：

Stop the Node with following command:

sudo tpeap stop

Modify the network adapter with the new IP.

Restart the Node with the following command:

sudo tpeap start

• Hardware Controller: Reboot the specific Node.

How to upgrade Controllers under Cluster Mode

For the current Controller version, you are only allowed to upgrade your Controller with Cluster Mode off. Here’s the steps to upgrade your Controller to subsequent versions:

Step 1. (Linux)Stop your Controller. You can use the following command to stop all the Nodes:

sudo tpeap stop

Step 2. Upgrade Controller of every Nodes.

• Linux Controller: Please refer to Omada Software Controller for Linux (Deb) andOmada Software Controller for Linux (tar.gz) in How to Upgrade the Omada Software Controller | Omada Network Support to upgrade your Linux Controller.
• Hardware Controller: Please refer to Firmware Upgrade Options: Hardware Controller in How to Upgrade or Downgrade the Firmware of a TP-Link Omada Controller | Omada Network Support to upgrade your Hardware Controller.

Step 3. (Linux) Restart every Nodes at the same time. You can use the following command to stop all the Nodes:

sudo tpeap start

Get to know more details of each function and configuration please go to Download Center to download the manual of your product.