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SnapCenter Software 5.0
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Configure SnapCenter Servers for High Availability using F5

Contributors netapp-soumikd
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To support High Availability (HA) in SnapCenter, you can install the F5 load balancer. F5 enables the SnapCenter Server to support active-passive configurations in up to two hosts that are in the same location. To use F5 Load Balancer in SnapCenter, you should configure the SnapCenter Servers and configure F5 load balancer.

Important If you have upgraded from SnapCenter 4.2.x and were previously using Network Load Balancing (NLB), you can continue to use that configuration or switch to F5.

The workflow image lists the steps to configure SnapCenter Servers for high availability using F5 load balancer. For detailed instruction, see How to configure SnapCenter Servers for high availability using F5 Load Balancer.

configure high availability using f5

You must be a member of the Local Administrators group on the SnapCenter Servers (in addition to being assigned to the SnapCenterAdmin role) to use the following cmdlets for adding and removing F5 clusters:

Additional F5 configuration information

  • After you install and configure SnapCenter for high availability, edit the SnapCenter desktop shortcut to point to the F5 cluster IP.

  • If a failover occurs between SnapCenter Servers and if there is also an existing SnapCenter session, you must close the browser and log on to SnapCenter again.

  • In load balancer setup (NLB or F5), if you add a node that is partially resolved by the NLB or F5 node and if the SnapCenter node is not able to reach out to this node, then the SnapCenter host page switches between hosts down and running state frequently. To resolve this issue, you should ensure that both the SnapCenter nodes are able to resolve the host in NLB or F5 node.

  • SnapCenter commands for MFA settings should be executed on all the nodes. Relying party configuration should be done in the Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) server using F5 cluster details. Node level SnapCenter UI access will be blocked after MFA is enabled.

  • During failover, the audit log settings will not reflect on the second node. Hence, you should manually repeat the audit log settings on F5 passive node when it becomes active.