Provided by: corosync_2.3.3-1ubuntu4_amd64 bug

NAME

       votequorum - Votequorum Configuration Overview

OVERVIEW

       The  votequorum  service  is  part of the corosync project. This service can be optionally
       loaded into the nodes of a corosync cluster to avoid split-brain situations.  It does this
       by  having a number of votes assigned to each system in the cluster and ensuring that only
       when a majority of the votes are present, cluster operations are allowed to proceed.   The
       service  must  be  loaded into all nodes or none. If it is loaded into a subset of cluster
       nodes the results will be unpredictable.

       The following corosync.conf extract will enable votequorum service within corosync:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
       }

       votequorum reads its configuration from corosync.conf.  Some  values  can  be  changed  at
       runtime,  others are only read at corosync startup. It is very important that those values
       are consistent across all the nodes participating in the cluster  or  votequorum  behavior
       will be unpredictable.

       votequorum requires an expected_votes value to function, this can be provided in two ways.
       The number of expected votes will be  automatically  calculated  when  the  nodelist  {  }
       section  is  present in corosync.conf or expected_votes can be specified in the quorum { }
       section. Lack of both will disable votequorum. If both are present at the same  time,  the
       quorum.expected_votes value will override the one calculated from the nodelist.

       Example (no nodelist) of an 8 node cluster (each node has 1 vote):

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 8
       }

       Example (with nodelist) of a 3 node cluster (each node has 1 vote):

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
       }

       nodelist {
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.1
           }
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.2
           }
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.3
           }
       }

SPECIAL FEATURES

       two_node: 1

       Enables two node cluster operations (default: 0).

       The "two node cluster" is a use case that requires special consideration.  With a standard
       two node cluster, each node with a single vote, there are 2 votes in  the  cluster.  Using
       the  simple  majority  calculation  (50% of the votes + 1) to calculate quorum, the quorum
       would be 2.  This means that the both nodes would always have to be alive for the  cluster
       to be quorate and operate.

       Enabling two_node: 1, quorum is set artificially to 1.

       Example configuration 1:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 2
           two_node: 1
       }

       Example configuration 2:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           two_node: 1
       }

       nodelist {
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.1
           }
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.2
           }
       }

       NOTES:  enabling  two_node:  1 automatically enables wait_for_all. It is still possible to
       override wait_for_all by explicitly setting it to 0.   If  more  than  2  nodes  join  the
       cluster, the two_node option is automatically disabled.

       wait_for_all: 1

       Enables Wait For All (WFA) feature (default: 0).

       The  general  behaviour  of votequorum is to switch a cluster from inquorate to quorate as
       soon as possible. For example, in an  8  node  cluster,  where  every  node  has  1  vote,
       expected_votes  is  set  to  8 and quorum is (50% + 1) 5. As soon as 5 (or more) nodes are
       visible to each other, the partition  of  5  (or  more)  becomes  quorate  and  can  start
       operating.

       When  WFA  is enabled, the cluster will be quorate for the first time only after all nodes
       have been visible at least once at the same time.

       This feature has the advantage of avoiding some startup race  conditions,  with  the  cost
       that  all  nodes  need  to  be  up  at  the same time at least once before the cluster can
       operate.

       A common startup race condition based on the above example is that  as  soon  as  5  nodes
       become quorate, with the other 3 still offline, the remaining 3 nodes will be fenced.

       It is very useful when combined with last_man_standing (see below).

       Example configuration:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 8
           wait_for_all: 1
       }

       last_man_standing: 1 / last_man_standing_window: 10000

       Enables  Last  Man  Standing (LMS) feature (default: 0).  Tunable last_man_standing_window
       (default: 10 seconds, expressed in ms).

       The general behaviour of votequorum is to set expected_votes and quorum at startup (unless
       modified by the user at runtime, see below) and use those values during the whole lifetime
       of the cluster.

       Using for example an 8 node cluster where each node has 1 vote, expected_votes is set to 8
       and  quorum  to  5. This condition allows a total failure of 3 nodes. If a 4th node fails,
       the cluster becomes inquorate and it will stop providing services.

       Enabling LMS allows the cluster to dynamically recalculate expected_votes and quorum under
       specific  circumstances. It is essential to enable WFA when using LMS in High Availability
       clusters.

       Using the above 8 node cluster example, with LMS enabled the cluster can retain quorum and
       continue  operating  by  losing, in a cascade fashion, up to 6 nodes with only 2 remaining
       active.

       Example chain of events:
       1) cluster is fully operational with 8 nodes.
          (expected_votes: 8 quorum: 5)

       2) 3 nodes die, cluster is quorate with 5 nodes.

       3) after last_man_standing_window timer expires,
          expected_votes and quorum are recalculated.
          (expected_votes: 5 quorum: 3)

       4) at this point, 2 more nodes can die and
          cluster will still be quorate with 3.

       5) once again, after last_man_standing_window
          timer expires expected_votes and quorum are
          recalculated.
          (expected_votes: 3 quorum: 2)

       6) at this point, 1 more node can die and
          cluster will still be quorate with 2.

       7) one more last_man_standing_window timer
          (expected_votes: 2 quorum: 2)

       NOTES: In order for the cluster to downgrade automatically  from  2  nodes  to  a  1  node
       cluster,   the   auto_tie_breaker   feature   must   also  be  enabled  (see  below).   If
       auto_tie_breaker is not enabled, and one more failure occours, the remaining node will not
       be quorate. LMS does not work with asymmetric voting schemes, each node must vote 1.

       Example configuration 1:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 8
           last_man_standing: 1
       }

       Example configuration 2 (increase timeout to 20 seconds):

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 8
           last_man_standing: 1
           last_man_standing_window: 20000
       }

       auto_tie_breaker: 1

       Enables Auto Tie Breaker (ATB) feature (default: 0).

       The general behaviour of votequorum allows a simultaneous node failure up to 50% - 1 node,
       assuming each node has 1 vote.

       When ATB is enabled, the cluster can suffer up to 50% of the nodes  failing  at  the  same
       time,  in  a  deterministic  fashion.  The cluster partition, or the set of nodes that are
       still in contact with the node that has the lowest nodeid will remain quorate.  The  other
       nodes will be inquorate.

       Example configuration 1:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 8
           auto_tie_breaker: 1
       }

       allow_downscale: 1

       Enables allow downscale (AD) feature (default: 0).

       THIS FEATURE IS INCOMPLETE AND CURRENTLY UNSUPPORTED.

       The general behaviour of votequorum is to never decrease expected votes or quorum.

       When AD is enabled, both expected votes and quorum are recalculated when a node leaves the
       cluster  in  a  clean  state  (normal  corosync  shutdown  process)  down  to   configured
       expected_votes.

       Example use case:

       1) N node cluster (where N is any value higher than 3)

       2) expected_votes set to 3 in corosync.conf

       3) only 3 nodes are running

       4) admin requires to increase processing power and adds 10 nodes

       5) internal expected_votes is automatically set to 13

       6) minimum expected_votes is 3 (from configuration)

       - up to this point this is standard votequorum behavior -

       7) once the work is done, admin wants to remove nodes from the cluster

       8) using an ordered shutdown the admin can reduce the cluster size
          automatically back to 3, but not below 3, where normal quorum
          operation will work as usual.

       Example configuration:

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 3
           allow_downscale: 1
       }
       allow_downscale implicitly enabled EVT (see below).

       expected_votes_tracking: 1

       Enables Expected Votes Tracking (EVT) feature (default: 0).

       Expected  Votes  Tracking stores the highest-seen value of expected votes on disk and uses
       that as the minimum value for expected votes in the absence of any higher authority (eg  a
       current  quorate  cluster). This is useful for when a group of nodes becomes detached from
       the main cluster and after a restart could have enough votes to provide quorum, which  can
       happen after using allow_downscale.

       Note that even if the in-memory version of expected_votes is reduced, eg by removing nodes
       or using corosync-quorumtool, the stored value will still be the highest value seen  -  it
       never gets reduced.

       The  value  is  held in the file /var/lib/corosync/ev_tracking which can be deleted if you
       really do need to reduce the expected votes for any reason, like the node has  been  moved
       to a different cluster.

VARIOUS NOTES

       * WFA / LMS / ATB / AD can be used combined together.

       * In order to change the default votes for a node there are two options:

       1) nodelist:

       nodelist {
           node {
               ring0_addr: 192.168.1.1
               quorum_votes: 3
           }
           ....
       }

       2) quorum section (deprecated):

       quorum {
           provider: corosync_votequorum
           expected_votes: 2
           votes: 2
       }

       In  the  event  that  both  nodelist and quorum { votes: } are defined, the value from the
       nodelist will be used.

       * Only votes, quorum_votes,  expected_votes  and  two_node  can  be  changed  at  runtime.
       Everything else requires a cluster restart.

BUGS

       No known bugs at the time of writing. The authors are from outerspace. Deal with it.

SEE ALSO

       corosync(8), corosync.conf(5), corosync-quorumtool(8), votequorum_overview(8)