Failover Settings
Using this feature, you can configure a backup server to resume operations in case the system encounters a failover.
Note: Failover must be configured before creating user accounts to avoid the risk of losing data.
Pre-requisites for failover configuration
The hardware and software of the primary and secondary servers must be identical in all aspects. For example, they must have the same type of GPU, same GPU Slot IDs, and the same Userful software version running on them.
The primary and secondary servers should be initialized with the same admin password.
Create a failover group
In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Admin Center > System Configuration.
Click Failover Settings in the left pane.
Enter the Cluster Name.
Select the Server Type. The primary server is the operational server that stores all files and manages processing. The secondary server is the backup server.
Enter the IP address and the system ID of the other configured server in the failover server cluster.
The Failover Status shows the current status of this failover cluster.
Click Save Changes.
If you are on version 12.9.0.1 or above, a confirmation dialog will appear. Click Continue and wait till the configuration is complete.
Please ensure that failover is configured properly before creating user accounts.
Delete failover group
To delete failover configuration:
In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Admin Center > System Configuration.
Click Failover Settings in the left pane.
Click Delete. If you are on version 12.9.0.1 or above, a message will appear saying the process is in progress. The message disappears when the deletion is complete.
Perform manual failover
If something goes wrong with your primary server and you need to update the server or fix a problem, you can perform a manual failover to your secondary server. A manual failover to your secondary server moves all your data to the secondary server and keeps your content playing while you fix your primary server.
In your Userful Infinity account, navigate to Admin Center > System Configuration.
Click Failover Settings in the left pane.
If you are on version 12.9.0.1 and above, a confirmation dialog appears. Click Continue and wait till the process is complete. The Failover status of the server will change from Enabled to Enabled: On Standby.
Warning: Do not attempt to change settings on the Primary server in a failover configuration while it is on standby. This may confuse the uClients and the uClients may end up connecting to both servers.
Types of Failover and Expected Behaviors
Manual failover
Failover happens on the active server (primary or secondary whichever is active at the time of triggering failover).
A user navigates to System Configuration > Failover Settings and clicks Manual failover.
About two to three minutes after failover is triggered, the uClients along with the content on displays restart.
Power-related failover on the primary server
A user presses the power button of the primary server twice, switching the system off and switching it on.
A user reboots the primary server from the terminal.
Content will move to the secondary server immediately and start playing from there after power loss of primary.
The secondary server will show ‘Offline’ status of accessory server after power loss of primary.
When power is back, the primary server recovers and shows ‘online’ status. At this point, uClients and the content playing on displays restart.
Note: The content does not move to the primary server when it recovers after power loss. The content remains on the secondary server.
Network loss on the primary server while it is the active server
There is a network outage, affecting both systems.
Primary loses only its internet connection (but not power) while secondary remains online.
Content will move to the secondary server immediately and start playing from there.
When the network is back on the primary server, content moves back to the primary server.
About two to three minutes after the primary server takes over, uClients and the content on the displays restart.
Network loss on secondary server while it is on standby
There is a network outage, affecting both systems.
Secondary loses only its internet connection (but not power) while primary remains online.
There may be a content restart and uclient reconnect.
No failover occurs.
Note:
In all of the failover events described above, content restart is not expected to happen more than once.
As long as there are no failover events, content restart is not expected to happen.
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