topic Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel in Firewall and Security Management

R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:09:37 GMT

One of our customers has a failure in the hardware of a ClusterXL gateway. He wants to use a new server HP DL 380 G10 with an old server HP DL 380 G8. The idea now is to use a new 3.10 kernel on the G10 server.

Now the question?

Is it possible to use a 2.6 kernel on the HP DL 380 G8 and a new kernel 3.10 on the HP DL 380 G10 in a ClusterXL?

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Danny — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:17:50 GMT

Check Point's ClusterXL Admin Guide says:

Important! The hardware for all cluster members must be exactly the same, including:

CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Number and type of interfaces

So you can't configure a Cluster consisting of two different servers. At least not one that is supported.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:15:01 GMT

My feeling was more like no!

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:32:19 GMT

Hi @Danny,

Did you test that?
Does it work without any problems?

The customer also orders a new second G10 server. We would only do this for a few days.😀

I think the ClusterXL version should be identical on 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel. Thus, the requirements for a cluster should be met.

The interesting question is the support of this combination.

If need be, I'd rather have a statement here from Check Point.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:27:40 GMT

CUT>>>

Important! The hardware for all cluster members must be exactly the same, including:

CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Number and type of interfaces

<<<CUT

Thank you, I know. But had already received other statements in tickets from Check Point.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Danny — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:49:47 GMT

The admin guide clearly states 'the hardware must be exactly the same‘ and yours is a G8 and a G10 server, so I think it‘s clear that this wouldn‘t be supported.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:36:04 GMT

Like I said, I know that.

We just need to bridge a few days until the new server arrives:-)

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Danny — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:48:37 GMT

Ok, then test it out and let us know.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:03:39 GMT

CUT>>>

Important! The hardware for all cluster members must be exactly the same, including:

CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Number and type of interfaces

<<<CUT

Regardless of this request we could discuss these parameters in another post.

From my point of view only a few parameters are technically interesting in a ClusterXL environment:

CPU -> Equal number of cores -> Sync core number (CoreXL) of a session from one session tabel (active gw) to the standby sessin table (standby gw) => ok!

Memory -> should be equal => ok!

Network Interfaces -> same number of used interfaces in cluster => ok!

Motherdoard -> ??? why should it be the same?

But as I said, that should be discussed in another post.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

HeikoAnkenbrand — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:07:02 GMT

I'm going to try this in a maintenance window:-)

Just has to run until the new hardware arrives.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Danny — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:22:07 GMT

Please pay attention to the word: including.

Check Point posted just a short listing of hardware devices, not a complete list.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Timothy_Hall — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:33:36 GMT

Heiko as long as you have all those configuration elements matching (indicated with ok!) my gut is that it will work fine as I don't see how ClusterXL would be able to freak out over any other differences. Definitely not supported though...

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

_Val_ — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 06:44:22 GMT

@HeikoAnkenbrand and all, motherboard is important because of chipset. Most importantly, the proposed configuration will not be supported.

To the topic starter, as mentioned above, you cannot run such a cluster.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Kurpeus — Wed, 13 May 2020 20:39:11 GMT

Hi Timothy

I've a cluster on two identical Dell power edge servers running R80.30 on 2.6. I want to upgrade them to use R80.30 3.10. During the upgrade window which will likely last few days, the cluster members will be running different OS kernel version. I don't think this will be an issue but given the current context with COVID 19 if things go south most likely i'll follow too 🙂

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Timothy_Hall — Thu, 14 May 2020 14:01:03 GMT

I don't think the cluster members will be able to sync at all with the different kernels but I'm not sure. You may want to temporarily uncheck "Drop out of state TCP packets" on the Stateful Inspection screen of Global Properties until everything is fully upgraded. Doing this will help blunt the impact of any non-stateful failovers that occur.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

_Val_ — Thu, 14 May 2020 14:24:08 GMT

No, not supported, will not work.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Kurpeus — Thu, 14 May 2020 15:05:07 GMT

There is a difference between not supported and will not work. I can do with a cluster not supported for few days. Now if the cluster doesn't work that's a different story

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

Kurpeus — Thu, 14 May 2020 16:45:52 GMT

I'm desperately in need for multi queue so i'll give it a try a report back. Thanks for the tip about out of state TCP packets that's a very good point.

I forgot to mention , to make matter worse, atm my cluster is running on VmWare and during the upgrade one member will run on VmWare while the other one is re-imaged on bare metal. ClusterXL may go mental

Anyway we only live once 🙂

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

_Val_ — Thu, 14 May 2020 19:16:48 GMT

1. Not supported.

2. Will not work.

Re: R80.30 ClusterXL with 2.6 kernel and 3.10 kernel

PhoneBoy — Fri, 15 May 2020 01:29:59 GMT

Right, but you can potentially put R80.40 on the new box which does support clustering with different versions.