Changing the Priority of a Clustered Server

When you install multiple copies of Management & Control Services (MCS) — creating a server cluster — each member of the cluster is assigned an initial priority. The server with the highest priority in the cluster acts as the primary server. If that server goes down, the server with the next highest priority in the cluster takes over primary server responsibilities. If you need to re-prioritize the servers in a cluster after installation, you can do so using the procedure below.

For example, if you have three additional servers in a cluster, you should make sure the best available server is assigned the highest priority, in case it needs to someday take over the role of the primary server.

Note Regardless of the server you access for viewing the MCS console, you are redirected to the primary server in the cluster. Any changes you make in the user interface are written to the primary server, and then replicated to other servers in the cluster.

If you change the priority of your primary server, it can take several seconds for the new primary to take over primary server responsibilities. You should not make any other changes, such as adding a user to the MCS directory or creating a new ID pool, before the new primary has taken over. You can monitor the change in the Viewer - General page (Services | Server Management | Viewer). Under Status, the primary server (priority 0) displays the information "OK - Primary." Other servers display only "OK" or "Unknown."

If you wait about 30 seconds or until you see the change in the Viewer - General page, and then refresh your browser before making other changes, you will be automatically redirected to the new primary. If you do not wait, your changes will be written to the server that was primary before you reprioritized, and the next time data is replicated from the new primary server, your data will be overwritten.
To change the priority of a server in an MCS server cluster
  1. In the MCS left pane, point to Services and then click Server Management.

  2. Under Server Management, click Cluster Management.

    The Cluster Management pages appear in the MCS right pane.

  3. Click the Prioritize Servers tab.

  4. In the Cluster Name list, select the name of the cluster to which the server belongs.

    When you click the cluster name, the servers that belong to that cluster appear in the Server Name list. The current priority of each server is indicated by the order in which it appears in this list (highest priority at the top).

  5. In the Server Name list, click the name of the server whose priority you want to change.

  6. Click Up or Down to move the server's relative position (priority) in the list.

  7. Click Prioritize to apply the new priority to the selected server.

    For details on this page, click Help in the upper-right corner of the page.
Related Topics
Bullet MCS Server Clustering, Overview
Bullet Manually Adding a Server to a Cluster
Bullet Removing a Server from a Cluster
Bullet Renaming a Server Cluster
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