Digital Edge solves VM Cloning Dilemma for Large E-Commerce Client
After multiple attempts to resolve a VM cloning enigma, the client calls in reinforcements, Digital Edge. The client was suffering from constant access loss related to 2 virtual servers erratically shutting down at random intervals.
Once Digital Edge’s Support Team was notified, they began examining the problem, checking all physical aspects first for errors. All cabling, hardware, and network connections were checked, and all cables were replaced. Additionally, a network card was swapped out of one of the servers, checking to see if that had been the root cause. However, after checking all equipment and replacing all cables and a network card, the problem still persisted. Therefore, the support team moved on to start observing the operating systems.
After examining the operating systems, the support team realized that both servers were never online at the same time. Server ‘A’ would be online for 60 seconds, then drop offline, while Server “B” would then come on for 60 seconds then drop off, continuously repeating. What the team did notice is that if you completely shutdown Server “A’, Server ‘B’ runs constantly, without issues. That indication explained that this was an ARP related problem. The support team then began inspecting the ARP tables on all switches, firewalls, servers, etc…
From investigating the ARP tables, the support team was able to find the root cause of the dilemma. The findings had indicated that both virtual servers had the same MAC address, causing the failed controls. The client had been using one virtual instance to clone new virtual instances. When the second virtual instance was brought online, it had preserved some of the existing settings which are not normally modified in a broadcast network environment. In this particular case, the MAC address was duplicated causing both servers to fail if both were online simultaneously. Fortunately, VMware has a built in feature to manually set the MAC Address. The Digital Edge Support Team manually reset one of the MAC addresses to be unique, resolving the issue.
Digital Edge is a highly experienced virtualization and cloud professional service company, dedicated to making sure their clients’ needs are met. There full IT staff are experts in their fields, making Digital Edge an extremely valuable company to partner with; offering free consultations to any new company.
