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Cluster Creation Wizard

When you open Synology High Availability and there is no existing cluster detected, you will see the cluster creation wizard that will guide you through the process of creating and setting up a high-availability cluster.

To launch the wizard:

1. Launch Synology High Availability
2. Click Create high-availability cluster

Before you start

Synology High Availability requires two identical or compatible Synology NAS with the same system configurations to set up a cluster. Before you start the setup, please pay extra attention to the following information and configure your Synology NAS accordingly:

• Make sure the specified configurations on the hosts are identical: You need to have the exact same storage and network settings on the hosts to create a cluster.
  • The number, inserted slots and the capacity of your HDD/SDDs must be the same. Please note that the capacity of each drive needs to be identical on the active and passive server, not only the overall capacity.
  • All network related settings, such as the total number of network interfaces, should be identical too. You may refer to the network settings in DSM > Control Panel > Network. If you set up Link Aggregation for LAN 1 and LAN 2 on the active server, the same configurations must be applied on the passive server.
  • The installed DSM and the SHA package version have to be the same as well. Before running the setup wizard, the same version of DSM and Synology High Availability must be installed on both hosts.

  Note:

  • You can refer to this FAQ article for more information on supported model combinations of a high-availability cluster.
• Configure a static IP for the cluster connection: You need to reserve an IP address range for both hosts and assign one static IP address for the network interfaces on each host. The static IP can be configured in Control Panel > Network in DSM.
• Assign different hostnames to the hosts: The hosts which will be used in the cluster should have different hostnames, and the hostnames should avoid including their roles, such as “active” or “passive”. In the case of a switchover or an auto failover, the roles of the hosts will switch, and such hostnames might cause unnecessary confusion.

Recommended network configurations

You will need to set up a cluster connection and a Heartbeat connection for the cluster, both of which are key to a properly functioning cluster. This page explains how you should configure the built-in network interfaces for optimized performance. Make sure you have properly planned and configured the ethernet cables as recommended before continuing to the next step.

To achieve a better network connection:

1. Choose the available network interface with the widest bandwidth for both cluster and Heartbeat connections:
   • If you have four network interfaces of 1 Gbps available, the performance is the best when you set up 2-interface Link Aggregation for both cluster and Heartbeat connections.
   • If two 10Gbps network interfaces are available, you are suggested to use one 10Gbps for the cluster connection and the other for the Heartbeat connection.
2. The Heartbeat connection must not be slower than the cluster connection.

Set up network interfaces

On this page, you will need to choose the network interfaces on both hosts as the cluster connection and the Heartbeat connection. The two drop-down menus list all the network interfaces on your hosts, but you can only select the connected ones. Please choose the same network interfaces on both hosts. For example, if one end is connected to LAN 1 on one server for the Heartbeat interface, then the other end must be connected to LAN 1 on the other server.

Heartbeat connection

The Heartbeat connection connects the two hosts, facilitating communication and data synchronization. To ensure the Heartbeat connection quality, the system will verify if it meets the qualifications below:

• Between the two hosts, there are no other devices with IP addresses found in the same broadcast domain. If this Heartbeat connection passes through any switches, you must ensure the switches support multicast.
• It must have a low-latency network connection. The response time of Ping between the two hosts must be less than 1 ms, and transmission speed should be at least 500 Mbps.
• It must be the fastest network interface on both servers. If the hosts are equipped with 10GbE add-on network interfaces, they must be chosen as the Heartbeat connection.

Cluster connection

You can access the cluster via the cluster connection, which can be connected to a switch. Through the High Availability mechanism, you are able to access the cluster with a set of virtual IP address, which automatically connects you to the active server. If the active server is down due to errors, this set of IP address will reconnect to the passive server to ensure that the passive server can take over the services shortly.

 To configure Link Aggregation on the Heartbeat or cluster connection:

• To configure Link Aggregation on the Heartbeat or cluster connection, please set up Link Aggregation on two or more network interfaces at Control Panel > Network > Network Interface before launching the Synology High Availability wizard. Make sure Link Aggregation settings are identical on both servers (e.g. if you set up Link Aggregation on ports 1 and 2 of the active server, Link Aggregation must be set up on ports 1 and 2 of the passive as well).
• Heartbeat is equipped with auto failover and load balancing capabilities, but data connections depend on the mode of Link Aggregation you choose.

Enter passive server information

The other host will serve as the passive server, which does not run any services under normal conditions. However, in the event of an active server malfunction, an auto failover will be performed and the passive server will take over the services. After you have set the Heartbeat connection, the system can retrieve the information of the passive server, and you need to log in to continue the setup.

Enter the following credential:

• Username: Log in with a user account that belongs to the administrator group on the passive server.
• Password: Enter the password of the account.

Set up High Availability Cluster

This is the part where you set up the hostname and the IP address of the cluster. Both the hostname and the IP address can be changed later in Synology High Availability.

• Cluster hostname: Assign a hostname to your cluster. The host name should not exceed 15 characters and must be different from either of the hosts.
• Cluster IP: Assign a static IP address to your cluster, with which you will access the high-availability cluster after it is created. The wizard will display the available IP range; please select an IP address that has not been used by other services in the network.

  Note:

  • The system will automatically direct you to the active server with the cluster IP. You should access your cluster with this custom virtual IP address and avoid connecting to the active or the passive server using their IP addresses unless necessary.

Verify the requirements

At this point, the wizard will check if all system requirements are met:

• System Information
• Volume
• Network Service
• Network Setup
• Heartbeat Interface

If any of the requirements is failed, the details will be shown in the Status column along with solutions. All errors must be fixed before you can proceed to the next step.

Select an action for existing data

If there are existing data, volume or LUN detected on the active server, you can choose from the following options to proceed with the setup:

• Keep all data on the active server: An initial storage synchronization to the passive server will be performed after the cluster is created. This may take up to hours long, depending on the size of the volumes/LUNs. Note that the auto failover feature is unavailable until the initial data synchronization is complete.
• Erase all data on the active server: If the data on the active server is no longer needed, it is recommended to erase all data/volumes/LUNs to speed up the synchronization, which takes ten to fifteen minutes. You will need to enter the administrator’s password to continue this process.

Confirm settings

You can double-check the settings you have made for the high-availability cluster on this page. Click Apply to proceed with the setup.