Physical Machine Page Overview

The Interface

1. States & Activities
   Running, Maintenance, Off, Broken, Booting, etc.
2. Primary node generally runs all VMs
3. Click to perform PM Maintenance
4. Online Help and Troubleshooting

An Avance Unit consists of two physical machines (PMs), which can be managed from the Physical Machines page of the Avance Management Console.

1. In the Avance Management Console, click Physical Machines.
2. Select a PM to view state/configuration information or perform maintenance.
3. Click the tabs to view configuration details, or to upgrade PM firmware (Dell, HP servers only).

If the Avance Management Console is not available, use the Avance Emergency Console to view partial configuration information, or to extract a diagnostic file for troubleshooting PM failures.

1. Attach a keyboard and monitor to the PM and press Return.
2. Login: User & PW = avance.
   
3. Select Display system info. Click OK.
   

Managing Physical Machines

Avance displays PM management commands according to the PM’s state and activity, as described in the following pages.

To ensure proper workflow, perform all PM maintenance through the Avance Management Console. Otherwise application downtime or degraded operation can result.

Managing Physical Machines

Avance displays PM management commands according to the PM’s state and activity, as described in the following pages. To ensure proper workflow, perform all PM maintenance through the Avance Management Console. Otherwise application downtime or degraded operation can result.

Commands	Description
	VMs running on this PM migrate to the other PM if in service. (Otherwise, re-confirm request and shut down VMs.) When VMs are migrated or shut down, displays running (in Maintenance).
The following actions are available once a PM is placed in maintenance mode (via the Work On button)
	Returns PM to running state.
	Shuts down PM. transitions to off (in Maintenance).
	Analogous to disconnecting power cord. Use only if shutdown fails. Transitions PM to off (in Maintenance).
	Re-images and recovers corrupted PM.
	Use when replacing PM or motherboard.
The following action is available after Avance has removed the PM from service and powered it off because an excessive failure rate.
	PM failed three or more times with a mean time between failure (MTBF) of less than an hour.This action resets the MTBF counter so the PM can be brought back into service.
The following action is available when Avance is in the process of imaging or recovering a PM.
	Use to cancel imaging if recovery or replacement is not progressing. Troubleshoot, then restart recovery or replacement.

Other PM states and activities

State	Activity	Avaliable Commands	Description
	imaging	Work On	PM is loading Avance image.
	Evacuating	Finalize	VMs are migrating from this PM to its partner.
	Running	Work On	PM is predicted to fail.
	Running	Work On	PM failed.
	Powered Off	Work On Reset Device	Avance has powered off the PM because of an excessive failure rate.
	Booting	Finalize Power Off	PM is booting.

Avance Storage Redundancy

Avance Virtual Machine Volumes

VM volumes (boot and data) are assigned to Avance Storage Groups defined as shared mirrors. Avance forms shared mirror groups by pairing logical disks from both PMs, and synchronously replicating VM block writes across paired logical disks.

This effectively creates RAID 1 mirrors (shared mirrors) across the PMs, enabling either PM to host VMs without external shared storage. Furthermore, if a PM’s logical disk fails, the VMs can keep running by using the mirror storage on the other PM. Avance automatically re-synchronizes logical disks after a repair or upgrade.

Reduce PM storage costs by configuring logical disks (used by VMs) as single- or multi-disk RAID0 arrays.

Avance System Volumes (Partition)

Each PM must be set up with a highly available Avance system volume (partition).

Avance requires each physical disk to be part of only one logical disk. To simplify maintenance, set up physical and logical disks identically on each PMs.

PMs with single logical disk
	Storage Redundancy: Avance system partition is protected via a RAID 1, 5, 6 or 10 logical disk. VM volumes synchronously mirrored between PMs. VM volumes re-synchronized after logical disk repair or upgrade. Logical disk can host multiple VM volumes. Key Requirements: Requires at least 2 physical disks. RAID0 is not supported in this configuration.

PMs with multiple logical disks
	Storage Redundancy: Avance installs and mirrors system volumes on first two logical disks within PM. VM volumes synchronously mirrored between PMs. VM volumes re-synchronized after logical disk repair or upgrade. Logical disk can host multiple VM volumes. Key Requirements: Each physical disk is part of only one logical disk.