Backing Up and Restoring HA Appliance Event Broker Configurations

This section provides information on how to back up and restore configuration for paired high-availability (HA) appliance event brokers running Guaranteed Messaging.

Do not use this procedure for event broker services in Solace Cloud. Using this procedure in Solace Cloud may result in a degradation of service. Instead, see Backing up Event Broker Services for more information.

Some configuration information is not backed up, including:

  • product keys
  • TLS/SSL server certificate files
  • TLS/SSL server certificate configuration
  • client certificates for the following:
    • Message VPN bridges
    • replication bridges
    • rest delivery points
    • Dynamic Message Routing (DMR)
    • Multi-Node Routing (MNR)
  • Kerberos Keytabs
  • software broker storage group
  • monitoring agents running in the broker (Datadog, Solace Geneos Agent)

In addition, messaging data is not backed up, including:

  • the guaranteed message spool
  • queued messages
  • replay log messages

Backing Up Configuration

The default backup procedure for paired appliance event brokers running Guaranteed Messaging is to run the copy current-config Privileged EXEC command.

However, before creating configuration file backups, always note the local state of Guaranteed Messaging activity on the paired appliance event brokers and observe the following:

  • Creating the configuration file backup while Guaranteed Messaging is active captures the Guaranteed Messaging configuration at the time of backup.
  • Creating the configuration file backup while Guaranteed Messaging is inactive (that is, while the mate appliance event broker is active), captures the Guaranteed Messaging configuration from when this appliance event broker was last active. Further, a backup of the inactive appliance event broker contains the queue and topic endpoint configuration that was present at the time this appliance event broker was last active.
  • Queue and topic endpoint configuration changes are only acknowledged on the inactive paired appliance event broker when it assumes the active role.
  • Solace recommends using a naming scheme for the backed up Guaranteed Messaging configuration files to help identify the appliance event broker and Guaranteed Messaging activity at the time of backup.

    For example, consider the backups for paired appliance event broker R1 and R2, where R1 is active, and R2 is inactive:

    copy current-config config_R1_AD_active

    copy current-config config_R2_AD_inactive

Rolling Back to a Previous Configuration

The default procedure for restoring the configuration files for redundant appliance event broker pairs running Guaranteed Messaging service is to use the reload Privileged EXEC command as described below. The result is the restoration of a previously backed up Guaranteed Messaging service configuration.

During the following procedure, all spooled messages are lost.

To rollback to a previous Guaranteed Messaging configuration used by a redundant appliance event broker pair, use the following procedure:

  1. Select a backup configuration file for the primary appliance event broker that you want to roll back to. The configuration file must have been taken while Guaranteed Messaging service was active.
  2. Rollback to the selected backup configuration file on the primary appliance event broker as follows: 
    solace1# configure
    solace1(configure)# redundancy
    solace1(configure/redundancy)# shutdown
    solace1(configure/redundancy)# exit
    solace1(configure)# hardware message-spool
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# shutdown
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# end

    solace1# admin
    solace1(admin)# system message-spool
    solace1(admin/system/message-spool)# reset
    solace1(admin/system/message-spool)# end
    solace1# reload config <config-file>

    The appliance event broker restarts with the restored configuration. All spooled messages are lost.

    solace1# configure
    solace1(configure)# hardware message-spool
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# shutdown
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# end
  3. On the secondary appliance event broker, shut down the redundancy and message-spool, and then reset the message-spool: 
    solace2# configure
    solace2(configure)# redundancy
    solace2(configure/redundancy)# shutdown
    solace2(configure/redundancy)# exit
    solace2(configure)# hardware message-spool
    solace2(configure/hardware/message-spool)# shutdown
    solace2(configure/hardware/message-spool)# end

    solace2# admin
    solace2(admin)# system message-spool
    solace2(admin/system/message-spool)# reset
    solace2(admin/system/message-spool)# end
  4. Assert disk ownership on the primary appliance event broker, and start the message spool and redundancy: 
    solace1# admin
    solace1(admin)# system message-spool
    solace1(admin/system/message-spool)# assert-disk-ownership
    solace1(admin/system/message-spool)# end

    solace1# configure
    solace1(configure)# hardware message-spool
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# no shutdown primary
    solace1(configure/hardware/message-spool)# exit
    solace1(configure)# redundancy
    solace1(configure/redundancy)# no shutdown
  5. When the primary appliance event broker is back in service, select the backup configuration file for the mate appliance event broker.
  6. Run the following command to rollback to the selected backup configuration file on the secondary appliance event broker: 
    solace2# reload config <config-file>

    The appliance event broker restarts with the restored configuration. All spooled messages are lost.

  7. Check activity status on both appliance event brokers:
    • local active/local active on the first appliance event broker
    • mate active/mate active on the second appliance event broker
  8. If the backup virtual router on the primary appliance event broker is local active, you may wish to restore the usual state by doing a revert-activity on the primary appliance event broker: 
    solace1# admin
    solace1(admin)# redundancy revert-activity
    solace1(admin)# end

  9. If the HA pair is using SSL, restore the server certificate by reloading it. For instructions to load server certificates, see Loading Server Certificate Files.

  10. The configuration for redundant pair of appliance event brokers may need reconciliation. Use Config-Sync to assert one appliance event broker’s configuration over its mate. For more information, see Asserting Event Brokers VPN Configurations.