Managing Storage Volumes

The solacectl command-line utility is used to manage the storage volumes used by machine and cloud images of the Solace PubSub+ software event broker. The utility can assign storage volumes to external block devices or move them back to the Linux host.

Before you use the solacectl storage command discussed below, we recommend that you review the Managing Software Event Broker Storage section on planning considerations related to storage volumes.

Setting Up Volumes as New Block Devices

To set up a storage volume that the Solace PubSub+ application uses as a new block device, enter the following commands from the Linux Host shell as root:

solacectl service stop
solacectl storage configure [-n] [-p] <device> <volumes>

Where:

-n (or --new) specifies to setup a volume as a new block device. This is the default option and is used unless another option is specifically provided.

-p (or --partition) the partition to setup if there are more than one. Normally, this option is not needed.

device is the destination device on which to store the volumes.

volumes is a space-separated list of volume names.

By default, the solacectl storage configure command preserves the files on the storage volume when migrating to a new block device.

To review the list of available block devices and volumes, run the solacectl storage ls command, then check the block devices and storage volumes columns in the output.

Example:

The following steps show how to assign the storage-group volume to an external block device /dev/sdb.

Review available block devices and storage volumes. In this example, storage-group initially resides on the following path:

/var/lib/docker/volumes/storage-group/_data.

[sysadmin@vmr-132-1 ~]$ solacectl storage ls
Block Devices:
Name                                              Size        Note
sda                                               30.0G       Main device
└─sda1                                            0.2G
└─sda2                                            29.8G
sdb                                               8.0G
└─sdb1                                            8.0G

Storage Volumes:
Name                        Size      Used      Available Path
/dev/mapper/vg01-root       9.8G      1.1G      8.7G      /
/dev/mapper/vg01-solace     9.8G      1.4G      8.5G      /var/lib/docker/volumes
├─storage-group             9.8G      1.4G      8.5G      /var/lib/docker/volumes/storage-group/_data

Image Pool:
Name                                            Size      Used       Available
Image pool                                      8.905 GB  2.206 GB   6.698 GB

Assign storage-group to the destination device sdb.

[sysadmin@vmr-132-1 ~]$ solacectl storage configure sdb storage-group
Creating new partition...
Verified the file system is XFS.
Mounting /dev/sdb1
Volumes have been configured in the new block device

Review to confirm the assignment of storage-group to sdb.

[sysadmin@vmr-132-1 ~]$ solacectl storage ls
Block Devices:
Name                                              Size      Note
sda                                               30.0G     Main device
└─sda1                                             0.2G
└─sda2                                            29.8G
sdb                                                8.0G
└─sdb1                                             8.0G 
Storage Volumes:
Name                        Size      Used      Available     Path
/dev/mapper/vg01-root       9.8G      1.1G      8.7G          /
/dev/mapper/vg01-solace     9.8G      1.1G      8.7G          /var/lib/docker/volumes
/dev/sdb1                   8.0G      306M      7.7G          /mnt/vmr
├─storage-group             8.0G      1.1G      8.7G          /mnt/vmr/storage-group/_data

The storage-group can be re-assigned to the main device, sda, with the following command: [sysadmin@vmr-132-1 ~]$ solacectl storage configure sda storage-group.

Setting Up Volumes as Existing Block Devices

To set up a storage volume that the Solace PubSub+ application uses as an existing block device, enter the following commands from the Linux Host shell as root:

solacectl service stop
solacectl storage configure [-p] -e <device> <volumes>

Where:

-p (or --partition) the partition to setup if there are more than one. Normally this option is not needed.

-e (or --existing) specifies to setup a volume as an existing software event broker block device.

device is the destination device on which to store the volumes.

volumes is a space-separated list of volume names.

To review the list of available block devices and volumes, run the solacectl storage ls command, then check the block devices and storage volumes columns in the output.

Formatting Block Devices

To format a block device by erasing partition tables and data, enter the following commands from the Linux Host shell as root:

solacectl service stop
solacectl storage configure [-p] -f <device> <volumes>

Where:

-p (or --partition) the partition to setup if there are more than one. Normally this option is not needed.

-f (or --format) specifies to format a block device by erasing partition tables and data.

device is the destination device on which volumes are stored.

volumes is a space separated list of volume names.

To review the list of available block devices and volumes, run the solacectl storage ls command, then check the block devices and storage volumes columns in the output.

Migrating the Storage-Group to External Storage

The procedures shown in this section provide instructions for how to migrate the storage-group to external storage for these configurations:

Standalone Event Brokers
Event Brokers in an HA Group

Before you begin

The procedures make use of the solacectl storage command discussed in the previous sections. We recommend that you review those sections if you aren't familiar with this command.
We recommend that you review the Managing Software Event Broker Storage section on planning considerations related to storage volumes.

Standalone Event Brokers

Prerequisites

You have planned your storage strategy. Consult the Managing Software Event Broker Storage section if you need more information.

Steps

Log into the event broker's host shell as sysadmin.
Ensure the persistent storage is sized correctly to support the volumes being moved.
Switch to the root user.
Stop the solace service using solacectl service.
Migrate the storage-group to external storage using solacectl storage.
Verify the storage-group has been moved to external storage.
Re-start the solace service using solacectl service.
Log out of the event broker.

Event Brokers in an HA Group

Prerequisites

You have planned your storage strategy. Consult Managing Software Event Broker Storage if you need more information.
Before beginning the migration you need to ensure the event brokers in the HA group are in the correct state:

Log into each event broker as an admin user.
On the primary event broker, you should verify that:
- Configuration Status is Enabled.
- Redundancy Status is Up.
- Message Spool Status is AD-Active.
You can use the show redundancy CLI command to make the verification.
On the backup event broker, you should verify that:
- Configuration Status is Enabled.
- Redundancy Status is Up.
- Message Spool Status is AD-Standby.
You can use the show redundancy CLI command to make the verification.
Log out of all event brokers.

Steps

On the backup event broker migrate the storage-group to external storage.
1. Log into the backup event broker's host shell as sysadmin.
2. Ensure the persistent storage is sized correctly to support the volumes being migrated.
3. Switch to the root user.
4. Stop the solace service using solacectl service.
5. Migrate the storage-group to external storage using solacectl storage.
6. Verify the storage-group has been moved to external storage.
7. Re-start the solace service using solacectl service.
8. Log out of the backup event broker's host shell.
Release activity on the primary event broker.
1. Log into each event broker as an admin user
2. Verify that Redundancy Status is Up on both the primary and backup event brokers. You can use the show redundancy command to do this as was illustrated in Prerequisites.
3. Release activity on the primary event broker.
4. Verify that the Message Spool Status on the backup event broker is AD-Active.
5. Log out of all event brokers.
On the primary event broker migrate the storage-group to external storage.
1. Log into the primary event broker's host shell as sysadmin.
2. Ensure the persistent storage is sized correctly to support the volumes being migrated.
3. Switch to the root user.
4. Stop the solace service using solacectl service.
5. Migrate the storage-group to external storage using solacectl storage.
6. Verify the storage-group has been moved to external storage.
7. Re-start the solace service using solacectl service.
8. Log out of the primary event broker's host shell.
Revert activity on the backup event broker.
1. Log into the primary event broker as admin.
2. Reclaim activity by running the no release-activity command on the primary event broker.
3. Log out of the primary event broker.
4. Log into the backup event broker as admin.
5. On the backup event broker, give up activity by running the redundancy revert-activity command.
6. Verify Redundancy Status is Up on each event broker.
  On the primary event broker the Message Spool Status should be AD-Active.
  On the backup event broker the Message Spool Status should be AD-Standby.
7. Log out of the backup event broker
On the monitoring event broker migrate the storage-group to external storage.
1. Log into the monitoring event broker's host shell as sysadmin.
2. Ensure the persistent storage is sized correctly to support the volumes being migrated.
3. Switch to the root user.
4. Stop the solace service using solacectl service.
5. Migrate the storage-group to external storage using solacectl storage.
6. Verify the storage-group has been moved to external storage.
7. Re-start the solace service using solacectl service.
8. Log out of the monitoring event broker's host shell.
Verify the Redundancy Status is Up on all three event brokers in the HA group.

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