Windows Time Service Should Not Run When Neverfail is Running

Windows Time Service Should Not Run When Neverfail is Running

Summary

This Knowledgebase article provides information about why Windows Time Service should not run when Neverfail Heartbeat is running.

 

More Information

Symptom

If the time on a Neverfail Heartbeat server is corrected backwards (by a few minutes) then that server will stop issuing heartbeats, and the connected server will get heartbeats missed. If this happens to the active server, the passive will get heartbeats missed and failover, causing a split-brain syndrome, as both servers are still connected. At that point, application protection is lost and manual intervention is required to reconfigure the Neverfail Heartbeat server pair and restart replication.

Cause

Server clocks are not synchronized. This issue has been seen on a few separate occasions and on each occasion, it was triggered when the Windows Time Service adjusted the clock on the active server backwards.

The origin of the issue appears to be a known issue in Java (4239522, linked below) that Sun currently has no plans to fix; therefore, the only option is to ensure that the Windows Time Service is not running on any server in a Neverfail Heartbeat Cluster.

Resolution

Sun currently has no plans to fix this; the only option is to ensure that the Windows Time Service is not running on either the Primary or Secondary server in a Neverfail Heartbeat pair.

 

Applies To

All Versions

 

Related Information

Sun Developer Network Bug Database, Bug 4239522 Timer seems to stop when the computer systemdate is turned back

Knowledgebase Article #53 Server Clocks are Not Synchronized

Knowledgebase Article #1551 How to Create a Task to Synchronize the Time of the Passive Server with the Active Server When Neverfail Heartbeat V5.3 and Later is Installed

 

KBID-79