High Availability | NVIDIA UFM XDR-DC Enterprise Appliance Software User Manual

UFM Enterprise appliance supports High-Availability on the host level. The solution is based on a pacemaker to monitor services, and on DRBD to sync file-system states.

The diagram below describes the connectivity scheme of the UFM High-Availability cluster.

High-Availability Configuration

UFM HA should be configured on two appliances, master and standby.

High-availability should be configured first on on the standby node. When completed, it should be configured on the master node.

Command Usage:

# ufm_ha_cluster config --help
Usage: ufm_ha_cluster config [<options>]

The config command configures ha add-on for ufm server.

Options:

Option	Description
-r \| --role <node role>	Node role (master or standby) - Mandatory
-e \| --peer-primary-ip <ip address>	Peer node primary IP address - Mandatory
-l \| --local-primary-ip <ip address>	Local node primary IP address - Mandatory
-E \| --peer-secondary-ip <ip address>	Peer node secondary IP address - Mandatory
-L \| --local-secondary-ip <ip address>	Local node secondary IP address - Mandatory
-i \| --virtual-ip <virtual-ip> OR -N \| --no-vip	Cluster virtual IP OR Do not create virtual IP resource - Mutual exclusive with virtual-IP option One of the two options is mandatory.
-p \| --hacluster-pwd <pwd>	`hacluster` user password - Mandatory
-f \| --ha-config-file <file path>	HA configuration file - The default is `ufm-ha.conf`

Configure HA with VIP (Virtual IP)

[On Standby Server] Run the following command to configure Standby Server:

ufm_ha_cluster config -r standby \
--local-primary-ip <local back-to-back IP> \
--peer-primary-ip <peer back-to-back IP> \
--local-secondary-ip <local management IP> \
--peer-secondary-ip <peer management IP> \
--virtual-ip <virtual management IP used for accessing the master node> \
--hacluster-pwd <password>

[On Master Server] Run the following command to configure Master Server:

ufm_ha_cluster config -r master \
--local-primary-ip <local back-to-back IP> \
--peer-primary-ip <peer back-to-back IP> \
--local-secondary-ip <local management IP> \
--peer-secondary-ip <peer management IP> \
--virtual-ip <virtual management IP used for accessing the master node> \
--hacluster-pwd <password>

Alternatively, you can run the CLI command ufm ha configure.

You must wait until after configuration for DRBD sync to finish before starting the UFM cluster. To check the DRBD sync status, run:

ufm_ha_cluster status

Configure HA without VIP (on a Dual Subnet)

Please change the variables in the commands below based on your setup.

[On Standby Server] Run the following command to configure Standby Server:

ufm_ha_cluster config -r standby \
--local-primary-ip <local back-to-back IP> \
--peer-primary-ip <peer back-to-back IP> \
--local-secondary-ip <local management IP> \
--peer-secondary-ip <peer management IP> \
--hacluster-pwd <password> \
--no-vip

[On Master Server] Run the following command to configure Master Server:

ufm_ha_cluster config -r master \
--local-primary-ip <local back-to-back IP> \
--peer-primary-ip <peer back-to-back IP> \
--local-secondary-ip <local management IP> \
--peer-secondary-ip <peer management IP> \
--hacluster-pwd <password> \ 
--no-vip

Alternatively, you can run the CLI command ufm ha configure dual-subnet.

You must wait until after configuration for DRBD sync to finish before starting the UFM cluster. To check the DRBD sync status, run:

ufm_ha_cluster status

High-Availability Cluster Management

To manage the HA cluster, use the ufm_ha_cluster tool.
ufm_ha_cluster Usage

# ufm_ha_cluster --help
===================================================================
 UFM-HA version:  5.3.0-17
-------------------------------------------------------------------  
Usage: ufm_ha_cluster [-h|--help] <command> [<options>]
This script manages UFM HA cluster.

Options:

OPTIONS:
   -h|--help                        Show this message
 
COMMANDS:
    version           HA cluster version
    config            Configure HA cluster
    cleanup           Remove HA configurations
    status            Check HA cluster status
    failover          Master node failover
    takeover          Standby node takeover
    start             Start HA services
    stop              Stop HA services
    detach            etach the standby from cluster
    attach            Attach a new standby to cluster
    enable-maintain   Enable maintenance to cluster
    disable-maintain  Disable maintenance to cluster
    reset             Reset DRBD connectivity from split-brain
    is-master         check if the current node is a master
    is-running        check if ufm services are running
    is-ha             Check if running in HA mode

For further information on each command, run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster <command> --help
```
To check UFM HA cluster status, run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster status
```
To start the UFM HA cluster, run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster start
```
To stop the UFM HA cluster, run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster stop
```
Execute the failover command on the master appliance to become the standby appliance. Run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster failover
```
Execute the takeover command on the standby machine to become the master appliance. Run:
```
ufm_ha_cluster takeover
```

For additional information on configuring UFM HA, please refer to Installing UFM Server Software for High Availability. Since the UFM HA package and related components (i.e. pacemaker and DRBD) are already deployed, follow instructions from step 6 (Configure HA from the main server) and onward.

Last updated: February 05, 2026