Invalid Partner Info creating HA Partner Node

johnkapp · Fri Jan 23, 2015 3:44 pm

Well, I made it one step further. Now when I try to create an HA Device, I get that the Device Initialization failed for the second partner due to invalid partner info. The files appear to be created, but I get the error. I still have a problem with Starwind recognizing my Sync and Heartbeat channels on one of the servers. They are fine on one server, but only show up intermittently on the other server. I found a note that I should remove and re-add the servers to the console to fix the invalid partner info problem. I did it a couple of times and still get the invalid partner info error. Sometimes I see the sync and heartbeat channels for a few minutes on my second server in Starwind and then they disappear. But, they still work either way. Any suggestions on where to go from here?

thefinkster · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:08 pm

Hmmm. What version/build?

johnkapp · Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:59 pm

The version is 8.0.7509. I just downloaded it for testing on Wednesday.

nathan · Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:01 pm

John,

Did you ever figure this out? I am having the same issue with version 7509. I have used v6 and older versions of v8 and never had this issue before when setting up HA devices... I'm at a loss of what I'm doing wrong. I've also tried what you've tried.. removing the nodes from the GUI and rechecking the partner node info, etc.. I do not however have any issues with the sync, heart beat channels... it just errors on the "Device Initialization Step". I would just reload the previous version of v8 I had and move forward, but I've already deleted it and cannot find it anywhere. I wish there was an archive of older versions... at least the last two or three minor releases.

Regards,

Nathan

Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:25 pm

johnkapp wrote:Well, I made it one step further. Now when I try to create an HA Device, I get that the Device Initialization failed for the second partner due to invalid partner info. The files appear to be created, but I get the error. I still have a problem with Starwind recognizing my Sync and Heartbeat channels on one of the servers. They are fine on one server, but only show up intermittently on the other server. I found a note that I should remove and re-add the servers to the console to fix the invalid partner info problem. I did it a couple of times and still get the invalid partner info error. Sometimes I see the sync and heartbeat channels for a few minutes on my second server in Starwind and then they disappear. But, they still work either way. Any suggestions on where to go from here?

nathan wrote:Did you ever figure this out? I am having the same issue with version 7509. I have used v6 and older versions of v8 and never had this issue before when setting up HA devices... I'm at a loss of what I'm doing wrong. I've also tried what you've tried.. removing the nodes from the GUI and rechecking the partner node info, etc.. I do not however have any issues with the sync, heart beat channels... it just errors on the "Device Initialization Step". I would just reload the previous version of v8 I had and move forward, but I've already deleted it and cannot find it anywhere. I wish there was an archive of older versions... at least the last two or three minor releases.

OK, so lets divide that into two parts:
1. "Invalid Partner info" problem. This is rare actually, and I`m sure if we`ll cooperate the problem will be fixed. So, guys, please try to re-install StarWind if that is an option and see if that helped. If not - please glad the StarWind service and console logs from all StarWind boxes, upload them somewhere and share the link with us.
2. Sync and HB IPs issue. usually such behavior is expected if MS iSCSI target is installed on the server - can I ask you to check if it is? If so, please uninstall it and see if that helped.

Thank you!

rader · Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:57 pm

1. "Invalid Partner info" problem. This is rare actually, and I`m sure if we`ll cooperate the problem will be fixed. So, guys, please try to re-install StarWind if that is an option and see if that helped. If not - please glad the StarWind service and console logs from all StarWind boxes, upload them somewhere and share the link with us.

I too had this during my third attempt at getting this software to play well with another server. If by rare, they mean they've never seen it, I can guarantee that it's not rare here. I couldn't get past it for two days.
However after adding the 4th NIC and starting over again I still encountered this error during the HA creation, files get created on the secondary server then errors out, the solution presented in the quotes didn't work. Even ensuring that all the HA files being created were completely gone from the source and destination servers (ie. format the drives), it still errored out on the HA file creation.
What did work was the second solution. I still had some carry over setup in both servers iSCSI initiator screens. Removing all the iSCSI data allowed me to FINALLY get the servers to talk and replicate data.

--== Soapbox ==--
For what it's worth, the setup documentation is lacking on some of the basic building blocks of shared storage solutions. Even experienced administrators would have a difficult time understanding the different way of data storage without a better understanding of the "cluster" mindset. If the software is to make it into the SMB market, the setup needs to be clearer. Reading thru incomplete information while using the latest software is not helping in understanding or implementing this fantastic solution.
--== End of Soapbox ==--

darklight · Mon Nov 02, 2015 10:11 am

Since I have multiple customers using StarWind in their environment, I often face the "Invalid Partner info" problem.

A solution that always worked for me was to check whether DNS names of both hosts participating in StarWind HA replication resolving correctly. The fastest way to ensure this is to re-add the servers into StarWind Management Console. They should have both values - friendly hostname and IP Adress in round brackets. And of course these values should be correct.

Fri Nov 13, 2015 3:40 pm

Hi everyone!
So, workaround suggested by darklight worked for me few times as weel:)
Also, recently we have updated the build on our website, so please give it a try and let us know how it goes.