SVN MultiSite Plus version 1.4 is Limited Availability - contact WANdisco support.

Administration Guide

1. Housekeeping

1.1 Starting up

To start the SVN MultiSite Plus replicator:

1. Open a terminal window on the server and login with suitable file permissions.
2. Run the svn-multisite service, located in the /etc/init.d folder:

   lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    37 May  9 10:37 svn-multisite -> /opt/svn-multisite-plus/bin/svn-multisite
       

3. Run the start script:

   [root@localhost init.d]#  ./svn-multisite start
   
   
       20130520-164811 (24088) [INFO]: Starting WANdisco MultiSite Plus
       20130520-164811 (24088) [INFO]: Started replicator (24100)
       20130520-164811 (24088) [INFO]: Started ui (24110)
       20130520-164811 (24088) [INFO]: Number of errors: 0
       20130520-164811 (24088) [INFO]: Number of warnings: 0
       

4. The two components of SVN MultiSite Plus, the replicator and the UI will start up. Read more about the svn-multisite init.d script

1.2 Shutting down

To shutdown:

1. Open a terminal window on the server and login with suitable file permissions.
2. Run the svn-multisite service, located in the init.d folder:

   lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    37 May  9 10:37 svn-multisite -> /opt/svn-multisite-plus/bin/svn-multisite

3. Run the stop script, i.e.:

   	[wandisco@ip-10-0-100-7 bin]$  ./svn-multisite stop
   
   	20130520-165704 (24767) [INFO]: Stopping WANdisco MultiSite Plus
   	20130520-165704 (24767) [INFO]: Request received to shut down replicator
   	20130520-165704 (24767) [INFO]: replicator processes ended
   	20130520-165704 (24767) [INFO]: Request received to shut down ui
   	20130520-165704 (24767) [INFO]: Sending signal 15 to watched ui process (attempt 1)...
   	20130520-165707 (24767) [INFO]: Sending signal 15 to watched ui process (attempt 2)...
   	20130520-165710 (24767) [INFO]: ui processes ended
   	20130520-165710 (24767) [INFO]: Number of errors: 0
   	20130520-165710 (24767) [INFO]: Number of warnings: 0
   	

4. Both the replicator and the UI processes shut down. Read more about the svn-multisite init.d script

1.3 Using the init.d script

The 'start-up' script for persistent running of SVN MultiSite Plus is in the /etc/init.d folder. Run the script with the help command to list the available commands:

    [root@localhost init.d]# ./svn-multisite help
    usage: ./svn-multisite-plus (start|stop|restart|force-reload|status|uistart|uistop|repstart|repstop)

    start         Start SVN MultiSite Plus services
    stop          Stop SVN MultiSite Plus services
    restart       Restart SVN MultiSite Plus services
    force-reload  Restart SVN MultiSite Plus services
    status        Show the status of SVN Multisite Plus services
    uistart       Start the SVN MultiSite Plus User Interface
    uistop        Stop the SVN MultiSite Plus User Interface
    repstart      Start the SVN Multisite Plus Replicator
    repstop       Stop the SVN Multisite Plus Replicator
    

1.4 Change the administration password

You can change SVN MultiSite Plus's login password at any time by following this procedure:

1. Login to the MultiSite admin console.
   
   

   Login.

2. Click on the Security tab.
   
   

   Security.

3. At the top of the Security screen is the password change form. Enter the current password, along with a new password.
   
   

   Changed password

4. Click the SAVE button to store the new password. You can be sure that the new password has been accepted if you see a notification message appear at the bottom of the screen.
   
   

   Growl!

1.5 Update your license.key file

Follow this procedure if you ever need to change your product license. You would need to do this if, for example, you needed to increase the number of SVN users or the number of replication nodes.

1. Login to your server's command line, navigate to the properties directory: /opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/properties and rename the license.key to license.20130625.
   i.e.

   	total 16
   	-rw-r--r-- 1 wandisco wandisco 1183 Dec  5 15:58 application.properties
   	-rw-r--r-- 1 wandisco wandisco  512 Dec  5 15:05 license.key <-
   	-rw-r--r-- 1 wandisco wandisco  630 Dec 17 15:43 logger.properties
   	-rw-r--r-- 1 wandisco wandisco  747 Dec  4 10:31 svnok.catalog
   	

2. Get your new license.key and drop it into the /opt/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/properties directory.
3. Restart the replicator by running the SVN MultiSite Plus script with the following argument:

   /etc/init.d/svn-multisite-plus restart

   This will trigger an SVN MultiSite Plus replicator restart, which will force SVN MultiSite Plus to pick up the new license file and apply any changes to permitted usage.

If you run into problems, check the replicator logs (/opt/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/logs ) for more information.

PANIC: License is invalid com.wandisco.fsfs.licensing.LicenseException: Failed to load filepath>
    

1.6 Update a node's properties

In the System Data section of the Settings tab there's a bank of editable properties that can be quickly updated by re-entering, saving and allowing the SVN MultiSite replicator to restart - although this may cause brief disruption to users whose in-flight commits will fail.

Node properties that you can change -- subject to a restart of the replicator.

Node Name

- This is the human-readable form of the node's ID. Unlike the Node ID it is possible to change the value of Node Name and reuse it (after it has been removed from the replication network). That is, you can't have two nodes with the same name, but you can now reuse a previously removed node name.

Location Longitude

The Node's geographical location is no longer recorded during installation. Instead you enter the details here.

Location Latitude

Along with Longitude, this value places the node on the internal map and helps the application determined the local time for the node based on the timezone in which it falls.

Hostname / IP Address

The hostname or underlying IP address can be updated.

DConE Port

The TCP port used for DConE agreement traffic - not to be confused with the Content Distribution port which carries the payload repository data.

After entering a new value, click the Save button. A growl message will appear to confirm that the change is being replicated - this will result in a restart of the replicator which may cause brief disruption to SVN users.

1.6.1 Other property changes

Content Delivery Port

To change the Content Delivery port

    content.port.<Node id>=<new port>
    

 java -jar svn-ms-replicator-updateinetaddress.jar -c <path to application.properties>
    

Task Garbage Collection

There are two configurable properties that control how often the task garbage collection process should run. These properties are set during the installation. If you need to modify their values you need to add them to the application.properties file.

task.removal.interval

This setting controls how often the task garbage collection process should run. The default is 96 hours, noted in milliseconds (i.e. 345600000 milliseconds for 96 hours).

task.expired.interval

This setting controls how old a successfully run task must be before it is made available for garbage collection. The default is 96 hours, noted in milliseconds (i.e. 345600000 milliseconds for 96 hours).

Recommended Settings

Summary: For large deployments reduce the time from 96 to 24 hours
The recommended settings are suitable for most deployments. However, for deployments with very large numbers (thousands) of repositories and where repository consistency checks are automated then we recommend that you reduce the setting times, initially to 24 hours (86400000 ms).

Shorter periods will result in a corresponding reduction in your ability to troubleshoot problems that involve replicator task history. If you notice large numbers of failed tasks accumulating over time or have any concerns about what settings are right for your specific deployment, contact WANdisco's support team.

Example

For a deployment that replicates several thousand repositories and schedules daily consistency checks it's decided to reduce the task expiry to 48 hours and the garbage collection frequency to 24 hours. The settings would therefore be:

task.removal.interval   86400000L
task.expired.interval   172800000L

1.6.2 Node content distribution timeouts

There are two configurable properties that you can modify as part of fine-tuning an SVN MultiSite Plus deployment. They are provided to allow you to balance best possible performance against the tolerance of a poor WAN connectivity. Both properties are contained within the application properties file, by default located here: /opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/properties/application.properties.

socket.timeout

    socket.timeout=90000
    

content.pull.timeout

content.pull.timeout=300000

Increasing the timeout

Increasing the value may help if poor connectivity is resulting in the replicator repeatedly giving up on content distribution that would have eventually transferred had it been given enough time, i.e. not as a result of a slow network rather than something that has caused a permanent error.

Decreasing the timeout

Decreasing the value is not generally recommended. Doing so is not intended as a method for boosting performance - although this may occur in some situations. We recommend that you don't drop the timeout value below 5000 (5 seconds) without consulting with our support team.

1.7 Set up data monitoring

The Monitoring Data tool monitors the disk usage of SVN MultiSite Plus's database directory, providing a basic level of protection against SVN MultiSite Plus consuming all disk space. The tool also lets you set up your own monitors for user-selected resources.

1.7.1 Default settings

Click the "View" link to go to a monitor's settings.

By default MultiSite's database directory (/opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/database) is monitored - this is the location of MultiSite's prevayler database where all data and transactions files for replication are stored.

This built-in monitor runs on all nodes. Any additional monitors that you set up will monitor on a per-node basis. Monitors are not replicated so a monitor set up on one node is not applied to any other node.

1.7.2 Additional monitors

As well as SVN MultiSite Plus's own database folder, there are several directories that might grow very large and potentially consume all available file space.

Consider monitoring the following MultiSite directories:

/opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/content
/opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/logs
/opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/logs

Also monitor /path/to/authz. If you are using Authz to manage authorization and your Authz file is situated on different file system from SVN MultiSite Plus, then you are recommended to set up monitoring of the authz file.

For most deployments all these directories will reside on the same file system, so that our default monitor would catch if any of them were consuming the available space. However, there are two scenarios where we'd recommend that you set up your own monitor for the content directory:

• You wish to set a higher trigger amount than the default monitor (1GiB for warning, 0.09GiB for emergency shutdown).
• You have placed the content directory on a different filesystem with its own capacity that wouldn't be tracked by the default monitor.

In both cases, after setting up a monitor you should set up a corresponding email notification that is sent if some or all of your monitor's trigger conditions are met.

Create additional resource monitors using the following procedure:

1. Log in to the Administrator user interface.
2. Click the "SETTINGS" link on the top menu bar.
3. Monitoring Data is situated below the Administrator Settings. Enter the full path to the resource that you wish to monitor. For example, you might wish to monitor the replicator logs: "/opt/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/logs". Enter the path and click "Add".
   
   

   Add resource path

4. The new resource monitor appears as a new box - it will display "No records found", indicating that it doesn't yet have any monitoring rules set. Click its corresponding "Configure" link.
   
   

   Configure

5. The screen updates to show the Resource Monitoring screen for your selected resource.
   
   

   Settings

   File Path:

   The full path for your selected resource

   Monitor Identity:

   The unique string that will identify the monitor

   Edit Condition and Event List

   Lists current resource monitors, initially this will state "No records found"

6. Add Conditional and Event to list.

   Storage amount entry field

   Enter an amount of disk space in Gigabytes. e.g. 0.2 would be equal to 200 Megabytes of storage.

   Select an Event from the dropdown:

   SEVERE

   Initiates a shutdown of SVN MultiSite Plus and also writes a message to the log and the "SEVERE" logging level. See next section for more information.

   WARNING

   Writes a message to the log and the "WARNING" level of severity.

   DEBUG

   Writes a message to the log and the "DEBUG" level of severity.

   INFO

   Writes a message to the log and the "INFO" level of severity.

7. When you have added all the trigger points and events that you require for the resource, click Update. You can then navigate away: Click Resource Monitoring on the breadcrumb trail to return to the settings screen.

1.7.3 When a shutdown is triggered

If the disk space available to a monitored resource is less than the value you have for a "Severe" event then the event is logged and MultiSite's replicator will shut down after a set interval of 10 minutes. You can configure the interval in application.properties file:

/opt/wandisco/svn-multisite-plus/replicator/properties/application.properties

resourcemonitor.period.min=10L

Value is minutes.

When shut down, all SVN repositories are unavailable to users. You should immediately take action to make more disk space available. You can restart the replicator using SVN MultiSite Plus's service as soon as the resource that triggered the shutdown has enough available disk space not to shut down again.

1.8 Set up email notifications

The email notification is a rules-based system to deliver alerts based on user-defined templates over one or more channels to destinations based on triggers that are activated by arbitrary system events. Put simply, email notification sends out emails when something happens within the SVN MultiSite Plus environment. The message content, trigger rules and destinations are all user-definable.

Automated alert emails

8.1 Set up a Gateway

The Gateways section stores your email (SMTP) server details. You can set up multiple gateways to ensure that the loss of the server doesn't prevent alert notifications from being delivered.

1. Log into the admin UI, then click Settings.
2. Click on the Gateway section of the Notifications area.
   
   

   Add Gateway

3. Enter your email gateway's settings:
   
   

   Enter settings

   IP/Hostname of SMTP Server:

   your email server's address.

   SMTP Server Port

   The port assigned for SMTP traffic (Port 25 etc).

   Encryption Type

   Indicate your server's encryption type - None, SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). SSL is a commonly used. For tips on setting up suitable keystore and truststore files see Setting up SSL Key pair.

   keystores?
   If you're not familiar with the finer points of setting up SSL keystores and truststores it is recommended that you read the following article: Using Java Keytool to manage keystores.

   Authentication Required

   Indicate whether you need a username and password to connect to the server using true or false.

   User Name

   If authentication is required, enter the authentication username here.

   Password

   If authentication is required, enter the authentication password here.

   Sender Address

   Provide an email address that your notifications will appear to come from. If you want to be able to receive replies from notifications you'll need to make sure this is a valid and monitored address.

   Number of Tries Before Failing

   Set the number of attempts that SVN MultiSite Plus makes to send out notifications.

   Interval Between Tries (Seconds)

   Set the time, in seconds, between your server's attempts to send notifications.

4. Click +Add. Your gateway appears in the table.
   You can add any number of gateways. SVN Multisite Plus exhausts the Number of Tries Before Failing for each registered gateway before moving on down the list to the next.
   You can use the Test button to verify that your entered details connect to a mail gateway server.

1.8.1 Set up a destination

The destinations section stores the email address for your notification recipients.

1. Click + on the Destinations line.
2. Enter an email address for a notification recipient. Click + Add.
   
   

   Notification

3. The destination appears in a table. Click Edit or Remove to change the address or remove it from the system.

1.8.2 Set up a template

The template section stores email messages. You can create any number of templates, each with its own notification message, triggered by one of a number of trigger scenarios that are set up in the Rule section.

1. Click + on the Template line.
2. Enter a Template Subject line which will be the subject of the notification email.
3. Enter some Body Text which will be the message that is sent out when the notification is triggered. The message has a 1024 character limit. You can track the available number of characters at the bottom of the text box.
   
   

   Notification



4. When you've entered the message, click + Add to save the message template.

Available variables

When writing email notification templates, you can insert variables into the template that will be interpolated when the notification is delivered. The following two variables are available for ALL event types:

{timestamp}

This is substituted with the time at which the event is received (not the time at which the notification is delivered).

{event}

This is substituted with the raw dump of the event.

For the event types Disk Monitor Info, Disk Monitor Severe and Disk Monitor Warning, the following additional variable is available:

{event.message}

This is substituted with information about the disk monitoring threshold that was exceeded.

For the event types "Deploy Repository Succeeded" and "Deploy Repository Failed", the following additional variables are available:

{event.proposerNodeId}

This is substituted with the ID of the node that sent the event.

{event.originalProposal.repository.name}

This is substituted with user-specified name of the repository to which the event pertains.

{event.originalProposal.repository.fSPath}

This is substituted with location on-disk of the repository that the event pertains to. More events types and event variables will be added in the future.

1.8.3 Set up a rule

The Rule section defines which system event should trigger a notification, what message template should be used and which recipients should be sent the notification.

1. Click + on the Rule line.


2. Choose an event from the Event drop-down list:
   
   

   Rules

   Event:

   Any Repository Global Read-Only Event

   In case of any repository entering a global read-only mode.

   Global Read-Only Due to Admin Action

   In case of any repository entering a global read-only mode as a result of administrator interaction through the admin UI.

   Disk Monitor Info

   Disk Storage has dropped below the Info level. This will trigger if any data monitor message is written to the logs at the "INFO" level.

   Disk Monitor Warning

   Disk Storage has dropped below the Warning level.This will trigger if any data monitor message is written to the logs. For more information about disk warning messages, see the Setting up data monitoring section.

   Disk Monitor Severe

   Disk Storage has hit the Severe level. This will trigger if any "Severe" level data monitor message is written to the logs. At this level, SVN MultiSite Plus will have shutdown to ensure that disk space exhaustion doesn't corrupt your system and potentially your SVN repositories. For more information about disk warning messages, see the Setting up data monitoring section.

   Deploy Repository Failed

   A repository added to SVN MultiSite Plus has failed to deploy, in which case the repository will not be replicated.

   Deploy Repository Succeeded

   A repository added to SVN MultiSite Plus has successfully deployed. Such an event might be sent to a mail group received by SVN users, telling them that their repository is now accessible.

   Global Read-Only Due to Consistency Check Failure

   In case of any repository entering a global read-only mode as a result of failing a consistency check with its replicas.

   Generic file replication error occurred

   An error occured with the Generic Replication script.

3. Choose a Template from the drop-down list. These are the templates that you have already set up under the Templates section.
4. Choose destinations for your notification from the available destination email addresses. You can make multiple selections so that a message is sent to more than one recipient address.
5. Click + Add to save your rule.
   
   

   Rule set

1.9 Back up SVN MultiSite Plus data

You can back up SVN MultiSite Plus's own database in case you need to quickly restore a node.

Create a backup of the current installation by invoking the following API call:

curl --user <username>:<password> -X POST http://[node_ip_address]:8082/dcone/backup

This creates a backup folder in [INSTALL-DIR]multisite-plus/replicator/db/backup/X.X.X_DConE_Backup directory.

1.9.1 Back up while shut down

Run this from within /replicator:

java -cp ./fsfsrestore.jar com.wandisco.fsfs.backup.FsfsBackup -c ./properties/application.properties

Use this to back up the current state of all prevaylers when SVN MultiSite Plus is shut down. You therefore do not need to start the replicator in order to create a backup of the database.

1.10 Restore SVN MultiSite Plus Data

The restore functionality is no longer supported because the product upgrade functionality is handled using the installer.

1.11 Manage access to SVN MultiSite Plus

SVN MultiSite Plus supports three different mechanisms for managing access to its admin UI:

• Internally Managed users - are admin accounts that are set up from within SVN MultiSite's Admin UI.
• LDAP Authorities - you can have SVN MultiSite Plus query LDAP services and filter for a suitable group from which to populate admin users.
• Kerberos Security - Finally, if your organization uses a Kerberos authentication system you can set up MultiSite to use it.

You can set up multiple administrator accounts for accessing the SVN MultiSite Plus admin console. Accounts can be set up from within the admin UI (via the Security tab). These users can then log in to any node's admin UI by providing their username and password.

The following sections explain how to set up multiple accounts, set up managing LDAP authorities and export/import the resulting data.

1.11.1 Adding additional users

1. Log in to the Admin UI using an existing admin account.
   

   Login

2. Click SECURITY, then click Add User.

   Add User

3. Enter details for the new administrator, then click Add User at the end of the entry bar.
   

   Click Add User to save their details

4. You'll see a growl message confirming that the user has been added. You'll see them listed on the Internally Managed Users after clicking the Reload button (or refershing your browser session).

   New user appears

1.11.2 Removing or editing user details

You can modify any user details.

1. Click the corresponding Edit button on the Internally Managed Users table.
   

   Remove or Edit users

1.11.3 LDAP authorities

SVN MultiSite Plus supports the use of LDAP authorities for managing admin logging accounts. See our Guide to LDAP.

When connecting SVN MultiSite Plus to available LDAP authorities it is possible to classify the authority as "Local" i.e. specific to the node in question or not - in which case the authority details will be replicated to the other nodes within the replication network.

It's possible to run multiple LDAP authorities that are of mixed type, i.e. using some local authorities along with other authorities that are shared by all nodes. When multiple authorities are used, it's possible to set what order they are checked for users.

The standard settings are supported for each configured LDAP authority: URL, search base and filter and bind user credentials. Note that the bind user's password cannot be one-way encrypted using a hash function because it must be sent to the LDAP server in plain text, so for this reason the bind user should be a low privilege user with just enough permissions to search the directory for the user being authenticated. Anonymous binding is permitted for those LDAP servers that support anonymous binding.

Add authority

Use the Add Authority feature to add one or more LDAP authorities, either local to the node or connected via WAN. Locally LDAP services are treated as having presedence. When Internally managed users are enabled they are first checked when authenticating users. See Admin Account Precedence.

To add an authority:

1. Log in to the admin UI, click the Security tab.
2. Click Add Authority.
   

   Add Authority

   The Authority entry form appears.

3. Enter the following details:
   

   Add Authority

   URL

   Enter your authorities URL. You need to include the protocol ldap:// or ldaps://
   Example (Active Directory)

   ldap://<server IP>:389

   Bind User DN

   Enter a LDAP admin user account that will be used to query the authority
   Example (Active Directory)

   cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=windows,dc=AD

   Search Base

   Enter the Base DN, that is the location of users that you wish to retrieve.
   Example (Active Directory)

   CN=Users,DC=sr,DC=wandisco,DC=com?sAMAccountName

   Search Filter

   Optionally add A query filter that will a select user based on relevant LDAP attributes. Currently the search filter must be created so that it filters LDAP query result into unique result. A work around might look something like:
   Example: (Active Directory)

   (&(memberOf=[DN of user group])(sAMAccountName={0}))

   This dynamically swaps the {0} for the ID of the active user. For more information about query filter syntax, consult the documentation for your LDAP server.

   Is Local?

   Tick this checkbox if you want the authority to only apply to the current node and not be replicated to other nodes (which is otherwise done by default).

4. Click Add Authority. This saves the authority settings that you have just entered. You can click Test to verify that the details successfully connect to the authority without adding the authority yet.
5. When running with multiple authorities, you need to set the order in which MultiSite polls the authorities. Use the +- symbols at the end of each authority entry to push it up (+) or down (-) the list.
   

   Order authorities

Edit authority

Modify an existing authorities settings:

1. Log in to the admin UI, click on the Security tab.
2. Click the edit link on the line that corresponds with the authority that you wish to edit.
   

   Edit authorities link

3. Update the settings in the popup box, then click Save.
   

   Edit authorities box

Kerberos security

This section describes the basic requirements for integrating SVN MultiSite Plus with your existing Kerberos systems. The procedure requires the following:

• A Key Distribution Center
• A Workstation setup on each node
• A machine with a suitably configured browser. See Enabling Kerberos access on your browser

Configuration

This procedure assumes that you have already set up your DNS service and master Key Distribution Center.

1. On each node, add the service principal:

   	    # kadmin -p root/admin -q "addprinc -randkey HTTP/node1.example.com"
   	    # kadmin -p root/admin -q "ktadd -k /opt/krb5.keytab HTTP/node1.example.com"
   	    # chmod 777 /opt/krb5.keytab
   	    

2. Each node should have installed the add-on JCE Java 6 or Java 7 Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files". These can be downloaded from Oracle, subject to your local import rules concerning encryption technology. Once downloaded, extract to the the Java security library, i.e.

   $JAVA_HOME/lib/security/

3. At this point you can install SVN MultiSite Plus on each node. If that's already done, then configure the Kerberos settings under the Security tab.
   

   Edit Kerberos box

   Service Principal:

   This unique name for an instance of a service, such as HTTP/node1.example.com

   Keytab Location:

   This is the location of the keytab, a file containing pairs of Kerberos principals and encrypted keys (often derived from the Kerberos password). It's used for logging into Kerberos without being prompted for a password.

   Kerberos Config Location:

   The krb5.conf file contains Kerberos configuration information, including the locations of KDCs and admin servers for the Kerberos realms of interest, defaults for the current realm and for Kerberos applications, and mappings of hostnames onto Kerberos realms. Normally, you should install your krb5.conf file in the directory /etc. i.e. /etc/krb5.conf

4. Save the settings.
5. Log out.
6. Return to the node in your browser. This time you should log in automatically (in this case as user sally@EXAMPLE.COM).

See Security Reference: Kerberos settings.
See Configure browsers for Kerberos authentication.

2. Nodes

2.1 Add a node

To replicate SVN repository data between sites, you first tie the nodes together in the form of a replication network, this process starts with the adding (connecting) of nodes in a process we call induction.

You can also remove a node.

1. Log in to the SVN MultiSite admin console of the new node that you are connecting to your existing servers.
2. Click on the Nodes tab.
3. Click on the Connect to node button.
   

   Connect to node

4. Enter the details of an existing node, from the Settings tab of the existing node, under System Data.
   

   Enter the details from an existing, connected node

   Node ID

   This is the name that you gave the Node during installation. If you log into the node in question you can see the Node ID on the title of any screen that you view, it also appears in the logged in message:

   Welcome to MultiSite, admin. You are connected to <NODE ID>

   Location ID

   A unique string this created for each node as unique identifier. You can get this from the node's Settings tab:
   

   System Data table, found on the Settings tab

   Hostname / IP Address

   The IP Address of the node's server.

   DConE Port

   The TCP port that the node uses for DConE, which handles agreement traffic. The default is 6444 See Reserved Ports.

5. Click SEND CONNECTION REQUEST. The new node appears on the active list of Sites.
   You may find that the new node gets stuck in a pending state. If this happens see If Induction fails.

2.3 Remove a Node

The removal of a node from the SVN MultiSite Plus replication group is useful if you will no longer be replicating repository data to its location and wish to tidy up your replication group settings.

1. Log in to the SVN MultiSite admin console of any connected node.
2. Click on the Nodes tab.
3. Nodes that are eligable for removal will have the "Remove Node" option available under the Action column. In this example, NodeSanFrancisco is eligable for removal because we have removed it from any replication groups.
   

   Nodes table under the Nodes tab



4. Click Remove Node.
   Removing a node is not reversible
   You must be absolutely sure that you want to permanently remove the node.
   

   Ready to remove NodeSanFrancisco

5. After a refresh of the admin user interface you see that the removed node still displays if you click Display Removed Nodes. Removed nodes have the status "Removed" in the Connectivity Status column.
   

   Node removed

2.4 Stopping nodes

You can bring all nodes to a stop with a single button click (if all associated repositories are replicating/writable).

1. Log in to the admin UI and click on the Nodes tab.
2. Click the Sync Stop All button.
   

   Stop all nodes

   You get a growl message confirming the stop has been triggered. You see the results when you refresh your browser session.
   

   Stopped

3. On the Nodes table all nodes are shown as Stopped. In this state you can do maintenance or repairs without risking your replication getting out-of-sync.
   

   Node removed

4. The Sync Stop All button has changed to Start all. You can start selected nodes by logging in to the admin console of each node that you want to start. Use the Start Node link in the Action column of the Nodes table.

Aborted tasksType PREPARE_COORDINATE_STOP_TASK_TYPE
Delete Task
Originating Node: Ld5UYU
tasksPropertyTASK_ABORTING_NODE: Ld5UYU
tasksPropertyTASK_ABORT_REASON: One or more replicas is already stopped.
The replica was: [[[Ld5UYU][bf0c6395-77b6-11e3-9990-0a1eeced110e]]]

Aborted tasksType PREPARE_COORDINATE_STOP_TASK_TYPE

"DiscardTaskProposal <task id etc> message: One or more replicas is already stopped."

2.4 Starting nodes

1. If all nodes have been stopped, click Start All to start them replicating again.
   

   Stopped

2. After a browser refresh, all nodes will now show as running.

3. Replication groups

3.1 Add a replication group

You add a new replication gro-up when you need to replicate between a new combination of sites, i.e. sites that are not currently replicating in an existing group. If, instead, you want to replicate a new repository between existing sites, you can add a new repository to those sites.

1. Log in to the SVN MultiSite browser-based user interface. Click the REPLICATION GROUPS tab, then click the CREATE REPLICATION GROUP button.
   

   Creating a replication group

2. Enter a name for the group in the Replication Group Name field, then click the drop-down selector on the Add Sites field. Select the sites that you want to replicate between.
   

   Replication group details

   Replication Rules:
   

   • A node can belong to any number of replication groups.
   • A repository can only be part of a single active replication group at any particular time.
   • You can easily move a repository between replication groups.
3. Click each node label to set its node type.
   

   Click on node labels to change their type

   
   
   Advice on creating effective replication groups
   For a description of rules for replication read Creating resilient Replication Groups.
   Nodes are automatically added to a group as "Active Voters". To understand the differences between different types of nodes, read Guide to node types
4. When you have created all the sites and configured the settings, click CREATE REPLICATION GROUP.
   

   Create Replication Group

   You may see the message:

   Adding replication group, this may take some time. Press reload to see if this has completed.

   Newly created replication groups appear on the Replication Group tab, but only on the admin UI of nodes that are themselves members of the new group.
   

   New replication group appears

Important: Don't cancel replication group creation tasks
If you create a new replication group, then find that the task is stuck in pending because one of your nodes is down, do not use the Cancel Tasks option on the Dashboard's Pending Tasks table.
If, when all nodes are up and running, the replication group creation tasks are still not progressing, please contact the WANdisco support team for assistance.

3.2 Delete a replication group

You can remove replication groups from SVN MultiSite Plus, although only if they they have been emptied of repositories. The following procedure is an example:

1. Replication group VineyanRepos needs to be removed from SVN MultiSite Plus. It has a single repository associated with it. Click View to see which one.
   
   

   View

2. The Replication Group configuration screen shows that Repo5 is associated with the group. Currently Delete Replication Group (VinyardRepos) is disabled. You can follow the link to the repositories page to remove the association.
   
   

   Repositories

3. On the Repositories screen, click the associated repository, in this example Repo5, then click EDIT.
   
   

   Select and Edit

4. In the Edit Repository box, use the Replication Group drop-down to move the repository to a different Replication Group. Then click SAVE.
   
   

   Edit

5. Repeat this process until there are no more repositories assoicated with the Replication Group that you wish to delete. In this example VinyardRepos only had a single repository, so it is now empty, and can be deleted. Click on View, then on Configure.
   
   

   Move it

6. Now that Replication Group VinardRepos is effectively empty of replication payload the Delete link is enabled. Click Delete Replication Group (VinyardRepos) to remove the replication group. Note that there's no undo. Although no data is removed when a replication group is deleted, you should be able to recreate a group if necessary.
   
   

   Click the Delete link button

7. A growl will appear confirming that the replication group has been deleted.
   
   

   Deleting the replication group

   
   

3.3 Add a node to a replication group

You can add additional nodes to an existing replication group, so that there's minimal disruption to users:

1. Log in to a node, click on the REPLICATION GROUPS tab. Go to the replication group to which you will add a new node, click on its VIEW.
   
   

   Replication Groups

2. The replication group screen will appear. Click Add Nodes.
   
   

   View the group settings

   Why the Add Nodes button is disabled?
   The Add Nodes button may be grayed out if the current replication group configuration won't support the addition of a new voter node:
   
   It is also possible that a configuration that is scheduled in the future may block the addition of a new node. Check the schedule if you think that you should otherwise be able to add a new node to the replication group.
3. Select the node that you wish to add to the replication group.
   
   

   Select

   
   
4. When there are no more nodes to add to the group, click Add Nodes.
   
   
5. Select a Helper node from which we'll synch repository data:
   
   

   Helper node

6. Note the warning about not closing the browser or logging out during this process otherwise you'll need to perform a long repair procedure. Click Start Sync.
   
   

   Start sync

7. You now need to manually synchronize the repositories from the helper node (which is temporarily offline for users until this process is finished). See 30 Synchronizing repositories using rsync.
   
   The process lets you do a complete sync or select specific repositories that you wish to sync. Assuming that you have synced all repositories you would click Complete All. The helper node is then released from the process, allowing it to catch up with any transactions it missed while taking part in the procedure.
   
   

   Complete all

8. A growl message will appear copnfirming that the new node has been added to the replication group.
   
   

   New node

9. Returning to the Replication Group screen, you can see the new node count.
   
   

   Adding new node complete

3.4 Remove a node from a replication group

You can remove a node from a replication group. This functionality is required if the developers at one of your nodes are no longer going to contribute to the repositories handled by a replication group. Removing a node from a replication group will halt further updates to its repository replicas.

You are not allowed to remove a node that is currently assigned as the "Managing Node". In order to remove the managing node, go to the Configure Schedule page and assign a different node as a Managing Node.

1. Log in to the admin console of one of your nodes. The node needs to be a member of the relevant Replication Group, otherwise it won't appear on the tab. Click Replication Groups then the View button for the Replication Group from which you plan to remove a node.
   
   

   Login and go to REPLICATION GROUPS

2. Click the node that you plan to remove from the group. Providing that the removal of the node doesn't invalidate the remaining configuration you will see a Remove node from replication group link. Click the link.
   
   

   Remove

3. A dialog opens which asks you to confirm the removal of the selected node from the Replication Group. Click Remove.
   

   Remove, really

4. A growl message confirms that the removal is in progress. You many need to click Reload to ensure that the action has been completed on all nodes.
   
   

   Reload to confirm the updated state.

5. The node is now removed from the replication group. On the Replication Groups panel you should now see that the constituent number of nodes has reduced by one.
   
   

   Less one member node

3.5 Schedule node changes: follow the sun

You can schedule the member nodes of a replication group to change type according to when and where it is most beneficial to have active voters. To understand why you may want to change your nodes read about Node types.

3.5.1 Schedule node type changes via the public API

Instead of manually setting up schedules through a node's UI you can do it programmatically through calls to the public API. See Public API ScheduledNodeAPIDTOList element and scheduledNodeAPIDTOList Datatype.

Use the following API call:

http://<ip>:8082/public-api/replicationgroup/{repgroupID}/schedule

http://10.0.100.135:8082/public-api/replicationgroup/97913c04-bbad-11e2-877a-028e03094f8d/schedule

To make Node N3 a tie-breaker 'T' FROM 10:00 - 16:00 (GMT) every day of the week with Node N1 as tie-breaker 'T' afterwards:

Example curl command:

Make a text file containing ReplicationgroupAPIDTO XML (as above) called schedule.xml:

curl -u username:password -X PUT -d @schedule.xml http://[IP]:[PORT]/public-api/replicationgroup/97913c04-bbad-11e2-877a-028e03094f8d/schedule

Sample 'schedule.xml' file

<ReplicationGroupAPIDTO>
	   <replicationGroupName>global</replicationGroupName>
	 <replicationGroupIdentity>97913c04-bbad-11e2-877a-028e03094f8d</replicationGroupIdentity>
	   <scheduledNodes>
	       <dayOfWeek>1</dayOfWeek>
	       <hourOfDay>14</hourOfDay>
	       <schedulednode>
		   <nodeIdentity>N1</nodeIdentity>
		   <locationIdentity>c0e486a0-bbab-11e2-863b-028e03094f8e</locationIdentity>
		   <isLocal>true</isLocal>
		   <isUp>true</isUp>
		   <lastStatusChange>0</lastStatusChange>
		   <role>AV</role>
	       </schedulednode>
	       <schedulednode>
		   <nodeIdentity>N3</nodeIdentity>
		   <locationIdentity>5480f515-bbad-11e2-8301-028e03094f8c</locationIdentity>
		   <isLocal>false</isLocal>
		   <isUp>true</isUp>
		   <lastStatusChange>0</lastStatusChange>
		   <role>T</role>
	       </schedulednode>
	       <schedulednode>
		   <nodeIdentity>N2</nodeIdentity>
		   <locationIdentity>478c766f-bbad-11e2-877a-028e03094f8d</locationIdentity>
		   <isLocal>false</isLocal>
		   <isUp>true</isUp>
		   <lastStatusChange>0</lastStatusChange>
		   <role>AV</role>
	       </schedulednode>
	  

Download the full sample schedule.xml file.

1. Log in to a node, click on the REPLICATION GROUPS tab. Click on the VIEW link for the replication group that you wish to make a schedule.
   

   Scheduling is done through replication group settings

2. The replication group's pop-up window opens, showing the member nodes together, along with their current (scheduled) roles. Click CONFIGURE.
   

   Configure

   In the images NodeSanFrancisco is blue which shows that it is set as a Passive Voter. The hourly blocks associated with NodeChengdu are magenta, indicating that it is set as a pure voter. The blocks for NodeParis are yellow, indicating that this node is set as an Active Voter.
   Membership views are what is scheduled which is not necessarily what is currently active.
   The roles and membership displayed in the popup is based upon the agreed schedule, it's the setup that should be in place if everything is running smoothly. It is always possible that it doesn't accurately represent the state of the replication group, due to a delay in processing on a node, or if something has caused a process to hang. This should not be a cause for concern but it's important to be aware that the displayed membership is an approximation based on the information currently available to the local node.
3. The replication groups configuration screen appears. On the left a Role Schedule is shown. By default this shows as DISABLED. Click Configure Schedule in the right-hand corner.

   Role schedule: Disabled

4. The Schedule screen appears. The main feature of the screen is a table that lists all the nodes in the replication group, set against a generic day (midnight to midnight) that is divided into hourly blocks. Each hourly block is color-coded to indicate the specific node's type.
   

   Vanilla scheduling - no changes to type over time

5. To make a change to the schedule, click on a block. It doesn't matter which block you select as the New Scheduled Configuration form lets you modify any hours for any available node.
   
   

   New schedule form

   
   

   Frequency

   Select from the available frequency patterns: Daily, Weekly, Monday-Friday or Saturday to Sunday.

   From

   The starting hour for the new schedule, e.g. 00 for the start of the day.

   To

   The hour at which the scheduled changes end, e.g. 24 would effectively end the scheduled change at midnight.

   Node list

   The member nodes are listed, in graphical form, colour coded to their type.

6. Click on the node icon to change its type.

   In this example NodeSanFransisco is changed to a Tie-breaking Passive Voter, then NodeAuckland is changed into a Tie-breaker.
   

   
   

   Swapping roles.

   When all node changes have been made, click on the SAVE button to continue, or the CANCEL button if you change your mind.


7. The schedule view now changes to show the changes that you make. You must click the Save Schedule button for the changes to be applied.
   With all necessary changes made, you need to review the change to the schedule table and then click SAVE SCHEDULE button.
Changing role of the managing node
It's currently not possible to change the role of the node that is assigned as the managing node.
If you need to change a node's role, first make a different node the manager. This restriction was intended stop the managing node from being given a non-active role. Not only would this stop the node from managing schedule changes, it would make it impossible to move the managing node status to another node.

In a future release we may be able to make it possible to change the managing node's role to another compatible role, e.g. from Active Voter to Active.

4. Repositories

4.1 Add a repository

You can add repositories for replication through the admin UI. The repository first needs be present on all the nodes that will be part of the corresponding replication group. So the repository copies need to be introduced to the replication system in an identical state.

1. Ensure that the repository that you are going to replicate is copied to each node that is a member of the replication group that will be responsible for the repository. The repository copies must be in an identical state before you add them into SVN MultiSite Plus.


2. Log in to the SVN MultiSite Plus admin UI. Click on the Repositories tab.
   
   

   Login.



3. Click on the Add button and enter the repository information:
   
   
   

   Enter repository details.

   Repo name

   A name that you want SVN MultiSite Plus to use when referring to the new repository.

   Known issue: duplicate repository names allowed
   It's currently possible to add multiple repositories with the same name (they'll need different paths though). Ensure that you don't use the same name for multiple repositories, this is for obvious reasons a bad practice and will be prevented in future releases.

   FS Path

   The absolute file system path for the repository. This should be identical on each node.

   Replication Group

   The replication group under which this repository will be managed. Select from available groups or go and create a new replication group.

   Global Read-Only

   This check-box lets you add the repository in a locked-down state that won't allow SVN users to commit changes to the repository. This feature is useful for putting a repository into maintenance mode where the copies might otherwise get out-of-sync.

   When all entry fields have been filled, click on the Add Repo button. You'll then see a 'growl' message confirming that the repository has been deployed and that you should reload your browser session to confirm that the repository has been added.


4. Recheck the repositories table to see that the new repository has been added and has a "Replicating" status.
   
   

   Replicating.

4.2 Remove a repository

It's possible to remove repositories from SVN MultiSite Plus. Follow this quick procedure.

1. Log in to the admin console of one of your nodes. The node will need to be the member of a replication group in which the repository is replicated, otherwise it won't appear on the tab. Click on the Repositories tab to see it.
   
   

   Login

2. On the Repositories tab, click on the line that corresponds with the repository that you want to remove.
   
   

   Repositories

3. When a repository is highlighted (in yellow), the REMOVE button is available. Click it.
   

   Remove

   
   A dialog box appears: Remove repository from replication group. This confirms that removing a repository from a replication group will stop any changes that are made to it from being replicated. However, no repository data is removed.

4.3 Edit a repository

You can edit a repository's properties after they have been set up in SVN MultiSite Plus:

1. Log in to the admin console of one of your nodes. The node needs to be a member of the replication group in which the repository is replicated, otherwise it won't appear on the tab. Click on the Repositories tab to see it.
   
   

   Login

2. Click the line that corresponds with the repository that you want to edit, then click Edit.
   
   

   Repositories

   The Edit Repository window opens.
   
   

   Edit Repository

   Local Read-Only

   Enable or disable the repository local read-only setting. When enabled, the repository is not writable, either for local users or for the replication system (that would push changes made to the repository on other nodes). However, changes that come from the other nodes are stored to be rolled out as soon as the read-only state is removed.

   Global Read-Only

   Enable or disable the repository global read-only setting. When enabled, the repository is not writable, either locally or globally. This setting locks a repository, stopping any changes.

   Replication Group

   Use the drop-down selector to change the replication group to which the repository belongs. See information on moving repositories.

3. Make your changes and click Save.

4.4 Move a repository to another replication group

You can move a repository to another replication group by following the steps in the Edit a repository section. After selecting a different Replication Group, you see a message similar to:

Repository moved, it will be deployed in a read-only state and require repair on the following nodes: NodeParis

The new repository definition is created on your chosen node, and the repository is in the locally read-only state on that node. This is because you have not yet had a chance to rsync the repository over to the node. To do this, follow the repository repair procedure. This allows the repository to be continually available for write operations on one of the other two nodes in the replication group, while the other is used for the source of the rsync.

4.5 Repository synchronized stop

The Repository Synchronized Stop is used to stop replication between repository replicas, it can be performed on a per-repository basis or on a replication group basis (where replication will be stopped for all associated repositories). To bring some or all nodes to a stop, use the Sync Stop All command found on the Nodes tab.
Repository Stops are synchronized between nodes using a 'stop' proposal to which all nodes need to agree. So that while not all nodes will come to a stop at the same time they do all stop at the same point.

1. Log in to a node's browser-based UI and click on the Repositories tab. Click on the repository that you wish to stop replicating.
   
   
2. With the repository selected, click the Sync Stop button. A growl message will appear to confirm that a synchronized stop has been requested. Note that the process may not be completed immediately, especially if there are large proposals transferring over a WAN link.
   
   
3. On refreshing the screen you will see that a successfully sync stopped repository will have a status of Stopped and will be Local RO (Locally Read-only) at all nodes.
   

4.6 Repository synchronized start

Restarting replication after performing a Synchronized Stop requires that the stopped replication be started in a synchronized manner.

1. Click on a stopped repository and click on the Sync Start button.
   
   
2. The repository will stop being Local Read-only on all nodes and will restart replicating again.

4.7 Stopping repositories on a node

In some situations, such as performing a repository backup, you may need to stop writes to the local repository replica. There are a couple of methods for doing so:

• Sync-Stop the Node - this takes the node offline as it will stop accepting proposals from other other.
• Stop Node via API call - use the API to stop all repositories on a nodes. This method is less obtrusive as the first as it doesn't stop the node from otherwise operating

4.7.1 Stop node via API call

Using this method proposals will still be delivered to the node and the node can still participate in voting, but the proposals will not be executed until the output is restarted.

PUT <server>:<port>/api/repository/{repositoryId}/stopoutput

Read more about startoutput

This command takes one argument: NodeListDTO nodeListDTO which is the list of nodes on which the repo output will be stopped. In this case that list will only include NodeX.

Note that whilst the output is stopped it will show in the UI as LocalReadOnly.

PUT <server>:<port>/api/repository/{repositoryId}
    /startoutput

Read more about stpoutput

This command takes one argument: NodeListDTO nodeListDTO which is the list of nodes on which the repo output will be started. In this case that list will only include NodeX.

PUT: <server>:<port>/api/replicator/stopall

If you don't need the stop to be coordinated the the following method is simpler and immediately stops the output of proposals on all repositories on the node it is executed against:

PUT: <server>:<port>/api/replicator/stopall

This will stop all repositories on the node on which it is invoked (with no coordination).

To start them all again call:

PUT: <server>:<port>/api/replicator/startall