Whenever you make a change such as adding a zone or a network, Grid Manager notifies you that a service restart is required. You can enable the appliance to display the Restart Banner whenever it requires a service restart and prompt the administrator to input the user name before restarting the services. For information about how to enable the restart banner, see Changing Grid Properties. To view all pending activities that are waiting for service restarts, you can click View Changes in the restart banner at the top of Grid Manager.
The pending activities include additions, modifications, and deletions performed by all administrators. You can also view pending changes through the Restart <Grid/ Member> Services dialog box.
There are several ways to restart services on the affected Grid members. You can restart services at the Grid or member level, or you can restart services by groups, as described in sections:

• Restarting Grid Services
• Restarting Member Services
• Restarting Services by Groups

You can configure services restart settings such as restart timeout or delay as described in the Configuring Restart Settings section.

User Permissions for Restarting Services

The following rules apply to superusers and limited-access users:

• You can cancel a schedule task that you create to restart a service. A superuser can cancel any scheduled restart task.
• Only superusers and administrators with read/write permission to all Grid members can schedule a Grid restart task.
• When a superuser schedules a Grid restart task, a limited-access user cannot schedule a member-level restart task.
• Limited-access users cannot cancel a superuser's scheduled tasks.
• Limited-access users cannot create or modify a scheduled restart task for a Grid member if a scheduled restart task for the member (created by another user) already exists.

The system writes every scheduled change action to the audit log as follows:

USER logon_id action service restart schedule 'schedule' on Grid (or member) Grid name or member node id

For example:

USER jdoe insert service restart schedule '02/20/2007 01:30:00' on Grid Infoblox USER jdoe deleted service restart schedule '02/22/2007 01:30:00' on node id 3

For more information on the audit log, see Using the Audit Log.

Restarting Grid Services

Only superusers and administrators with read/write permission to all Grid members can schedule a Grid restart task. You can restart services at the Grid level either simultaneously or sequentially, and can also specify the restart time.
If you schedule the restart at a specific date and time, the system schedules the restart at the specified time on each Grid member.
To restart services at the Grid level:

From the Data Management tab, select the DHCP, DNS, or Grid tab, or select the Administration tab, and then click Restart Services from the Toolbar.

The Restart Grid Services dialog appears.

1. You can specify whether the member restarts services when necessary or you can force it to restart services. Select one of the following in the Restart Grid Services section:
   • If needed: Select this to restart all active DNS and DHCP services if there are any changes requiring a service restart.
   • Force service restart: Select this to force a service restart even if it is not needed. A forced restart may be delayed if there are pending restarts for the same service.
2. Select one of the following in the Restart Method section:
   • Restart All Restart Groups: Restarts the services in the affected Grid members in the order defined for restart groups. 
   • Simultaneously for all members: Restarts the services on all of the members in a Grid at the same time.
   • Sequentially for all members: Restarts the services on each Grid member one after one.
     Affected Members and Services: Click the Poll Members icon to display the affected members and services when the system restarts. Grid Manager displays the member names and one of the following for each service:
   • YES: The service is active and the system will restart the service upon execution of this task.
   • NO: The service will not restart unless the Force service restart option is selected.
   • DISABLED: The service is currently disabled.
     View Pending Changes: You can view the list of pending changes that will take effect when you restart the services. You can use filters to look for specific objects and view the following information for each pending activity:
   • Timestamp: The timestamp of the operation.
   • Admin: The admin user who performed the operation.
   • Action: The type of operation that was performed by an administrator. This can be Created, Modified, Deleted, Called, or Message.
   • Object Type: Displays the object type. For example, DNS View, Named ACL, IPv4 MAC Filter, Blacklist Rule, and so on.
   • Object Name: The name of the object.
   • Message: Description of the activity.
3. To schedule a service restart task, click the Schedule icon at the top of the wizard. In the ScheduleChange panel, complete the following:
   • Now: Restarts services upon clicking Restart.
   • Later: Enter the following information to schedule all Grid members to restart services at a certain date and time:
     • Date: Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD (year-month-day) format. The appliance displays today's date. You can also click the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar widget.
     • Time: Enter a time in hh:mm:ss AM/PM (hours:minutes:seconds AM or PM) format. When you enter the time in a 24-hour format such as 23:00, Grid Manager displays 11:00:00 PM. You can also select a time from the drop-down list by clicking the time icon.
     • Time Zone: Select a time zone for the scheduled date and time from the drop-down list. This field displays the time zone of the browser that the admin uses to log in to Grid Manager.
4. Click Restart to restart services immediately or click Schedule Restart to create a scheduled restart task.

Restarting Member Services

The member restart time always supersedes the Grid restart time. If the member restart time is later than the Grid restart time, then the member restarts services at its scheduled time. If the member restart time is before the Grid restart time, then the member restarts services at its scheduled restart time, and again during the Grid restart time.
To restart member services:

1. From the Data Management tab, select the DHCP tab -> Members tab -> member checkbox.
   or
   From the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager tab, and then select a member checkbox.
2. Click Restart Services from the Toolbar.
3. You can specify whether the member should restart services when necessary or you can force it to restart services. Select one of the following in the Restart Member Services section:
   • If needed: Select this to restart all active DNS and DHCP services, if there are any changes requiring a service restart.
   • Force service restart: Select this to force a service restart even if it is not needed. A forced restart may be delayed if there are pending restarts for the same service.
     Affected Services: This table displays the affected services when the system restarts. It can display one of the following for each service:
   • YES: The service is active and the system will restart the service upon execution of this task.
   • NO: The service will not restart unless the Force service restart option is selected.
   • DISABLED: The service is currently disabled.
     View Pending Changes: You can view the list of pending changes that will take effect when you restart the services. You can use filters to look for specific objects and view the following information for each pending activity:
   • Timestamp: The timestamp of the operation.
   • Admin: The admin user who performed the operation.
   • Action: The type of operation that was performed by an administrator. This can be Created, Modified, Deleted, Called, or Message.
   • Object Type: Displays the object type. For example, DNS View, Named ACL, IPv4 MAC Filter, Blacklist Rule, and so on.
   • Object Name: The name of the object.
   • Message: Description of the activity.
4. To schedule a service restart task, click the Schedule icon at the top of the editor. In the Schedule Change panel, complete the following:
   • Now: Restarts services immediately.
   • Later: Enter the following information to schedule the member to restart services at a certain date and time:
     • Date: Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD (year-month-day) format. The appliance displays today's date. You can also click the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar widget.
     • Time: Enter a time in hh:mm:ss AM/PM (hours:minutes:seconds AM or PM) format. You can also select a time from the drop-down list by clicking the time icon.
     • Time Zone: Select a time zone for the scheduled date and time from the drop-down list. This field displays the time zone of the browser that the admin uses to log in to Grid Manager.
5. Click Restart to restart services immediately or click Schedule Restart to create a scheduled restart task.

Restarting Services by Groups

You can use the group restart feature for the DHCP and DNS services. You do this by adding Grid members to groups and defining the restart order. Each service has a separate set of groups. You can specify whether a group is restarted sequentially or simultaneously and can also create a recurring schedule for restarts.
To access restart groups:

1. Click Grid –> Grid Manager –> DHCP or DNS.
2. On the Services tab, click Toggle Restart Groups View.

You can arrange group restart order for each service independently. Members in a group can restart simultaneously or sequentially, depending on your choice. When members are started sequentially, they are started in alphabetical order. When you have several restart groups, they all restart sequentially in the order that you define. For information, see the Ordering Restart Groups section.
For each service, there exists the Default restart group in Grid Manager: Default DHCP group and Default DNS group. All Grid members belong to the Default group until you add them to another custom restart group. By default, the members of the Default group are restarted sequentially. The Default group is always restarted in the last place in the restart sequence for a service.

For more information on how to create and manage restart groups, see the following sections. For how to restart services by groups, see the Restarting Groups section.

Creating a Restart Group

You can add a member to a group if the member has a license for the corresponding service. Only members with the appropriate license are available for grouping. For pre-provisioned members, you can add them to groups, but the restart requests are not created for such members.
When you assign members to restart groups, Grid Manager checks if the restart may affect the service operation. If the restart with the current grouping configuration can lead to a service interruption, a warning message is displayed. For example, you cannot add two members from a DHCP failover association to the same group configured to restart its members simultaneously.
To create a restart group:

1. Click Grid –>Grid Manager –> DHCP or DNS.
2. On the Services tab, click Toggle Restart Groups View.
3. Click the Add icon.
4. Specify the general information for the group:
   • Name
   • Comment

   • Restart order for group members: simultaneously or sequentially
     For how to delay service restarts, see the Configuring Restart Settings section.

5. Click Next.
6. Add members by clicking the Add icon for each new member.
7. Click Next.

8. If you want to create a restart schedule for this group, select Enable Restart Schedule and specify the required parameters.
   Note that the restart schedule can run either once or on a recurring basis. It does not create scheduled tasks. If a schedule is configured for a restart group, you can still perform one-time restarts independently for Grid members or restart groups and create scheduled tasks for these restarts.

9. Select the restart type for the services on the affected members:
   • If needed: Select this to restart services only if there are changes requiring a service restart.
   • Force service restart: Select this to force a service restart even if it is not needed. A forced restart may be delayed if there are pending restarts for the same service.
10. Click Next.
11. If necessary, specify the extensible attributes.
12. Click Save & Close.

Editing a Restart Group

You can edit a restart group at any time, even when the restart process is running. The changes do not affect the current restart process.
To edit a restart group:

1. In the restart groups list, select the checkbox of the group to edit.
2. Click the Edit icon.
3. Edit the group properties as described in the Creating a Restart Group section.
4. Click Save or Save & Close.

Deleting a Restart Group

Yo can delete any restart group, except the Default group. When you delete a group, all its members are automatically moved to the Default restart group. You can delete a restart group at any time, even when the restart process is running. The deletion does not affect the current restart process.
To delete a restart group:

1. In the restart groups list, select the checkbox of the group to delete.
2. Click the Delete icon.

Ordering Restart Groups

You can modify the order in which multiple groups are restarted. You cannot change the order for the Default group, as it always restarts in the last position by default.
To order restart groups:

1. Go to the restart groups view for the DNS or DHCP service.
2. In the toolbar, click Order Restart Groups.
3. Reorder the groups by using the drag-and-drop operation or by clicking the up and down arrows.
4. Click OK.

Restarting Groups

When you already have restart groups defined, you can restart services by specific groups at any time after you make configuration changes.
To restart services by groups:

1. Go to the restart groups view for the DNS or DHCP service.
2. Select the groups to restart.
3. In the toolbar, click Restart –> Restart Groups.
4. In the Restart Group Confirmation window, select the restart type for the services on the affected members:
   • If needed: Select this to restart services only if there are changes requiring a service restart.
   • Force service restart: Select this to force a service restart even if it is not needed. A forced restart may be delayed if there are pending restarts for the same service.
5. To schedule a service restart, click the Schedule icon at the top of the wizard. In the Schedule Change panel, complete the following:
   • Now: Restarts services immediately.
   • Later: Enter the following information to schedule the member to restart services at a certain date and time:
     • Date: Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD (year-month-day) format. The appliance displays today's date. You can also click the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar widget.
     • Time: Enter a time in hh:mm:ss AM/PM (hours:minutes:seconds AM or PM) format. You can also select a time from the drop-down list by clicking the time icon.
     • Time Zone: Select a time zone for the scheduled date and time from the drop-down list. This field displays the time zone of the browser that the admin uses to log in to Grid Manager.

6. Click Restart to restart services immediately or click Schedule Restart to schedule the restart.
   Note that normally, you cannot restart or schedule a restart of services when a scheduled full Grid upgrade is in progress. However, you can do so for the Default DNS or DHCP restart group. In this case, only the Grid Master is restarted. The other members of the group remain in the Timed Out status and are restarted after Grid Manager gets a response from them. For more information about the full Grid upgrades, see Guidelines for Scheduling Full Upgrades.

Configuring Restart Settings

To configure the service restart settings for the Grid:

1. Click Grid–>Grid Manager–>DHCP or DNS tab.
2. In the toolbar, click Edit–>Grid DHCP Properties or Grid DNS Properties.
3. Click Toggle Advanced Mode–>Restart.
4. If necessary, modify the service restart settings:
   • Delay between Restart Groups. This is the delay between the restarts of separate restart groups. The default is 10 seconds.
     Note that if the delay time from the previous group restart has not elapsed yet, the new restart requests are displayed with the Pending restart status. To speed up the new restarts, you change the delay between restart groups to a smaller value at any time.
   • Member Restart Timeout. This is the amount of time that the appliance waits for a response from a member. The default is 1 minute.
5. Optionally, select the checkbox Apply restart requests to offline members when they connect.
6. Click Save & Close.

Canceling a Scheduled Restart Task

Limited-access users can only cancel a scheduled task that they created. Superusers can cancel a scheduled task that any user created. You can cancel scheduled restart tasks from Task Manager. For information, see Viewing Tasks.
When you delete a scheduled restart task, the system cancels the scheduled task to restart services on the member or Grid and does not restart services. To cancel a scheduled restart, see Cancelling Scheduled Tasks.
You can also turn off the automatic service restart feature for other scheduled tasks. For example, if you set a recurring automatic restart for a restart group, you may not need the automatic service restart which should normally happen after a scheduled change of an object. You can do so from the Infoblox CLI using the set scheduled command. For information, see the section set scheduled in the Infoblox CLI Guide.
Alternatively, administrator users with the approver role can cancel the automatic service restart for individual tasks when approving them. If you are an approver, you can do so by deselecting the Enable automatic service restart option for a task in the Task Manager. For information, see Viewing Tasks.