The basic steps necessary to add an HA member are as follows:

1. Define the network settings of the HA pair on the Grid Master.

2. Initiate the join Grid operation, during which you specify the VIP or IP address of the Grid Master, the Grid name, and the shared secret on the HA pair. For information, see Joining Appliances to the Grid.

In addition, on the Grid Master you can configure the service settings such as DNS zones and records, DHCP networks and address ranges, and so on for a member before or after you join the HA pair to the Grid. The basic steps for adding an HA member are presented below.

If you are setting up HA with vNIOS instances deployed in AWS, Azure, or GCP cloud, as a prerequisite, you must set up a DNS resolver from the Grid Properties Editor for NIOS to resolve the cloud service URL. For more information, see Enabling DNS Resolution.

Configuring an HA Member on the Grid Master

1. From the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager tab -> Members tab.

2. Expand the Toolbar and click Add -> Add Grid Member.

3. In the Add Grid Member wizard, enter the following and click Next:

   • Member Type: Specify the appliance type of the Grid member. If the member is an Infoblox appliance, select Infoblox, which is the default. For a vNIOS appliance on VMware, select Virtual NIOS.

   • Host Name: Type the FQDN (fully qualified domain name) for the HA member. Ensure to use a host name containing characters (A-Z or a-z), numbers (0–9), ".", "-", and "_". Additional special characters cannot be used.

   • Time Zone: If you want the Grid member to have a different time zone, click Override and select a time zone.

   • Comment: Type a comment that provides some useful information about the appliance, such as its location.

   • Master Candidate: select this checkbox to designate this appliance as a Master Candidate. For supported vNIOS appliances, see vNIOS Appliances.

4. Enter the following information about the member that you are adding to the Grid and click Next:

   • Type of Network Connectivity: Select the type of network connectivity for the HA member from the drop-down list:
     Note that HA configuration with IPv6 networks is not supported on public cloud platforms.

     • IPv4 and IPv6: Select this to configure a dual mode HA member.

     • IPv4: Select this to configure an IPv4 HA member.

     • IPv6: Select this to configure an IPv6 HA member.

   • High Availability Pair: Select this option and complete the following:
     Note: If you are deploying HA over public cloud platform such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, see the Configuring an HA Member Deployed on Public Cloud section for additional steps.

     • Virtual Router ID: Enter a unique VRID number—from 1 to 255—for the local subnet.

     • Send HA and Grid Communication Over: This field is displayed only when you are configuring a dual mode HA member. Select either IPv4 or IPv6 as the communication protocol for VRRP advertisements and for joining the Grid Master.

       Note that Infoblox recommends that you back up the configuration after you convert a Grid to a different mode.
       Restoring the old backup by performing a forced restore, may prevent the Grid members from rejoining the Grid Master after the restore.

     • Required Ports and Addresses: This table lists the network interfaces based on the type of network connectivity. For IPv4 HA member, specify the network information for VIP (IPv4), Node1 HA (IPv4), Node2 HA (IPv4), Node1 LAN1 (IPv4), and Node2 LAN1 (IPv4) interfaces. For IPv6 HA member, specify the network information for VIP (IPv6), Node1 LAN1 (IPv6), and Node2 LAN1 (IPv6) interfaces.
       For a dual mode HA member, if you select IPv4 in the Send HA and Grid Communication over field, specify the network information for the following interfaces: VIP (IPv4), Node1 HA (IPv4), Node1 LAN1 (IPv4), Node2 HA (IPv4), Node2 LAN1 (IPv4), VIP (IPv6), Node1 LAN1 (IPv6), and Node2 LAN1 (IPv6) interfaces.
       For a dual mode HA member, if you select IPv6 in the Send HA and Grid Communication over field, specify the network information for the following interfaces: VIP (IPv4), Node1 LAN1 (IPv4), Node2 LAN1 (IPv4), VIP (IPv6), Node1 LAN1 (IPv6), and Node2 LAN1 (IPv6) ports.
       Enter correct information for the following by clicking the field:

       • Interface: Displays the name of the interface. You cannot modify this.

       • Address: Type the IPv4 or IPv6 address depending on the type of interface. An IPv6 address is a 128-bit number in colon hexadecimal notation. It consists of eight 16-bit groups of hexadecimal digits separated by colons (example: 2001:db8:0000:0123:4567:89ab:0000:cdef or 2001:db8::123:4567:89ab:0:cdef).

       • Subnet Mask (IPv4) or Prefix Length (IPv6): Specify an appropriate subnet mask for IPv4 interface or prefix length for IPv6 interface. The prefix length ranges from 2 to 127.

       • Gateway: Type the IPv4 or IPv6 address of the default gateway depending on the type of interface. For IPv6 interface, you can also type Automatic to enable the appliance to acquire the IPv6 address of the default gateway and the link MTU from router advertisements.

       • VLAN Tag: For a VLAN, enter the VLAN tag or ID. You can enter a number from 1 to 4094. Ensure that you configure the corresponding switch accordingly.

       • Port Settings: From the drop-down list, choose the connection speed that you want the port to use. You can also choose the duplex setting. Choose Full for concurrent bidirectional data transmission or Half for data transmission in one direction at a time. Select Automatic to instruct the NIOS appliance to negotiate the optimum port connection type (full or half duplex) and speed with the connecting switch automatically. This is the default setting. You cannot configure port settings for vNIOS appliances.

       • DSCP Value: Displays the Grid DSCP value, if configured. To modify, click Override and enter the DSCP value. You can enter a value from 0 to 63. For information about DSCP, see Implementing Quality of Service Using DSCP.
         Note that when the system operates in HA mode, should the IPv6–addressed VIP value be deleted, the IPv6 address of the HA port will also be deleted.

5. Optionally, define extensible attributes. For information, see Using Extensible Attributes.

6. Do one of the following:

   • Click Save & Edit to add the HA member to the Grid and launch the editor. You can configure additional properties, such as the MTU size, or add the member to a NAT group.

   • Click Save & New to add the HA member to the Grid and launch the wizard again to add another member.

   • Click Save & Close to add the HA member to the Grid and close the wizard.

The communication protocol for all the services in a dual mode (IPv4 and IPv6) HA member is the same protocol as the one that is used for VRRP advertisements. For example, if you select IPv4 in the Send HA and Grid Communication over field in step 2 of the Add Grid Member wizard, then IPv4 is set as the communication protocol for all the services. However, you can override the communication protocol for all the services in a dual mode HA member. For information, see Changing the Communication Protocol for a Dual Mode Appliance.

Configuring an HA Member Deployed on Public Cloud

Starting from NIOS 9.0.4, Grid Masters and members deployed on public clouds can be configured with HA. To set up an HA member deployed on AWS, Azure, and GCP public cloud platforms, configure the following additional settings as part of step 4 in the Configuring an HA Member on the Grid Master section:

• Public Cloud: Select the checkbox If you are deploying the vNIOS instance on a public cloud platform, and then choose the platform from the drop-down list. This option appears after you enable High Availability Pair.

• Ports and Addresses: According to the platform you selected in the Public Cloud field, Ports and Addresses table displays an additional field that you must configure for the HA interface of both nodes:

  • Interface ID for AWS: Specify the network interface ID of the HA interface configured for the corresponding VM instance in the Amazon EC2 console.

  • Nic Name for Azure: Specify the name of the HA interface configured for the corresponding VM instance in the Microsoft Azure portal.

  • Compute Name for GCP: Specify the compute name configured for the corresponding VM instance in the GCP console.
    Note that for vNIOS for GCP instances, you must also specify values in the Subnet Mask and Gateway fields as they are not auto-populated.

For additional steps that must be performed in the cloud platform portal, see the Infoblox vNIOS installation guide of the corresponding cloud platform.