You can add single appliances and HA pairs to a Grid as explained in the following topics to form single members and HA members, respectively:

A single Grid member can be either an Infoblox appliance or a vNIOS appliance. You can configure Grid members in either IPv4, IPv6, or dual mode (IPv4 and IPv6). For information about which vNIOS appliance supports configuration as an HA Grid member, see vNIOS Appliances.
You can also define an HA member on the Grid Master and then add two individual NIOS appliances to the Grid as Node 1 and Node 2 to complete the HA member you defined on the master.
New members inherit all settings that you create at the Grid level unless you override them at the member level. You can also define port reservations for the network infrastructure devices to which the Grid members will connect.
The process for adding either a single appliance or HA pair to a Grid involves the following steps:

1. Adding and configuring Grid members on the Grid Master. In addition to defining the network and appliance settings for a member, you can also configure service settings before you join the member or HA pair to the Grid.

2. Reserving a port on a switch or switch-router for connectivity to the Grid member.

3. Joining the appliance or HA pair to the Grid. This includes defining the VIP or IP address of the Grid Master, the Grid name, and the shared secret on the single appliance or HA pair. If an appliance or HA pair cannot join the Grid because of MTU (maximum transmission unit) limitations on its network link, you can reduce the MTU that the master uses when communicating with it. See Setting the MTU for VPN Tunnels. If the Grid Master is behind a NAT device and there are members on both sides of that NAT device, you must create a NAT group, as described in NAT Groups.

In a large-scale deployment of Grids across multiple sites, consider remotely provisioning your Grid members before joining them to the Grid. For more information about this feature, see Auto-Provisioning NIOS Appliances.
In situations where you want to define certain configurations on an offline Grid member and associate DNS and DHCP data to the member before deploying it, you can use the pre-provisioning feature to accomplish this. For more information, see Pre-Provisioning NIOS and vNIOS Appliances.

Changing the Member Type

When you change the Member Type from Infoblox to Virtual NIOS, Infoblox displays an error indicating that the network port of a vNIOS member must be set to Automatic. If you encounter this error, follow the steps mentioned below to change the Member Type to Virtual NIOS:

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, leave the Member Type as Infoblox, fill other details and click Next.

4. In the Network tab select High Availability Pair.

5. Change the port settings to Automatic for Node1 HA.

6. Select Standalone Member.

7. Click Previous and change the Member Type to Virtual NIOS.

Changing the Communication Protocol for a Dual Mode Appliance

You can change the default communication protocol for a dual mode appliance. You can force the appliance to use a specific protocol to join the Grid Master and for the reporting services. But for services with two types of resolution (A and AAAA records), you can set the preferred communication protocol.
To change the communication protocol for a dual mode appliance:

1. From the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager tab -> Members tab -> member checkbox -> Edit icon.

2. In the Grid Member Properties editor, select the Network tab -> Basic tab, and then complete the following:

   • Communication Protocol Settings and Preferences: This setting is not applicable for an HA pair. Select either IPv4 or IPv6 from the drop-down list. This setting will force the appliance to use the specified protocol for Grid and reporting services and this is the preferred protocol for services with two types of resolution (A and AAAA records).

   • Customized Settings: Select this and do the following:

     • Always use this Communications Protocol for: For a Grid Master, you can select either IPv4 or IPv6 from the Reporting drop-down list. This setting will force the Grid Master to use the specified communication protocol for reporting service. For a Grid member, you can select either IPv4 or IPv6 from the Grid and Reporting drop-down list. This setting will force the Grid member to use the specified communication protocol for Grid and reporting service.

     • Always Prefer this Communications Protocol for: This field lists the services which has two types of resolution (A and AAAA records). Select either IPv4 or IPv6 from the drop-down list for the service which you want the appliance to use this as the preferred communication protocol. The appliance uses the preferred protocol first for the service.

Joining Appliances to the Grid

Grid members can join the Grid using IPv4 protocol in an IPv4-only Grid and using IPv6 protocol in an IPv6-only Grid. In a dual mode Grid, the Grid members may join the Grid using IPv4 or IPv6. Similarly, a Grid Master candidate can join the Grid using IPv4 in an IPv4-only Grid and using IPv6 in an IPv6-only Grid. But for a Grid Master candidate to join a dual mode Grid, it should be configured in dual mode. If you have configured the MGMT port for the Grid member, then the Grid member can join the Grid using the MGMT port. You can use the Grid Setup Wizard or access the Join Grid dialog box to join appliances to a Grid. The Grid Setup Wizard launches when you first log in to an appliance. You can also launch it from the Toolbar as described in Grid Setup Wizard.
To join a single appliance and HA pair to a Grid using the Grid Manager GUI:

1. Log in to the appliance or HA pair that you want to add to the Grid. The appliance or HA pair must be online and able to reach the Grid Master.

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

3. Expand the Toolbar and click Join Grid.

4. In the Join Grid dialog box, enter the following:

   • Virtual IP of Grid Master: Type the VIP address of the HA Grid Master or the LAN1 address of the single Grid Master for the Grid to which you want to add the appliance. Entries may be an IPv4 or IPv6 address.

   • Grid Name: Type the name of the Grid.

   • Grid Shared Secret: Type the shared secret of the Grid.

   • Use MGMT port to join Grid: If you have already enabled the MGMT port (see Grid Communications), this option becomes available. Select it to connect to the Grid through the MGMT port.

5. Click OK to begin the join operation.
   To confirm that the appliance has successfully joined the Grid, log in to the Grid Master and navigate to the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager -> Members tab. This panel lists the Grid members. Check the icon in the Status column of the newly added member. (green = the appliance has joined the Grid and is functioning properly; yellow = the appliance is in the process of joining the Grid; red = the appliance has not joined the Grid). You can also use the CLI command set network to join an appliance to a Grid.

To join a single appliance and HA pair to a Grid using the Grid Setup Wizard:

1. Log in to the appliance or HA pair that you want to add to the Grid. The appliance or HA pair must be online and able to reach the Grid Master.

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

3. Expand the Toolbar and click Grid Properties -> Setup (Grid Setup Wizard).

4. On the next screen, specify the Grid properties and click Next

   • Grid Name: Enter a text string that the two appliances use to authenticate each other when establishing a VPN tunnel between them. This must match the Grid name you entered for node 1.

   • Grid Master's IP Address: Enter the same VIP you entered for node 1.

   • Shared Secret: Enter a text string that both appliances use as a shared secret to authenticate each other when establishing a VPN tunnel between them. This must match your entry in node 1.

5. On the next screen verify the IP address settings of the member and click Next.

6. The last screen displays the settings you specified in the previous panels of the wizard. Verify that the information is correct and click Finish.
   To confirm that the appliance has successfully joined the Grid, log in to the Grid Master and navigate to the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager -> Members tab. This panel lists the Grid members. Check the icon in the Status column of the newly added member. (Green = The appliance has joined the Grid and is functioning properly; Yellow = The appliance is in the process of joining the Grid; Red = The appliance has not joined the Grid). You can also use the CLI command set network to join an appliance to a Grid.

Grouping Members by Extensible Attributes

When you have a few members in your Grid, you can organize and group them by extensible attributes that contain the same values. Using the Group Results function, you can organize your members in a meaningful way and quickly identify them based on common data. When you group members by multiple extensible attributes, the appliance groups the members hierarchically based on the order of the filters. For example, when you filter members first by extensible attribute "Site equals London" and then by extensible attribute "Organization equals Engineering," the appliance groups corresponding members first by Site and then by Organization based on the values you enter. In the Grid tab -> Grid Manager tab ->Members tab, Grid Manager displays the grouped members in a hierarchical view that displays the member group name (London). You can click the London link and drill down to the next level of grouping. In this case, Grid Manager displays the organization group (Engineering) in the Members tab. When you click the Engineering link to drill down to the next level, all associated members that belong to this member group (London -> Engineering) are displayed.
To go back to a previous hierarchical view, click the link of the corresponding level in the breadcrumb.
To group members by extensible attributes:

1. From the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager tab -> Members tab.
   or
   From the Grid tab, select the Grid Manager tab -> Services tab.
   Note that you can use the "Group Results" function for the following services: DNS, DHCP, TFTP, FTP, HTTP, NTP, Captive Portal, and Reporting services.

   or
   From the Data Management tab, select the DHCP, File Distribution, or DNS tab -> Members/Servers tab.

2. Complete the following to group members with the same extensible attribute value:

   • Group Results: Select this checkbox to enable the appliance to group members by extensible attributes.

   • Group By: From the drop-down list, select the first extensible attribute that you want the appliance to use for filtering members.

Grid Manager displays data per group of members configured with the same extensible attribute value.
To add additional Group By filter, click the + icon, and then select a value from the drop-down list. You can apply up to 10 Group By filters. You can also delete a filter by clicking the - icon.
When you enable reporting service on the Grid and configure multi-site cluster, you can group reporting members by reporting site extensible attributes. For information about reporting clusters, see Configuring Reporting Clusters.
Grid Manager displays the following information for the specified extensible attribute:

• <Selected extensible attribute>: Displays the selected extensible attribute value.

• Status: This is the overall status for all members in the group. Depending on the status of each member, the overall status can be one of the following: Working, Warning, Failed, Offline, Inactive, or Unknown. For information about the status, Status Dashboard.
  Note that in an HA pair, when one of the appliances is in the Working status and the other appliance has a status other than Working, Inactive, and Unknown, then the overall status of HA members is Warning. When you use filters and the group by extensible attribute feature, filters take precedence over the group by function.

When you drill-down to the member level, Grid Manager displays the members in the group.