An Infoblox Grid is a group of two or more NIOS and NIOS virtual appliances that share sections of a common, distributed, built-in database and which you configure and monitor through a single, secure point of access, the Grid Master. A Grid consists of a master and at least one member. A Grid member can be a single appliance or an HA pair. For information about HA pairs, refer to the Infoblox NIOS Documentation. If you are using NIOS versions earlier than 8.6.x, if you configure an HA pair, both nodes in the HA pair must be NIOS virtual instances. You cannot configure a physical NIOS appliance and a NIOS virtual instance in an HA pair in versions earlier than 8.6.x.

The following figure illustrates a Grid with a NIOS virtual Grid Master, a NIOS virtual Grid Master candidate, and NIOS virtual Grid members. In the illustration, the Grid Master and the Grid Master candidate are NIOS virtual HA pairs in the data center. The NIOS virtual Grid members are in branch offices. Smaller sites can consolidate the NIOS virtual appliances and other virtual applications on one virtualization server. They can manage the Grid members from one central location, the Grid Master.

Infoblox Grid with NIOS Virtual Grid Master and Grid Members

To create a Grid, you must first set up a Grid Master and then add members. In a Grid, you can configure NIOS virtual appliances as Grid Masters, Grid Master candidates, and Grid members.
To set up a Grid:

1. Configure the Grid Master: You can configure a NIOS virtual appliance as a single Grid Master or as an HA Grid Master. To configure a NIOS virtual appliance as a Grid Master, you must first deploy the NIOS virtual appliance, and then configure it. When you configure an HA Grid Master using two NIOS virtual instances, ensure that you use the same NIOS virtual models for the active and passive nodes.
2. Provision Grid members on the Grid Master: Define Grid member settings on the Grid Master before you join the members to the Grid.
3. Join members to the Grid.