How to managed a shared virtual ip between two devices in Spectrum

Products

• CA Spectrum

Issue/Introduction

We have Alcatel Switches that each have a single Virtual IP configured. The switches are in a HA pair - a Primary and  a Secondary. The Virtual IP shared between then helps them remain contacted even if one switch is down. However if I model with the shared Virtual IP, I am getting DUPLICATE alarms - either DUPLICATE MODEL or DUPLICATE MAC alarms. 

Environment

Platform independent

Resolution

Each switch can be modeled using its physical address. This is normal out of box configuration. 

You can also model a Pingable model to represent the Virtual IP. However as this IP is shared between the two physical devices, this can cause unwanted DUPLICATE alarms.

To solve this, you can enter the virtual IP in the section of VNM settings for "Shared IPs." This should prevent the Pingable model you created from alarming on "Different mac but same IP"

NOTE: When you add the shared IP into the "Allowed Shared IP" box the IP does not immediately move to the "Currently Shared IP" box. Spectrum actually needs to see an issue with the IP first. Therefore your models need to be created and at least one occurrence of the alarm needs to occur. Once that happens and Spectrum detects an issue with the shared IP and asserts the alarm, then the IP moves to the "Currently Shared IP" box and future alarms will be prevented. 

To monitor the Virtual IP up/down status separate from the physical switches, you can enable alarms on the Pingable (alarms on Pingables are disabled by default). 
When using a Pingable to alarm, you need to set the Value_When_Red to "7." Please reference the "When contact is lost to a Pingable model in Spectrum, the Pingable model turns BLUE and not RED as expected." knowledge document for more details.

Additional Information

Please reference the "Shared IP Detection and Alarming" section of the documentation for more information.