API Gateway: Is using vMotion supported in the API Gateway?

Products

• CA API Gateway

Issue/Introduction

This article will address concerns regarding vMotion (a feature in a VMware ESXi server hosting various virtual machines) and how it will work with the API Gateway. The feature of vMotion is for migrating/transferring VMs from one ESXi server to another, often used for high availability and for managing performance levels on each ESXi server so resources are balanced between them. This generally has no issue on the API Gateway but under certain circumstances can indeed be an issue and this article will discuss what to expect and what to do about it.

Environment

This applies to all API Gateway versions.

Resolution

The API Gateway is packaged in an OVA image which can be used by vMotion, however the API Gateway application itself is a very time sensitive application and thus isn't always a great candidate for migration to different servers by use of vMotion.

 

While vMotion often works fine on the API Gateway, certain conditions may cause unintended consequences such as slow performance, freezing, or being inaccessible for a period of time. The conditions that generally cause this is a high load on the Gateway server traffic or processing wise, and if the vMotion task doesn't complete in a reasonable amount of time.

 

In such a case where the API Gateway suffers from some unintended consequences, the best way to resolve is to simply reboot the VM. Sometimes rebooting only the Gateway service is not enough and the whole VM should be rebooted from the VMware ESXi admin control panel.

 

If possible, use vMotion only when traffic on the API Gateway is low and closely monitor it during the process. If vMotion runs frequently automatically (often due to an over-utilized ESXi cluster), it may be wise to disable vMotion on the Gateway VMs to avoid any performance issues.