Forcing the secondary node to stay secondary

In a high availability setup, you can force the secondary NetScaler Gateway to stay secondary, independent of the state of the primary NetScaler Gateway. When you configure NetScaler Gateway to stay secondary, it remains secondary even if the primary NetScaler Gateway fails.

For example, in an existing high availability setup, suppose that you need to upgrade the primary NetScaler Gateway and that this process takes a specified amount of time. During the upgrade, the primary NetScaler Gateway can become unavailable, but you do not want the secondary NetScaler Gateway to take over. You want it to remain the secondary NetScaler Gateway, even if it detects a failure in the primary NetScaler Gateway.

If the status of a NetScaler Gateway in a high availability pair is configured to stay secondary, it does not participate in high availability state machine transitions. You can check the status of the NetScaler Gateway in the configuration utility on the Nodes tab.

This setting works on both a standalone and a secondary NetScaler Gateway.

When you set the high availability node, it is not propagated or synchronized and affects only the NetScaler Gateway on which the setting is configured.

To force the secondary node to stay secondary

  1. In the configuration utility, on the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System and then click High Availability.
  2. In the details pane, on the Nodes tab, select a node, and then click Edit.
  3. Under High Availability Status, click Stay Secondary (Remain in Listen Mode), and then click OK.

To return NetScaler Gateway to service as an active high availability appliance

  1. In the configuration utility, on the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System and then click High Availability.
  2. In the details pane, on the Nodes tab, select the appliance that is going to stay the primary node, and then click Open.
  3. Under High Availability Status, click Enabled (Actively Participate in HA), and then click OK.
Forcing the secondary node to stay secondary