Shutting down or restarting individual nodes

Under normal operating conditions, the HCP nodes manage themselves. However, because hardware failures are possible, the System Management Console provides controls for shutting down and restarting individual nodes.

  • Shutting down a node means shutting down the HCP software on it and powering it off. After shutting down a node, you need to manually power it back on to start HCP on it again.
  • Restarting a node means shutting down and restarting the HCP software on it without powering it off.

Shutting down or restarting a node has no effect on the data in the primary storage volumes and the NFS volumes that are associated with the node. However, while a node is shut down or in the process of restarting, clients have no access to that node.

Shutting down or restarting a node is rarely necessary and can cause extra service activity, which increases the load on the system. However, situations in which shutting down a node may be appropriate include:

  • A hardware failure has occurred.
  • The node requires maintenance.
  • You plan to remove the node from the system.

The most frequent reason for restarting a node is that your authorized HCP service provider has requested it during the assessment or resolution of a problem.

When you shut down or restart a node, you are required to specify a reason for the action.

NoteAfter a node shuts down, HCP may perform a file-system check when the node reboots. This can take several hours to complete.

To shut down or restart a node, you need the administrator or service role.