In this section:
Use this procedure to remove the High-Availability Front-End (HFE) node from an AWS HA setup with HFE. As the Switchover time of the Public IP addresses has reduced to less than 5 seconds, an HFE node is no longer required in AWS Deployment Models. When the HFE node is removed, the setup cost is reduced as the additional HFE node and the resources associated with the HFE node are no longer required for the AWS HA setup to work correctly.
When the HFE node is removed, the traffic no longer passes through HFE. Instead, the traffic passes from the Endpoint through the AWS Internet Gateway to the Active SBC and returns through the same route.
To perform this procedure, you must stop the Active and Standby SBCs for some time, which impacts the SBC traffic. It can take up to two hours to remove the HFE node depending on the number of Elastic IPs assigned to the HFE and the experience of the operator.
The traffic is only impacted when the SBCs are stopped (see Remove the HFE from an AWS HA Setup#Stop Active/Standby SBCs). The traffic resumes after the SBCs have been restarted and reconfigured (see Remove the HFE from an AWS HA Setup#Update SBC configuration to use Non HFE Metadata Variables). The downtime is approximately 30 minutes.
To reassign the Elastic IPs from the HFE, stop the Active and Standby SBCs. Before stopping these SBCs, take a copy of the Meta Variable table from the Active SBC.
The Meta Variable table displays the full list of the Elastic IPs assigned to the HFE and their associated Private IPs. It also displays the order in which to copy the HFE's Elastic IPs to the Active SBC.
The following steps describe the procedure to obtain a copy of the Meta Variable table from the Active SBC.
Log in to the Active SBC as Admin using the following command:
ssh -i <key.pem> admin@<activeSBC>
Use the following command to view the Meta Variable table:
show table system metaVariable
The active Meta Variable table is shown in the figure below:
Take a copy of the table.
To bring-up the SBC in a non-HFE mode, you must remove the XML file that indicates the setup is running in HFE mode. Log in to the Active SBC to remove the XML file, then repeat the procedure on the Standby SBC.
linuxadmin
user.sudo rm/opt/sonus/conf/describeHfeInterface.xml
.At this point when the SBCs are stopped, traffic will no longer run until you complete the steps in the section Remove the HFE from an AWS HA Setup#Update SBC configuration to use Non HFE Metadata Variables.
Before reassigning the HFEs Elastic IPs, stop the Standby SBC and then stop the Active SBC to prevent an unnecessary switchover:
root
user and stop the SBC.ssh -i <key.pem> linuxadmin@<standbySBC>
sudo su
sbxstop
ssh -i <key.pem> linuxadmin@<activeSBC>
sudo su
sbxstop
Before removing the HFE, reassign all the Elastic IPs associated with the HFE to the installed Active SBCs PKT0 ports.
Find all the Elastic IPs associated with the HFE's eth0 interface and assign each IP to the SBC's network Interface assigned for the Active SBC's PKT0 in the same order they appear in the Meta Variable table.
Update the Private IP address field to include the Private IP address associated with the HFEs Elastic IP. To determine the Private IP address associated with the HFE's Elastic IP, check the Meta Variable table that was collected from the Active SBC as described in the section Remove the HFE from an AWS HA Setup#Copy the Active SBC Meta Variable Table when the system was originally running.
The figure shows the HFEs Elastic IPs and associated Private IPs in order:
To access the Elastic IP addresses, use the following steps:
To assign the HFE Elastic IPs to the Active SBC PKT0, use the following steps:
Go to the AWS Console.
Select Instances.
Select the Installed Active SBC instance.
Select Networking.
Expand the tab Network Interfaces.
When you remove the HFE, reroute the traffic from the Endpoint sending the traffic to the Active SBCs PKT0 via the AWS Internet Gateway.
If the Internet Gateway is not created, refer to Create an Internet Gateway for SBC SWe.
To route the SBCs PKT0 traffic via the Internet Gateway, update the Route table of the Active SBC for PKT0 as described in the sections below.
To find the Route Table associated with the Active SBC for PKT0, use the following steps:
Select Instances.
Select the installed Active instance by selecting the Instance ID.
Select Networking.
Expand the tab Network Interfaces and select the Interface ID associated with PKT0.
Update the Route Table to re-route the traffic from the Active SBC of PKT0 through the AWS Internet Gateway back to the Endpoint.
If the Internet Gateway is not created, refer to Create an Internet Gateway for SBC SWe.
Using the Route Table found on the Active SBC for PKT0, select the AWS Internet Gateway to route the traffic, using the following steps:
The following screenshot depicts the Edit Routes screen of the Routes table.
After this stage is complete, traffic is routed from the Endpoint → AWS Internet Gateway → Active SBC for Pkt0 → AWS Internet Gateway → Endpoint.
Update the Userdata to remove the HFE on the Active and the Standby SBCs. To update the Userdata, ensure the Active and the Standby SBCs are stopped.
Use the following steps to remove the HFE from the SBC Userdata:
Repeat the procedure for the Standby SBC.
After updating the Userdata, restart the Active and Standby SBCs in turn to pick up the new Metadata Variables.
Wait for the Active SBC to start and become active and then repeat the above procedure to start the Standby SBC.
When the Active SBC starts to run again, the Meta Variables table is updated. For example:
An Elastic IP originally assigned on the HFE in the field HFE_IF2.FIPV, is now configured in the field IF2.FIPV4.
However, the field HFE_IF2.FIPV is still configured and set as a duplicate variable in the Meta Variable table. This duplicate variable does not affect the working of the SBCs.
After you complete the steps in this section, that is, when you restart and reconfigure the SBCs, the traffic will restart. The section Remove the HFE from an AWS HA Setup#HFE Node Cleanup is intended for clean-up of the HFE node and its associated resources.
Update the SBC configuration in all places where the old HFE Meta Variables were configured. Update the following commands for each HFE Elastic IP configured in the Meta Variable table.
Create a new dynamic Meta Variable for each old HFE_IF2.X SIP Sig Port variable.
set system metaVariableDynamic vsbc1-172.xx.xx.x64 HFE_Pkt0_01.FIPV4 value 3.xxx.xxx.210
Run the set command to update each SIP Sig Port to use the new name using the Dynamic Meta Variable that is configured.
set addressContext default ipInterfaceGroup LIG1 ipInterface LIF1 mode outOfService state disabled set addressContext default ipInterfaceGroup LIG1 ipInterface LIF1 ipVarV4 IF2.IPV4 ipPublicVarV4 IF2.FIPV4 set addressContext default zone ZONE1 sipSigPort 4 mode outOfService state disabled set addressContext default zone ZONE1 sipSigPort 4 ipVarV4 ALT_Pkt0_01.IP ipPublicVarV4 ALT_Pkt0_01.FIPV4 set addressContext default ipInterfaceGroup LIG1 ipInterface LIF1 mode inService state enabled set addressContext default zone ZONE1 sipSigPort 4 state enabled mode inService
Delete each Dynamic Meta Variable (created in step 1) referencing the old HFE SIP Sig Port names.
delete system metaVariableDynamic vsbc1-172.xx.xx.x64 HFE_IF2.FIPV4
At this point, the AWS HA setup is running without the HFE Node. As the HFE Node is now redundant, you can remove it completely. Follow the steps below to remove the HFE Node and its associated resources.
Remove the script that is running on the HFE Node from the S3 Bucket. If the S3 Bucket is no longer required by the setup, also remove the S3 Bucket.
Use the following steps to delete the HFE script:
If the S3 Bucket is no longer required after deleting the HFE script, remove the Container by following the steps below:
Before removing the HFE Node, remove the Management Elastic IP associated with the HFE Node using the following steps:
Select Instances.
Select the HFE Nodes Instance ID.
Select Networking.
Before removing the HFE Node, remove the Volume ID associated with the HFE Node using the following steps:
Select Instances.
Select the box for the HFE Node.
Select Storage.
When all resources associated with the HFE Node have been removed, delete the HFE Node using the following steps:
Select Instances.
Select the box for the HFE Node.
The procedure to remove the HFE Node from the AWS HA setup with HFE is now complete.