Node identification headaches

There are quite a few ways in which it is possible to confuse Razor about the identity of a node; the biggest misidentification issue is when Razor thinks an existing node is new and might then proceed to install that node, obliterating anything that was on the node already.

There are various ways in which changes to the hardware of a node might confuse Razor. This page is an attempt to catalog as many of them as possible, and describe whether it is a problem, and how to mitigate it/avoid data loss.

Since Razor can be configured to identify nodes using a number of criteria, there's some wiggle room for what hardware changes will ultimately confuse Razor. Since it's fairly common, and since it causes the toughest problems, this page assumes that nodes are addressed by their MACs only, and that each node only has one NIC, unless otherwise stated.

Swapping NICs

Description

take two known nodes and swap their network cards

Risk

the nodes have swapped identity

Data loss

If one node was not installed, and one was, Razor might erase data on the previously installed node

Mitigation

1. Don't do that
2. Secondary node identification via facts might let us detect the problem, though we won't be able to resolve it automatically

Replace motherboard with integrated NIC(s)

Description

For a known node, replace all the hardware except the hard drives

Risk

node gets identified as a new node on next boot

Data loss

If the node was previously installed, Razor might reinstall that node

Mitigation

• Secondary node identification