Problem

This article aims to help in troubleshooting MailGate clustering issues and errors, by providing most probable reasons and solutions.

Resolution

1. "Cluster join is not allowed when there is no external storage configured on primary appliance. (517)"
2. "Invalid Primary Appliance password. (503)"
3. "Please configure the Primary Appliance before joining its cluster. (506)"
4. "Errors reported when joining Central Cluster at X.X.X.X. (511)"
5. "Could not contact a Primary Appliance at X.X.X.X (501)"
6. "The primary appliance specified and the local appliance have different MailGate versions. Primary appliance test1.mailgate.int : 5.5.4-221-P2 Local appliance test2.mailgate.com : 5.5.4-187 This is not a supported configuration. Please make sure to use the same MailGate versions on all nodes in the cluster. (515)"

1. Cluster join is not allowed when there is no external storage configured on primary appliance. (517) ↑

Problem: Upon joining a secondary node to a primary MailGate node in a local cluster, the error in question is displayed on the secondary's Admin UI.

Resolution:This happens when Secure Collaboration functionality (Secure Mailbox or Secure Folder, or both) is enabled in the installed license. The High Availability Secure Collaboration cluster requires configuring an external storage, thus the external storage is a must in order to join SC-enabled MailGate nodes into a local cluster, no matter if the Secure Collaboration is actively used or not. The requirements for setting up an external storage can be found in MailGate Administrator's Guide.

NOTE: If none of the Secure Collaboration features are licensed, the clustering is setup as usual - without external storage and follows the steps listed in the Administrator's Guide.

2. Invalid Primary Appliance password. (503) ↑

Problem:Upon joining a secondary node to a primary MailGate node in a cluster, the error in question is displayed on the secondary's Admin UI.

Resolution: Blank spaces and backslash are not supported in the MailGate admin password. While you will be able to set a password that contains a blank space or backslash and login with it, MailGate will not allow for a cluster to be joined should such symbol is used in the password string. You need to change the admin password so that it does not contain any blank spaces or backslashes.

3. Please configure the Primary Appliance before joining its cluster. (506) ↑

Problem:Upon joining a secondary node to a primary MailGate node in a cluster, the error in question is displayed on the secondary's Admin UI.

Resolution:This is a known issue in MailGate. It can be observed when Super Administrator user changes the admin password back to the default: axway. When using axway as a password to join a new cluster member to the primary, the above error occurs. To solve the issue, the Super Administrator will need to change the password, and not to use axway or tumbleweed as a password in the future.

4. Errors reported when joining Central Cluster at X.X.X.X. (511) ↑

Problem: On attempt to add a remote cluster to a central cluster, the error in question is displayed on the secondary's Admin UI.

Resolution:

• Enter the IP address and password for the primary appliance of the central cluster to which you want to add this appliance.

• Ensure the entered IP is correct and belongs to the interface on which cluster access is enabled.

Note: In most cases, the error (511) is displayed when trying to connect to eth0 interface of the primary appliance, while the cluster access is enabled on eth1 (as configured on the primary appliance under Administration \> Interfaces \> Cluster Access).

• The Remote Cluster's NAT IP address is displayed.

Note: The NAT IP address designates the publicly routable IP address under which this appliance will be available. In case of direct Internet connectivity, you do not need to change the default value. However, in more complex deployments (such as using Source NAT), you should specify the address of the relevant network gateway.

5. Could not contact a Primary Appliance at IP.IP.IP.IP. (501) ↑

Problem: When joining a newly installed secondary to an existing primary with cartographic protocols and ciphers, the error in question may appear on secondary's AdminUI.

Resolution: The error in question is most likely to occur on MG 5.4.1 or earlier. Certain modifications on the backend might be needed in order to fix the issue and allow successful cluster join. For that purpose, please contact Axway Global Support.

6. The primary appliance specified and the local appliance have different MailGate versions. Primary appliance test1.mailgate.int : 5.5.4-221-P2 Local appliance test2.mailgate.com : 5.5.4-187 This is not a supported configuration. Please make sure to use the same MailGate versions on all nodes in the cluster. (515) ↑

Problem: Upon joining a secondary node with one version to a primary MailGate node with another version in a cluster, the error in question is displayed on the secondary's Admin UI.

Resolution: The error is self-explanatory. Only MG's on the exact same version could be joined in local/global cluster. Otherwise the cluster join procedure is interrupted. There is no impact by this error code interruption, still you would need to upgrade the lower version MG to mach the other appliance/s version.