Microstrategy Administration Tips-Maintenance Mode Feature

There are many features that requires the additinal settings that MicroStrategy Administrator need to follow for better optimization of features and support for system.
Before Microstrategy release of v9.3.1 , when an Intelligence Server node in a cluster get a normal shut down, the node typically is also  removed from the cluster that means anything that is created on that node , for example Cubes or Caches or History messages . while in case of  abnormal termination of Intelligence Server process Microstrategy is built smart enough to support high availability seamlessly on a clustered node , that means when abnormal termination takes place , the resource are still available from the other node.
With the release of MicroStrategy 9.3.1 onwards ,  the Intelligence Server can be configured to keep the Intelligence server clustered resources available seamlessly, even if in the case of node is shutdown normally, this setting can be enabled or disabled from Registry entry , if you are on windows you can configure it under registry & On Linux this can be configured on Linux registry file called MSIReg.reg under installation directory , this setting is called  “Maintenance Mode“.
Here is step by steps to configure this setting on Windows & Linux machine. Implement the steps below to enable maintenance mode.
Windows
Implement the steps below to enable maintenance mode. These changes should be implemented on all the nodes of the cluster: 
  1. Shut down MicroStrategy Intelligence Server(s) where the change needs to be done.
  2. Open the Windows registry and navigate to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicroStrategy\DSS Server\Castor.
  3. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value and name the entry “MaintenanceModeEnabled” and set its value to 1.The registry location should look as shown in the screenshot below. 
     
  4. Also, it is recommended for users to create a registry entry called SkipClusterChecking. This entry should also be in the added in the same location as given in Step 3. It should also be created as a new DWORD (32-bit) and the value of the entry should be set to 1. The two settings should look in the registry as given below:



  5. In addition, it is recommended to create a setting called 'Cluster Synch Check Duplicate Cubes' in MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 9.4.1 and later. This should be created as a new DWORD (32-bit) in the location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\MicroStrategy\Data Sources\CastorServer and the value of this entry should be set to 1.

    Note: To disable maintenance mode, change the value of the newly created registry entry to 0 or delete these entries from the registry. 
UNIX/Linux
Implement the steps below to enable maintenance mode. These changes should be implemented on all the nodes of the cluster: 

  1. Stop MicroStrategy Intelligence Server(s) where the change needs to be done. 
  2. Create a backup of the MSIReg.reg file found in the home directory of the MicroStrategy installation.
  3. Edit the MSIReg.reg file, which is found in the MicroStrategy home directory ($MSTR_HOME_PATH).
  4. Find the section "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicroStrategy\DSS Server\Castor". 
  5. Add the following entry to enable the setting (just below the entry that reads "IgnoreAllExceptions"=dword:00000000:

    "MaintenanceModeEnabled"=dword:00000001
  6. It is recommended for users to create a registry entry called SkipClusterChecking. This should also be added to the same location as given in Step 4. It should be added as given below:

    "SkipClusterChecking"=dword:00000001
  7. Also, in MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 9.4.1 and later, the following registry entry is also recommended to be added in the location: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicroStrategy\Data Sources\CastorServer]

    "Cluster Synch Check Duplicate Cubes"=dword:00000001
The purpose of the 'Cluster Synch Check Duplicate Cubes' registry setting is explained below:
  1. Consider a 2-node MicroStrategy Intelligence Server 9.4.1 cluster
  2. Publish intelligent cube 'Intelligent Cube - Geography' on Node1 of the cluster
  3. Enable maintenance mode on both the nodes by just adding the registry entry for 'MaintenanceModeEnabled' and setting the value to 1.
  4. Shutdown Node 1 of the cluster.
  5. Since maintenance mode is enabled, the cube published on Node 1 is still available for use on Node 2.
  6. Now, publish the same intelligent cube from step 2 on Node 2. Two copies of the cube are now seen on Node 2. This is as expected. This is because Node 1 is down, Node 2 cannot inform Node 1 to delete its copy of the cube.


  7. Now, restart Node 1. In this case, 2 copies of the cube are still seen on Node 1.
  8. This is because the registry setting 'Cluster Synch Check Duplicate Cubes' was not enabled. If the setting was enabled along with the 'MaintenanceModeEnabled' setting, Node 1 checks for duplicate copies upon restart and deletes the duplicate entry. In a case where the 'Cluster Synch Check Duplicate Cubes' was enabled, upon restart, only one copy of the cube will be visible on Node1 (as well as Node 2), as Node1 will delete its entry after checking that there is a duplicate cube on the other node.
  9. Restart the Intelligence Server for the change to take effect.

Please keep in mind that Modifying registry values incorrectly may cause serious, system-wide problems that may require the re-installation of Microsoft Windows. Any edit of the registry is done at the user's own risk. Since these are user-initiated changes, they are not covered by any MicroStrategy warranty. If using Microsoft Windows, the user should backup the registry.

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