--- canonical: https://safekit.evidian.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads_safekit/version-82/safekituserguidehtml/documentation/safekituserguideen.htm --- Evidian SafeKit User's Guide 8.2 **SafeKit User's Guide** High Availability Software for Critical Applications **Overview** | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | **Subject** | This document covers all the phases of the SafeKit implementation: architecture, installation, tests, administration & troubleshooting, support, and command line interface. | | | **Intended Readers** | **Architectures** | Technical overview | | **Installation** | Installation | | **Console** | The SafeKit web console Securing the SafeKit web service | | **Advanced configuration** | Cluster.xml for the SafeKit cluster configuration Userconfig.xml for an application module configuration Scripts for an application module configuration Examples of application module configurations | | **Administration** | Mirror module administration Farm module administration Command line interface Advanced administration | | **Support** | Tests Troubleshooting SafeKit support Log Messages Index | | **Other** | Table of Contents Third-Party Software | | Release | SafeKit 8.2 | | | **Supported OS** | Windows and Linux; for a detailed list of supported OS, see here | | | **Web Sites** | Marketing site               Support portal | | | Ref | 39 A2 38MC 07 | | | | | | Copyright © Eviden, 2026 The trademarks mentioned in this document are the propriety of their respective owners. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Eviden disclaims the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose and makes no express warranties except as may be stated in its written agreement with and for its customer. In no event is Eviden liable to anyone for any indirect, special, or consequential damages. The information and specifications in this document are subject to change without notice. Consult your Eviden Marketing Representative for product or service availability. **Table of Contents** Overview.. 3 Table of Contents. 5 1.... Technical overview.. 17 1.1..... Generalities, solutions, architectures 17 1.1.1       Introduction to SafeKit 17 1.1.2       SafeKit solutions. 17 1.1.3       SafeKit architectures. 18 1.1.4       SafeKit cluster definition. 18 1.1.5       SafeKit application module definition. 19 1.1.6       SafeKit limitations. 19 1.2..... The SafeKit mirror cluster 20 1.2.1       Real time file replication and application failover 20 1.2.2       Step 1. Normal operation. 21 1.2.3       Step 2. Failover 21 1.2.4       Step 3. Failback and automatic resynchronization. 21 1.2.5       Step 4. Return to normal operation. 22 1.2.6       Synchronous replication versus asynchronous replication. 22 1.2.7       Behavior in case of network isolation. 22 1.2.8       3-node replication. 23 1.2.9       SafeKit on a single node to protect against software failures 23 1.3..... The SafeKit farm cluster 24 1.3.1       Network load balancing and application failover 24 1.3.2       Principle of a virtual IP address with network load balancing. 24 1.3.3       Load balancing for stateful or stateless web services 24 1.3.4       Chain high availability solution in a farm.. 25 1.4..... Clusters running several modules 25 1.4.1       The SafeKit farm+mirror cluster 25 1.4.2       The SafeKit active/active cluster with replication. 25 1.4.3       The SafeKit N-1 cluster 26 1.5..... The SafeKit Hyper-V or KVM cluster 27 1.5.1       Load balancing, replication, failover of entire virtual machines. 27 1.6..... SafeKit clusters in the cloud. 27 1.6.1       Mirror cluster in Azure, AWS and GCP. 27 1.6.2       Farm cluster in Azure, AWS and GCP. 28 2.... Installation. 31 2.1..... SafeKit install 31 2.1.1       Download the package. 31 2.1.2       Installation directories and disk space provisioning. 32 2.1.3       SafeKit install procedure. 32 2.1.4       Use the SafeKit web console or command line interface. 35 2.1.5       SafeKit license keys. 37 2.1.6       System specific procedures and characteristics 37 2.2..... Mirror installation recommendation. 38 2.2.1       Hardware and system prerequisites 38 2.2.2       Network prerequisites. 38 2.2.3       Application prerequisites. 38 2.2.4       File replication prerequisites. 38 2.3..... Farm installation recommendation. 39 2.3.1       Hardware and system prerequisites 39 2.3.2       Network prerequisites. 39 2.3.3       Application prerequisites. 39 2.4..... SafeKit upgrade. 39 2.4.1       Prepare the upgrade. 39 2.4.2       Uninstall procedure. 40 2.4.3       Reinstall and postinstall procedure. 40 2.5..... SafeKit full uninstall 42 2.5.1       Uninstall on Windows as administrator 42 2.5.2       Uninstall on Linux as root 43 2.6..... SafeKit documentation. 44 3.... The SafeKit web console. 45 3.1..... Start the web console. 45 3.1.1       Start a web browser 45 3.1.2       Connect to a SafeKit node. 45 3.1.3       List of connection nodes 46 3.1.4       Use the SafeKit web application. 47 3.1.5       Update the web console. 49 3.2..... Configure the cluster 49 3.2.1       Cluster configuration wizard. 50 3.2.2       Cluster configuration home page. 53 3.3..... Configure an application module. 54 3.3.1       Select the new module to configure. 55 3.3.2       Module configuration wizard. 56 3.3.3       Modules configuration home page. 61 3.3.4       Edit the module configuration locally and then apply it 63 3.4..... Monitor an application module. 64 3.4.1       Monitoring home page. 64 3.4.2       Module state. 65 3.4.3       Module control menus 67 3.4.4       Module details. 70 3.4.5       Module states timeline. 75 3.5..... Snapshots or logs of application module for debug and support 76 3.6..... Secure access to the web console. 77 4.... Tests. 79 4.1..... Installation and tests after boot 79 4.1.1       Test package installation. 79 4.1.2       Test license and version. 80 4.1.3       Test SafeKit services and modules after boot 80 4.1.4       Test start of SafeKit web console. 82 4.2..... Tests of a mirror module. 83 4.2.1       Test first start of a mirror module on 2 servers ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image002.png)STOP (NotReady). 83 4.2.2       Test start of a mirror module on 2 servers ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image002.png)STOP (NotReady). 83 4.2.3       Test stop of a mirror module on the server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)PRIM (Ready). 83 4.2.4       Test start of a mirror module on the server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image002.png)STOP (NotReady). 84 4.2.5       Test restart of a mirror module on the server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image004.png)PRIM (Ready). 84 4.2.6       Test virtual IP address of a mirror module. 84 4.2.7       Test file replication of a mirror module. 85 4.2.8       Test shutdown of the server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)PRIM (Ready). 86 4.2.9       Test power-off of the server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image004.png)PRIM (Ready). 87 4.2.10      Test split-brain with a mirror module. 87 4.2.11      Continue your mirror module tests with checkers 89 4.3..... Tests of a farm module. 89 4.3.1       Test start of a farm module on all servers ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image002.png)STOP (NotReady). 89 4.3.2       Test stop of a farm module on one server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)UP (Ready). 89 4.3.3       Test restart of a farm module on one server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image005.jpg)UP(Ready). 89 4.3.4       Test virtual IP address of a farm module. 89 4.3.5       Test TCP load balancing on a virtual IP address. 91 4.3.6       Test split-brain with a farm module. 92 4.3.7       Test compatibility of the network with invisible MAC address (vmac\_invisible) 93 4.3.8       Test shutdown of a server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image005.jpg)UP (Ready). 94 4.3.9       Test power-off of a server ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image005.jpg)UP (Ready). 95 4.3.10      Continue your farm module tests with checkers. 95 4.4..... Tests of checkers common to mirror and farm.. 95 4.4.1       Test checker with action restart or stopstart 95 4.4.2       Test checker with action restart or stopstart 96 4.4.3       Test checker with action wait 97 4.4.4       Test with action wait 98 4.4.5       Test checker with action wait 99 4.4.6       Test checker with action wait 99 4.4.7       Test checker with action wait 100 4.4.8       Test checker with action restart or stopstart 101 5.... Mirror module administration. 105 5.1..... Operating mode of a mirror module. 105 5.2..... State automaton of a mirror module (STOP, WAIT, ALONE, PRIM, SECOND - NotReady, Transient, Ready) 107 5.3..... First start-up of a mirror module (safekit prim command) 108 5.4..... Different reintegration cases (use of bitmaps) 109 5.5..... Start-up of a mirror module with the up-to-date data  ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image006.jpg)STOP (NotReady) - ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)WAIT (NotReady). 110 5.6..... Degraded replication mode (![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)ALONE (Ready) degraded) 111 5.7..... Automatic or manual failover 112 5.8..... Default primary server (automatic swap after reintegration) 114 5.9..... Prim command fails: why? (safekit primforce command) 115 6.... Farm module administration. 117 6.1..... Operating mode of a farm module. 117 6.2..... State automaton of a farm module (STOP, WAIT, UP - NotReady, Transient, Ready) 118 6.3..... Start-up of a farm module. 119 7.... Troubleshooting. 121 7.1..... Connection issues with the web console. 121 7.1.1       Browser check. 122 7.1.2       Browser state clear 122 7.1.3       Server check. 122 7.2..... Connection issues with the HTTPS web console. 123 7.2.1       Check server certificates. 123 7.2.2       Check certificates installed in SafeKit 124 7.2.3       Revert to HTTP configuration. 125 7.3..... Global environment checks (healthcheck script) 125 7.4..... How to read logs and resources of the module? 125 7.5..... How to read the commands log of the server? 126 7.6..... Stable module  ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)(Ready) and ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)(Ready). 126 7.7..... Degraded module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)(Ready)and ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image008.png)/![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)(NotReady). 126 7.8..... Out of service module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image008.png)/![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)(NotReady) and ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image008.png)/![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)(NotReady). 127 7.9..... Module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image008.png) STOP (NotReady): start the module. 127 7.10... Module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)WAIT (NotReady): repair the resource="down" 127 7.11... Module oscillating from ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png) (Ready) to ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image009.png) (Transient). 128 7.12... Message on stop after maxloop. 129 7.13... Module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png) (Ready) but non-operational application. 130 7.14... Mirror module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)ALONE (Ready) - ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image007.png)WAIT/![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image008.png)STOP (NotReady) 130 7.15... Farm module ![](safekituserguideen_fichiers/image003.png)UP(Ready)but problem of load balancing in a farm.. 131 7.15.1      Reported network load share are not coherent 131 7.15.2      virtual IP address does not respond properly. 131 7.16... Problem with the virtual IP after failover 132 7.17... Problem after Boot 133 7.18... Analysis from snapshots of the module. 133 7.18.1      Module configuration files 134 7.18.2      Module dump files. 135 7.19... Problem with the size of SafeKit databases 138 7.20... Problem for retrieving the certification authority certificate from an external PKI 139 7.20.1      Export CA certificate(s) from public certificates 139 7.21... Issue with email sending by the SafeKit notification agent 141 7.21.1      Failed to read or parse the configuration file. 142 7.21.2      Email sending test blocked. 142 7.21.3      Curl errors 142 7.22... Issue with antivirus 144 7.23... Issue with SafeKit kernel modules 144 7.23.1      Mirror module with rfs filter in Windows. 144 7.23.2      Farm module with vip kernel module in Linux. 144 7.24... Troubleshooting VIP ↔ MAC resolution. 145 7.24.1      Check cache entries. 145 7.24.2      Force a new resolution. 145 7.24.3      Observe Resolution Requests. 145 7.25... Still in trouble. 146 8.... SafeKit support 147 9.... Command line interface. 149 9.1..... Commands to control and setup SafeKit 149 9.1.1       safeadmin service. 149 9.1.2       safewebserver service. 150 9.1.3       Email notification agent 151 9.1.4       SNMP service. 152 9.2..... Command lines to configure and monitor the cluster 152 9.3..... Command lines to control application modules 154 9.4..... Command lines to monitor application modules 156 9.5..... Command lines to configure application modules 157 9.6..... Command lines for support 159 9.6.1       Application module log. 159 9.6.2       Application module snapshot 159 9.6.3       Other commands 162 9.7..... Command lines during the maintenance of the module application. 162 9.7.1       Application module control for maintenance. 163 9.7.2       Running the application without the module. 164 9.8..... Command lines distributed across multiple SafeKit servers 164 9.9..... Examples 166 9.9.1       Local and distributed command. 166 9.9.2       Cluster configuration with command line. 166 9.9.3       Application module configuration with command line. 166 9.9.4       Application module snapshot with command line. 167 10. Advanced administration and setup. 169 10.1... SafeKit environment variables and directories 169 10.1.1      Global 169 10.1.2      Application module. 169 10.2... SafeKit services and daemons 171 10.2.1      SafeKit services 171 10.2.2      SafeKit daemons per module. 172 10.3... Firewall settings 172 10.3.1      Firewall settings in Linux. 173 10.3.2      Firewall settings in Windows. 174 10.3.3      Other firewalls. 174 10.4... Boot and shutdown setup in Windows 177 10.4.1      Automatic procedure. 178 10.4.2      Manual procedure. 178 10.5... Linux Secure boot settings for SafeKit kernel modules 178 10.6... Antivirus settings 179 10.7... Encryption of application module communications 180 10.7.1      Configuration with the SafeKit Web console. 181 10.7.2      Configuration with the Command Line Interface. 181 10.7.3      Advanced configuration. 181 10.8... Encryption of sensitive files in SafeKit 183 10.9... SafeKit web service settings 183 10.9.1      Configuration files 184 10.9.2      Connection ports configuration. 185 10.9.3      HTTP/HTTPS and user authentication configuration. 186 10.9.4      SafeKit API 186 10.10. SafeKit email notification agent 188 10.10.1    SafeKit notification agent configuration. 189 10.10.2    SMTP client credentials setup for authentication. 190 10.10.3    Email sending test 191 10.10.4    SafeKit notification agent activation. 191 10.11. SNMP monitoring. 192 10.11.1    SNMP monitoring in Windows 192 10.11.2    SNMP monitoring in Linux. 193 10.11.3    The SafeKit MIB. 193 10.12. Commands log of the SafeKit server 194 10.13. SafeKit log messages in system log. 194 11. Securing the SafeKit web service. 197 11.1... Overview. 197 11.1.1      Default setup. 198 11.1.2      Predefined setups 198 11.2... HTTP setup. 199 11.2.1      Default setup. 199 11.2.2      Unsecure setup based on identical role for all 201 11.3... HTTPS setup. 202 11.3.1      HTTPS setup using the SafeKit PKI 203 11.3.2      HTTPS setup using an external PKI 211 11.4... User authentication setup. 215 11.4.1      File-based authentication setup. 215 11.4.2      LDAP/AD authentication setup. 218 11.4.3      OpenID authentication setup. 220 12. Cluster.xml for the SafeKit cluster configuration. 223 12.1... Cluster.xml file. 223 12.1.1      Cluster.xml example. 223 12.1.2      Cluster.xml syntax. 224 12.1.3      , , attributes. 224 12.2... SafeKit cluster Configuration. 226 12.2.1      Configuration with the SafeKit web console. 226 12.2.2      Configuration with command line. 227 12.2.3      Configuration changes. 227 13. Userconfig.xml for an application module configuration. 229 13.1... Time-based attributes 230 13.1.1      Time-based attribute example. 230 13.1.2      Time-based attribute syntax. 230 13.2... Macros - . 231 13.2.1      example. 231 13.2.2      syntax. 231 13.2.3      attributes 231 13.3... Farm or mirror module - . 232 13.3.1      example. 232 13.3.2      syntax. 232 13.3.3      attributes 233 13.4... Heartbeats - , . 235 13.4.1      example. 236 13.4.2      syntax. 236 13.4.3      , attributes. 236 13.5... Farm topology - , . 238 13.5.1      example. 238 13.5.2      syntax. 239 13.5.3      , attributes 239 13.6... Virtual IP address - . 240 13.6.1      example in a mirror module. 240 13.6.2      example in a farm module. 241 13.6.3      Alternative to . 241 13.6.4      syntax. 242 13.6.5      , , , , attributes. 243 13.6.6      , , , attributes. 247 13.6.7      Load balancing description. 248 13.7... File replication - , . 250 13.7.1      example. 250 13.7.2      syntax. 251 13.7.3      , attributes 252 13.7.4      description. 260 13.8... Module scripts - , . 269 13.8.1      example. 269 13.8.2      syntax. 269 13.8.3      , attributes 269 13.9... Virtual hostname - , . 270 13.9.1      example. 270 13.9.2      syntax. 270 13.9.3      , attributes 271 13.9.4      description. 271 13.10. Process or service monitoring - , . 272 13.10.1    example. 272 13.10.2    syntax. 273 13.10.3    , attributes 274 13.10.4    commands 278 13.11. Checkers - . 280 13.11.1    example. 280 13.11.2    syntax. 280 13.11.3    description. 281 13.12. TCP checker - . 284 13.12.1    example. 284 13.12.2    syntax. 284 13.12.3    attributes. 285 13.13. Ping checker - . 286 13.13.1    example. 287 13.13.2    syntax. 287 13.13.3    attributes. 287 13.14. Interface checker - . 289 13.14.1    example. 289 13.14.2    syntax. 290 13.14.3    attributes. 290 13.15. IP checker - . 290 13.15.1    example. 290 13.15.2    syntax. 291 13.15.3    attributes. 291 13.16. Custom checker - . 292 13.16.1    example. 292 13.16.2    syntax. 293 13.16.3    attributes. 293 13.17. Module checker - . 295 13.17.1    example. 295 13.17.2    syntax. 295 13.17.3    attributes 296 13.18. Splitbrain checker - . 297 13.18.1    example. 297 13.18.2    syntax. 298 13.18.3    attributes 298 13.19. Failover machine - . 299 13.19.1    example. 299 13.19.2    syntax. 300 13.19.3    attributes. 300 13.19.4    description. 301 14. Scripts for an application module configuration. 305 14.1... List of scripts 305 14.1.1      Start/stop scripts. 305 14.1.2      Other scripts. 307 14.2... Variables and arguments passed to scripts 307 14.3... Scripts output 308 14.3.1      Output into script log. 308 14.3.2      Output into module log. 308 14.4... Scripts execution automaton. 309 14.5... SafeKit special commands for scripts 310 14.5.1      Commands for Windows. 311 14.5.2      Commands for Linux. 311 14.5.3      Commands for Windows and Linux. 312 15. Examples of application module configurations. 315 15.1... Mirror module example with mirror.safe. 316 15.1.1      Cluster configuration with two networks. 316 15.1.2      Mirror module configurations. 317 15.1.3      Mirror module scripts. 319 15.2... Farm module example with farm.safe. 321 15.2.1      Cluster configuration with three nodes 321 15.2.2      Farm module configurations 322 15.2.3      Farm module scripts 329 15.3... Macro and script variables example with hyperv.safe. 332 15.3.1      Module configuration with macros and var 332 15.3.2      Module scripts with var 333 15.4... Process monitoring example with softerrd.safe. 334 15.4.1      Module configuration with process monitoring. 334 15.4.2      Advanced configuration of module scripts. 335 15.5... TCP checker example. 337 15.6... Ping checker example. 338 15.7... Custom checker example with customchecker.safe. 340 15.7.1      Module configuration with custom checker 340 15.7.2      Advanced configuration of module checker script 342 15.8... Split-brain checker example. 343 15.9... Module checker examples 344 15.9.1      Example of a farm module depending on a mirror module. 344 15.9.2      Example with leader.safe and follower.safe. 346 15.10. Interface checker example. 346 15.11. IP checker example. 347 15.12. Virtual hostname example with vhost.safe. 348 15.12.1    Module configuration with a virtual hostname. 348 15.12.2    Module scripts with a virtual hostname. 349 16. SafeKit cluster in the cloud. 353 16.1... SafeKit cluster in Amazon AWS. 353 16.1.1      Mirror cluster in AWS. 354 16.1.2      Farm cluster in AWS. 355 16.2... SafeKit cluster in Microsoft Azure. 356 16.2.1      Mirror cluster in Azure. 357 16.2.2      Farm cluster in Azure. 359 16.3... SafeKit cluster in Google GCP. 360 16.3.1      Mirror cluster in GCP. 361 16.3.2      Farm cluster in GCP. 362 17. Third-Party Software. 365 Log Messages Index. 369 Index. 373