Reference: Appliance Array menu

Use the Appliance Array menu to create an array, add appliances to the array, assign Tanium roles to the appliances, and then install the roles on all appliances from a single menu. If you need to add an additional appliance later on, you can add the appliance to the array, and then assign and install a role to use with your existing installation.

About Appliance Arrays

In TanOS 1.6.0 and later, you can group appliances into an Appliance Array to make it easier to set up and manage the appliances that contain the components of a Tanium cluster.

A Tanium cluster is an active-active cluster of two Tanium Servers that ensures continuous availability in the event of an outage or scheduled maintenance. In a Tanium cluster, the Tanium Server application is active-active, and the database component is active-passive.

A typical Appliance Array contains the following appliances:

  • A primary Tanium Server appliance with an active database
  • A secondary Tanium Server appliance with a passive database
  • A Tanium Module Server appliance
  • One or more Tanium Zone Server appliances

You can also add a secondary (standby) Tanium Module Server appliance to an Appliance Array. For more information, see Deploying a standby Module Server.

Use the Appliance Array menu to create an array, add appliances to the array, assign Tanium roles to the appliances, and then install the roles on all appliances from a single menu. If you need to add additional appliances later on, you can add them to the array, assign roles, and install the roles to use with your existing installation.

When you create an array on an appliance, the appliance becomes a controlling member of the array.

  • A controlling member can add members, remove members, and refresh the array.
  • When you install a Tanium Server role on an appliance in the array, the corresponding appliance becomes a controlling member of the array. Any other appliances without a Tanium Server role become non-controlling members; this could include the appliance where the array was created (a refresh may be needed on the affected appliances to see the change).

Create an Appliance Array

For a new installation, set up the Appliance Array before you install the components of a Tanium cluster. For more information, see Installing an Appliance Array.

Perform the following steps on the appliance that you want to be the controlling member of the array; in most installations, this is the appliance that you want to be the primary Tanium Server.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter C and follow the prompts to create an array. ClosedView screen

The Appliance Array menu refreshes with the new array.

TanOS designates the new (pending) role for the appliance as a Tanium Server. ClosedView screen

Add an appliance to an Appliance Array

From a controlling member of an array, you can add additional appliances to the array.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter A and follow the prompts to add an appliance to the array. ClosedView screen

The Appliance Array menu refreshes with the new member. ClosedView screen

Remove an appliance from an Appliance Array

From a controlling member of an array, you can remove other appliances from the array, including other controlling members.

An appliance cannot remove itself from an array. To remove an appliance, you must log into another controlling member of the array to perform the steps. To remove the last member of a array, reset the array.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter the line number of the appliance that you want to remove from the array. ClosedView screen
  5. Enter D and follow the prompts to remove the appliance from the array. ClosedView screen

Assign roles

Use the Appliance Array menu to assign roles to appliances without an existing role. You can then install the roles on the appliances in a single action.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter the line number for an appliance without a pending New Role.

    The Manage Member menu displays. ClosedView screen

  5. Enter T, M, or Z to assign the corresponding role to the appliance.

    The Appliance Array menu refreshes with the new pending role. ClosedView screen

When you close the Appliance Array menu, any pending roles are reset.

Install roles

From a controlling member of an array, you can install pending roles to the appliances in the array.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen

    If no appliances have pending roles, assign new roles.

  4. Enter I and follow the prompts to install any pending roles.

What to do next

After the installation completes, perform any necessary configuration. For more information, see Installing an Appliance Array.

Refresh an Appliance Array

From a controlling member of an array, you can refresh the array to retrieve current membership from the other appliances in the array. This information is refreshed on all appliances in the array.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter F and follow the prompts to refresh the array. ClosedView screen

Reset an Appliance Array

Reset an Appliance Array to remove the appliance from the array. If the appliance is the only member of the array, reset the array to delete the array.

To delete an array, log in to a controlling member of the array, remove all other members of the array, and then reset the array.

  1. Log into the TanOS console as a user with the tanadmin role.

    The tanadmin menu displays

  2. Enter 1 to display the Tanium Installation menu. ClosedView screen
  3. Enter M to display the Appliance Array menu. ClosedView screen
  4. Enter X and follow the prompts to reset the array. ClosedView screen