I have setup 2 nodes (say Node A and B) in a cluster using Jboss 4.2.2 GA.

My requirement is:
1. Node A is set as the preferred master. If both nodes are running, Node A will always become the master i.e. in the event Node B was started before Node A, it will stop the service and Node A will take over running as the master.
2. If the master node goes down, then the next available node in the cluster becomes the master.

My problem is:
When Nodes A & B are running, Node A as master, and Node A is properly shutdown, Node B still detects Node A in the cluster view and continues to elect Node A as the master rather than taking over.

Here is my HASingletonElectionPolicy implementation:

package com.unique.ha.singleton;

import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
import org.jboss.ha.framework.interfaces.ClusterNode;
import org.jboss.ha.framework.interfaces.HAPartition;
import org.jboss.ha.singleton.HASingletonElectionPolicySimple;

public class HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique extends HASingletonElectionPolicySimple
implements HASingletonElectionPolicyUniqueMBean {

 private String preferredMasterAddress;

 private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique.class);

 public void setPreferredMasterAddress(String preferredMasterAddress) {

 this.preferredMasterAddress = preferredMasterAddress;
 }

 public String getPreferredMasterAddress() {

 return this.preferredMasterAddress;
 }

 public ClusterNode pickSingleton() {

 return pickSingleton(getHAPartition());
 }

 public ClusterNode pickSingleton(HAPartition partition) {

 log.info( "Running HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique..." );

 ClusterNode[] nodes = partition.getClusterNodes();
 log.info( "CurrentView for " + partition.getPartitionName() + " is " + partition.getCurrentView().toString() );

 if( this.preferredMasterAddress != null ) {

 for ( int x=0; x < nodes.length; x++ ) {

 ClusterNode node = nodes[x];

 if ( node.getIpAddress().getHostAddress().equals( this.preferredMasterAddress ) ) {

 log.info("Set Master Status to preferred master address " + this.preferredMasterAddress);
 return node;
 }
 }
 }

 log.warn("Unable to select preferred Master at address " +
 this.preferredMasterAddress + ". Will select next available node.");

 return super.pickSingleton(partition);
 }


}

<server>

 <mbean code="com.unique.ha.singleton.HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique"
 name="com.unique.ha:name=HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique">
 <attribute name="PreferredMasterAddress">${unique.ha.preferred_master_address}</attribute>
 </mbean>

 <mbean code="com.unique.system.mbean.MyService"
 name="com.unique.system.mbean:name=MyService">
 </mbean>

 <mbean code="org.jboss.ha.singleton.HASingletonController"
 name="com.unique.system.mbean:service=MyService-HASingletonController">
 <depends>jboss:service=${jboss.partition.name}</depends>
 <depends optional-attribute-name="ElectionPolicy" proxy-type="attribute">com.unique.ha:name=HASingletonElectionPolicyUnique</depends>
 <depends optional-attribute-name="TargetName">com.unique.system.mbean:name=MyService</depends>
 <attribute name="PartitionName">${jboss.partition.name}</attribute>
 <attribute name="TargetStartMethod">startSingleton</attribute>
 <attribute name="TargetStopMethod">stopSingleton</attribute>
 </mbean>

</server>