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Configuring ColdFusion Clusters


Load-Balancing Devices

You can configure ClusterCATS to work in conjunction with a third-party hardware load balancing device or load balancing software product to provide comprehensive load balancing and failover support for your server clusters.

This section describes the following:

Using Cisco LocalDirector

Cisco LocalDirector is a network appliance with a secure, real-time, embedded operating system that intelligently load balances IP traffic across multiple servers. ClusterCATS can be configured to provide ColdFusion availability and load information to the LocalDirector using Cisco's Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP). The LocalDirector then actively manages HTTP traffic across the cluster, based on the load information provided to it by ClusterCATS.

You can configure the Cisco LocalDirector using the ClusterCATS Explorer on Windows only.


Note

You must use Cisco LocalDirector Version 3.1.4 software or later.

Before configuring ClusterCATS with the LocalDirector, you must configure the LocalDirector to manage your Web servers. For more information, refer to the Cisco documentation.

LocalDirector considerations

You must be aware of the following when using ClusterCATS with Cisco LocalDirector:

LocalDirector dynamic-feedback command settings

Use the LocalDirector dynamic-feedback command options as described in this section to optimize your LocalDirector setup.


Note

Do not use the dynamic-feedback-pw command. ClusterCATS does not support secure DFP hosts.

 

dynamic-feedback -timeout

Use the dynamic-feedback -timeout option to set timeout to a value larger than the update frequency so that the LocalDirector does not prematurely terminate the connection with the cluster because of inactivity. Allaire recommends that you set the value to at least two times the update frequency.

dynamic-feedback -retry

Use the dynamic-feedback -retry option to set the retry value to zero (0) to ensure that the LocalDirector will continue connection attempts to the ClusterCATS DFP agent in the event of a lengthy period of system unavailability.

For more information on using the LocalDirector dynamic-feedback command, refer toCisco's LocalDirector Command Reference.

To integrate ClusterCATS with the Cisco LocalDirector:

  1. Be sure to review all considerations before continuing with this procedure.
  2. Complete the LocalDirector basic hardware installation and configuration. Be sure that you have defined an IP address for the LocalDirector and that the LocalDirector network interfaces are configured correctly. You can use the ping utility to test network connectivity.
  3. Create a virtual server (www.yourcompany.com) in LocalDirector that corresponds to the cluster.
  4. In LocalDirector, bind explicit (real) servers participating in the cluster with the virtual server.
  5. Use the LocalDirector's dynamic-feedback command to specify the IP addresses of each explicit server (cluster member) and port number each server will use to listen for DFP requests from the LocalDirector. This port number must be the same as the DFP Agent Listen Port configured in 9.

    For example:

    dynamic-feedback 111.168.00.22:9100 retry 0 attempts 30 timeout 60

    The DFP protocol will connect to server 192.168.64.22 at port 9124. If the connection between the LocalDirector and the server is closed for any reason, the LocalDirector will attempt to reconnect, indefinitely, every 30 seconds. The LocalDirector will close the connection if it is inactive for 60 seconds.

    For more information on the dynamic-feedback command options, refer to "LocalDirector dynamic-feedback command settings".

  6. Open the ClusterCATS Explorer and select a cluster.
  7. Select Cluster > Properties or select Configure > Administration. Both menu selections display the Cluster Properties dialog box, as the following figure shows:

  8. Select the Load Balance tab and choose Cisco LocalDirector from the Load Balancing Product drop-down list.

  9. Edit the cluster properties as described in the following table.
    Field
    Description
    Website Alias
    		 Enter the name of the virtual server (www.yourcompany.com) you created in step 3.
    LocalDirector IP Address
    		 Enter the IP address of the Cisco LocalDirector.
    DFP Agent Listen Port
    		 Enter the port number on which the cluster's DFP agent should listen for incoming LocalDirector connection requests. This port should be the same port specified in the LocalDirector dynamic-feedback as described in step 5.
    Update Frequency
    		 Enter the frequency, in seconds, that you want ClusterCATS to update the LocalDirector with availability data.
    This is typically a value between 5 and 30 seconds. You can lengthen it up to 120 seconds.
    Set a longer time as you add greater numbers of Web servers to the cluster. This minimizes the overhead of traffic to the LocalDirector.
    HTTP Port
    		 Enter the port number on which each cluster member listens for unsecured HTTP requests. Enter 0 if not applicable.
    HTTPS Port
    		 Enter the port number on which each cluster member listens for secured HTTP requests. Enter 0 if not applicable.
    Bind ID
    		 Enter the same Bind ID specified for the explicit (real) servers on the LocalDirector in step 4. In order for the ClusterCATS/LocalDirector integration to work as intended, the server name, port number, and bind ID combination must be the same on this ClusterCATS Load Balance tab as it is on the LocalDirector box.
  10. Click OK.

Once configured, ClusterCATS automatically sets the state of each cluster member to Passive and provides the load balancing and high availability data it acquires to the LocalDirector. The LocalDirector then actively manages HTTP traffic across the cluster.

Using third-party load-balancing devices

Third-party load balancing devices will actively distribute load to the Web servers based on packet flow while ClusterCATS monitors ColdFusion load and availability. If ClusterCATS detects that the ColdFusion server is becoming overloaded, it will supersede the load balancing device and redirect traffic accordingly.

This section describes how to configure a third-party load balancing device with ClusterCATS in the following sections:

Using third-party load balancing devices in Windows

To integrate ClusterCATS with a third-party load balancing device:

  1. Configure the load balancing device or software product as recommended by the manufacturer.
  2. Open the ClusterCATS Explorer and select a cluster.
  3. Select Configure > Administration. Alternatively, you can right-click the cluster and select Configure > Configure. The Cluster Properties dialog box appears:
  4. Select the Load Balance tab.

    The selection in the Load Balancing Product drop-down list indicates how ClusterCATS will actively load balance HTTP traffic across the cluster.

  5. Enter the name of the Web site in the Website Alias field.
  6. Click OK to apply your changes.

Using third-party load balancing devices in UNIX


Note

You cannot take advantage of ClusterCATS' support of Cisco LocalDirector using the ClusterCATS Web Explorer. This capability is only available in the Windows-based ClusterCATS Explorer. You can, however, configure Cisco LocalDirector as a third-party load balancing device to work with ClusterCATS.

To integrate ClusterCATS with a third-party load balancing device:

  1. Open ClusterCATS Web Explorer if it is not already open.
  2. Click the Show Cluster link.
  3. Enter the fully qualified host name of the server you want to integrate with another load balancing product in the Web Server Name field.
  4. Click OK. The Cluster Member List page appears.
  5. Click the Administration link under Cluster Attributes. The Cluster Administration page appears.
  6. In the Load Balancing Product field, enter the URL of the Web site for which the load balancing product has been set up to manage HTTP traffic.
  7. Click OK to apply your changes.
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