Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server Overview

Use the information in this section to understand how the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server enables Sun ONE Application Server for high availability. Consult the Sun Cluster 3.1 Data Service Release Notes for new Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server installation and configuration information.

The Sun ONE Application Server provides a high-performance Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE™) 1.3 compliant platform suitable for broad deployment of application services and web services. It is designed to meet the needs of enterprise customers and can run under the control of Sun Cluster software.

The current implementation of the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server is designed to work with the Sun ONE Application Server 7.0. The Sun ONE Message Queue is packaged with the Sun ONE Application Server installation. See Sun Cluster 3.1 Data Service for Sun ONE Message Queue for information about configuring the Sun ONE Message Queue for high availability.

Rich clients can directly connect to the Sun ONE Application Server. Web client connections to the Sun ONE Application Server can be directed through a front-end web server. The Sun ONE Application Server provides a pass-through plugin installation for use with the Sun ONE Web Server.

Implementation of the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server does not assume the existence of programs on which your architecture depends. Programs on which your architecture depends such as databases and web servers should be configured to be highly available, but can run on a different cluster.

See “Planning for Sun Cluster Data Services” in Sun Cluster 3.1 Data Service Planning and Administration Guide and the Sun Cluster 3.1 Concepts Guide for general information about data services, resource groups, resources, and other related topics.

You can configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server in either of the following ways:

• Configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server as a failover data service that is mastered on one node at a time.

• Configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server as a service that is mastered on multiple nodes at the same time.

See How to Register and Configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server as a Failover Data Service and How to Register and Configure Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server as a Service Mastered on Multiple Nodes for procedural information.

Failover Configuration Overview

The Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server is a data service with appropriate extension properties to configure a failover application server mastered by one node at a time. A domains administrative server can also be made highly available as a failover resource. Web clients can connect directly to the Sun ONE Application Server.

Use the standard configuration in this section to plan the installation and configuration of the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server. The Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server might support additional configurations. However, you must contact your Enterprise Services representative for information on additional configurations.

The following figure illustrates a standard failover configuration for a Sun ONE Application Server that runs on a two-node cluster.

Figure 1–1 Two-Node Cluster With Failover Data Service Configuration

Multiple Masters Configuration Overview

You can also configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server to be mastered on multiple nodes at the same time. The multiple masters configuration provides scalability by using a front-end web tier to direct requests to the application servers. The pass-through plugin that the application server provides must be used with a front-end web tier to direct requests to one of the running the Sun ONE Application Server instances.

A highly available Sun ONE Web Server is configured to run on the cluster listening on a logical hostname. If the web tier is running on the same cluster as the application server, the plugin should be configured to pass requests to the cluster private IP address. The Sun ONE Web Server instance can also be configured to run on a different cluster. The web server is then configured with the pass-through plugin to forward requests to the Sun ONE Application Server instance. If the web tier is running on a separate cluster, the plugin is configured to pass requests to the physical hostnames of the cluster members that can run the Sun ONE Application Server resource. An example of a physical hostname is phys-schost-1.

The Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server configurations that are mastered on multiple nodes can use the private interconnect to direct traffic between the Sun ONE Web Server to the Sun ONE Application Server.

If you configure the Sun Cluster HA for Sun ONE Application Server as a service that is mastered on multiple nodes at the same time, you must install and configure the Sun ONE Web Server. The Sun ONE Web Server configuration must be the same on all cluster nodes.

Multiple instances of the Sun ONE Application Server can be load balanced. To enable load-balancing, install the Sun ONE Application Server plugin into the Sun ONE Web Server configuration. The Sun ONE Web Server can be configured as a failover or scalable resource when it is used as a front-end to the Sun ONE Application Server.

The Sun ONE Application Server instance is configured so that its HTTP Listeners listen on all interfaces (0.0.0.0), which is the default for Sun ONE Application Servers.

For a data service mastered on multiple nodes, the IIOP listeners are not highly available.

The following figure illustrates a configuration for a Sun ONE Application Server that masters the resource on two nodes at the same time.

Figure 1–2 Two-Node Cluster With Data Service Mastered on Multiple Nodes