To Verify Session Failover

In this procedure, a user logs in to the Access Manager Console, and you determine the Access Manager instance that is handling the Access Manager Console request. You then simulate a failure of that instance, have the user make another Access Manager Console request, and note which Access Manager instance is handling the second request. If session failover is working properly, the Access Manger service fails over to the failover Access Manager instance without the user having to log in a second time.

1. Log in to the Access Manager Console, if you are not already logged in.

   1. Start a browser.

   2. Go to the Access Manager Console login page by using the load balancer URL

      http://am.pstest.com/amconsole

      The Access Manager Console login page opens.

   3. Log in to the Access Manager Console by typing the following values and clicking Login.

      Input Field	Value
      User ID	amadmin
      Password	access-manager-admin-password

      The Access Manager Console opens.

2. Determine which Access Manager instance handled the login request in Step 1.

   1. Click on the Current Sessions tab.

      The left panel shows both Access Manager instances: http://am1.pstest.com:80 and http://am2.pstest.com:80

   2. Check for an amadmin session on each instance.

      You can display the sessions existing on each instance by clicking on the small triangle adjacent to each.

   3. Note the instance that owns the amadmin session.

3. Simulate a failure of the Access Manager instance that was noted in Step 2.

   Failure of an Access Manager instance can result from a computer failure, a software failure, or a network failure. The method employed for simulating a failure in this session failover verification procedure is to shut down the Access Manager instance (by shutting down the Application Server instance in which it runs). Additionally, you could also simulate failure by unplugging the network cable or disabling the interface.

   Run the following command on the computer (am1 or am2) hosting the instance identified in Step 2.

   # /opt/SUNWappserver/appserver/bin/asadmin stop-domain

4. Perform another Console request.

   For example, click the Identity Management tab, then click the pstest link.

   If session failover is working correctly, the Console session will fail over to the other Access Manager instance and display a list of Organization Aliases in the right pane. The fact that you did not have to log in again confirms that session failover is working.

5. Confirm that your Access Manager Console session is now owned by the other Access Manager instance.

   You can do this step by repeating Step 2 or by checking the access logs on your web containers.

6. Recover the simulated failure of your original Access Manager instance.

   Run the following command on the computer (am1 or am2) on which the Application Server instance was shut down in Step 3.

   # /opt/SUNWappserver/appserver/bin/asadmin start-domain --user admin domain1

   When prompted, type the app-server-admin-password.