3 Preparing the Network for an Enterprise Deployment

This chapter describes the network environment preconfiguration required by the WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment topology. Use this chapter to plan your configuration of virtual server names, load balancers, IPs and Virtual IPs, and firewalls and ports.

This chapter includes the following topics:

3.1 Overview of Preparing the Network for an Enterprise Deployment

You must configure several virtual servers and associated ports on the load balancer for different types of network traffic and monitoring. These virtual servers should be configured to the appropriate real hosts and ports for the services running. Also, the load balancer should be configured to monitor the real host and ports for availability so that the traffic to these is stopped as soon as possible when a service is down. This ensures that incoming traffic on a given virtual host is not directed to an unavailable service in the other tiers.

3.2 Virtual Server Names Used by the Topology

The WebCenter Portal enterprise topology uses the following virtual server names:

Ensure that the virtual server names are associated with IP addresses and are part of your DNS. The nodes running Oracle Fusion Middleware must be able to resolve these virtual server names.

You will define the virtual server names on the load balancer using the procedure in Section 3.3, "Configuring the Load Balancers."

Note:

The only virtual server name which is accessed by clients is the externally facing URL wcp.mycompany.com. All other URLs are for internal use only. See also, Section 2.1.3.1, "Load Balancer Requirements".

3.2.1 wcp.mycompany.com

wcp.mycompany.com is a virtual server name that acts as the access point for all HTTP traffic to run-time SOA Suite and WebCenter Portal components, such as soa-infra, workflow, and the Spaces application. Traffic to SSL is configured. Clients access this service using the address wcp.mycompany.com:443.

This virtual server is defined on the load balancer.

3.2.2 admin.mycompany.com

admin.mycompany.com is a virtual server name that acts as the access point for all internal HTTP traffic that is directed to administration services such as WebLogic Administration Server Console and Oracle Enterprise Manager.

The incoming traffic from clients is not SSL-enabled. Clients access this service using the address admin.mycompany.com:80 and the requests are forwarded to port 7777 on WEBHOST1 and WEBHOST2.

This virtual server is defined on the load balancer.

3.2.3 wcpinternal.mycompany.com

wcpinternal.mycompany.com is a virtual server name used for internal invocations of Oracle WebCenter Portal services. This URL is not exposed to the internet and is only accessible from the intranet.

The incoming traffic from clients is not SSL-enabled. Clients access this service using the address wcpinternal.mycompany.com:80 and the requests are forwarded to port 7777 on WEBHOST1 and WEBHOST2.

This virtual server is defined on the load balancer.

3.3 Configuring the Load Balancers

Several virtual servers and associated ports must be configured on the load balancer for different types of network traffic and monitoring. These should be configured to the appropriate real hosts and ports for the services running. Also, the load balancer should be configured to monitor the real host and ports for availability so that the traffic to these is stopped as soon as possible when a service is down. This ensures that incoming traffic on a given virtual host is not directed to an unavailable service in the other tiers.

There are two load balancer devices in the recommended topologies. One load balancer is set up for external HTTP traffic and the other load balancer is set up for internal LDAP traffic. A deployment may choose to have a single load balancer device due to a variety of reasons. While this is supported, the deployment should consider the security implications of doing this and if found appropriate, open up the relevant firewall ports to allow traffic across the various DMZs. It is worth noting that in either case, it is highly recommended to deploy a given load balancer device in fault tolerant mode.

This enterprise topology uses an external load balancer. Configure the load balancer by defining the virtual server names described in Section 3.2, "Virtual Server Names Used by the Topology".

For more information on load balancers, see Section 2.1.3, "About the Web Tier Nodes".

3.3.1 Load Balancer Requirements

The enterprise deployment topology use an external load balancer. This external load balancer must have the following features:

  • Ability to load-balance traffic to a pool of real servers through a virtual host name: Clients access services using the virtual host name (instead of using actual host names). The load balancer can then load balance requests to the servers in the pool.

  • Port translation configuration.

  • Monitoring of ports (HTTP and HTTPS).

  • Virtual servers and port configuration: Ability to configure virtual server names and ports on your external load balancer, and the virtual server names and ports must meet the following requirements:

    • The load balancer should allow configuration of multiple virtual servers. For each virtual server, the load balancer should allow configuration of traffic management on more than one port. For example, for Oracle WebLogic Server clusters, the load balancer must be configured with a virtual server and ports for HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

    • The virtual server names must be associated with IP addresses and be part of your DNS. Clients must be able to access the external load balancer through the virtual server names.

  • Ability to detect node failures and immediately stop routing traffic to the failed node.

  • Resource monitoring, port monitoring, and process failure detection: The load balancer must be able to detect service and node failures (through notification or some other means) and to stop directing non-Oracle Net traffic to the failed node. If your external load balancer has the ability to automatically detect failures, you should use it.

  • Fault-tolerant mode: It is highly recommended that you configure the load balancer to be in fault-tolerant mode.

  • Other: It is highly recommended that you configure the load-balancer virtual server to return immediately to the calling client when the back-end services to which it forwards traffic are unavailable. This is preferred over the client disconnecting on its own after a timeout based on the TCP/IP settings on the client machine.

  • SSL acceleration: This feature is required.

  • Configure the virtual server or servers in the load balancer for the directory tier with a high value for the connection timeout for TCP connections. This value should be more than the maximum expected time over which no traffic is expected between the Oracle Access Manager and the directory tier.

  • Ability to preserve the client IP addresses: The load balancer must have the capability to insert the original client IP address of a request in an X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to preserve the client IP address.

The Oracle Technology Network provides a list of validated load balancers and their configuration at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/tested-lbr-fw-sslaccel-100648.html.

3.3.2 Load Balancer Configuration Procedures

The procedures for configuring a load balancer differ, depending on the specific type of load balancer. Refer to the vendor supplied documentation for actual steps. The following steps outline the general configuration flow:

  1. Create a pool of servers. This pool contains a list of servers and the ports that are included in the load balancing definition.

    For example, for load balancing between the web hosts, you create a pool of servers that would direct requests to hosts WEBHOST1 and WEBHOST2 on port 7777.

  2. Create rules to determine whether or not a given host and service is available and assign it to the pool of servers described in step 1.

  3. Create a virtual server on the load balancer.

    This is the address and port that receives requests used by the application. For example, to load balance web tier requests you would create a virtual host for wcp.mycompany.com:443.

    Note:

    See also, Section 3.2, "Virtual Server Names Used by the Topology."

  4. If your load balancer supports it, specify whether or not the virtual server is available internally, externally or both. Ensure that internal addresses are only resolvable from inside the network.

  5. Configure SSL Termination, if applicable, for the virtual server.

  6. Assign the pool of servers created in step 1 to the virtual server.

  7. Tune the time out settings as listed in Table 3-4. This includes time to detect whether a service is down.

  8. Configure monitors for the Oracle HTTP Server nodes to detect failures in these nodes.

    • Set up a monitor to regularly ping the "/" URL context.

      Tip:

      Use GET /\n\n instead if the Oracle HTTP Server's document root does not include index.htm and Oracle WebLogic Server returns a 404 error for "/".

    • For the ping interval, specify a value that does not overload your system. You can try 5 seconds as a starting point.

    • For the timeout period, specify a value that can account for the longest time response that you can expect from your Oracle WebCenter Portal system, that is, specify a value greater than the longest period of time any of your requests to HTTP servers can take.

  9. (Optional) If you are using Oracle WebCenter Content, you must configure the load balancer WebCenter Content socket (port 4444). For details, see Section 13.4, "Configuring the Load Balancer to Route WebCenter Content Traffic".

3.3.2.1 Load Balancer Configuration

For a WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment, configure your load balancer as shown in Table 3-1.

Table 3-1 Load Balancer Configuration

Virtual Host Server Pool Protocol SSL Termination External Other Required Configuration/Comments

admin.mycompany.com:80

WEBHOST1.mycompany.com:7777

WEBHOST2.mycompany.com:7777

HTTP

No

No

  • Use your internal administration address as the virtual server address (for example, admin.mycompany.com).

  • Specify HTTP as the protocol.

  • Enable address and port translation.

  • Enable reset of connections when services and/or nodes are down.

  • Assign the pool created in step 1 to the virtual server.

  • Optionally, create rules to allow access only to /console and /em on this virtual server.

wcp.mycompany.com:443

WEBHOST1.mycompany.com:7777 WEBHOST2.mycompany.com:7777

HTTP

No

Yes

  • Use your system's frontend address as the virtual server address (for example, wcp.mycompany.com). The frontend address is the externally facing host name used by your system and that will be exposed in the Internet.

  • Use port 80 and port 443. Any request that goes to port 80 (non-SSL protocol) should be redirected to port 443 (SSL protocol).

  • Specify HTTP as the protocol.

  • Enable address and port translation.

  • Enable reset of connections when services and/or nodes are down.

  • Assign the pool created in step 1 to the virtual server.

  • Create rules to filter out access to /console and /em on this virtual server.

wcpinternal.mycompany.com:80

WEBHOST1.mycompany.com:7777 WEBHOST2.mycompany.com:7777

HTTP

No

No

  • Use your internal administration address as the virtual server address (for example, soainternal.mycompany.com). This address is typically not externalized.

  • Specify HTTP as the protocol.

  • Enable address and port translation.

  • Enable reset of connections when services and/or nodes are down.

  • Assign the pool created in step 1 to the virtual server.

  • Optionally, create rules to filter out access to /console and /em on this virtual server.

3.4 Configuring IPs and Virtual IPs

Configure the Administration Server and the managed servers to listen on different virtual IPs and physical IPs as illustrated in Figure 3-1. As shown in this figure, each VIP and IP is attached to the WebLogic server that uses it. VIP1 is failed manually to restart the Administration Server in SOAHOST2. VIP2 and VIP3 fail over from SOAHOST1 to SOAHOST2 and from SOAHOST2 to SOAHOST1 respectively through Oracle WebLogic Server Migration feature. See Oracle Fusion Middleware High Availability Guide for information on the WebLogic Server Migration feature.

Physical IPs (non virtual) are fixed to each node:

IP1 is the physical IP of SOAHOST1 and is used by the WLS_WSM1 Web Services Policy Manager server.

IP2 is the physical IP of SOAHOST2 and is used by the WLS_WSM2 WebServices Policy Manager server.

IP3 is the physical IP of WCPHOST1 and is used by all the WebCenter Portal servers (WC_Spaces1, WC_Portlets1, WC_Collaboration1, WC_Utilities1 and ClusterInst1.

IP4 is the physical IP of WCPHOST2 and is used by all the WebCenter Portal servers (WC_Spaces2, WC_Portlets2, WC_Collaboration2, WC_Utilities2 and ClusterInst2.

Figure 3-1 IPs and VIPs Mapped to Administration Server and Managed Servers

IP and VIP mapping to admin and managed servers

Table 3-2 provides descriptions of the various virtual hosts.

Table 3-2 Virtual Hosts

Virtual IP VIP Maps to... Description

VIP1

ADMINVHN

ADMINVHN is the virtual host name that is the listen address for the Administration Server and fails over with manual failover of the Administration Server. It is enabled on the node where the Administration Server process is running (SOAHOST1 by default).

VIP2

SOAHOST1VHN1

SOAHOST1VHN1 is the virtual host name that maps to the listen address for WLS_SOA1 and fails over with server migration of this managed server. It is enabled on the node where WLS_SOA1 process is running (SOAHOST1 by default).

VIP3

SOAHOST2VHN1

SOAHOST2VHN1 is the virtual host name that maps to the listen address for WLS_SOA2 and fails over with server migration of this managed server. It is enabled on the node where WLS_SOA2 process is running (SOAHOST2 by default).

3.5 Enabling Virtual IP Addresses for an Enterprise Deployment

This step is required for failover of the WebLogic Server Administration Server, regardless of whether other Oracle Fusion Middleware components are installed later or not.

You associate an Administration Server with a virtual IP address. This allows the Administration Server to be started on a different host if the primary host fails.

Check that the virtual hosts are enabled as shown in Table 3-3.

Table 3-3 Virtual Hosts

VIP Enabled on Host

ADMINVHN.mycompany.com

SOAHOST1

SOAHOST1VHN1.mycompany.com

SOAHOST1

SOAHOST2VHN1.mycompany.com

SOAHOST2

Note:

This is the DNS name associated with the floating IP address. It is not the DNS name of the virtual host configured on the load balancer.

On Linux:

  1. Run the ifconfig command as root:

    /sbin/ifconfig interface:index IPAddress netmask netmask
/sbin/arping -q -U -c 3 -I interface IPAddress

    Where interface is eth0, or eth1, and index is 0, 1, or 2.

    For example:

    /sbin/ifconfig ethX:Y 100.200.140.206 netmask 255.255.255.0

  2. Enable your network to register the new location of the virtual IP, for example:

    /sbin/arping -q -U -c 3 -I ethX 100.200.140.206

  3. Validate that the address is available by pinging it from another node, for example:

    /bin/ping 100.200.140.206

    In this example ethX is the ethernet interface (eth0 or eth1) and Y is the index (0, 1, 2,).

On Windows:

  1. Run the following command:

    netsh interface ip add address interface IP_Address netmask

    Where IP_Address is the virtual IP address and the netmask is the associated netmask.

    In the following example, the IP address is enabled on the interface Local Area Connection:

    netsh interface ip add address "Local Area connection" 100.200.140.206 255.255.255.0

3.6 Configuring Firewalls and Ports

Many Oracle Fusion Middleware components and services use ports. As an administrator, you must know the port numbers used by these services, and to ensure that the same port number is not used by two services on a host.

Most port numbers are assigned during installation.

Table 3-4 lists the ports used in the WebCenter Portal topology, including the ports that you must open on the firewalls in the topology.

Firewall notation:

  • FW0 refers to the outermost firewall.

  • FW1 refers to the firewall between the web tier and the application tier.

  • FW2 refers to the firewall between the application tier and the data tier.

Note:

The firewall ports depend on the definition of TCP/IP ports.

Table 3-4 Ports Used

Type Firewall Port and Port Range Protocol / Application Inbound / Outbound Other Considerations and Timeout Guidelines

Browser request

FW0

80

HTTP / Load Balancer

Inbound

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for WebCenter Portal.

Browser request

FW0

443

HTTPS / Load Balancer

Inbound

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for WebCenter Portal.

Browser request

FW1

80

HTTPS / Load Balancer

Outbound (for intranet clients)

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for SOA.

Browser request

FW1

443

HTTPS / Load Balancer

Outbound (for intranet clients)

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for SOA.

Callbacks and Outbound invocations

FW1

80

HTTPS / Load Balancer

Outbound

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for SOA.

Callbacks and Outbound invocations

FW1

443

HTTPS / Load Balancer

Outbound

Timeout depends on all HTML content and the type of process model used for SOA.

Load balancer to Oracle HTTP Server

n/a

7777

HTTP

n/a

See Section 3.3, "Configuring the Load Balancers."

OHS registration with Administration Server

FW1

7001

HTTP/t3

Inbound

Set the timeout to a short period (5-10 seconds).

OHS management by Administration Server

FW1

OPMN port (6701) and OHS Admin Port (7779)

TCP and HTTP, respectively

Outbound

Set the timeout to a short period (5-10 seconds).

WSM-PM access

FW1

7010

Range: 7010 - 7999

HTTP / WLS_WSM-PMn

Inbound

Set the timeout to 60 seconds.

Communication between WSM Cluster members

n/a

7010

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

Communication between Spaces_Cluster members

n/a

9000

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

Communication between Portlet_Cluster members

n/a

9001

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

Communication between Collab_Cluster members

n/a

9002

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

Communication between Utilities_Cluster members

n/a

9003

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

WebCenter Content access

FW1

16200

HTTP / WLS_WCCn

Inbound

Browser-based access. Configurable session timeouts.

Communication between WCC_Cluster members

n/a

16200

TCP/IP Unicast

n/a

By default, this communication uses the same port as the server's listen address.

Session replication within a WebLogic Server cluster

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Administration Console access

FW1

7001

HTTP / Administration Server and Enterprise Manager

t3

Both

You should tune this timeout based on the type of access to the admin console (whether it is planned to use the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console from application tier clients or clients external to the application tier).

Node Manager

n/a

5556

TCP/IP

n/a

n/a

For actual values, see "Firewalls and Ports" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle Identity Management.

Access Server access

FW1

6021 (OAM 10g)

5575 (OAM 11g)

OAP

Inbound

For actual values, see "Firewalls and Ports" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle Identity Management.

Identity Server access

FW1

6022

OAP

Inbound

  

Database access

FW2

1521

SQL*Net

Both

Timeout depends on all database content and on the type of process model used for WebCenter Portal.

Oracle Notification Server (ONS)

FW2

6200

ONS

Both

Required for Gridlink. An ONS server runs on each database server.

Oracle Internet Directory access

FW2

389

LDAP

Inbound

You should tune the directory server's parameters based on load balancer, and not the other way around.

Oracle Internet Directory access

FW2

636

LDAP SSL

Inbound

You should tune the directory server's parameters based on load balancer, and not the other way around.

WebCenter Portal access to WebCenter Content Server

FW2

4444

TCP/IP socket

n/a

Persistent connection. Configurable timeout.

WebCenter Portal access to Inbound Refinery

FW2

5555

TCP/IP socket

n/a

n/a

JOC for OWSM

n/a

9991

TCP/IP

n/a

n/a

Coherence for deployment

n/a

8088

Range: 8000 - 8090

  

n/a

n/a