WebLogic Server provides failover within MAN and WAN networks. This feature provides more reliability by allowing failover to occur across a larger geographic area. It also provides failover across multiple WebLogic Server domains.
To provide failover within a MAN/WAN environment, you must use hardware load balancers. This document outlines the procedures for configuring Radware hardware load balancers to work with WebLogic Server.
For information on configuring WebLogic Server to use MAN/WAN, see Session State Replication Across Clusters. For information on configuring Radware hardware load balancers, see www.Radware.com.
The following sections describe how to configure Radware hardware load balancers:
Before performing the procedures described in this appendix, ensure that you have performed the following:
Installed and configured your WebLogic Server environment. This includes creating and configuring clusters and Managed Servers.
Installed and configured at least two Radware Web Server Director load balancers. This is the minimum hardware requirement for using Radware devices within a MAN/WAN environment. At least one of these must be configured as a global load balancer
Ensured that your network and DNS are configured correctly
Once these requirements are met, use the following procedures to configure your load balancers to work within a MAN/WAN environment.
The first step in configuring Web Server Director is to create an Authoritative Delegation Zone within the local DNS. To do this, perform the following using the Radware administration utility:
Click on the name of your local DNS.
Click New Delegation.
Enter a name for the new delegation zone
Add the IP address for each Radware device
Web Server Director balances load among servers within a server farm. Clients access a server using a virtual IP address. Web Server Director directs traffic from this virtual IP address to the appropriate server. The following sections describe how to create and configure server farm virtual IPs.
To create a farm IP, perform the following using the Radware administration utility:
Select WSD.
Select Farms.
Select Farm Table.
Click Create a Farm.
Enter an IP address and DNS alias for the farm.
Ensure that Admin Status is enabled.
Click Set.
To configure the dispatch method for the server farm, perform the following procedures using the Radware configuration utility:
Select WSD.
Select Farms.
Select Farm Table.
Select the farm you want to configure
In the Farm Properties window, select the menu next to Dispatch Method
Select the desired algorithm
Click Set.
Use the following procedures to configure port multiplexing:
Select WSD.
Select Farms.
Select Farm Table.
Select the farm you want to configure.
In the Properties window, enter a value in the Multiplexed Port field.
Select WSD.
Select Servers.
Select Application Servers.
For each local server, select the server from the table and enter the application port in the Multiplexed Server Port field.
Click Set.
You must configure HTTP redirects in order to configure global load balancers to work within a MAN/WAN environment. HTTP redirects ensure proper distribution of traffic across Web Server Director devices.
To configure HTTP redirect, perform the following procedures using the Radware administration utility:
Select WSD.
Select Farms.
Select Farm Table.
Select the farm that you want to configure.
Select HTTP Redirection in the Redirection Mode section.
Select HTTP Redirection in the DNS Redirection Fallback section.
Click Set.
Select WSD.
Select Servers.
Select Application Servers.
Select the server in the farm that represents the distributed farm on the remote WSD
Server persistence is based on HTTP session IDs. Web Server Director inspects incoming traffic to a farm, then selects the appropriate server based on session information in the HTTP header. To configure session ID persistency, perform the following procedures using the Radware administration utility:
Select WSD.
Select L7 Load Balancing.
Select Session Persistency.
Click Create.
Select the farm you want to configure.
Set the application port of your farm.
Set Persistency Identification to JESESSIONID.
Set Value Offset to 53.
Set Stop Chars to :!.
Set Inactivity Timeout to the value of your session time-out.
Configuring the LRP component ensures that traffic is correctly distributed to remote locations. To configure LRP, perform the following:
Select WSD.
Select Distributed Systems.
Select Report Configuration.
Click Create Distributed Farm Address.
Set Distributed Farm Address to the remote farm IP address.
Set Remote WSD Address to the IP address of the second Radware device.
Click Set.
After you have configured your Radware devices, you must configure WebLogic Server to use MAN/WAN failover. For information on configuring WebLogic Server to use MAN/WAN, see Session State Replication Across Clusters in a MAN/WAN.