5 Configuring an Application Server Cluster

5.1 About Agile Application Server Clusters

Agile takes advantage of clustering capability provided by the application server. A cluster is a group of servers that work together to provide a more scalable, more reliable application than a single server. A cluster appears to its clients as a single server, but is actually a group of servers acting as one. A cluster provides two key advantages over a single server:

• Scalability: The capacity of a cluster is not limited to a single server or a single machine. New servers can be added to the cluster dynamically to increase capacity. If more hardware is needed, a new server on a new machine can be added. If a single server cannot fully utilize an existing machine, additional servers can be added to that machine.

• Redundancy: A cluster uses the redundancy of multiple servers to insulate clients from failures. The same service can be provided on multiple servers in the cluster. If one server fails, the surviving members can continue to serve the application. The ability to fail over from a failed server to a functioning server can increase the availability of the application to clients.

Traffic to multiple application servers needs to be managed or balanced by some device in-between the server cluster and the clients. There are two main components that provide this capability; reverse-proxy web servers or load balancers.

5.2 Installing WebLogic Server in a Cluster

The Agile PLM 9.3.3 application server requires Oracle WebLogic Server 12c, which must be installed on the administration and managed server machines before Agile PLM 9.3.3 is installed.

Please see the Oracle WebLogic Server installation documentation before installing the server software.

After Oracle WebLogic Server is installed, you can install the Agile Application Server component using the Agile PLM installer.

5.3 Installing Agile PLM on the Administration and Managed Servers

Install the Agile Application Server on each server by starting the Agile PLM installer and following the instructions in online help. Make sure you select Advanced Mode as the Installation Mode and Cluster Installation as the Installation Type. The installation directory should be the same on all of the servers in the cluster.

You can select and install an administration server and multiple managed servers on the same machine in a single installation.

Note: When installing the Agile PLM application server component, you must select the same JDK used to install the WebLogic Server software. If you are using the AutoVue Server, you must install the AutoVue client libraries before starting and deploying the application server and file managers. See the AutoVue for Agile PLM Installation and User Guide for instructions.

5.4 Setting Up a WebLogic Cluster

A WebLogic Server cluster is a group of WebLogic servers that work together to provide a scalable, more reliable application platform than a single server. A typical cluster configuration contains one WebLogic administration server and two or more WebLogic managed servers. All WebLogic servers should be located in the same subnet to ensure the unicast messages are reliably transmitted.

The following are indications that the Agile PLM 9.3.3 installer has performed successfully:

• The necessary files are installed on the WebLogic Administration server only.

Note: Some files, such as application.ear, are installed on the WebLogic Administration server only.

• The config.xml file is populated with the cluster name.

• Agile PLM 9.3.3 is installed on each managed server machine, and each instance includes the managed server startup script, which contains the administration server name.

The cluster setup process includes configuring each WebLogic managed servers in the cluster, adding them to the cluster, and configuring JMS resources.

5.4.1 Starting the WebLogic Administration Server

Note: If you are using the AutoVue Server, you must install the AutoVue client libraries before starting and deploying the application server. See the AutoVue for Agile PLM Installation and User Guide for instructions.

To start the WebLogic Administration Server, go to the AGILE_HOME\agileDomain\bin folder on the machine where the Administration Server is installed and run the startServerAgileAdmin script.

If installing as a Windows Service, you may start the server using the Windows Service Manager.

5.4.2 Adding Managed Servers to the Cluster

To add WebLogic managed servers to the cluster:

1. Open the Administration console with the following URL in your web browser:

   http://<AdminServerName>:<WLS_port_number>/console

   
   

   Important: This URL should be protected to prevent access from other users.

   
   

   The default user login is superadmin, and the password is the password you supplied for the superadmin user in the Password Management panel during installation.

2. Click the Lock and Edit button.

3. On the left pane, click agileDomain > Environment > Clusters.

4. On the Summary of Clusters page, click AgileCluster.

5. For the Default Load Algorithm option, confirm that round-robin-affinity is selected.

6. Click Save.

7. On the left pane, click agileDomain > Environment > Servers.

8. On the Summary of Servers page, click New to add a managed server.

9. Enter the name, listen address, and server listen port of the managed server in the appropriate box, then select Yes, make this server a member of an existing cluster.

10. Click Finish.

11. Select the newly added managed server.

12. Click the Tuning tab.

13. On the Tuning tab, change the Stuck Thread Max Time value to 1200 and the Stuck Thread Timer Interval value to 120.

14. Click Save.

15. Repeat this process to add all managed servers. All managed servers are listed on the Summary of Servers page.

16. On the left pane, click agileDomain > Environment > Clusters.

17. Select AgileCluster on the Summary of Clusters page.

18. On the General tab, enter the cluster address. The cluster address is a comma-separated list of the IP addresses of all the managed servers.

19. Click Save.

20. On the left pane, click Activate Changes.

    
    

    Note: You must configure a standalone JMS or distributed JMS for your cluster, based on your requirements.

    
    

5.4.3 Configuring a Standalone JMS

To configure a standalone JMS server:

1. Open the Administration console with the following URL in your web browser:

   http://<AdminServerName>:<WLS_port_number>/console

   
   

   Important: This URL should be protected to prevent access from other users.

   
   

   The default user login is superadmin, and the password is the password you supplied for the superadmin user in the Password Management panel during installation.

2. Click the Lock and Edit button.

3. In the left pane, click Services > Messaging > JMS Servers.

4. Select AgileJMSServer.

5. On the Target tab, select the managed server, then click Save.

6. On the left pane, click the Activate Changes button.

5.4.4 Configuring a Distributed JMS Cluster

In Agile PLM, a WebLogic cluster has one JMS server on each managed server. The JMS queues and topics are configured as distributed destinations on each JMS server hosting a member of the destination. This configuration facilitates JMS load balancing and failover support for the cluster.

To configure a distributed JMS cluster:

1. Start the WebLogic administration server and log in to the Administration Console:

   http://<AdminServerName>:<WLS_port_number>/console

   
   

   Note: This URL should be protected to prevent access from other users.

   
   

   The default user login is superadmin, and the password is the password you supplied for the superadmin user in the Password Management panel during installation.

2. Click Lock and Edit.

3. On the left pane, click Services > Messaging > JMS Servers.

   
   

   Note: Make sure AgileJMSServer is empty and has not been previously configured as a standalone JMS server.

   
   

4. On the Summary of JMS Servers page, click New.

5. Type a unique name for the new JMS Server in the Name field and then click Next.

6. Choose one of the managed servers as the target on which you would deploy the JMS Server.

7. Click Finish.

8. Repeat this process for all managed servers. You can find all of the newly created JMS Servers on the Summary of JMS Servers page.

9. On the left pane, click Services > Messaging > JMS Modules to set the targets for the cluster-jms module.

10. Click cluster-jms on the JMS Modules page.

11. On the Targets tab, select AgileCluster.

12. On the Subdeployments tab, click DistributedAgileJMS.

13. On the Settings for DistributedAgileJMS page, select the newly created JMS Servers.

14. Click Save.

15. On the left pane, click Activate Changes.

5.5 Configuring the jndiurl.properties File

To configure the jndiurl.properties file:

1. Stop the Web proxy server.

2. Stop all of the managed servers in the cluster.

3. Stop the WebLogic Administration Server.

4. Run the ExtractConfigFiles script to extract the jndiurl.properties file from the application.ear file.

   AGILE_HOME\install\bin\ExtractConfigFiles

5. On the WebLogic Administration Server, open the following file in a text editor:

   AGILE_HOME\agiledomain\application\application.ear\APP-INF\classes\jndiurl.properties

6. Add all of the managed server URLs to the file in the following format:

   server1=t3://<managed_server1_hostname>.<domain>:<port>

   where

   <managed_server1_hostname> is the hostname of the managed servers.

   <domain> is the fully qualified domain name.

   <port> is the t3 port number (default port:7001).

7. Save the jndiurl.properties file.

8. Run the RepackConfigFiles script to replace the jndiurl.properties file in the application.ear file.

   \AGILE_HOME\install\bin\RepackConfigFiles

9. Start the WebLogic Administration Server.

10. Start all of the managed servers in the cluster.

11. Start the Web proxy server.

5.6 Configuring the Load Balancer

A load balancer is deployed to balance user load across a cluster. When external users need access to Agile, this device may be deployed in the DMZ. Load balancers can be used with the Java and Web clients.

To configure a load balancer:

• With cookie-persistence enabled, configure two virtual IP addresses, one for the application server web client (port 7001, by default) and one for the File Manager (port 8080, by default).

• Set the load balancer policy to round-robin.

To access the system after you have configured the load balancer, use an alias for the virtual IP address of the load balancer in the Agile Web and Java client URLs. The following URL is an example:

http://loadbalancer.mydomain.com/Agile/PLMServlet

5.7 Starting the Managed Servers

To start the managed servers, go to the AGILE_HOME\agileDomain\bin folder on each machine where a managed server is installed and run the startServerAgileManaged1 script.

If installing as a Windows Service, you may start the servers using the Windows Service Manager.

Note: If you have installed multiple managed servers on one machine, managed server scripts are named and numbered for each managed server, such as startServerAgileManaged1 and startServerAgileManaged2.