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 components that provide this capability; reverse-proxy web servers or load balancers. You may deploy web servers in the infrastructure if necessary but Agile PLM requires that a load-balancer with a cookie persistence feature be present in the infrastructure to distribute load, manage failover and enforce session persistence.

5.2 Installation Overview

Install and start the database.
Install JDK for application server(s).
Install Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure (includes WebLogic Server) on each machine that will host an Administration or Managed server.
Install Agile PLM application components: Administration server, Managed server(s) and file manager.

5.3 Installing Agile PLM in a Cluster

The Agile PLM application server component requires that Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure 12.1.3, which includes Oracle WebLogic Server, be installed before running the Agile PLM installer.

Please see "Installing Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure" to install the required software on each server. The installation process is the same for a cluster or standalone setup.

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

5.4 Installing Agile PLM Administration and Managed Servers

A WebLogic Server cluster typically consists of one Administration server and at least one (often two) or more Managed servers. The Administration server in a WebLogic cluster owns and manages the configuration and the Managed server(s) run the application. The Administration server and one or more Managed servers can be installed on the same machine. A typical two-machine configuration has the Administration and one or more Managed servers on one machine and one or more Managed servers on the second machine. This configuration can insulate the application from hardware failure if the two machines do not share any resources. Also multiple managed servers can be added to each machine to scale the application to the limits of the available hardware, like CPU and memory.

Install the Agile Application Server component 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.

The Agile PLM installer supports installation of zero or one administration server and zero, one or two managed servers on the same machine in a single Agile home.

Note:

When installing the Agile PLM application server component, you must select the same JDK used to install Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure software.

Note:

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.

5.5 Setting Up a Cluster

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

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

The necessary files are installed on the 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 is installed on each managed server machine, and each instance includes the managed server startup script, which contains the administration server name.

5.5.1 Starting the WebLogic Administration Server

Note:

If you are using the AutoVue Server, you should 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:

Copy the security folder from the Agile_Home\agileDomain directory on the Administration Server to the Agile_Home\agileDomain directory on any machines containing only Managed servers.
Copy the boot.properties file from Agile_Home\agileDomain\config folder on the Administration Server to the Agile_Home\agileDomain\config folder on any machines containing only Managed servers.
Go to the Agile_Home\agileDomain\bin folder on the machine where the Administration Server is installed.
Run the startServerAgileAdmin script.

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

5.5.2 Adding Managed Servers to the Cluster

To add WebLogic managed servers to the cluster:

Go to the AGILE_HOME\agileDomain\bin directory and run the addManagedServer script for each managed server:

addManagedServer.cmd ManagedServer# <Hostname> <Port>

5.6 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 startAgileManagedServer1 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 startAgileManagedServer1 and startAgileManagedServer2.