Load Balancing Siebel Application Interface by Configuring the workers.properties File

This task is part of Customizing the Application Container for Siebel Application Interface.

This topic describes the initial configuration of the workers.properties file for load balancing Siebel Application Interface.

A load balancer acts as a reverse proxy and distributes network or application traffic across a list of available of servers. It works as a middleman between the client and the servers by accepting requests from clients and distributing the requests to the back-end servers based on the configured parameters. The mod_jk module of Apache HTTPd Server load balances Apache Tomcat servers and connects Apache Tomcat with Web servers using an AJP connector.

For more information about planning and managing load balancing for your deployment, see Siebel Deployment Planning Guide and Siebel System Administration Guide.

It's recommended that optimal usage of Siebel user session connections is maintained on Apache Tomcat.

To configure load balancing for Siebel Application Interface

1. Download and install the version of Apache HTTPd Server you want to install from the following location:

   http://tomcat.apache.org/

   For more information about installing Apache HTTPd Server, see Apache Tomcat documentation.

2. To configure the Listen port, go to the HTTPDRootDir directory and do the following:

   1. Using any text editor, open the httpd.conf file on the Web server.

   2. Locate the Listen section and add the HTTP port number:

      Listen port

   3. Save the httpd.conf file.

   4. Start Apache HTTPd Server.

   5. To check if Apache HTTPd Server is running, open a Web browser and enter the following URL:

      http://hostip:port

3. Download the Apache mod_jk module from the following location: http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

4. Save the mod_jk.so file and then place it in the HTTPDRootDir directory.

5. Create the following properties and log files:

   1. Create the workers.properties file and then place it in the HTTPDRootDir directory.

   2. Create the mod_jk.log file and then place it in the HTTPDRootDir directory.

6. Modify the httpd.conf file, as follows:

   1. Add a Load statement to load the mod_jk.so file, as follows:

      # Load the mod_jk module
      LoadModule jk_module modules/mod_jk.so

   2. Add an IF statement to define the commands to be executed once the module is loaded, as follows:

      #Declare the module for use with the <IfModule directive> element.
      <IfModule jk_module>
        JkWorkersFile conf/workers.properties
        JkLogFile logs/mod_jk.log
        JkLogStampFormat "[%b %d %Y - %H:%M:%S] "
        JkRequestLogFormat "%w %V %T"
        JkLogLevel trace
        JkMount /* loadbalancer
        JkMount /Jkmanager status
      <IfModule>

   3. Save and close the httpd.conf file.

7. Define the list of Apache Tomcat workers that can accept requests by adding the following configuration to the workers.properties file:

   # Define workers
   worker.list=loadbalancer,status

   # Set properties for worker1
   worker.javacontainer1.type=ajp13
   worker.javacontainer1.host=<hostip>
   worker.javacontainer1.port=<ajportnumber>
   worker.javacontainer1.lbfactor=1
   worker.javacontainer 1.socket_keepalive=1
   worker.javacontainer1.socket_timeout=300

   # Set properties for worker2
   worker.javacontainer2.type=ajp13
   worker.javacontainer2.host=<hostip>
   worker.javacontainer2.port=<ajportnumber>
   worker.javacontainer2.lbfactor=1
   worker.javacontainer2.socket_keepalive=1
   worker.javacontainer2.socket_timeout=300

   # Set properties for loadbalancer
   worker.loadbalancer.type=lb 
   worker.loadbalancer.balance_workers=javacontainer1,javacontainer2

   # Get statistics
   worker.status.type=status

   Note: For the worker.workername property, the workername must be same as the JVMRoute name defined in the Apache Tomcat server.xml file, and it must be unique across all Tomcat nodes being load balanced. Where tomcat1 and tomcat2 are load balanced and each has javacontainer1,javacontainer2 as the value for JVMRoute in server.xml, the workers.properties file for both tomcat1 and tomcat2 must have parameters worker.javacontainer1 and worker.javacontainer2.

8. Test the server by submitting an REST API request similar to the following example:

   http://hostip:port/siebel/v1.0/data/Account/Account/88-431RF

Related Books

Siebel REST API Guide