3 WebLogic Server Clusters

A WebLogic Server cluster consists of multiple WebLogic Server server instances running simultaneously and working together to provide increased scalability and reliability.

A cluster appears to clients to be a single WebLogic Server instance. The server instances that constitute a cluster can run on the same machine, or be located on different machines. You can increase a cluster's capacity by adding additional server instances to the cluster on an existing machine, or you can add machines to the cluster to host the incremental server instances. Each server instance in a cluster must run the same version of WebLogic Server.

3.1 Configure clusters

This section describes how to configure clusters. This section includes the following tasks:

3.1.1 Configure general cluster settings

To configure general settings for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select General Settings.

    From the General Settings page you can define the general settings for a cluster, such as:

    • Name

    • Default Load Algorithm

    • Cluster Address

    • Number of Servers in Cluster Address

    • Enable Transaction Affinity

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

    Optionally, expand Advanced to define advanced settings for this cluster.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.2 Configure cluster JTA settings

To configure JTA for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Java Transaction API (JTA).

    From the Java Transaction API (JTA) page you can define the JTA settings for a cluster, such as:

    • Timeout Seconds

    • Abandon Timeout Seconds

    • Before Completion Iteration Limit

    • Max Transactions

    • Max Unique Name Statistics

    • Checkpoint Interval Seconds

    • Forget Heuristics

    • Unregister Resource Grace Period

    • Execute XA Calls in Parallel

    • Enable Two Phase Commit

    • Enable Tightly Coupled Transactions

    • Enable Cluster-Wide Recovery

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

    Optionally, expand Advanced to define advanced settings for this cluster.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.3 Configure cluster messaging

Clusters use messaging for sharing session, load balancing and failover, JMS, and other information between cluster members. Clusters can use either unicast or multicast messaging. Multicast is a simple broadcast technology that enables multiple applications to subscribe to a given IP address and port number and listen for messages, but requires hardware configuration and support. Unicast does not have these requirements.

To configure messaging for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Messaging.

    From the Messaging page, you can define the messaging settings for your cluster, such as:

    • Messaging Mode

    • Unicast Broadcast Channel

    • Multicast Address

    • Multicast Port

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

    Optionally, expand Advanced to define advanced settings for this cluster.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.4 Configure server instances in cluster

To configure server instances in a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Servers.

    From the Servers page, you can define settings for server instances in the cluster, such as:

    • Server Template

    • Maximum Number of Servers

    • Server Name Prefix

    • Enable Calculated Listen Ports

    • Enable Calculated Machine Associations

    • Machine Name Match Expression

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.5 Configure cluster replication

To configure replication for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Replication.

    From the Replication page, you can configure how WebLogic Server will replicate HTTP session state across a cluster, including settings such as:

    • Cross-cluster Replication Type

    • Remote Cluster Address

    • Replication Channel

    • Data Source for Session Persistence

    • Persist Sessions on Shutdown

    • Secure Replication Enabled

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

    Optionally, expand Advanced to define advanced settings for this cluster.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.6 Configure cluster migration

If a clustered server fails, Node Manager can automatically restart the server instance and its services on another machine. You can specify the machines where Node Manager can restart migratable servers and also the data source used during server migration.

To configure server migration in a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Migration.

    From the Migration page, you can specify settings related to cluster migration, such:

    • Candidate Machines for Migratable Servers

    • Migration Basis

    • Data Source for Automatic Migration

    • Auto Migration Table Name

    • Member Death Detector Enabled

    • Member Discovery Timeout

    • Leader Heartbeat Period

    • Additional Migration Attempts

    • Pause Time Between Migration Attempts

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.7 Configure cluster singleton services

This section describes how to configure and control singleton services.

This section includes the following sections:

3.1.7.1 Configure cluster singleton services general settings

To configure general settings for a cluster singleton service:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Singleton Services.

    In the Singleton Services table, select the singleton service you want to configure.

  5. Select Configuration, then select General.

    From the General page, you can define settings for the class associations of this singleton service, such as:

    • Name

    • Class Name

    • Additional Migration Attempts

    • Sleep Time Between Attempts

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  6. Click Save.

3.1.7.2 Configure cluster singleton services migration

To configure migration for a cluster singleton service:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Singleton Services.

    In the Singleton Services table, select the singleton service you want to configure.

  5. Select Configuration, then select Migration.

    From the Migration page, you can define migration settings for this singleton service, such as:

    • Name

    • User Preferred Server

    • Constrained Candidate Servers

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  6. Click Save.

3.1.7.3 Create singleton service notes

To create notes for a singleton service:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Singleton Services.

    In the Singleton Services table, select the singleton service you want to configure.

  5. Select Notes.

  6. On the Notes page, enter your notes.

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  7. Click Save.

3.1.8 Configure cluster job scheduling

Job scheduling makes Java CommonJ timers cluster-aware and provides the ability to execute jobs periodically anywhere in a cluster without dependency on a particular server instance.

To configure job scheduling in a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Scheduling.

    From the Scheduling page, you can define configuration settings that specify how information is shared across servers in a cluster.

  5. In the Data Source for Job Scheduler field, select the data source to use.

  6. In the Job Scheduler Table Name field, enter a table name to use for storing timers active with the job scheduler.

  7. Click Save.

    For more information, see Configuration Options.

3.1.9 Configure cluster overload settings

To configure overload for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Overload.

    From the Overload page, you can configure the cluster-wide defaults that control how WebLogic Server instances in this cluster should react in the case of an overload or failure condition. The settings you can define include:

    • Shared Capacity for Work Managers

    • Failure Action

    • Panic Action

    • Free Memory Percent High Threshold

    • Free Memory Percent Low Threshold

    • Max Stuck Thread Time

    • Stuck Thread Count

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.10 Configure cluster health monitoring

WebLogic Server provides a self-health monitoring capability to improve the reliability and availability of servers in a WebLogic Server domain. Selected subsystems within each server instance monitor their health status based on criteria specific to the subsystem

To configure health monitoring characteristics for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Health Monitoring.

    From the Health Monitoring page, you can configure health monitoring characteristics for this cluster, such as:

    • Inter-Cluster Comm Link Health Check Interval

    • Health Check Interval

    • Health Check Periods Until Fencing

    • Fencing Grace Period

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.11 Configure cluster HTTP settings

To configure HTTP settings for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select HTTP.

    From the HTTP page, you can define the HTTP settings for this cluster, such as:

    • Frontend Host

    • Frontend HTTP Port

    • Frontend HTTPS Port

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.12 Configure cluster Coherence cluster settings

To configure Coherence settings for a cluster:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Coherence.

    From the Coherence page, you can select the Coherence cluster you want to use for this cluster and define settings such as:

    • Local Storage Enabled

    • Coherence Web Local Storage Enabled

    For more information about these fields, see Configuration Options.

  5. Click Save.

3.1.13 Create cluster notes

To create notes for cluster configuration:

  1. From the Welcome Page, select Targets, then select Middleware.

  2. In the Targets table, select your WebLogic domain. If prompted, enter your user credentials to log in to the WebLogic domain.

  3. In the Target Navigation pane, select the cluster you want to configure.

  4. From the WebLogic Cluster menu, select Administration, then select Notes.

  5. On the Notes page, enter your notes.

  6. Click Save.

For more information, see Configuration Options.