12 Extending the Domain with Oracle Traffic Director

When configuring the Web tier, you have the option of using Oracle Traffic Director to route requests to the application tier, rather than Oracle HTTP Server. The procedure for configuring Oracle Traffic Director is different than the procedure for configuring Oracle HTTP Server. If you decide to use Oracle Traffic Director, then you must install Oracle Traffic Director on both the Web tier hosts and the Application Tier hosts. Then, you extend the enterprise deployment domain to include Oracle Traffic Director.

Before you configure Oracle Traffic Director, be sure to review Understanding the Web Tier.

Note:

If you plan to configure Oracle Managed File Transfer, then you must configure Oracle Traffic Director to route FTP and SFTP requests over TCP. For more information, see Configuring Oracle Managed File Transfer in an Enterprise Deployment.

12.1 About Oracle Traffic Director

Oracle Traffic Director is a software load balancer for load balancing HTTP/S and TCP traffic to application tier. The application-tier servers that receive the requests from Oracle Traffic Director are referred to as Oracle Traffic Director origin servers. Origin servers can be application servers, Web servers, Oracle Managed File Transfer, LDAP directory servers, MLLP servers, or any type of TCP server.

Starting with Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1), in addition to being available for use with the engineered systems (Oracle Exalogic running either Oracle Linux or Oracle Solaris or Oracle SuperCluster running Oracle Solaris), Oracle Traffic Director is available for customers with the Oracle WebLogic Server Multi-tenancy or Oracle WebLogic Server Continuous Availability add-on options.

For more information, see Getting Started with Oracle Traffic Director in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle Traffic Director.

12.2 About Oracle Traffic Director in an Enterprise Deployment

Oracle Traffic Director can be used as an alternative to Oracle HTTP Server on the Web tier. Like Oracle HTTP Server, it can route HTTP requests from the front-end load balancer to the application-tier WebLogic Managed Servers. However, only Oracle Traffic Director provides TCP load balancing and failover.

If you are configuring Managed File Transfer (which requires the routing and load balancing of the SFTP requests), then you must use Oracle Traffic Director.

In a enterprise deployment, you install Oracle Traffic Director on both the Web tier hosts and the Application Tier hosts, because Oracle Traffic Director is added to the domain in the application-tier hosts, for system management purposes.

On each Application Tier host, you install Oracle Traffic Director in collocated mode, in the same Oracle home where you installed the application tier software.

On each Web Tier host, you install Oracle Traffic Director in standalone mode.

You then use the Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard to extend the application-tier domain to include the Oracle Traffic Director system components. This allows the Oracle Traffic Director components to be managed by the same Administration Server that is used to control the Managed Servers in the domain.

The following topics provide specific instructions for using the Oracle Traffic Director configuration required for Managed File Transfer. However, the procedures in these topics can be used to configure Oracle Traffic Director as the Web tier for other components in the enterprise deployment topology.

12.3 Variables Used When Configuring Oracle Traffic Director

The procedures for installing and configuring Oracle Traffic Director reference use a series of variables that you can replace with the actual values used in your environment.

The following directory location variables are used in these procedures:

  • WEB_ORACLE_HOME

  • ASERVER_HOME

  • MSERVER_HOME

  • WEB_DOMAIN_HOME

  • JAVA_HOME

  • NM_HOME

For more information, see File System and Directory Variables Used in This Guide.

In addition, you'll be referencing the following virtual IP (VIP) address defined in Reserving the Required IP Addresses for an Enterprise Deployment:

  • ADMINVHN

Actions in this chapter will be performed on the following host computers:

  • APPHOST1

  • APPHOST2

  • WEBHOST1

  • WEBHOST2

Note:

Note that for this chapter, APPHOST1 and APPHOST2 provide a more generic variable for the application tier hosts. This is because, depending upon the domain you are creating, the host name variable will vary.

For example, if you are configuring Oracle Traffic Director for an Oracle SOA Suite domain, APPHOST1 is the same as SOAHOST1. However, if you are configuring Oracle Traffic Director for an Oracle Managed File Transfer domain, which is typically configured in its own domain, then APPHOST1 is the same as MFTHOST1.

12.4 Installing Oracle Traffic Director in Collocated Mode on the Application Tier Hosts

You can install Oracle Traffic Director by using an interactive graphical wizard provided by the Oracle Universal Installer. To configure Oracle Traffic Director for high availability, perform the steps on two mount points.

12.4.1 Starting the Oracle Traffic Director Installer

To start the installation program:

  1. Go to the directory in which you downloaded the installer.
  2. Run the following command to launch the installation wizard:
    • On Linux

      fmw_12.2.1.1.0_otd_linux64.bin
      

When the installation program appears, you are ready to begin the installation.

12.4.2 Navigating the Oracle Traffic Director Installation Screens (Collocated)

The following table describes how to use the installer screens to install Oracle Traffic Director in colocated mode on the first application tier host.

If you need additional help with any of the installation screens, click the screen name.

Screen Description

Welcome

This screen introduces you to the product installer.

Click Next.

Installation Inventory Setup

On UNIX operating systems, this screen will appear if this is the first time you are installing any Oracle product on this host. Specify the location where you want to create your central inventory. Make sure that the operating system group name selected on this screen has write permissions to the central inventory location.

For more information about the central inventory, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer in Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

Auto Updates

Select whether or not you want to receive automatic updates for this product.

Installation Location

Enter the path to the existing application tier Oracle home.

Note that run-time processes cannot write to this directory.

For the purposes of this enterprise deployment, enter the value of the ORACLE_HOME variable listed in Table 7-2.

Installation Type

Use this screen to select the type of installation and consequently, the products and feature sets you want to install.

  • Select Collocated OTD (Managed through WebLogic server).

Prerequisite Checks

The installer analyzes the host computer to ensure that the prerequisites are fulfilled. The results of the prerequisite checks are displayed on this screen.

If a prerequisite check fails, an error or warning message is displayed.
  • Fix the error and click Rerun. For example, if any of the required packages listed in Prerequisites for Installing Oracle Traffic Director are not available in the system, install them.

  • To ignore the error or warning and continue with the installation, click Skip.

  • To stop the prerequisite checking process, click Stop.

Click Next to continue.

Specify Security Updates

If you already have an Oracle Support account, use this screen to indicate how you would like to receive security updates.

If you do not have one and are sure you want to skip this step, clear the check box and verify your selection in the follow-up dialog box.

Installation Summary

This screen displays the Oracle home directory that you specified earlier. It also indicates the amount of disk space that will be used for the installation and the free space available.

Review information on this screen.

To save the settings specified so far in the installation wizard in a text file (called a response file), click Save. If necessary, you can use the response file to perform the same installation from the command line.

Click Install to begin the installation.

For more information about silent or command line installation, see "Using the Oracle Universal Installer in Silent Mode" in Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

Installation Progress

This screen shows the progress and status of the installation process.

If you want to cancel the installation, click Cancel. The files that were copied to your system before you canceled the installation will remain on the system; you should remove them manually.

Click Next to continue.

Installation Complete

Click Finish.

12.4.3 Verifying the Installation on the Application Tier Hosts

After you complete the installation and the post-installation steps, verify that the Oracle home directory (ORACLE_HOME/otd) contains the following directories:

common
lib
plugins

12.5 Installing Oracle Traffic Director in Standalone Mode on the Web Tier Hosts

You can install Oracle Traffic Director by using an interactive graphical wizard provided by the Oracle Universal Installer. This standalone installation is performed on the two WEBHOST systems that is used in enterprise deployment.

Note:

For an improved footprint and to optimize startup, only core adapters are targeted to the SOA cluster (MFT Cluster if you are configuring MFT) after the Configuration Wizard session. You must target the following second-tier adapters manually, if needed:

  • MSMQAdapter

  • SocketAdapter

  • OracleBamAdapter

  • CoherenceAdapter

  • SAPAdapter

  • SiebelAdapter

  • ERPAdapter

  • Oracle SalesCloudAdapter

  • RightNowAdapter

  • EloquaAdapter

  • NetSuiteAdapter

For instructions for targeting adapters manually, see Targeting Adapters Manually.

12.5.1 Starting the Oracle Traffic Director Installer

To start the installation program:

  1. Go to the directory in which you downloaded the installer.
  2. Run the following command to launch the installation wizard:
    • On Linux

      fmw_12.2.1.1.0_otd_linux64.bin
      

When the installation program appears, you are ready to begin the installation.

12.5.2 Navigating the Oracle Traffic Director Installation Screens (Standalone)

The installation program displays a series of screens, in the order listed in the following table.

If you need additional help with any of the installation screens, click the screen name.

Screen Description

Installation Inventory Setup

On UNIX operating systems, this screen will appear if this is the first time you are installing any Oracle product on this host. Specify the location where you want to create your central inventory. Make sure that the operating system group name selected on this screen has write permissions to the central inventory location.

For more information about the central inventory, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

Welcome

Click Next.

Auto Updates

Select whether or not you want to receive automatic updates for this product.

Installation Location

Use this screen to specify the location of your Oracle home directory.

Oracle home is the directory in which software binaries for Oracle products are stored. Note that run-time processes cannot write to this directory. For the purposes of an enterprise deployment, enter the value of the WEB_ORACLE_HOME variable listed in Table 7-3.

Installation Type

Use this screen to select the type of installation and consequently, the products and feature sets you want to install.

  • Select Standalone OTD (Managed independently of WebLogic server).

Prerequisite Checks

The installer analyzes the host computer to ensure that the prerequisites are fulfilled. The results of the prerequisite checks are displayed on this screen.

If a prerequisite check fails, an error or warning message is displayed.

  • Fix the error and click Rerun. For example, if any of the required packages listed in Prerequisites for Installing Oracle Traffic Director are not available in the system, install them.

  • To ignore the error or warning and continue with the installation, click Skip.

  • To stop the prerequisite checking process, click Stop.

Click Next to continue.

Specify Security Updates

If you already have an Oracle Support account, use this screen to indicate how you would like to receive security updates.

If you do not have one and are sure you want to skip this step, clear the check box and verify your selection in the follow-up dialog box.

Installation Summary

This screen displays the Oracle home directory that you specified earlier. It also indicates the amount of disk space that will be used for the installation and the free space available.

Review information on this screen.

To save the settings specified so far in the installation wizard in a text file (called a response file), click Save. If necessary, you can use the response file to perform the same installation from the command line.

Click Install to begin the installation.

For more information about silent or command line installation, see "Using the Oracle Universal Installer in Silent Mode" in Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

Installation Progress

This screen shows the progress and status of the installation process.

If you want to cancel the installation, click Cancel. The files that were copied to your system before you canceled the installation will remain on the system; you should remove them manually.

Click Next to continue.

Installation Complete

Click Finish.

12.5.3 Verifying the installation on the Web Tier Hosts

After you complete the installation and the post-installation steps, verify that the Oracle home directory contains the following directories:

bin
cfgtoollogs
crs
css
has
install
inventory
jlib
ldap
lib
network
nls
OPatch
oracle_common
oracore
oraInst.loc
otd
oui
plsql
plugins
precomp
rdbms
slax
sqlplus
srvm
webgate
wlserver
xdk

12.5.4 Targeting Adapters Manually

Only core adapters are targeted to the SOA cluster after you run the Configuration Wizard. You must target second-tier adapters manually, on a need basis.

To target a second-tier adapter manually:

  1. Navigate to and log into the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console. For example: http://ADMINVHN:7001/console.
  2. In the left pane of the console, click Deployments.
  3. Locate and click the name of the adapter in the Summary of the Deployments table.
  4. Click Lock & Edit.
  5. In the Targets tab, select SOA_Cluster.

    Note:

    If you are deploying MFT, select MFT_Cluster as the target.

  6. Click Save.
  7. Activate the changes.
  8. In the left pane of the console, click Deployments and verify that the adapter is in the Active state.

12.6 Extending the Domain with Oracle Traffic Director System Components

You need to perform certain tasks in order to extend the enterprise deployment domain with the Oracle Traffic Director software.

12.6.1 Starting the Configuration Wizard

To start the Configuration Wizard, navigate to the following directory and start the WebLogic Server Configuration Wizard:
cd WEB_ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/common/bin
./config.sh

12.6.2 Navigating the Configuration Wizard Screens to Extend the Domain

After you start the Configuration Wizard, you can follow the instructions on the screen to provide the information required to extend the existing domain.

12.6.2.1 Selecting the Domain Type and Domain Location

To select the domain type and domain location:

  1. On the Configuration Type screen, select Update an existing domain.
  2. In the Domain Location field, enter the value assigned to the ASERVER_HOME variable.

Note:

12.6.2.2 Selecting the Configuration Templates for Oracle Traffic Director

To select the configuration templates:

  1. On the Templates screen, select Oracle Traffic Director - 12.2.1.1.0 [otd].

Tip:

More information about the options on this screen can be found in Templates in Creating WebLogic Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

12.6.2.3 Selecting Advanced Configuration Options

To complete the domain configuration for the topology, select the following option on the Advanced Configuration screen:

  • System Components

12.6.2.4 Adding System Components for Oracle Traffic Director

On the System Components screen, click Next.

It is not necessary to configure the system components in the configuration wizard. For instructions on how to create the Oracle Traffic Director instances required for the enterprise deployment, see Starting the Oracle Traffic Director Instances.

12.6.2.5 Creating WebLogic Server Machines for Oracle Traffic Director

Use the Machines screen to create three new machines in the domain. A machine is required in order for the Node Manager to be able to start and stop the servers.

  1. Select the Unix Machine tab.
  2. Click the Add button to create two new Unix machines, one for each OTD instances.
  3. Specify WebHOSTn in the Node Manger Listen Address field and 556 in the Node Manager Listen Port field, for each machine.

12.6.2.6 Configuring Virtual Targets

Do not enter any values. Click Next to continue.

12.6.2.7 Configuring Partitions

Do not enter any values. Click Next to continue.

12.6.2.8 Reviewing Your Configuration Specifications and Configuring the Domain

The Configuration Summary screen contains the detailed configuration information for the domain you are about to create. Review the details of each item on the screen and verify that the information is correct.

You can go back to any previous screen if you need to make any changes, either by using the Back button or by selecting the screen in the navigation pane.

Domain creation will not begin until you click Update.

Tip:

More information about the options on this screen can be found in Configuration Summary in Creating WebLogic Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

12.6.2.9 Writing Down Your Domain Home and Administration Server URL

The Configuration Success screen will show the following items about the domain you just configured:

  • Domain Location

  • Administration Server URL

You must make a note of both items as you will need them later; the domain location is needed to access the scripts used to start the Administration Server.

Click Finish to dismiss the configuration wizard.

12.7 Propagating the Domain and Starting the Node Manager on the Web Tier Hosts

After you have installed Oracle Traffic Director on the application tier hosts and you have extended the domain with Oracle Traffic Director system components, you can then copy the domain configuration to the hosts on the Web tier and configure the Node Manager.

12.7.1 Packing Up the Domain on the Application Tier

Use the following steps to create a template JAR file that contains the domain configuration information:

  1. Log in to APPHOST1, and run the pack command to create a template JAR file as follows:
    cd ORACLE_COMMON_HOME/common/bin
     
    ./pack.sh -managed=true 
              -domain=ASERVER_HOME 
              -template=full_path/soadomaintemplate.jar
              -template_name=extend_otd_template
    

    In this example:

    • Replace ASERVER_HOME with the actual path to the domain directory you created on the shared storage device.

    • Replace full_path with the complete path to the directory where you want the template jar file saved.

    • extend_otd_template is a sample name for the JAR file you are creating, which will contain the domain configuration files, including the configuration files for the Oracle HTTP Server instances.

    • extend_otd_template is the name assigned to the domain template file.

    • You must specify a full path for the template jar file as part of the -template argument to the pack command.

  2. Make a note of the location of the template JAR file you just created with the pack command.

    Tip:

    For more information about the pack and unpack commands, see Overview of the Pack and Unpack Commands in Creating Templates and Domains Using the Pack and Unpack Commands.

  3. Copy the template JAR file to a location available to the Web tier hosts.

12.7.2 Unpacking the Domain Configuration on the Web Tier Hosts

Use the following procedure to copy the Oracle Traffic Directory domain configuration information to the Web Tier hosts.
  1. Log in to WEBHOST1.
  2. If you haven't already, create the recommended directory structure for the Managed Server domain on the WEBHOST1 storage device.
  3. Make sure the template JAR file you created with the pack command is accessible to WEBHOST1.
  4. Run the unpack command to unpack the template in the domain directory onto the local storage, as follows:
    cd ORACLE_COMMON_HOME/common/bin
    
    ./unpack.sh -domain=MSERVER_HOME
                -overwrite_domain=true
                -template=complete_path/extend_otd_template.jar 
                -log_priority=DEBUG
                -log=/tmp/unpack.log
                -app_dir=APPLICATION_HOME
    

    In this example:

    • Replace MSERVER_HOME with the complete path to the domain home to be created on the local storage disk. This is the location where the copy of the domain will be unpacked.

    • Replace complete_path with the complete path to the domain template jar file that you created when you ran the pack command to pack up the domain on the shared storage device.

    • Replace APPLICATION_HOME with the complete path to the Application directory for the domain on shared storage. For more information, see File System and Directory Variables Used in This Guide.

    Tip:

    For more information about the pack and unpack commands, see Overview of the Pack and Unpack Commands in Creating Templates and Domains Using the Pack and Unpack Commands.

  5. Change directory to the newly created MSERVER_HOME directory and verify that the domain configuration files were copied to the correct location on the WEBHOST1 local storage device.
  6. Repeat the unpack steps on WEBHOST2.

12.7.3 Configuring and Starting Node Manager on the Web Tier Hosts

Oracle Traffic Director runs alone in the Web tier hosts, and therefore, it is not necessary to create a per node Node Manager for each Web tier host. Instead, Oracle Traffic Director nodes use the default per domain Node Manager.

Oracle also recommends that you use the SSL Node Manager in the DMZ for security reasons.

To create the required Node Manager configuration and start Node Manager on each Web tier host, follow these steps. Repeat for each Web tier host.

  1. Navigate to WEB_DOMAIN_HOME/nodemanager.
  2. Edit the nodemanager.properties file and change the following properties:
    • ListenAddress = WEBHOSTn

    • SecureListener = true

  3. Change the directory to WEB_DOMAIN_HOME/bin .
  4. Run the following command to start Node Manager :
    ./startNodeManager.sh
    

12.8 Creating an Oracle Traffic Director Configuration

An Oracle Traffic Director configuration is a collection of metadata that defines the run-time characteristics of an Oracle Traffic Director server. After you create a configuration, you can use it to create instances of Oracle Traffic Director servers on one or more administration nodes.

Note:

The server user that you specify for a configuration must meet the following requirements:

  • When the administration server is running as root, the server user must be either root or belong to the same group as the user that installed Oracle Traffic Director .

  • When the administration server is running as a non-root user, the server user must be the same as the administration server's server user.

The nodes to which a configuration is deployed must be homogenous in terms of the user accounts and groups that are configured on those systems.

To create a configuration:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control for the application tier domain.
  2. From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Administration > OTD Configurations.
  3. From the Change Center menu (the lock icon), select Lock & Edit.
  4. Click Create
    The New Configuration Wizard screen is displayed.
  5. Specify a name for the configuration, and an origin server type.
    For example, specify edgconfig as the configuration name, select HTTP as the Origin Server Type, and then click Next.
  6. In the Create Configuration: Listener screen, accept the default values and click Next.
  7. In the Create Configuration: Origin Server Pool screen, click Next.
    You can later add additional origin servers and origin-server pools for the products you are configuring in the enterprise deployment.
  8. In the Create Configuration: Deployment screen, select WEBHOST1 and WEBHOST2 as WebLogic Server machines for deployment. Click Next.
  9. Review the screen with the configuration definitions and click Create Configuration to create the configuration.
  10. From the Change Center menu (the lock icon), select Activate Changes to make the changes effective.

Note:

The following are automatically created after you create the configuration:

  • One virtual servers named edgconfig.

  • One instance on each of the hosts defined for the configuration.

12.9 Starting the Oracle Traffic Director Default Instance

You can use the Oracle Traffic Director configuration to create instances of Oracle Traffic Director servers on one or more administration nodes.

To start the Oracle Traffic Director default instance:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control for Traffic Director.
  2. From the WebLogic Domain, select Administration > OTD Configurations.
  3. .
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  4. Select the configuration that you created earlier. For more information, see Creating an Oracle Traffic Director Configuration.
  5. From the Traffic Director Configuration menu, select Administration > Instances.
    The Instances page is displayed.
  6. Select the instance from the list of instances, click Start, and then verify that the operation completes successfully.

12.10 Defining Oracle Traffic Director Virtual Servers for an Enterprise Deployment

By default, when you created the configuration, a default virtual server for HTTP access was created, named edg_config. However, each enterprise deployment uses additional Oracle Traffic Director virtual servers and orgin-server pools for specific purposes. For example, each time you extend the domain with a new Fusion Middleware product, there are additional virtual servers that must to be defined.

For a complete list of the virtual servers required for the enterprise deployment, see Summary of the Virtual Servers Required for an Enterprise Deployment

For general information about creating Oracle Traffic Director virtual servers, see Creating a Virtual Server in the Fusion Middleware Administering Oracle Traffic Director.

To create and configure virtual servers, you must create the origin server pools and then define the virtual servers.

12.10.1 Creating the Required Origin Server Pools

To create the required origin server pools, using Fusion Middleware Control:
  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control.
  2. From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Administration > OTD Configurations.
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  3. Select the configuration for which you want to add the Origin-Server Pool.
  4. From the Traffic Director Configuration menu, select Administration > Origin Server Pools.
    The Server Pools page is displayed. It displays a list of the server pools (HTTP/Sand TCP server pools) defined for the configuration.
  5. From the Change Center menu (the lock icon), select Lock and Edit.
  6. Under HTTP/S Origin Server Pools, click Create to create any required HTTP origin-server pools.
    For the list of required HTTP Origin Server pools required for the enterprise deployment, see Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.
  7. Under Origin Server Information, specify the address of the servers that are associated with the origin server pool.
    For the list of servers required for each HTTP Origin server pool, see Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.
  8. Click OK on the right-top of the screen.

    You are returned to the Origin Pools page.

  9. Under TCP Origin Server Pools, click Create to create any TCP origin-server pools.
    For the list of required TCP Origin Server pools required for the enterprise deployment, see Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.
  10. Under Origin Server Information, specify the address of the servers that are associated with origin server pool.
    For the list of servers required for each TCP Origin server pool, see Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.
  11. Click OK on the right-top of the screen.

    You are returned to the Origin Pools page.

  12. Select Activate Changes in the submenu that shows up when clicking the lock icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.
    The details of the origin-server pool that you just created are displayed on the Origin-Server Pools page.
  13. Repeat the steps for any additional origin server pools required for the enterprise deployment.

    After the origin-server pool is created, the Results screen of the New Origin-Server Pool wizard displays a message confirming successful creation of the origin-server pool.

  14. Select Activate Changes in the submenu that shows up when clicking the lock icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.

12.10.2 Creating the Virtual Servers

To create a virtual server do the following:
  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control.
  2. From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Administration > OTD Configurations
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  3. Select the configuration for which you want to create a virtual server.
  4. From the Traffic Director Configuration menu, select Administration > virtual server.
  5. From the Change Center menu (the lock icon), select Lock and Edit.
  6. Under Virtual Servers, click Create.
    The New Virtual Server wizard starts.
  7. Enter the name of the virtual server.

    Refer to Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts for a list of the virtual servers required for the enterprise deployment.

  8. Select Select listeners for this virtual server and click Next.
  9. Select the listener that was created with the configuration and accept other defaults. Click Next.
  10. In the Create Virtual Server: Origin Server Pool screen, select Select a pool of origin servers.
  11. For each of the Virtual Servers, select the pool as indicated in Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.

    When you are finished providing the required information, click Next

  12. Review the data in the Create Virtual Server: Review screen, and click Create Virtual Server.
    After the virtual server is created, the Results screen of the New Virtual Server wizard displays a message confirming a successful creation of the virtual server.
  13. Select Activate Changes in the submenu that shows up when clicking the lock icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.

12.10.3 Creating the Virtual Server Routes

Some of the Oracle Fusion Middleware products require specific URIs defined, so specific requests can be routed to the correct Managed Servers and with the correct protocol. In Oracle Traffic Director, you can define these URIs by creating specific routes for the selected virtual servers you have created.
  1. Review the information available in Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts.

    This topic lists all the routes required for each of the specific Oracle Fusion Middleware products. For the products you are deploying, note the virtual server, then name of the route, the list of URIs, and the origin server pool. You can use that information to create each required route.

  2. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control.
  3. From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Administration > OTD Configurations
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  4. Click the configuration for which you want to create a virtual server.
    The Traffic Director Configuration page appears.
  5. From the Traffic Director Configuration menu, select Administration > virtual server.
  6. Click the name of the virtual server you want to edit.
  7. Select the Routes tab.
  8. From the Change Center menu (the lock icon), select Lock and Edit.
  9. Click Create.
    The Create Route page appears.
  10. In the Name field, enter a name for the Route.

    Refer to for the list of routes you need to create for each Fusion Middleware product.

  11. In the Condition field, enter the following syntax to identify a specific URI to which the routing information will be assigned:
    $uri =~ '/context_string'

    For example:

    $uri =~ '/soa-infra'

    If you have to enter multiple URIs, then separate them with “or”. For example:

    $uri =~ '/soa-infra' or $uri=~'/inspection.wsil'
  12. From the Origin Server Pool drop-down menu, select the pool associated with this route.

    Requests that meet the conditions of this route will be directed to the selected pool.

12.10.4 Summary of the Origin Servers and Virtual Hosts

Each Oracle Fusion Middleware product requires specific Oracle Traffic Director origin servers, virtual servers, and routing information for each virtual server.

Origin Server Pools Required for Each Product

The following table lists the origin server pools required by the Fusion Middleware products. You can use this information as you create the origin server pools, using the Oracle Traffic Director management pages in Fusion Middleware Control.

Product Origin-Server Pool Type Origin Servers

All products; one for each domain

admin-pool

HTTP

ADMINVHN.example.com:7001

Oracle Web Services Manager

wsm-pool

HTTP

soahost1.example.com:7010

soahost2.example.com:7010

Oracle SOA Suite

Business Process Management

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

soa-pool

HTTP

soahost1.example.com:8001

soahost2.example.com:8001

Oracle Enterprise Scheduler

ess-pool

HTTP

soahost1.example.com:8021

soahost2.example.com:8021

Business Activity Monitoring

bam-pool

HTTP

soahost1.example.com:9001

soahost2.example.com:9001

Oracle Service Bus

osb-pool

HTTP

soahost1.example.com:8011

soahost2.example.com:8011

Oracle Managed File Transfer

mft-pool

HTTP

mfthost1.example.com:7500

mfthost2.example.com:7500

Oracle Managed File Transfer

mft-sftp-pool

TCP

mfthost1.example.com:7022*

mfthost2.example.com:7022*

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

healthcare-tcp-pool

TCP

soahost1.example.com:95nn

soahost2.example.com:95nn

Note:

*7022 is the default port that is used for the SFTP listeners on the Managed File Transfer servers.

Virtual Servers Required for Each Product

The following table lists the virtual servers required by the Fusion Middleware products. You can use this information as you create the required virtual servers, using the Oracle Traffic Director management pages in Fusion Middleware Control.

Product Virtual Server Name Host Served Pool Listener

All products; one for each domain

admin.example.com

admin.example.com

admin-pool

*

Oracle SOA Suite

Business Process Management

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

soa.example.com

soa.example.com

soa-pool

*

Oracle Enterprise Scheduler

soa.example.com

soa.example.com

ess-pool

*

Business Activity Monitoring

soa.example.com

soa.example.com

bam-pool

*

Oracle SOA Suite

Business Process Management

soainternal.example.com

WEBHOST1-V1*

soa-pool

*

Oracle Web Services Manager

soainternal.example.com

WEBHOST1-V1*

wsm-pool

*

Oracle Enterprise Scheduler

soainternal.example.com

WEBHOST1-V1*

ess-pool

*

Business Activity Monitoring

soainternal.example.com

WEBHOST1-V1*

bam-pool

*

Oracle Service Bus

osb.example.com

osb.example.com

osb-pool

*

Oracle Service Bus

osbinternal.example.com

WEBHOST2-V1*

osb-pool

*

Oracle Managed File Transfer

mft-http.example.com

mft.example.com

mft-pool

*

Oracle Managed File Transfer

mft-sftp.example.com

mft.example.com

mft-sftp-pool

*

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

soahealthcare.example.com

soahealthcare.example.com

healtchare-tcp-pool

*

Note:

*WEBHOST1-V1 and WEBHOST2-V1 are the VIPS that will be used for the corresponding Oracle Traffic Director failover groups.

Virtual Server Routes Required for Each Product

The following table lists the virtual server routes (or URIs) required by the Fusion Middleware products. You can use this information as you create the required routes, using the Oracle Traffic Director management pages in Fusion Middleware Control.

Product Virtual Server Name Route Origin-server pool URIs

All products; one for each domain

admin.example.com

admin-route

admin-pool

/console
/em
/consolehelp

Oracle Web Services Manager

soainternal.example.com

soa-route

wsm-pool

/wsm-pm

Oracle SOA Suite

soa.example.com

soa-route

soa-pool

/soa-infra
/inspection.wsi
/integration
/b2bconsole
/b2b/services/ws/sdpmessaging/userprefs-ui
/DefaultToDoTaskFlow
/workflow
/ADFAttachmentHelper
/soa/composer
/frevvo
/insight-soa/

Oracle Service Bus

osb.example.com

osb-route

osb-pool

/sbinspection.wsil
/sbresource
/osb
/alsb
/insight-osb/resources/

Business Process Management

soa.example.com

soa-route

soa-pool

/bpm/composer
/bpm/workspace

Oracle Enterprise Scheduler

soa.example.com

soa-route

ess-pool

/ess
/EssHealthCheck
/ess-async
/ess-wsjob

Business Activity Monitoring

soa.example.com

soa-route

bam-pool

/bam/composer
/OracleBAMWS
/oracle/bam/server
/insight

Oracle B2B

soa.example.com

soa-route

soa-pool

/b2bconsole
/b2b

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

soa.example.com

soa-route

healthcare-TCP-pool

/healthcare

Oracle SOA Suite for Healthcare

soainternal.example.com

soa-route

healthcare-pool

/healthcare

Oracle Managed File Transfer

mft-http-example.com

mft-route

mft-pool

/mftconsole

12.11 Creating a TCP Proxy for Managed File Transfer

Oracle MFT uses a TCP proxy to route sftp requests to the backend MFT WLS servers.

To create a TCP Proxy for MFT do the following:
  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control. Click the WebLogic Domain button at the upper-left corner of the page.
  2. Select Administration > OTD Configurations.
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  3. Select the configuration for which you want to create a TCP Proxy.
  4. In the Common Tasks pane, click Traffic Director Configuration.
  5. Select Administration > TCP proxies.
  6. In the TC Proxies table, click Lock & Edit, and then Create.
    The New TCP Proxy wizard starts.
  7. Enter a name for the proxy without selecting FTP, and click Next.
  8. In the Create TCP Proxy: Listener screen, enter 7022 for the port and * as address. Click Next.
  9. In the Create TCP Proxy: Origin Server Pool screen, select the mftsftp-pool created in previous steps. Click Next.
  10. Review the next screen and click Create TCP Proxy.
  11. Select Activate Changes in the submenu that shows up when clicking the lock icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.

12.12 Creating a Failover Group for Virtual Hosts

A failover group ensures high availability of Oracle Traffic Director instances by combining two Oracle Traffic Director instances.

When a request is sent to one of the virtual hosts in the EDG, the front end load balancer redirects the request to the IP address that has been configured to load balance requests. This IP address is enabled on one of the OTD instances but it can be migrated to another OTD instance should a failure occur. You can combine two Oracle Traffic Director instances in a failover group represented by one or two virtual IP (VIP) addresses. You can do this by creating an active-passive failover group for the IP address. This failover group lists a primary and a number of secondary instances.

The following instructions explain how to create failover groups for the IP addresses associated with the different virtual servers in the configuration. The failover groups for the MFT OTD IP addresses are optional since the load balancer fails over requests between the two Oracle Traffic Director instances, but they will provide faster failure detection and failover than the typical load balancer monitors.

For more information about creating failover groups or other high availability configurations for Oracle traffic Director, see Configuring Oracle Traffic Director for High Availability in the Administrator's Guide.

12.12.1 Creating Failover Groups

This section describes how to implement a highly available pair of Oracle Traffic Director instances by creating failover groups.

Before you begin:

  • Decide the unique VIP address that you want to assign to the failover group.

    • The VIP addresses should belong to the same subnet as that of the nodes in the failover group.

    • The VIP addresses must be accessible to clients.

    Note:

    To configure an active-active pair of Oracle Traffic Director instances, you must create two failover groups with the same instances, but with a distinct VIP address for each failover group, and with the primary and backup node roles reversed.
  • • Identify the network prefix of the interface on which the VIP should be managed. The network prefix is the subnet mask represented in the Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) format, as described in the following examples.

    • For an IPv4 VIP address in a subnet that contains 256 addresses (8 bits), the CIDR notation of the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 would be 24, which is derived by deducting the number of addresses in the given subnet (8 bits) from the maximum number of IPv4 addresses possible (32 bits).

    • Similarly, for an IPv4 VIP address in a subnet that has 4096 addresses (12 bits), the CIDR notation of the subnet mask 255.255.240.0 would be 20 (=32 minus 12).

    • To calculate the CIDR notation of the subnet mask for an IPv6 subnet, you should deduct the bit-size of the subnet's address space from 128 bits, which is the maximum number of IPv6 addresses possible.

    The default network-prefix-length is 24 or 64 for an IPv4 VIP or IPv6 VIP, respectively. The default network-prefix-length is used, if not specified, for automatically choosing the NIC and for validating if the VIP is in the same subnet as the specified NIC.

    While actually plumbing the VIP, it is preferred to use the hostmask, 32 for IPv4 and 128 for IPv6, so that any outgoing traffic originating from that node does not use the VIP as the source address.

  • Identify the Oracle Traffic Director administration nodes that you want to configure as primary and backup nodes in the failover group. The nodes should be in the same subnet.

    Note that the administration nodes that you select should have Oracle Traffic Director instances present on them for the specified configuration.

  • Identify the network interface for each node.

    For each network interface that is currently up on the host, the administration server compares the network part of the interface's IP address with the network part of the specified VIP. The first network interface that results in a match is used as the network interface for the VIP.

    For this comparison, depending on whether the VIP specified for the failover group is an IPv4 or IPv6 address, the administration server considers only those network interfaces on the host that are configured with an IPv4 or IPv6 address, respectively.

  • You can bind to a VIP IP address within the HTTP listener by performing a system configuration that allows you to bind to a non-existing address, as a sort of forward binding. Perform one of the following system configurations:

    echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_nonlocal_bind
    

    or

    sysctl net.ipv4.ip_nonlocal_bind=1 
    

    (change in /etc/sysctl.conf to keep after a reboot)

    Make sure that the IP addresses of the listeners in the configuration for which you want to create a failover group are either an asterisk (*) or the same address as the VIP. Otherwise, requests sent to the VIP will not be routed to the virtual servers.

  • Make sure that the router ID for each failover group is unique. For every subsequent failover group that you create, the default router ID is decremented by one: 254, 253, and so on.

To create a failover group by using the Fusion Middleware Control, do the following:
  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control.
  2. Click the WebLogic Domain button at the upper left corner of the page.
  3. Select Administration > OTD Configurations.
    A list of the available configurations is displayed.
  4. Select the configuration for which you want to create a failover group.
  5. Click the Traffic Director Configuration in the Common Tasks pane.
  6. Select Administration > Failover Groups.
    The Failover Groups page is displayed. It shows a list of the Failover Groups defined for the configuration.
  7. Click Lock & Edit, and then click Create.
  8. In the Failover Group Creation screen, enter the following
    • Virtual IP: Enter the floating hostname that will be moved across nodes. This needs to map top a valid Virtual IP that can be enabled both in WEBHOST1 and WEBHOST2. Make sure this VIP is not yet enabled in the nodes.

    • Router ID: Enter the CDR for your network configuration refer to the indications above.

    • Select the Primary and Backup Instance to host the VIP and enter the required network interfaces where the VIPs will be enabled.

  9. Click Close on the Results screen.
    The details of the failover group that you just created are displayed on the Failover Groups page.

    Note:

    At this point, the two nodes form an active-passive pair. To convert them into an active-active pair, create another failover group with the same two nodes, but with a different VIP and with the primary and backup roles reversed.

    Note:

    When creating a failover group you must run otd_startFailover on those machines as a root user. This is to manually start the failover. If this command is not executed, failover will not start and there will be no high availability. For more information about otd_startFailover, see WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference for Oracle Traffic Director.

    To run the otd_startFailover command, follow these steps:

    Start WLST as root or as a user with sudo rights.

                         [root@webhost1]# ./wlst.sh 
                            Initializing WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) ... 
                            Jython scans all the jar files it can find at first startup. Depending on the 
                            system, this process may take a few minutes to complete, and WLST may not 
                            return a prompt right away. 
    
                            wls:/offline> wls:/offline> props = {} 
    
                            wls:/offline> props['domain-home'] = 
                            /u01/oracle/config/domains/mftedg_domain/' 
    
                            wls:/offline> props['instance'] ='otd_mftedg_WEBHOST1' 
    
                            wls:/offline> otd_startFailover(props)
    

    Note:

    The operating systemkeepalived package is needed for otd_startFailover. This package is not bundled with all Linux distribution and it needs to manually installed on the operating system. Refer to your operating system for details and installation.