WebSphere Edge Components


Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration

Guide
Version 8.5
WebSphere Edge Components


Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration

Guide
Version 8.5
 Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the general information under Appendix E,
“Notices,” on page 427.

First edition (May 2012)

This edition applies to:
WebSphere Edge Components, Version 8.5
and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
Order publications through your IBM representative or through the IBM branch office serving your locality.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2011.
US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.
Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Content-based routing using Dispatcher's cbr
forwarding method . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Wide area load balancing . . . . . . . . . 19
Port mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Setting up Dispatcher on a private network . . 19
About this book . . . . . . . . . . . xv Wildcard cluster and wildcard port . . . . . 19
Who should read this book . . . . . . . . . xv "Denial of service" attack detection . . . . . 20
Reference Information . . . . . . . . . . . xv Binary logging . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
How to send your comments . . . . . . . . xv Content Based Routing (CBR) component features 20
Comparison between the CBR component and
Related documents and Web sites xvii the Dispatcher component's cbr forwarding
method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Remote administration . . . . . . . . . 21
Part 1. Introduction to Load Balancer 1
Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
CBR with multiple instances of Caching Proxy . 21
Chapter 1. Overview of Load Balancer. . 3 Provide content-based routing for SSL
What is Load Balancer? . . . . . . . . . . . 3 connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Which components of Load Balancer can I use?. . . 3 Server partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . 21
What are the advantages to using Load Balancer? . . 4 Rules-based load balancing . . . . . . . . 21
How can Load Balancer provide high availability?. . 5 Client to server affinity . . . . . . . . . 21
Dispatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 High availability using Dispatcher and CBR . . 22
CBR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Binary logging . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Cisco CSS Controller or Nortel Alteon Controller 6 Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Site Selector component features . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 2. Overview of the components Remote administration . . . . . . . . . 22
of Load Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
What are the components of Load Balancer? . . . . 7 High availability. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Overview of the Dispatcher component . . . . . 7 Client to server affinity . . . . . . . . . 23
Managing local servers with Dispatcher . . . . 8 Rules-based load balancing . . . . . . . . 23
Managing servers using Dispatcher and Metric Wide area load balancing . . . . . . . . . 23
Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Managing local and remote servers with Cisco CSS Controller component features . . . . 23
Dispatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Remote administration . . . . . . . . . 24
Overview of the Content Based Routing (CBR) Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 High availability. . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Managing local servers with CBR . . . . . . 10 Binary logging . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Overview of the Site Selector component . . . . 11 Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Managing local and remote servers with Site Nortel Alteon Controller component features . . . 24
Selector and Metric Server . . . . . . . . 12 Remote administration . . . . . . . . . 25
Overview of the Cisco CSS Controller component 12 Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Overview of Nortel Alteon Controller component . 14 High availability. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Binary logging . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 3. Managing your network:
Determining which Load Balancer
Chapter 4. Installing Load Balancer . . 27
features to use . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions (for
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector components) . . 17 Part 2. Dispatcher component . . . 29
Dispatcher component features . . . . . . . . 17
Remote administration . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter 5. Quick start configuration . . 31
Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 What do you need?. . . . . . . . . . . . 31
High availability. . . . . . . . . . . . 17 How do you prepare? . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Client to server affinity . . . . . . . . . 17 Configuring the Dispatcher component . . . . . 33
Rules-based load balancing . . . . . . . . 18 Configuring with the command line . . . . . 33
Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . 33

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 iii

 Configuring with the graphical user interface Configuring the CBR component . . . . . . . 66
(GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Configuring with the command line . . . . . 66
Configuration Wizard . . . . . . . . . . 34 Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . 67
Types of cluster, port, server configurations. . . . 34 Configuring with the graphical user interface
(GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher . . 37 Configuring with the configuration wizard . . . 68
Planning considerations . . . . . . . . . . 37 Types of cluster, port, server configurations. . . . 68
Forwarding methods . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Dispatcher's MAC-level routing (mac forwarding Chapter 9. Planning for Content Based
method) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding Planning considerations . . . . . . . . . . 71
method) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Load balancing requests for different types of
Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
forwarding method) . . . . . . . . . . 41 Dividing your site content for better response
Sample steps for configuring Dispatcher's nat or time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
cbr forwarding methods . . . . . . . . . 42 Providing backup of Web server content. . . . 72
Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one Using multiple Caching Proxy processes to
physical server (IP address) . . . . . . . . . 43 improve CPU utilization . . . . . . . . . 72
Server partitioning using HTTP or HTTPS Using rules-based load balancing with CBR . . 73
advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Load balancing across fully secure (SSL)
Example for configuring a physical server into connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
logical servers . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Load balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and
High availability. . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 proxy-to-server in HTTP . . . . . . . . . 73
Simple high availability . . . . . . . . . 45
Mutual high availability . . . . . . . . . 46 Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based
Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher . . . 47 Overview of configuration tasks . . . . . . . 75
Overview of configuration tasks . . . . . . . 47 Methods of configuration . . . . . . . . . . 75
Methods of configuration . . . . . . . . . . 47 Command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Configuration wizard . . . . . . . . . . 78
Configuring with the configuration wizard . . . 49 Setting up the CBR machine . . . . . . . . . 79
Setting up the Dispatcher machine. . . . . . . 50 Step 1. Configure Caching Proxy to use CBR . . 79
Step 1. Start the server function. . . . . . . 52 Step 2. Start the server function. . . . . . . 80
Step 2. Start the executor function . . . . . . 52 Step 3. Start the executor function . . . . . . 80
Step 3. Define the nonforwarding address (if Step 4. Define a cluster and set cluster options . 80
different from hostname) . . . . . . . . . 52 Step 5. Alias the network interface card (optional) 81
Step 4. Define a cluster and set cluster options . 52 Step 6. Define ports and set port options . . . 81
Step 5. Alias the network interface card . . . . 53 Step 7. Define load balanced server machines . . 82
Step 6. Define ports and set port options . . . 54 Step 8. Add rules to your configuration . . . . 82
Step 7. Define load-balanced server machines . . 54 Step 9. Add servers to your rules . . . . . . 82
Step 8. Start the manager function (optional) . . 55 Step 10. Start the manager function (optional) . . 82
Step 9. Start the advisor function (optional). . . 55 Step 11. Start the advisor function (optional) . . 82
Step 10. Set cluster proportions as required . . . 55 Step 12. Set cluster proportions as required . . . 82
Setting up server machines for load balancing . . . 55 Step 13. Start Caching Proxy. . . . . . . . 83
Step 1. Alias the loopback device . . . . . . 56 CBR configuration example . . . . . . . . . 83
Step 2. Check for an extra route . . . . . . 59
Step 3. Delete any extra route . . . . . . . 59
Step 4. Verify server is properly configured . . . 60 Part 4. Site Selector component . . 85
Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when using
Load Balancer's mac forwarding . . . . . . . 60 Chapter 11. Quick start configuration 87
What do you need?. . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Part 3. Content Based Routing How do you prepare? . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Configuring the Site Selector component. . . . . 88
(CBR) component . . . . . . . . . 63 Configuring with the command line . . . . . 88
Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 8. Quick start configuration . . 65 Configuring with the graphical user interface
What do you need?. . . . . . . . . . . . 65 (GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
How do you prepare? . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Configuring with the configuration wizard . . . 89

iv Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 12. Planning for Site Selector 91 Step 5. Configure metrics . . . . . . . . 117
Planning Considerations . . . . . . . . . . 91 Step 6. Start the consultant . . . . . . . . 117
TTL considerations . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Step 7. Start the Metric Server (optional) . . . 117
Using the Network Proximity feature . . . . . 93 Step 8. Configure high availability (optional) 117
Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . . 117
Chapter 13. Configuring Site Selector 95
Overview of configuration tasks . . . . . . . 95 Part 6. Nortel Alteon Controller
Methods of configuration . . . . . . . . . . 95 component . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 17. Quick start configuration 121
Configuration wizard . . . . . . . . . . 97 What do you need? . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Setting up the Site Selector machine . . . . . . 98 How do you prepare? . . . . . . . . . . 122
Step 1. Start the server function. . . . . . . 98 Configuring the Nortel Alteon Controller
Step 2. Start the Name Server . . . . . . . 98 component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Step 3. Define a site name and set site name Configuring with the command line . . . . . 122
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . 123
Step 4. Define load balanced server machines . . 98 Configuring with the graphical user interface
Step 5. Start the manager function (optional) . . 99 (GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Step 6. Start the advisor function (optional). . . 99
Step 7. Define system metric (optional) . . . . 99 Chapter 18. Planning for Nortel Alteon
Step 8. Set site name proportions as required . . 99 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Setting up server machines for load balancing . . . 99 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Planning considerations . . . . . . . . . . 125
Part 5. Cisco CSS Controller Placement of the consultant in the network . . 126
Server attributes on the switch (set by the
component . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 controller) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Configuring backup servers . . . . . . . 128
Chapter 14. Quick start configuration 103 Configuring groups . . . . . . . . . . 129
What do you need? . . . . . . . . . . . 103 High availability . . . . . . . . . . . 130
How do you prepare? . . . . . . . . . . 103 Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Configuring the Cisco CSS Controller component 104 Problem determination . . . . . . . . . 132
Configuring with the command line . . . . . 104
Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . 104 Chapter 19. Configuring Nortel Alteon
Configuring with the graphical user interface Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
(GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Overview of configuration tasks . . . . . . . 133
Methods of configuration . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 15. Planning for Cisco CSS Command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . 107 GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Planning considerations . . . . . . . . . . 107 Setting up Nortel Alteon Controller . . . . . . 135
Placement of the consultant in the network . . 108 Step 1. Start the server function . . . . . . 136
High availability . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Step 2. Start the command line interface . . . 136
Calculating weights . . . . . . . . . . 110 Step 3. Define a Nortel Alteon Web Switch
Problem determination . . . . . . . . . 111 consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Step 4. Add a service to the switch consultant 136
Chapter 16. Configuring Cisco CSS Step 5. Configure metrics . . . . . . . . 136
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Step 6. Start the consultant . . . . . . . . 137
Step 7. Configure high availability (optional) 137
Overview of configuration tasks . . . . . . . 113
Step 8. Start the Metric Server (optional) . . . 137
Methods of configuration . . . . . . . . . 113
Step 9. Refreshing the Nortel Alteon Controller
Command line . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Testing your configuration . . . . . . . . . 137
GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Setting up the Controller for Cisco CSS Switches
machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Part 7. Functions and advanced
Step 1. Start the server function . . . . . . 116 features for Load Balancer . . . . 139
Step 2. Start the command line interface . . . 116
Step 3. Configure the consultant . . . . . . 116
Step 3. Configure an ownercontent . . . . . 116
Step 4. Verify that services are correctly defined 116

Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide v

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Using rules based on the connections per
Metric Server functions for second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Using rules based on the total active
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector . . 141
connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load
Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and
Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
shared bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Proportion of importance given to status
Metric all rule . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Metric average rule . . . . . . . . . . 175
Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Using rules that are always true . . . . . . 175
Manager intervals . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Using rules based on the request content . . . 176
Sensitivity threshold . . . . . . . . . . 145
port affinity override . . . . . . . . . . 176
Smoothing index . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Adding rules to your configuration . . . . . 177
Using scripts to generate an alert or record
Server evaluation option for rules . . . . . 177
server failure . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
How affinity feature for Load Balancer works . . 178
Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Behavior when affinity is disabled . . . . . 178
How advisors work . . . . . . . . . . 147
Behavior when affinity is enabled . . . . . 178
Starting and stopping an advisor . . . . . . 147
Cross port affinity . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Advisor intervals . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Affinity address mask (stickymask) . . . . . 179
Advisor report timeout . . . . . . . . . 148
Quiesce server connection handling . . . . . 180
Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout for
Affinity option on the rule based on the content of
servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
the client request . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Advisor retry . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Active cookie affinity . . . . . . . . . . 181
List of advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Passive cookie affinity . . . . . . . . . 183
Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS advisor using
URI affinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
the request and response (URL) option . . . . 152
Configure wide area Dispatcher support . . . . 184
Using Self Advisor in a two-tiered WAN
Command Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . 185
configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Using remote advisors with Dispatcher's wide
Create custom (customizable) advisors . . . . . 154
area support. . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
WAS advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Configuration example . . . . . . . . . 187
Naming Convention . . . . . . . . . . 155
GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) support 189
Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Using explicit linking. . . . . . . . . . . 190
Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Using a private network configuration . . . . . 190
Required routines . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Use wildcard cluster to combine server
Search order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Naming and path . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Use wildcard cluster to load balance firewalls . . 191
Sample advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Use wildcard cluster with Caching Proxy for
Metric Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
transparent proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
WLM Restriction . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Use wildcard port to direct unconfigured port
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
How to Use Metric Server . . . . . . . . 157
Wildcard port to handle FTP traffic . . . . . 193
Workload Manager advisor . . . . . . . . . 159
Denial of service attack detection . . . . . . . 193
Metric Server Restriction . . . . . . . . 160
Using binary logging to analyze server statistics 194
Using a collocated client. . . . . . . . . . 196
Chapter 21. Advanced features for
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector . . 161 Chapter 22. Advanced features for
Using collocated servers . . . . . . . . . . 162 Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel
For the Dispatcher component. . . . . . . 162
For the CBR component . . . . . . . . . 163
Alteon Controller . . . . . . . . . . 197
For the Site Selector component . . . . . . 163 Collocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
High availability . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 High availability . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Configure high availability . . . . . . . . 164 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Failure detection capability using heartbeat and Failure detection . . . . . . . . . . . 199
reach target . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Recovery strategy . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Recovery Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Using scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load
Configure rules-based load balancing . . . . . 170 Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
How are rules evaluated? . . . . . . . . 171 Importance given to metric information . . . 200
Using rules based on the client IP address . . . 171 Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Using rules based on the client port . . . . . 171 Weight calculation sleeptimes . . . . . . . 201
Using rules based on the time of day . . . . 172 Sensitivity threshold . . . . . . . . . . 201
Using rules based on type of service (TOS) . . 172 Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

vi Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 How advisors work . . . . . . . . . . 202 Using the Metric Server component . . . . . . 230
Advisor sleeptimes . . . . . . . . . . 202 Starting and stopping Metric Server . . . . . 230
Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout for Using Metric Server logs . . . . . . . . 230
servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Advisor retry . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Chapter 24. Troubleshooting . . . . . 231
Create custom (customizable) advisors . . . . . 203 Gathering troubleshooting information . . . . . 231
Naming Convention . . . . . . . . . . 204 General information (always required) . . . . 231
Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 High availability (HA) problems . . . . . . 232
Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Advisor problems . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Required routines . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Content Based Routing problems . . . . . . 233
Search order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Not able to hit the cluster . . . . . . . . 233
Naming and path . . . . . . . . . . . 206 All else fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Sample advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Upgrades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Metric Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Java code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Prerequisites. . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Helpful links . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
How to Use Metric Server . . . . . . . . 206 Troubleshooting tables . . . . . . . . . . 235
Workload manager advisor . . . . . . . . . 208 Checking Dispatcher port numbers . . . . . . 246
Using binary logging to analyze server statistics 209 Checking CBR port numbers . . . . . . . . 246
Using scripts to generate an alert or record server Checking Site Selector port numbers . . . . . 247
failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Checking Cisco CSS Controller port numbers. . . 248
Checking Nortel Alteon Controller port numbers 248
Part 8. Administering and Solving common problems—Dispatcher . . . . 249
Problem: Dispatcher will not run . . . . . . 249
troubleshooting Load Balancer . . 211
Problem: Dispatcher and server will not respond 249
Problem: Dispatcher requests are not being
Chapter 23. Operating and managing balanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Load Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Problem: Dispatcher high-availability function is
Remote administration of Load Balancer . . . . 213 not working . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Remote Method Invocation (RMI) . . . . . 213 Problem: Unable to add heartbeat (Windows
Web-based administration . . . . . . . . 215 platform) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Using Load Balancer logs . . . . . . . . . 217 Problem: Advisors not working correctly . . . 250
For Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector . . . . 217 Problem: On a Windows Server 2008 backend
For Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon server, memload.exe crashes . . . . . . . 250
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Problem: Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and SSL do
Using the Dispatcher component . . . . . . . 219 not work (Windows platform) . . . . . . . 251
Starting and Stopping Dispatcher. . . . . . 220 Problem: Dispatcher connection to a remote
Using stale timeout value . . . . . . . . 220 machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Using fintimeout and staletimeout to control Problem: dscontrol or lbadmin command fails 251
cleanup of connection records . . . . . . . 220 Problem: “Cannot find the file..." error message
Reporting GUI — the Monitor menu option . . 221 when trying to view online Help (Windows
Using Simple Network Management Protocol platform) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
with the Dispatcher component . . . . . . 221 Problem: Graphical user interface (GUI) does
Using ipchains or iptables to reject all traffic to not start correctly . . . . . . . . . . . 252
harden the Load Balancer machine (Linux Problem: Error running Dispatcher with
systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Caching Proxy installed . . . . . . . . . 252
Using the Content Based Routing component. . . 228 Problem: Graphical user interface (GUI) does
Starting and Stopping CBR . . . . . . . . 228 not display correctly . . . . . . . . . . 252
Controlling CBR . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Problem: On Windows platform, help windows
Using CBR logs . . . . . . . . . . . 228 sometimes disappear behind other open
Using the Site Selector component . . . . . . 228 windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Starting and stopping Site Selector . . . . . 228 Problem: Load Balancer cannot process and
Controlling Site Selector . . . . . . . . . 228 forward a frame . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Using Site Selector logs . . . . . . . . . 229 Problem: A blue screen displays when you start
Using the Cisco CSS Controller component . . . 229 the Load Balancer executor . . . . . . . . 253
Starting and stopping Cisco CSS Controller . . 229 Problem: Path to Discovery prevents return
Controlling Cisco CSS Controller . . . . . . 229 traffic with Load Balancer . . . . . . . . 253
Using Cisco CSS Controller logs . . . . . . 229 Problem: High availability in the Wide Area
Using the Nortel Alteon Controller component . . 229 mode of Load Balancer does not work . . . . 254
Starting and stopping Nortel Alteon Controller 229 Problem: GUI hangs (or unexpected behavior)
Controlling Nortel Alteon Controller . . . . 229 when trying to load a large configuration file. . 254
Using Nortel Alteon Controller logs . . . . . 230

Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide vii

 Problem: lbadmin disconnects from server after Problem: On some Linux versions, a memory
updating configuration . . . . . . . . . 255 leak occurs when running Dispatcher
Problem: IP addresses not resolving correctly configured with the manager and advisors . . 266
over the remote connection . . . . . . . . 255 Problem: On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9,
Problem: Korean Load Balancer interface Dispatcher forwards packets, but the packets do
displays overlapping or undesirable fonts on not reach the backend server . . . . . . . 266
AIX and Linux systems . . . . . . . . . 255 Problem: On Windows system, IP address
Problem: On Windows systems, alias address is conflict message appears during high
returned instead of local address when issuing availability takeover . . . . . . . . . . 267
commands such as hostname . . . . . . . 256 Problem: Linux iptables can interfere with the
Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected routing of packets . . . . . . . . . . . 268
GUI behavior when using Matrox AGP video Upgrading the Java file set provided with the
cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Load Balancer installation . . . . . . . . 268
Problem: Unexpected behavior when executing Problem: Persistent connections might drop
"rmmod ibmlb" (Linux systems) . . . . . . 256 during high availability takeover . . . . . . 268
Problem: Slow response time running Solving common problems—CBR. . . . . . . 269
commands on Dispatcher machine . . . . . 256 Problem: CBR will not run . . . . . . . . 269
Problem: SSL or HTTPS advisor not registering Problem: cbrcontrol or lbadmin command fails 269
server loads (when using mac-forwarding) . . 257 Problem: Requests not being load balanced . . 269
Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when Problem: On Solaris systems, cbrcontrol
resize Netscape browser window while using executor start command fails . . . . . . . 269
Web administration . . . . . . . . . . 257 Problem: Syntactical or configuration error . . 270
Problem: On Windows systems, corrupted Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected
Latin-1 national characters appear in command GUI behavior when using Matrox AGP video
prompt window . . . . . . . . . . . 257 cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory or Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when
thread error occurs . . . . . . . . . . 257 resize Netscape browser window while using
Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and Web administration . . . . . . . . . . 270
reach targets mark all servers down . . . . . 258 Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted
Problem: On Windows platform, resolving IP Latin-1 national characters appear in command
address to host name when more than one prompt window . . . . . . . . . . . 270
address is configured to an adapter . . . . . 258 Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/
Problem: On Windows systems, after network thread error occurs . . . . . . . . . . 270
outage, advisors not working in a high Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and
availability setup . . . . . . . . . . . 259 reach targets mark all servers down . . . . . 271
Problem: On Linux systems, do not use "IP Problem: On Windows systems, resolving IP
address add" command when aliasing multiple address to host name when more than one
clusters on the loopback device . . . . . . 260 address is configured to an adapter . . . . . 271
Problem: "Router address not specified or not Solving common problems—Site Selector . . . . 271
valid for port method" error message . . . . 260 Problem: Site Selector will not run . . . . . 271
Problem: On Solaris systems, Load Balancer Problem: Site Selector does not round-robin
processes end when you exit the terminal traffic from Solaris clients . . . . . . . . 271
window from which they started . . . . . . 261 Problem: sscontrol or lbadmin command fails 272
Problem: Delay occurs while loading a Load Problem: The ssserver is failing to start on
Balancer configuration . . . . . . . . . 261 Windows platform . . . . . . . . . . 272
Problem: On Windows systems, an IP address Problem: Site Selector with duplicate routes not
conflict error message appears. . . . . . . 261 load balancing correctly . . . . . . . . . 272
Problem: Both primary and backup machines Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected
are active in a high availability configuration . . 261 GUI behavior when using Matrox AGP video
Problem: Client requests fail when attempting cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
the return of large page responses . . . . . 262 Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when
Problem: On Windows systems, "Server not resize Netscape browser window while using
responding" error occurs when issuing dscontrol Web administration . . . . . . . . . . 273
or lbadmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted
Problem: High availability Dispatcher machines Latin-1 national characters appear in command
may fail to synchronize on Linux for S/390 prompt window . . . . . . . . . . . 273
systems on qeth drivers . . . . . . . . . 262 Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of
Problem: Tips on configuring high availability 263 memory/thread error occurs . . . . . . . 273
Problem: On Linux, Dispatcher configuration Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and
limitations when using zSeries or S/390 servers reach targets mark all servers down . . . . . 273
that have Open System Adapter (OSA) cards . . 264 Solving common problems—Cisco CSS Controller 274

viii Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Problem: ccoserver will not start . . . . . . 274 Part 9. Command Reference. . . . 283
Problem: ccocontrol or lbadmin command fails 274
Problem: Cannot create registry on port 13099 274
Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected Chapter 25. How to read a syntax
GUI behavior when using Matrox AGP video diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Symbols and punctuation . . . . . . . . . 285
Problem: Received a connection error when Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
adding a consultant . . . . . . . . . . 275 Syntax examples . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Problem: Weights are not being updated on the
switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Chapter 26. Command reference for
Problem: Refresh command did not update the Dispatcher and CBR . . . . . . . . 287
consultant configuration . . . . . . . . . 275 Configuration differences between CBR and
Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when Dispatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
resize Netscape browser window while using dscontrol advisor — control the advisor . . . . 289
Web administration . . . . . . . . . . 275 dscontrol binlog — control the binary log file . . 294
Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted dscontrol cluster — configure clusters . . . . . 295
Latin-1 national characters appear in command dscontrol executor — control the executor . . . . 299
prompt window . . . . . . . . . . . 275 dscontrol file — manage configuration files . . . 304
Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/ dscontrol help — display or print help for this
thread error occurs . . . . . . . . . . 276 command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Solving common problems—Nortel Alteon dscontrol highavailability — control high
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Problem: nalserver will not start . . . . . . 276 dscontrol host — configure a remote machine . . 311
Problem: nalcontrol or lbadmin command fails 276 dscontrol logstatus — display server log settings 312
Problem: Cannot create registry on port 14099 277 dscontrol manager — control the manager . . . 313
Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected dscontrol metric — configure system metrics . . . 318
GUI behavior when using Matrox AGP video dscontrol port — configure ports . . . . . . . 319
cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 dscontrol rule — configure rules . . . . . . . 324
Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when dscontrol server — configure servers . . . . . 330
resize Netscape browser window while using dscontrol set — configure server log. . . . . . 336
Web administration . . . . . . . . . . 277 dscontrol status — display whether the manager
Problem: Received a connection error when and advisors are running . . . . . . . . . 337
adding a consultant . . . . . . . . . . 277 dscontrol subagent — configure SNMP subagent 338
Problem: Weights are not being updated on the
switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Problem: Refresh command did not update the
Chapter 27. Command reference for
consultant configuration . . . . . . . . . 278 Site Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Problem: On Windows systems, corrupted sscontrol advisor — control the advisor . . . . 342
Latin-1 national characters appear in command sscontrol file — manage configuration files . . . 346
prompt window . . . . . . . . . . . 278 sscontrol help — display or print help for this
Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/ command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
thread error occurs . . . . . . . . . . 278 sscontrol logstatus — display server log settings 349
Solving common problems—Metric Server . . . 278 sscontrol manager — control the manager . . . . 350
Problem: Metric Server IOException on sscontrol metric — configure system metrics . . . 354
Windows platform running .bat or .cmd user sscontrol nameserver — control the NameServer 355
metric files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 sscontrol rule — configure rules . . . . . . . 356
Problem: Metric Server not reporting loads to sscontrol server — configure servers. . . . . . 359
Load Balancer machine . . . . . . . . . 278 sscontrol set — configure server log . . . . . . 361
Problem: Metric Server log reports "Signature is sscontrol sitename — configure a sitename . . . 362
necessary for access to agent" . . . . . . . 279 sscontrol status — display whether the manager
Problem: On AIX systems, while running Metric and advisors are running . . . . . . . . . 365
Server under heavy stress, ps –vg command
output may become corrupted. . . . . . . 279 Chapter 28. Command reference for
Problem: Configuring Metric Server in a Cisco CSS Controller . . . . . . . . 367
two-tier configuration with Site Selector ccocontrol consultant — configure and control a
load-balancing across high-availability consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Dispatchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 ccocontrol controller — manage the controller . . 371
Problem: Scripts, running on multi-CPU Solaris ccocontrol file — manage configuration files . . . 373
machines, produce unwanted console messages . 280 ccocontrol help — display or print help for this
Problem: After starting Metric Server, metric command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
value returns -1 . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide ix

ccocontrol highavailability — control high Content rule (pattern) syntax: . . . . . . . . 409
availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Reserved keywords . . . . . . . . . . 409
ccocontrol metriccollector — configure metric
collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Appendix C. Sample configuration
ccocontrol ownercontent — control the owner files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
name and content rule . . . . . . . . . . 380
Sample Load Balancer configuration files . . . . 413
ccocontrol service — configure a service . . . . 383
Dispatcher Configuration file — AIX, Linux,
and Solaris systems . . . . . . . . . . 413
Chapter 29. Command reference for Dispatcher Configuration file — Windows
Nortel Alteon Controller . . . . . . . 385 systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
nalcontrol consultant — configure and control a Sample advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
nalcontrol controller — manage the controller . . 389 Appendix D. Sample of a 2-tier high
nalcontrol file — manage configuration files . . . 391 availability configuration using
nalcontrol help — display or print help for this
command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Dispatcher, CBR, and Caching Proxy . 423
nalcontrol highavailability — control high Server machine set up . . . . . . . . . . 423
availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
nalcontrol metriccollector — configure metric Appendix E. Notices . . . . . . . . 427
collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
nalcontrol server — configure a server . . . . . 398
nalcontrol service — configure a service . . . . 400 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Appendix A. GUI: General instructions 403 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Appendix B. Content rule (pattern)

syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

x Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Tables
1. Configuration tasks for the Dispatcher function 47 9. Configuration tasks for the Nortel Alteon
2. Commands to alias the loopback device (lo0) Controller component . . . . . . . . . 133
for Dispatcher. . . . . . . . . . . . 56 10. Advanced configuration tasks for Load
3. Commands to delete any extra route for Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Dispatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 11. Advanced configuration tasks for the Load
4. Configuration tasks for the CBR component 75 Balancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
5. Necessary additions to the CBR configuration 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table . . . . . 235
file, by operating system . . . . . . . . 80 13. CBR Troubleshooting table . . . . . . . 240
6. Commands to alias the NIC . . . . . . . 81 14. Site Selector troubleshooting table. . . . . 241
7. Configuration tasks for the Site Selector 15. Controller for Cisco CSS Switches
component . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 troubleshooting table . . . . . . . . . 243
8. Configuration tasks for the Cisco CSS 16. Nortel Alteon Controller troubleshooting table 244
Controller component . . . . . . . . . 113 17. Metric Server troubleshooting table . . . . 245

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 xi

xii Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Figures
1. Example of a physical representation of a site 25. A simple Nortel Alteon Controller
using Dispatcher to manage local servers . . . 8 configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 121
2. Example of a site using Dispatcher and Metric 26. Example of a consultant connected behind the
Server to manage servers . . . . . . . . 9 switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3. Example of a site using Dispatcher to manage 27. Example of consultant connected through an
local and remote servers . . . . . . . . 9 intranet in front of switch . . . . . . . 127
4. Example of a site using CBR to manage local 28. Example of consultant behind switch and
servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 user interface in front of switch . . . . . 128
5. Example of a site using Site Selector and 29. Example of consultant configured with
Metric Server to manage local and remote backup servers . . . . . . . . . . . 129
servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 30. Example of Nortel Alteon Controller and
6. Example of a site using Cisco CSS Controller Nortel Alteon Web Switch high availability . 131
and Metric Server to manage local services . . 14 31. Example of a two-tiered WAN configuration
7. Example of a site using Nortel Alteon using the self advisor . . . . . . . . . 153
Controller to manage local servers . . . . . 15 32. Example of a configuration consisting of a
8. A simple local Dispatcher configuration 31 single LAN segment . . . . . . . . . 185
9. Example of Dispatcher configured with a 33. Example of configuration using local and
single cluster and 2 ports . . . . . . . . 34 remote servers . . . . . . . . . . . 185
10. Example of Dispatcher configured with two 34. Wide area example configuration with remote
clusters, each with one port . . . . . . . 35 Load Balancers . . . . . . . . . . . 187
11. Example of Dispatcher configured with 2 35. Wide area example configuration with server
clusters, each with 2 ports. . . . . . . . 36 platform that supports GRE. . . . . . . 189
12. Example for using Dispatcher's nat or cbr 36. Example of a private network using
forwarding methods . . . . . . . . . 42 Dispatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
13. Example of a Dispatcher using simple high 37. SNMP commands for AIX, HP-UX, Linux,
availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 and Solaris operating systems . . . . . . 222
14. Example of a Dispatcher using mutual high 38. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying
availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 the GUI tree structure expansion of the
15. Example of the IP addresses needed for the Dispatcher component . . . . . . . . 403
Dispatcher machine . . . . . . . . . . 52 39. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying
16. A simple local CBR configuration . . . . . 65 the GUI tree structure expansion of the CBR
17. Example of CBR configured with a single component . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
cluster and 2 ports . . . . . . . . . . 68 40. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying
18. Example of CBR configured with two clusters, the GUI tree structure expansion of the Site
each with one port . . . . . . . . . . 69 Selector component . . . . . . . . . 405
19. Example of CBR configured with 2 clusters, 41. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying
each with 2 ports . . . . . . . . . . 70 the GUI tree structure expansion of the Cisco
20. A simple Site Selector configuration . . . . 87 CSS Controller component . . . . . . . 406
21. Example of a DNS environment. . . . . . 91 42. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying
22. A simple Cisco CSS Controller configuration 103 the GUI tree structure expansion of the Nortel
23. Example of a consultant connected behind the Alteon Controller component . . . . . . 407
switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 43. Example of a 2-tier, high availability
24. Example of consultant (with optional high configuration using Dispatcher, CBR, and
availability partner), configured behind Caching Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . 423
switch with user interface in front of switch . 110

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 xiii

xiv Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
About this book
This book explains how to plan for, install, configure, use, and troubleshoot IBM®
WebSphere® Application Server Load Balancer for AIX®, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris,
and Windows operating systems. Previously, this product was called Edge Server
Network Dispatcher, SecureWay Network Dispatcher, eNetwork Dispatcher, and
Interactive Network Dispatcher.

Who should read this book

The Load Balancer Administration Guide is written for experienced network and
system administrators who are familiar with their operating systems and with
providing Internet services. Prior exposure to Load Balancer is not required.

This book is not intended to support previous releases of Load Balancer.

Reference Information
The Edge Components Information Center Web site links to the current version of
this book in HTML and PDF formats.

For the most current updates about Load Balancer, visit the Web site support page
and link to the Technote site.

To access these and related Web pages, go to the URLs listed in “Related
documents and Web sites” on page xvii.

Accessibility
Accessibility features help a user who has a physical disability, such as restricted
mobility or limited vision, to use software products successfully. These are the
major accessibility features in Load Balancer:
v You can use screen-reader software and a digital speech synthesizer to hear what
is displayed on the screen. You can also use voice recognition software, such as
IBM ViaVoice®, to enter data and to navigate the user interface.
v You can operate features by using the keyboard instead of the mouse.
v You can configure and administer Load Balancer features by using standard text
editors or command-line interfaces, instead of the provided graphical interfaces.
For more information about the accessibility of particular features, refer to the
documentation about those features.

How to send your comments

Your feedback is important in helping to provide the most accurate and
high-quality information. If you have any comments about this book or any other
Edge components document:
v Send your comments by e-mail to [email protected]. Be sure to include the
name of the book, the part number of the book, the version, and if applicable
the specific location of the text you are commenting on (for example, a page
number or table number).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 xv

xvi Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Related documents and Web sites
v Concepts, Planning, and Installation for Edge Components GC31-6918-00
v Programming Guide for Edge Components GC31-6919-00
v Caching Proxy Administration Guide GC31-6920-00
v Load Balancer for IPv4 and IPv6 Administration Guide
v IBM Web site home: www.ibm.com/
v IBM WebSphere Application Server product: www.ibm.com/software/webservers/
appserv/
v IBM WebSphere Application Server library Web site: www.ibm.com/software/
webservers/appserv/was/library/
v IBM WebSphere Application Server support Web site: www.ibm.com/software/
webservers/appserv/was/support/
v IBM WebSphere Application Server Information Center: www.ibm.com/software/
webservers/appserv/infocenter.html
v IBM WebSphere Application Server Edge Components Information Center:
www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/was/library/

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 xvii

xviii Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 1. Introduction to Load Balancer
This part provides an overview of Load Balancer for IPv4 and its components, a
high-level description of configuration features that are available, a list of hardware
and software requirements, and installation instructions. It contains the following
chapters:
v Chapter 1, “Overview of Load Balancer,” on page 3
v Chapter 2, “Overview of the components of Load Balancer,” on page 7
v Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer features
to use,” on page 17
v Chapter 4, “Installing Load Balancer,” on page 27

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 1

2 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 1. Overview of Load Balancer
This chapter gives an overview of Load Balancer and includes the following
sections:
v “What is Load Balancer?”
v “Which components of Load Balancer can I use?”
v “What are the advantages to using Load Balancer?” on page 4
v “How can Load Balancer provide high availability?” on page 5

For a high-level list of configuration features provided by each of the Load

Balancer components, to assist you in planning which features to use for managing
your network, see Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining which Load
Balancer features to use,” on page 17.

What is Load Balancer?

Load Balancer is a software solution for distributing incoming client requests
across servers. It boosts the performance of servers by directing TCP/IP session
requests to different servers within a group of servers; in this way, it balances the
requests among all the servers. This load balancing is transparent to users and
other applications. Load Balancer is useful for applications such as e-mail servers,
World Wide Web servers, distributed parallel database queries, and other TCP/IP
applications.

When used with Web servers, Load Balancer can help maximize the potential of
your site by providing a powerful, flexible, and scalable solution to peak-demand
problems. If visitors to your site can not get through at times of greatest demand,
use Load Balancer to automatically find the optimal server to handle incoming
requests, thus enhancing your customers’ satisfaction and your profitability.

Which components of Load Balancer can I use?

Load Balancer consists of the following five components that you can use
separately or together to provide superior load-balancing results:
v You can use the Dispatcher component by itself to balance the load on servers
within a local area network or wide area network using a number of weights
and measurements that are dynamically set by Dispatcher. This component
provides load balancing at a level of specific services, such as HTTP, FTP, SSL,
NNTP, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, SIP, and Telnet. It does not use a domain name
server to map domain names to IP addresses.
For HTTP protocol, you can also use the Dispatcher's content-based routing
feature to load balance based on the content of the client request. The chosen
server is the result of matching the URL to a specified rule. Dispatcher's
content-based routing (cbr forwarding method) does not require Caching Proxy.
v For both HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) protocol, you can use the Content Based
Routing (CBR) component to load balance based on the content of the client
request. A client sends a request to Caching Proxy, and Caching Proxy sends the
request to the appropriate server. The chosen server is the result of matching the
URL to a specified rule.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 3

 Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on
platforms that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64,
the CBR component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR
forwarding method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide
content-based routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's
content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more
information.
v You can use the Site Selector component to balance the load on servers within a
local or wide area network using a DNS round-robin approach or a more
advanced user-specified approach. Site Selector works in conjunction with a
name server to map DNS names to IP addresses.
v You can use the Cisco CSS Controller or the Nortel Alteon Controller
component to generate server weights that are then sent to the Cisco CSS Switch
or the Nortel Alteon Web Switch respectively for optimal server selection, load
optimization, and fault tolerance.

For more information on the Dispatcher, CBR, Site Selector, Cisco CSS Controller,
and Nortel Alteon Controller components, see “What are the components of Load
Balancer?” on page 7.

What are the advantages to using Load Balancer?

The number of users and networks connected to the global Internet is growing
exponentially. This growth is causing scalability problems that can limit users’
access to popular sites.

Currently, network administrators are using numerous methods to try to maximize

access. With some of these methods, you can choose a different server at random if
an earlier choice is slow or not responding. This approach is cumbersome,
annoying, and inefficient. Another method is standard round-robin, in which the
domain name server selects servers in turn to handle requests. This approach is
better, but still inefficient because it forwards traffic without any consideration of
the server workload. In addition, even if a server fails, requests continue to be sent
to it.

The need for a more powerful solution has resulted in Load Balancer. It offers
numerous benefits over earlier and competing solutions:
Scalability
As the number of client requests increases, you can add servers
dynamically, providing support for tens of millions of requests per day, on
tens or even hundreds of servers.
Efficient use of equipment
Load balancing ensures that each group of servers makes optimum use of
its hardware by minimizing the hot-spots that frequently occur with a
standard round-robin method.
Easy integration
Load Balancer uses standard TCP/IP or UDP/IP protocols. You can add it
to your existing network without making any physical changes to the
network. It is simple to install and configure.
Low overhead

4 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Using a simple mac level forwarding method, the Dispatcher component
looks at the inbound client-to-server flows only. It does not need to see the
outbound server-to-client flows. This significantly reduces its impact on the
application compared with other approaches and can result in improved
network performance.
High availability
The Dispatcher, Cisco CSS Controller, and Nortel Alteon Controller
components offer built-in high availability, utilizing a backup machine that
remains ready at all times to take over load balancing if the primary server
machine fail. When one of the servers fails, requests continue to be
serviced by the other server. This process eliminates any server as a single
point of failure and makes the site highly available.
For more information, see “How can Load Balancer provide high
availability?”
Content-based routing (using the CBR component or Dispatcher component)
In conjunction with Caching Proxy, the CBR component has the ability to
proxy HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) requests to specific servers based on the
content requested. For example, if a request contains the string "/cgi-bin/"
in the directory portion of the URL, and the server name is a local server,
CBR can direct the request to the best server in a set of servers specifically
allocated to handle cgi requests.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on

platforms that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX
ia64, the CBR component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use
the CBR forwarding method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher
component to provide content-based routing without the use of
Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr
forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.
The Dispatcher component also provides content-based routing, but it does
not require the Caching Proxy to be installed. Because the Dispatcher
component's content-based routing is performed in the kernel as packets
are received, it can provide faster content-based routing than the CBR
component. The Dispatcher component performs content-based routing for
HTTP (using the "content" type rule) and HTTPS (using SSL session ID
affinity).

Note: Only the CBR component can use the content rule for HTTPS (SSL)
when load-balancing traffic based upon the content of the HTTP
request, which requires decrypting and re-encrypting messages.

How can Load Balancer provide high availability?

Dispatcher
The Dispatcher component offers a built-in high availability feature, eliminating
Dispatcher as a single point of failure from your network. This feature involves the
use of a second Dispatcher machine that monitors the main, or primary, machine
and stands by to take over the task of load balancing should the primary machine
fail at any time. The Dispatcher component also offers mutual high availability
which allows two machines to be both primary and secondary (backup) for each
other. See “Configure high availability” on page 164.

Chapter 1. Overview of Load Balancer 5

 CBR
You can also achieve a level of high availability using the CBR component when
using a two-tier configuration with a Dispatcher machine load balancing traffic
across multiple servers that have CBR.

Cisco CSS Controller or Nortel Alteon Controller

The controllers have a high availability feature to eliminate the controller as a
single point of failure. A controller on one machine may be configured as a
primary and a controller on a different machine may be configured as a backup.
The backup monitors the primary and stands by to take over the task of providing
server weights to the switches should the primary fail. See “High availability” on
page 197 for more information.

6 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 2. Overview of the components of Load Balancer
This chapter gives an overview of Load Balancer components and includes the
following sections:
v “What are the components of Load Balancer?”
v “Overview of the Dispatcher component”
v “Overview of the Content Based Routing (CBR) component” on page 10
v “Overview of the Site Selector component” on page 11
v “Overview of the Cisco CSS Controller component” on page 12
v “Overview of Nortel Alteon Controller component” on page 14

For a high-level list of configuration features that are provided by each of the Load
Balancer components, and to assist you in planning which features to use for
managing your network, see Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining
which Load Balancer features to use,” on page 17.

What are the components of Load Balancer?

The five components of Load Balancer are: Dispatcher, Content Based Routing
(CBR), Site Selector, Cisco CSS Controller, and Nortel Alteon Controller. Load
Balancer gives you the flexibility of using the components separately or together
depending on your site configuration. This section gives an overview of these
components.

Overview of the Dispatcher component

The Dispatcher component balances traffic among your servers through a unique
combination of load balancing and management software. Dispatcher can also
detect a failed server and forward traffic around it. Dispatcher supports HTTP, FTP,
SSL, SMTP, NNTP, IMAP, POP3, Telnet, SIP, and any other TCP or stateless UDP
based application.

All client requests sent to the Dispatcher machine are directed to the "best" server
according to weights that are set dynamically. You can use the default values for
those weights or change the values during the configuration process.

Dispatcher offers three forwarding methods (specified on the port):

v MAC forwarding method (mac). With this forwarding method, Dispatcher load
balances the incoming request to the server. The server returns the response
directly to the client without any involvement of the Dispatcher.
v NAT/NAPT forwarding method (nat). Using Dispatcher's Network Address
Translation (NAT)/ Network Address Port Translation (NAPT) capability
removes the limitation for the backend servers to be located on a locally
attached network. When you want to have servers located at remote locations,
you can use the nat technique rather than using a Generic Routing
Encapsulation (GRE)/Wide Area Network (WAN) technique. With the nat
forwarding method, Dispatcher load balances the incoming request to the server.
The server returns the response to Dispatcher. The Dispatcher machine then
returns the response to the client.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 7

 v Content-based routing forwarding method (cbr). Without Caching Proxy, the
Dispatcher component allows you to perform content-based routing for HTTP
(using the "content" type rule) and HTTPS (using SSL session ID affinity). For
HTTP and HTTPS traffic, the Dispatcher component can provide faster
content-based routing than the CBR component. With the cbr forwarding
method, Dispatcher load balances the incoming request to the server. The server
returns the response to Dispatcher. The Dispatcher machine then returns the
response to the client.

The Dispatcher component is the key to stable, efficient management of a large,

scalable network of servers. With Dispatcher, you can link many individual servers
into what seems to be a single, virtual server. Your site is presented as a single IP
address to the world. Dispatcher functions independently of a domain name
server; all requests are sent to the IP address of the Dispatcher machine.

Dispatcher brings distinct advantages in balancing traffic load to clustered servers,

resulting in stable and efficient management of your site.

Managing local servers with Dispatcher

Client

Client

Client
Dispatcher
Server 2

Internet

Server 1 Server 3

Figure 1. Example of a physical representation of a site using Dispatcher to manage local servers

Figure 1 shows a physical representation of the site using an Ethernet network

configuration. The Dispatcher machine can be installed without making any
physical changes to the network. After a client request is directed to the optimal
server by the Dispatcher, the response is then sent directly from server to client
with no involvement by the Dispatcher when using MAC forwarding method.

8 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Managing servers using Dispatcher and Metric Server

Figure 2. Example of a site using Dispatcher and Metric Server to manage servers

Figure 2 illustrates a site in which all servers are on a local network. The
Dispatcher component is used to forward requests, and the Metric Server is used
to provide system load information to the Dispatcher machine.

In this example, the Metric Server daemon is installed on each backend server. You
can use Metric Server with the Dispatcher component or any of the other Load
Balancer components.

Managing local and remote servers with Dispatcher

Figure 3. Example of a site using Dispatcher to manage local and remote servers

Wide area support in Dispatcher enables you to use both local and remote servers
(servers on different subnets). Figure 3 shows a configuration where one local

Chapter 2. Overview of the components of Load Balancer 9

 Dispatcher (Dispatcher 1) serves as the entry point for all requests. It distributes
these requests among its own local servers (ServerA, ServerB, ServerC) and to the
remote Dispatcher (Dispatcher 2), which will load balance to its local servers
(ServerG, ServerH, ServerI).

When using Dispatcher's NAT forwarding method or using GRE support, wide
area support with Dispatcher can also be achieved without using a Dispatcher at
the remote site (where ServerD, ServerE, and ServerF are located). See
“Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39 and “GRE
(Generic Routing Encapsulation) support” on page 189 for more information.

Overview of the Content Based Routing (CBR) component

CBR works with Caching Proxy to proxy client requests to specified HTTP or
HTTPS (SSL) servers. It allows you to manipulate caching details for faster Web
document retrieval with low network bandwidth requirements. CBR and Caching
Proxy examines HTTP requests using specified rule types.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

CBR gives you the ability to specify a set of servers that handle a request based on
regular expression matching of the content of the request. Because CBR allows you
to specify multiple servers for each type of request, the requests can be load
balanced for optimal client response. CBR also detects when one server in a set has
failed, and stops routing requests to that server. The load-balancing algorithm used
by the CBR component is identical to the proven algorithm used by the Dispatcher
component.

When a request is received by Caching Proxy, it is checked against the rules that
have been defined in the CBR component. If a match is found, then one of the
servers associated with that rule is chosen to handle the request. Caching Proxy
then performs its normal processing to proxy the request to the chosen server.

CBR has the same functions as Dispatcher with the exception of high availability,
SNMP subagent, wide area, and a few other configuration commands.

Caching Proxy must be running before CBR can begin load balancing client
requests.

Managing local servers with CBR

10 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Figure 4. Example of a site using CBR to manage local servers

Figure 4 shows a logical representation of a site in which CBR is being used to

proxy some content from local servers. The CBR component uses Caching Proxy to
forward client requests (HTTP or HTTPS) to the servers based on the content of
the URL.

Overview of the Site Selector component

Site Selector acts as a name server that works in conjunction with other name
servers in a domain name system to load balance among a group of servers using
measurements and weights that are gathered. You can create a site configuration to
let you load balance traffic among a group of servers based on the domain name
used for a client's request.

A client submits a request for resolution of a domain name to a name server

within its network. Name server forwards the request to the Site Selector machine.
Site Selector then resolves the domain name to the IP address of one of the servers
that has been configured under the site name. Site Selector returns the IP address
of the selected server to the name server. The name server returns the IP address to
the client.

Metric Server is a system monitoring component of Load Balancer that must be

installed in each load-balanced server within your configuration. Using Metric
Server, Site Selector can monitor the level of activity on a server, detect when a
server is the least heavily loaded, and detect a failed server. The load is a measure
of how hard the server is working. By customizing system metric script files, you
can control the type of measurements used to measure the load. You can configure
Site Selector to suit your environment, considering such factors as frequency of
access, the total number of users, and types of access (for example, short queries,
long-running queries, or CPU-intensive loads).

Chapter 2. Overview of the components of Load Balancer 11

 Managing local and remote servers with Site Selector and
Metric Server

Client
Client
name server

name Internet
server

Site
Selector

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4 Server 5 Server 6

Metric Server Metric Server Metric Server Metric Server Metric Server Metric Server

Figure 5. Example of a site using Site Selector and Metric Server to manage local and
remote servers

Figure 5 illustrates a site in which the Site Selector component is used to answer
requests. Server1, Server2, and Server3 are local. Server4, Server5, and Server6 are
remote.

A client submits a request for resolution of a domain name to a client name server.
The client name server forwards the request through the DNS to the Site Selector
machine (Path 1). Site Selector then resolves the domain name to the IP address of
one of the servers. Site Selector returns the IP address of the selected server to the
client name server. The name server returns the IP address to the client.

After the client receives the IP address of the server, the client routes application
requests directly to the selected server (Path 2).

Note: In this example, the Metric Server provides system load information to the
Site Selector machine. The Metric Server agent is installed on each backend
server. Use Metric Server in conjunction with Site Selector; otherwise Site
Selector can only use a round-robin selection method for load balancing.

Overview of the Cisco CSS Controller component

Note: The Cisco CSS Controller component is shipped with Load Balancer for
IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware. Consult the
prerequisites page for supported hardware: http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

Cisco CSS Controller forms a complementary solution in conjunction with Cisco's

CSS 11000 series switches. The combined solution blends the CSS 11000 series'

12 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

robust packet forwarding and content routing capabilities with Load Balancer's
sophisticated awareness algorithms for determining load information and
availability of the service (backend server application or database). The Cisco CSS
Controller function utilizes Load Balancer's weight calculation algorithm, standard
and custom advisors, and Metric Server to determine the metrics, health, and load
of the service. With this information Cisco CSS Controller generates service
weights, which it sends to the Cisco CSS Switch for optimal service selection, load
optimization, and fault tolerance.

Cisco CSS Controller tracks many criteria, including:

v Active connections and connection rate (the number of new connections within a
weight calculation cycle)
v Application and database availability, which is facilitated through the use of
standard and customized advisors, and service-resident agents tailored to the
specific application
v CPU utilization
v Memory utilization
v User-customizable system metrics

When a Cisco CSS Switch, without Cisco CSS Controller, is determining the health
of a content-providing service, it uses response times for content requests or other
network measures. With Cisco CSS Controller in place, these activities are
offloaded from the Cisco CSS Switch to Cisco CSS Controller. Cisco CSS Controller
influences the service's weight or ability to serve content, and activates or suspends
a service as appropriate when the service regains or loses availability.

Cisco CSS Controller:

v Uses a published SNMP interface to obtain connection information from the
Cisco CSS Switch
v Uses advisor input to analyze service availability and response time
v Uses Metric Server information to analyze system load
v Generates weights for each service in the configuration
Weights are applied to all services on a port. For any particular port, the requests
are distributed between services based on their weights relative to each other. For
example, if one service is set to a weight of 10, and the other to 5 the service set to
10 gets twice as many requests as the service set to 5. These weights are provided
to the Cisco CSS Switch using SNMP. As the weight of any service is set higher,
the Cisco CSS Switch directs more requests to that service.

Chapter 2. Overview of the components of Load Balancer 13

 Client
Client Client

Internet

Cisco Consultant
CSS Switch for Cisco
CSS Switch

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3

MetricServer MetricServer MetricServer

Figure 6. Example of a site using Cisco CSS Controller and Metric Server to manage local
services

Cisco CSS Controller, in conjunction with the Cisco CSS Switch, delivers a "best of
both worlds" solution that combines wire-speed content switching with
sophisticated application awareness, fault tolerance, and service load optimization.
Cisco CSS Controller is part of an overall complementary solution between the
Cisco CSS Switch and IBM WebSphere Application Server Load Balancer.

Overview of Nortel Alteon Controller component

Note: The Nortel Alteon Controller component is shipped with Load Balancer for
IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware. Consult the
prerequisites page for supported hardware: http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

Nortel Alteon Controller in conjunction with the Nortel Alteon family of Web
switches provides a complementary solution that combines the switches' packet
forwarding speed and capacity with the Load Balancer's sophisticated awareness
algorithms for determining server weights.

Nortel Alteon Controller allows you to develop custom advisors that are capable of
performing more intelligent, application-aware assessments of the availability and
load of applications used to deploy services.

The Metric Server provides system load information, such as CPU and memory
utilization information, and a framework for you to develop custom system load
measurements.

14 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Nortel Alteon Controller collects many types of metric data to determine weights
for servers being load-balanced by Nortel Alteon Web Switches, including:
v Active and new connections
v Application and database availability, which is facilitated through the use of
standard and customized advisors, and server-resident agents tailored to the
specific application
v CPU utilization
v Memory utilization
v User-customizable server metrics
v Reachability

Nortel Alteon Controller uses SNMP to communicate with the switch.

Configuration , state and connection information is retrieved from the switch.
When server weights are calculated by the controller, they are set on the switch.
The switch uses the weights set by the controller to select the best server to handle
client requests for a service.

server farm

clients

Internet Nortel Alteon

Switch L2
Switch

intranet

Nortel Alteon
browser, GUI, or Controller
command line
interface

Figure 7. Example of a site using Nortel Alteon Controller to manage local servers

You can manage the controller using a browser, a remote GUI, or a remote
command line interface.

Nortel Alteon Controller combined with the Nortel Alteon family of Web switches
delivers a "best of both worlds" solution that combines wire-speed packet
switching with sophisticated application awareness, fault tolerance and server load
optimization. Nortel Alteon Controller is part of a complementary solution
between the Nortel Alteon family of Web switches and IBM's WebSphere.

Chapter 2. Overview of the components of Load Balancer 15

16 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 3. Managing your network: Determining which Load
Balancer features to use
This chapter lists the configuration features of the Load Balancer components so
you can determine which features to use for managing your network:
v “Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions (for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site
Selector components)”
v “Dispatcher component features”
v “Content Based Routing (CBR) component features” on page 20
v “Site Selector component features” on page 22
v “Cisco CSS Controller component features” on page 23
v “Nortel Alteon Controller component features” on page 24

Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions (for Dispatcher, CBR,

and Site Selector components)
To optimize balancing the load across servers and ensure that the "right" server is
chosen, see:
__ “Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer” on page 142
__ “Advisors” on page 146
__ “Metric Server” on page 157

Dispatcher component features

Dispatcher supports load balancing across your servers for HTTP, FTP, SSL, SMTP,
NNTP, IMAP, POP3, Telnet, SIP, and any other TCP or stateless UDP based
application.

Remote administration
__ To run Load Balancer configuration from a separate machine from the one
on which the Load Balancer resides, see “Remote administration of Load
Balancer” on page 213.

Collocation
__ To run Dispatcher on the same machine as a Web server that you are load
balancing, see “Using collocated servers” on page 162.

High availability
__ To use Dispatcher to remove single point-of-failure limitations in your
network, see “Simple high availability” on page 45 and “Mutual high
availability” on page 46.

Client to server affinity

When load balancing SSL (HTTPS) traffic:
__ To ensure that the client uses the same SSL server for multiple connections,
see “How affinity feature for Load Balancer works” on page 178.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 17

 __ To ensure that the client uses the same server for HTTP and SSL traffic, see
“Cross port affinity” on page 179.
__ To ensure that the client uses the same server for multiple connections, see
“How affinity feature for Load Balancer works” on page 178.
__ To ensure that a group of clients use the same server for multiple
connections, see “Affinity address mask (stickymask)” on page 179.
__ To remove a server from your configuration (for example, for maintenance
purposes) without disrupting client traffic, see “Quiesce server connection
handling” on page 180.

Rules-based load balancing

In order to direct clients to different sets of servers for the same Web address, you
can add "rules" to your Dispatcher configuration. For more information, see
“Configure rules-based load balancing” on page 170.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on client source IP address,
see “Using rules based on the client IP address” on page 171.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on client port, see “Using
rules based on the client port” on page 171.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on time of day, see “Using
rules based on the time of day” on page 172.
__ To direct clients to servers based on Type of Service (TOS) bits in network
packets, see “Using rules based on type of service (TOS)” on page 172.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on site traffic:
__ Using connections per second, see “Using rules based on the
connections per second” on page 172.
__ Using total active connections, see “Using rules based on the total
active connections” on page 173.
__ Reserving and sharing bandwidth for different Web addresses, see
“Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth” on
page 173.
__ Ensuring traffic is measured correctly for each of your sets of servers,
see “Server evaluation option for rules” on page 177.
__ To direct overflow traffic to a default set of servers (for example, servers that
will respond "site busy"), see “Using rules that are always true” on page 175.
__ To override client affinity to ensure that a client does not "stick" to an
overflow server, see “port affinity override” on page 176.

Content-based routing using Dispatcher's cbr forwarding

method
To ensure SSL clients return to the same SSL server based on SSL ID in the client
request, see the section on configuring content-based routing with SSL.

To direct HTTP clients to different sets of servers using rules based on matching
the URL content of the client request, see “Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr
forwarding method)” on page 41 and “Using rules based on the request content”
on page 176 for more information.
__ To distinguish between particular URLs and their service applications, see
“Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43.

18 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 __ To ensure clients return to the same server when requesting similar content
in multiple connections using cookies created by your Web servers, see
“Passive cookie affinity” on page 183.
__ To load balance Web traffic to caching-proxy servers that allow unique
content to be cached on each server (thereby increasing the size of your site's
cache by eliminating redundant caching of content on multiple machines),
see “URI affinity” on page 184.

Comparison between the Dispatcher component's cbr forwarding

method and the CBR component
The advantage of using Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method is that it provides a
faster response to client requests than the CBR component. Also, Dispatcher's cbr
forwarding does not require the installation and use of Caching Proxy.

If your network includes fully secure SSL (client through server) traffic, the
advantage of using the CBR component (in conjunction with Caching Proxy) is that
it can process the encryption and decryption required in order to perform
content-based routing. For fully secure connections, the Dispatcher's cbr
forwarding can only be configured with SSL ID affinity because it cannot process
the encryption and decryption to perform true content-based routing on the client
request's URL.

Wide area load balancing

Wide area load balancing can be achieved through several different methods.
__ To load balance to remote servers using the wide area feature of Dispatcher,
see: “Configure wide area Dispatcher support” on page 184 and “GRE
(Generic Routing Encapsulation) support” on page 189.

Note: An additional Dispatcher is required at the remote site if GRE is not

supported at the remote site.
__ To load balance to remote servers using Dispatcher's nat forwarding method,
see “Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39.

Note: No additional Dispatcher is required at the remote site if nat

forwarding method is used.

Port mapping
__ To load balance one Web address to multiple server daemons on the same
machine, where each daemon listens on a unique port see “Dispatcher's
NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39.

Setting up Dispatcher on a private network

__ To put Dispatcher traffic on a different network than client traffic (to
improve performance by reducing contention on the external network), see
“Using a private network configuration” on page 190.

Wildcard cluster and wildcard port

__ To combine multiple Web addresses into a single configuration, see “Use
wildcard cluster to combine server configurations” on page 191.
__ To load balance firewalls, see “Use wildcard cluster to load balance
firewalls” on page 191.
__ To direct traffic for all destination ports, see “Use wildcard port to direct
unconfigured port traffic” on page 192.
Chapter 3. Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer features to use 19
 "Denial of service" attack detection
__ To detect possible "denial of service" attacks, see “Denial of service attack
detection” on page 193.

Binary logging
__ To analyze server traffic, see “Using binary logging to analyze server
statistics” on page 194.

Alerts
__ To generate alerts when servers are marked up or down, see “Using scripts
to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 145.

Content Based Routing (CBR) component features

CBR integrates load balancing with WebSphere Application Server's Caching Proxy
to proxy client requests to specified HTTP or HTTPS (SSL) servers. To use CBR,
Caching Proxy must be installed and configured on the same machine. For
information on how to configure Caching Proxy in order to use CBR, see “Step 1.
Configure Caching Proxy to use CBR” on page 79.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

With the CBR component (or the Dispatcher component's cbr forwarding method),
you can provide the following advantages to your clients:
__ Load balance client requests for different types of content to sets of servers.
(See “Load balancing requests for different types of content” on page 72.)
__ Improve response time by optimally dividing your site's content among your
Web servers. (See “Dividing your site content for better response time” on
page 72.)
__ Ensure uninterrupted client traffic during server failure by allowing multiple
servers to be assigned to each type of content. (See “Providing backup of
Web server content” on page 72.)

Comparison between the CBR component and the Dispatcher

component's cbr forwarding method
If your network requires fully secure SSL traffic (client through server), the
advantage of using the CBR component (in conjunction with Caching Proxy) is that
it can process SSL encryption/decryption in order to perform content-based
routing.

For fully secure SSL connections, the Dispatcher's cbr forwarding can only be
configured with SSL ID affinity because it cannot process the encryption/
decryption to perform true content-based routing on the client request's URL.

For HTTP traffic, the advantage of using Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method is
that it provides a faster response to client requests than the CBR component. Also,
Dispatcher's cbr forwarding does not require the installation and use of Caching
Proxy.
20 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Remote administration
__ To run Load Balancer configuration from a separate machine from the one
on which the Load Balancer resides, see “Remote administration of Load
Balancer” on page 213.

Collocation
__ CBR can run on the same machine as a server that you are load balancing.
See “Using collocated servers” on page 162 for more information.

CBR with multiple instances of Caching Proxy

__ To improve CPU utilization by using multiple Caching Proxy processes, see
“Using multiple Caching Proxy processes to improve CPU utilization” on
page 72.

Provide content-based routing for SSL connections

To allow content-based routing of SSL traffic:
__ Using secure connection on both sides (client-to-proxy and proxy-to-server),
see “Load balancing across fully secure (SSL) connections” on page 73.
__ Using secure connections only on the client-to-proxy side, see “Load
balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and proxy-to-server in HTTP” on page 73.

Server partitioning
__ To distinguish between particular URLs and their service applications, see
“Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43.

Rules-based load balancing

In order to direct clients to different sets of servers for the same Web address, you
can add "rules" to your CBR configuration. For more information, see “Configure
rules-based load balancing” on page 170.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on the content of the
requested URL, see “Using rules based on the request content” on page 176.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on client source IP address,
see “Using rules based on the client IP address” on page 171.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on time of day, see “Using
rules based on the time of day” on page 172.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on site traffic:
Using connections per second, see “Using rules based on the connections
per second” on page 172.
Using total active connections, see “Using rules based on the total active
connections” on page 173.
__ To direct overflow traffic to a default set of servers (for example, server(s)
that will respond "site busy"), see “Using rules that are always true” on page
175.
__ To override client affinity to ensure that a client does not "stick" to an
overflow server, see “port affinity override” on page 176.

Client to server affinity

__ To ensure that a client returns to the same server for multiple connections,
see “How affinity feature for Load Balancer works” on page 178.
Chapter 3. Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer features to use 21
 __ To remove a server from your configuration (for example, for maintenance
purposes) without disrupting client traffic, see “Quiesce server connection
handling” on page 180.
__ To ensure that clients return to the same server when requesting similar
content in multiple connections without relying on cookies created by your
Web servers, see “Active cookie affinity” on page 181.
__ To ensure that clients return to the same server when requesting similar
content in multiple connections using cookies created by your Web servers,
see “Passive cookie affinity” on page 183.
__ To load balance Web traffic to caching-proxy servers that allow unique
content to be cached on each server (thereby increasing the size of your site's
cache by eliminating redundant caching of content on multiple machines),
see “URI affinity” on page 184.

High availability using Dispatcher and CBR

__ To remove single point of failure limitations in your network using
Dispatcher in a two-tier configuration with CBR, see “How can Load
Balancer provide high availability?” on page 5.

Binary logging
__ To analyze server traffic, see “Using binary logging to analyze server
statistics” on page 194.

Alerts
__ To generate alerts when servers are marked up or down, see “Using scripts
to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 145.

Site Selector component features

Site Selector load balances a name service request across a group of servers.

Remote administration
__ To run Load Balancer configuration from a separate machine from the one
on which the Load Balancer resides, see “Remote administration of Load
Balancer” on page 213.

Collocation
__ Site Selector can run on the same machine as a server that you are load
balancing with no additional configuration steps required.

High availability
__ High availability is inherently available through Domain Name System
(DNS) methodologies using multiple redundant Site Selectors, assuming
correct configuration of the parent name server and normal DNS recovery
methods are in place. Examples of normal DNS recovery methods are:
retransmission of queries and retrying zone transfers.
__ To remove single point of failure limitations in your network using
Dispatcher in a two-tier configuration with Site Selector, see “How can Load
Balancer provide high availability?” on page 5.

22 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Client to server affinity
__ To ensure that the client uses the same server for multiple name server
requests, see “How affinity feature for Load Balancer works” on page 178.
__ To ensure client to server affinity using the standard DNS method of setting
the Time To Live (TTL), see “TTL considerations” on page 93.

Rules-based load balancing

To direct client requests to different sets of servers for domain name resolution,
you can add "rules" to your Site Selector configuration. For more information, see
“Configure rules-based load balancing” on page 170.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on client source IP address,
see “Using rules based on the client IP address” on page 171.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on time of day, see “Using
rules based on the time of day” on page 172.
__ To direct clients to different sets of servers based on the metric load values of
the server set, see:
“Metric all rule” on page 175
“Metric average rule” on page 175
__ To direct overflow traffic to a default set of servers (for example, server(s)
that will respond "site busy"), see “Using rules that are always true” on page
175.

Wide area load balancing

Site Selector can run in both a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network
(WAN).

In a WAN environment:
__ To load balance client name server requests using a weighted round-robin
selection method, no additional configuration steps are required.
__ To consider the network proximity of the client name server to the servers
providing the application requested (the destination servers), see “Using the
Network Proximity feature” on page 93.

Alerts
__ To generate alerts when servers are marked up or down, see “Using scripts
to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 145.

Cisco CSS Controller component features

Note: The Cisco CSS Controller component is shipped with Version 8.5 of Load
Balancer for IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware.
Consult the prerequisites page for supported hardware:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

Cisco CSS Controller enhances the Cisco switches' server load-balancing

capabilities with greater application and system awareness. The controller uses
more application sensitive and system sensitive metrics to calculate server weights
dynamically. The weights are provided to the switch using SNMP. The switch uses
the weights when processing client requests resulting in server load optimization
and improved fault tolerance.

Chapter 3. Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer features to use 23
 To optimize balancing the load across servers and ensure that the "right" server is
chosen, see:
__ “Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer” on page 200
__ “Advisors” on page 201 and “Create custom (customizable) advisors” on
page 203
__ “Metric Server” on page 206

Remote administration
__ To run Load Balancer configuration from a separate machine from the one
on which the Load Balancer resides, see “Remote administration of Load
Balancer” on page 213.

Collocation
__ Cisco CSS Controller can run on the same machine as a server that you are
load balancing with no additional configuration steps required.

High availability
__ To remove single point of failure limitations in your network, both the Cisco
CSS Switch and the Cisco CSS Controller have high availability capabilities.
For the switch, high availability capabilities are possible using the CSS
redundancy protocol. For the Cisco CSS Controller, a proprietary protocol is
used that allows the hot-standby configuration of two controllers.
For more information about configuring high availability, see “High
availability” on page 110.

Binary logging
__ To analyze server traffic, see “Using binary logging to analyze server
statistics” on page 209.

Alerts
__ To generate alerts when servers are marked up or down, see “Using scripts
to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 210.

Nortel Alteon Controller component features

Note: The Nortel Alteon Controller component is shipped with Load Balancer for
IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware. Consult the
prerequisites page for supported hardware: http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

Nortel Alteon Controller enhances the Nortel Alteon switches' server

load-balancing capabilities with greater application and system awareness. The
controller uses more application sensitive and system sensitive metrics to calculate
server weights dynamically. The weights are provided to the switch using SNMP.
The switch uses the weights when processing client requests resulting in server
load optimization and improved fault tolerance.

To optimize balancing the load across servers and ensure that the "right" server is
chosen, see:
__ “Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer” on page 200

24 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 __ “Advisors” on page 201 and “Create custom (customizable) advisors” on
page 203
__ “Metric Server” on page 206

Remote administration
__ To run Load Balancer configuration from a separate machine from the one
on which the Load Balancer resides, see “Remote administration of Load
Balancer” on page 213.

Collocation
__ Nortel Alteon Controller can run on the same machine as a server that you
are load balancing with no additional configuration steps required.

High availability
__ To remove single point of failure limitations in your network, both the
Nortel Alteon Web Switch and the Nortel Alteon Controller have high
availability capabilities. For the switch, high availability is possible using
redundancy protocol for connections to servers and for services. Nortel
Alteon Controller provides high availability using a proprietary protocol that
allows a hot-standby configuration of two controllers.
For more information about configuring high availability, see “High
availability” on page 130.

Binary logging
__ To analyze server traffic, see “Using binary logging to analyze server
statistics” on page 209.

Alerts
__ To generate alerts when servers are marked up or down, see “Using scripts
to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 210.

Chapter 3. Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer features to use 25
26 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 4. Installing Load Balancer
For instructions on installing Load Balancer, refer to the installation instructions in
Concepts, Planning and Installation for IPv4.

Note: Throughout the administration guide, there are references to commands and
file locations that include directory paths:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems, the installation
path for the product is /opt/ibm/edge/lb/
This path cannot be changed.
v For Windows operating systems, the default installation path for the
product is C:\Program Files\loadbalancer\ibm\edge\lb.
The beginning of this installation path can be changed, but be aware that
Installation Manager requires you to install the product into an empty
directory - in the default path it is C:\Program Files\loadbalancer. The
ibm\edge\lb portion of the path is hard coded and cannot be modified.
Since the initial section of the path can be modified, the installation
location is referenced as <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ throughout the
administration guide, where <install_root> represents the empty directory
that you specified during installation.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 27

28 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 2. Dispatcher component
This part provides information on a quick start configuration, planning
considerations, and describes the methods of configuring Load Balancer's
Dispatcher component. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 5, “Quick start configuration,” on page 31
v Chapter 6, “Planning for Dispatcher,” on page 37
v Chapter 7, “Configuring Dispatcher,” on page 47

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 29

30 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 5. Quick start configuration
This quick start example shows how to configure three locally attached
workstations using the Dispatcher component's mac forwarding method to
load-balance Web traffic between two Web servers. The configuration would be
essentially the same for balancing any other TCP or stateless UDP application
traffic.

Server 2
(Cluster address -- Used by clients) 9.47.47.102

9.47.47.104 Port 80
www.Intersplash.com
Client Internet Dispatcher
nonforwarding address
9.47.47.101
Server 1
(NFA — For maintenance)

Server 3
9.47.47.103
Port 80

Figure 8. A simple local Dispatcher configuration

The mac forwarding method is the default forwarding method whereby Dispatcher
load balances incoming requests to the server, and the server returns the response
directly to the client. For more information on Dispatcher's MAC forwarding
method, see “Dispatcher's MAC-level routing (mac forwarding method)” on page
38.

Note: You can complete the configuration using only two workstations with
Dispatcher located on one of the Web server workstations. This setup
represents a collocated configuration. Procedures for setting up more
complex configurations can be found at “Setting up the Dispatcher machine”
on page 50.

What do you need?

For the quick start example, you need three workstations and four IP addresses.
One workstation is the Dispatcher machine; the other two workstations are the
Web servers. Each Web server requires one IP address. The Dispatcher workstation
requires two addresses: the nonforwarding address (NFA), and the cluster address
(the address which is load balanced) that you provide to clients to access your Web
site.

Note: The NFA is the address that is returned by the hostname command. This
address is used for administrative purposes, such as remote configuration.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 31

How do you prepare?
1. For this locally attached configuration example, set up your workstations on
the same LAN segment. Ensure that network traffic between the three machines
does not have to pass through any routers or bridges. (For setting up
configurations with remote servers, see “Configure wide area Dispatcher
support” on page 184.)
2. Configure the network adapters of the three workstations. For this example, we
will assume you have the following network configuration:

Workstation Name IP Address

1 server1.Intersplashx.com 9.47.47.101
2 server2.Intersplashx.com 9.47.47.102
3 server3.Intersplashx.com 9.47.47.103
Netmask = 255.255.255.0

Each of the workstations contains only one standard Ethernet network interface
card.
3. Ensure that server1.Intersplashx.com can ping both server2.Intersplashx.com
and server3.Intersplashx.com.
4. Ensure that server2.Intersplashx.com and server3.Intersplashx.com can ping
server1.Intersplashx.com.
5. Ensure that content is identical on the two Web servers (Server 2 and Server 3).
This can be done by replicating data on both workstations, by using a shared
file system such as NFS, AFS®, or DFS, or by any other means appropriate for
your site.
6. Ensure that Web servers on server2.Intersplashx.com and
server3.Intersplashx.com are operational. Use a Web browser to request pages
directly from http://server2.Intersplashx.com and http://
server3.Intersplashx.com.
7. Obtain another valid IP address for this LAN segment. This is the address you
will provide to clients who wish to access your site. For this example we will
use:
Name= www.Intersplashx.com
IP=9.47.47.104
8. Configure the two Web server workstations to accept traffic for
www.Intersplashx.com.
Add an alias for www.Intersplashx.com to the loopback interface on
server2.Intersplashx.com and server3.Intersplashx.com.
v For AIX systems:
ifconfig lo0 alias www.Intersplashx.com netmask 255.255.255.255
v For Solaris 9 systems:
ifconfig lo0:1 plumb www.Intersplashx.com netmask 255.255.255.0 up
v For other operating systems see Table 2 on page 56.
9. Delete any extra route that may have been created as a result of aliasing the
loopback interface. See “Step 2. Check for an extra route” on page 59.
You have now completed all configuration steps that are required on the two
Web server workstations.

32 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Configuring the Dispatcher component
With Dispatcher, you can create a configuration by using the command line, the
configuration wizard, or the graphical user interface (GUI).

Note: The parameter values must be typed in English characters. The only
exceptions are parameter values for host names and file names.

Configuring with the command line

If you are using the command line, follow these steps:
1. Start the dsserver on Dispatcher:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems, run the following command as
root user: dsserver
v For Windows systems, dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically.
2. Start the executor function of Dispatcher:
dscontrol executor start
3. Add the cluster address to the Dispatcher configuration:
dscontrol cluster add www.Intersplashx.com
4. Add the HTTP protocol port to the Dispatcher configuration:
dscontrol port add www.Intersplashx.com:80
5. Add each of the Web servers to the Dispatcher configuration:
dscontrol server add www.Intersplashx.com:80:server2.Intersplashx.com
dscontrol server add www.Intersplashx.com:80:server3.Intersplashx.com
6. Configure the workstation to accept traffic for the cluster address:
dscontrol executor configure www.Intersplashx.com
7. Start the manager function of Dispatcher:
dscontrol manager start
Dispatcher will now do load balancing based on server performance.
8. Start the advisor function of Dispatcher:
dscontrol advisor start http 80
Dispatcher will now make sure that client requests are not sent to a failed Web
server.

Your basic configuration with locally attached servers is now complete.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. From a Web browser, go to location http://www.Intersplashx.com. If a page is
displayed, the configuration is working.
2. Reload the page in the Web browser.
3. Look at the results of the following command: dscontrol server report
www.Intersplashx.com:80:. The total connections column of the two servers
should add up to “2.”

Configuring with the graphical user interface (GUI)

For information about using the Dispatcher GUI, see “GUI” on page 48 and
Appendix A, “GUI: General instructions,” on page 403.

Chapter 5. Quick start configuration 33

 Configuration Wizard
For information about using the configuration wizard, see “Configuring with the
configuration wizard” on page 49.

Types of cluster, port, server configurations

There are many ways that you can configure Load Balancer to support your site. If
you have only one host name for your site to which all of your customers will
connect, you can define a single cluster of servers. For each of these servers,
configure a port through which Load Balancer communicates. See Figure 9.

Server 1

port
80
Server 2
cluster
Client Internet Dispatcher

Server 3
port
443

Server 4

Figure 9. Example of Dispatcher configured with a single cluster and 2 ports

In this example for the Dispatcher component, one cluster is defined at

www.productworks.com. This cluster has two ports: port 80 for HTTP and port 443
for SSL. A client making a request to http://www.productworks.com (port 80)
goes to a different server than a client requesting https://www.productworks.com
(port 443).

Another way of configuring Load Balancer might be appropriate if you have a

very large site with many servers dedicated to each protocol supported. In this
case, you might want to define a cluster for each protocol with a single port but
with many servers, as shown in Figure 10 on page 35.

34 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Server 1
www.productworks.com

cluster port 80
Server 2

Server 3

Client Internet Dispatcher

Server 4

cluster port 443

Server 5

www.testworks.com
Server 6

Figure 10. Example of Dispatcher configured with two clusters, each with one port

In this example for the Dispatcher component, two clusters are defined:
www.productworks.com for port 80 (HTTP) and www.testworks.com for port 443
(SSL).

A third way of configuring Load Balancer might be necessary if your site does
content hosting for several companies or departments, each one coming into your
site with a different URL. In this case, you might want to define a cluster for each
company or department and then define any ports to which you want to receive
connections at that URL, as shown in Figure 11 on page 36.

Chapter 5. Quick start configuration 35

 Server 1

port
80
www.productworks.com Server 2
Cluster

Server 3
port
23

Server 4

DISPATCHER
Client Internet
Server 5

port
80
Server 6
Cluster

www.testworks.com
Server 7
port
23

Server 8

Figure 11. Example of Dispatcher configured with 2 clusters, each with 2 ports

In this example for the Dispatcher component, two clusters are defined with port
80 for HTTP and port 23 for Telnet for each of the sites at www.productworks.com
and www.testworks.com.

36 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher
This chapter describes what the network planner should consider before installing
and configuring the Dispatcher component.
v See Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer
features to use,” on page 17 for an overview of features that are available for
managing your network.
v See Chapter 7, “Configuring Dispatcher,” on page 47 for information on
configuring the load-balancing parameters of Dispatcher.
v See Chapter 21, “Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on
page 161 for information on how to set up Load Balancer for more advanced
functions.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.
This chapter includes the following sections:
v “Planning considerations”
v “Dispatcher's MAC-level routing (mac forwarding method)” on page 38
v “Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39
v “Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41
v “Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43
v “High availability” on page 45

Note: For previous versions, when the product was known as Network Dispatcher,
the Dispatcher control command name was ndcontrol. The Dispatcher
control command name is now dscontrol.

Planning considerations
Dispatcher consists of the following functions:
v dsserver handles requests from the command line to the executor, manager, and
advisors.
v The executor supports port-based load balancing of TCP and UDP connections.
It is able to forward connections to servers based on the type of request received
(for example, HTTP, FTP, SSL, and so forth). The executor always runs when the
Dispatcher component is being used for load balancing.
v The manager sets weights used by the executor based on:
– Internal counters in the executor
– Feedback from the servers provided by the advisors
– Feedback from a system-monitoring program, such as Metric Server or WLM.
Using the manager is optional. However, if the manager is not used, load
balancing is performed using weighted round-robin scheduling based on the
current server weights, and advisors are not available.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 37

 v The advisors query the servers and analyze results by protocol before calling the
manager to set weights as appropriate. Currently there are advisors available for
the following protocols: HTTP, FTP, SSL, SMTP, NNTP, IMAP, POP3, SIP, and
Telnet.
Dispatcher also offers advisors that do not exchange protocol-specific
information, such as the DB2® advisor that reports on the health of DB2 servers
and the ping advisor that reports whether the server responds to a ping. For a
complete list of advisors, see “List of advisors” on page 149.
You also have the option of writing your own advisors (see “Create custom
(customizable) advisors” on page 154).
Using the advisors is optional but recommended.
v To configure and manage the executor, advisors, and manager, use the command
line (dscontrol) or the graphical user interface (lbadmin).
v A sample configuration file is provided to use for configuration and
administration of the Dispatcher machine. See Appendix C, “Sample
configuration files,” on page 413. After you have installed the product, this file
can be found in the following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples
v The SNMP subagent allows an SNMP-based management application to
monitor the status of the Dispatcher.

The three key functions of Dispatcher (executor, manager, and advisors) interact to
balance and dispatch the incoming requests between servers. Along with load
balancing requests, the executor monitors the number of new connections, active
connections, and connections in a finished state. The executor also does garbage
collection of completed or reset connections and supplies this information to the
manager.

The manager collects information from the executor, the advisors, and a
system-monitoring program, such as Metric Server. Based on the information the
manager receives, it adjusts how the server machines are weighted on each port
and gives the executor the new weighting for use in its balancing of new
connections.

The advisors monitor each server on the assigned port to determine the server’s
response time and availability and then give this information to the manager. The
advisors also monitor whether a server is up or down. Without the manager and
the advisors, the executor does round-robin scheduling based on the current server
weights.

Forwarding methods
With Dispatcher, you can select one of three forwarding methods specified at the
port level: MAC forwarding, NAT/NAPT forwarding, or CBR (content-based
routing) forwarding.

Dispatcher's MAC-level routing (mac forwarding method)

Using Dispatcher's MAC forwarding method (the default forwarding method),
Dispatcher load balances the incoming request to the selected server and the server
returns the response directly to the client without any involvement of the
Dispatcher. With this forwarding method, Dispatcher only looks at the inbound

38 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 client-to-server flows. It does not need to see the outbound server-to-client flows.
This significantly reduces its impact on the application and can result in improved
network performance.

The forwarding method can be selected when adding a port using the dscontrol
port add cluster:port method value command. The default forwarding method
value is mac. You can specify the method parameter only when the port is added.
When you add the port, you cannot change the setting of the forwarding method.
See “dscontrol port — configure ports” on page 319 for more information.

Linux limitation: Linux systems employ a host-based model of advertising

hardware addresses to IP addresses using ARP. This model is incompatible with
the backend server or the high availability collocation server requirements for Load
Balancer's mac forwarding method. See “Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when
using Load Balancer's mac forwarding” on page 60, which describes a number of
solutions to alter the Linux system's behavior to make it compatible with Load
Balancer's mac forwarding.

Linux limitation when using zSeries or S/390 servers: There are limitations when
using zSeries or S/390 servers that have Open System Adapter (OSA) cards. See
“Problem: On Linux, Dispatcher configuration limitations when using zSeries or
S/390 servers that have Open System Adapter (OSA) cards” on page 264, for
possible workarounds.

Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)

Using Dispatcher's Network Address Translation (NAT) or Network Address Port
Translation (NAPT) capability removes the limitation for load-balanced servers to
be located on a locally attached network. When you want to have servers located
at remote locations, you can use the NAT forwarding method technique rather
than using a GRE/WAN encapsulation technique. You can also use the NAPT
feature to access multiple server daemons residing on each load-balanced server
machine, where each daemon listens on a unique port.

You can configure a server with multiple daemons in two different ways:
v With NAT, you can configure multiple server daemons to respond to requests to
different IP addresses. This is also known as binding a server daemon to an IP
address.
v With NAPT, you can configure multiple server daemons (running on the same
physical server) to listen on different port numbers.

This application works well with upper-level application protocols such as HTTP,
SSL, IMAP, POP3, NNTP, SMTP, Telnet, and so on.

Limitations:
v Dispatcher's implementation of NAT/NAPT is a simple implementation of this
feature. It analyzes and operates upon only the contents of TCP/IP packet
headers. It does not analyze the contents of the data portion of the packets. For
Dispatcher, NAT/NAPT will not work with application protocols, such as FTP,
which imbed the addresses or port numbers in the data portion of the messages.
This is a well-known limitation of header-based NAT/NAPT.
v Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT cannot work in conjunction with the wildcard cluster
or wildcard port feature.

Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher 39

 You will need three IP addresses for the Dispatcher machine – nfa, cluster, and
return address. To implement NAT/NAPT, do the following (see also “Sample
steps for configuring Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding methods” on page 42):
v Set the clientgateway parameter on the dscontrol executor set command.
Clientgateway is an IP address that is used as the router address through which
traffic in the return direction is forwarded from Load Balancer to clients. This
value must be set to a nonzero IP address before you can use NAT/NAPT. See
“dscontrol executor — control the executor” on page 299 for more information.
v Add a port using the dscontrol port add cluster:port method value
command. The forwarding method value should be set to nat. You can specify
the method parameter only when the port is added. After you add the port, you
cannot change the setting of the forwarding method. See “dscontrol port —
configure ports” on page 319 for more information.

Note: If you do not set client gateway address to a nonzero value, then the
forwarding method can only be mac (MAC based forwarding method).
v Add a server using the mapport, returnaddress, and router parameters using the
dscontrol command. For example:
dscontrol server add cluster:port:server mapport value returnaddress
rtrnaddress router rtraddress
– mapport (optional)
This maps the client request's destination port number (which is for
Dispatcher) to the server's port number that Dispatcher uses to load balance
the client's request. Mapport allows Load Balancer to receive a client's request
on one port and to transmit it to a different port on the server machine. With
mapport you can load balance a client's requests to a server machine that
might have multiple server daemons running. The default for mapport is the
client request's destination port number.
– returnaddress
The return address is a unique address or host name that you configure on
the Dispatcher machine. Dispatcher uses the return address as its source
address when load balancing the client's request to the server. This ensures
that the server returns the packet to the Dispatcher machine rather than
sending the packet directly to the client. (Dispatcher will then forward the IP
packet to the client.) You must specify the return address value when adding
the server. You cannot modify the return address unless you remove the
server and then add it again. The return address cannot be the same as the
cluster, server, or NFA address.
When you use nat or cbr forwarding methods, you must define a return
address for communication between Load Balancer and the backend servers.
The number of connections that Load Balancer can keep active with the
backend server is limited by the number of return addresses that are defined.
Load Balancer uses ports that are based upon the return address only; not the
return address and server combination. When all the available ports are in
use, additional connections fail. In a busy environment, use multiple return
addresses to prevent a shortage of available ports.
– router
The address of the router to the remote server. If this is a locally attached
server, enter the server address, unless the server is located on the same
machine as Load Balancer. In that case, continue to use the real router
address.

40 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 For more information on the dscontrol server command using the mapport,
returnaddress, and router parameters, see “dscontrol server — configure servers”
on page 330.

Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)

The Dispatcher component allows you to perform content-based routing for HTTP
(using the "content" type rule) and HTTPS (using SSL session ID affinity) without
having to use Caching Proxy. For HTTP and HTTPS traffic, the Dispatcher
component's cbr forwarding method can provide faster content-based routing than
the CBR component, which requires Caching Proxy.

For HTTP: Server selection for Dispatcher's content-based routing is based upon
the contents of a URL or an HTTP header. It is configured using the "content" type
rule. When configuring the content rule, specify the search string "pattern" and a
set of servers to the rule. When processing a new incoming request, this rule
compares the specified string with the client's URL or with the specified HTTP
header in the client request.

If Dispatcher finds the string in the client request, Dispatcher forwards the request
to one of the servers within the rule. Dispatcher then relays the response data from
the server to the client ("cbr" forwarding method).

If Dispatcher does not find the string in the client request, Dispatcher does not
select a server from the set of servers within the rule.

Note: The content rule is configured in the Dispatcher component the same way it
is configured in the CBR component. Dispatcher can use the content rule for
HTTP traffic. However, the CBR component can use the content rule for both
HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) traffic.

For HTTPS (SSL): Dispatcher's content-based routing load balances based on the
SSL ID session field of the client request. With SSL, a client request contains the
SSL session ID of a prior session, and servers maintain a cache of their prior SSL
connections. Dispatcher's SSL ID session affinity allows the client and server to
establish a new connection using the security parameters of the previous
connection with the server. By eliminating the renegotiation of SSL security
parameters, such as shared keys and encryption algorithms, the servers save CPU
cycles and the client gets a quicker response. In order to enable SSL session ID
affinity: the protocol type specified for the port must be SSL and port stickytime
must be set to a nonzero value. When stickytime has been exceeded, the client may
be sent to a different server from the previous.

You will need three IP addresses for the Dispatcher machine – nfa, cluster, and
return address. To implement Dispatcher's content-based routing (see also “Sample
steps for configuring Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding methods” on page 42):
v Set the clientgateway parameter on the dscontrol executor set command.
Clientgateway is an IP address that is used as the router address through which
traffic in the return direction is forwarded from Dispatcher to clients. The
clientgateway value defaults to zero. This value must be set to a nonzero IP
address before you can add a content-based routing forwarding method. See
“dscontrol executor — control the executor” on page 299 for more information.
v Add a port using the method parameter and the protocol parameter on the
dscontrol port add command. The forwarding method value should be set to
cbr. The port protocol type can be either HTTP or SSL. See “dscontrol port —
configure ports” on page 319 for more information.

Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher 41

 Note: If you do not set client gateway address to a nonzero value, then the
forwarding method can only be the mac forwarding method.
v Add a server using the mapport, returnaddress, and router parameters
dscontrol server add cluster:port:server mapport value returnaddress rtrnaddress
router rtraddress

Note: For information on configuring the server using mapport (optional),

returnaddress and router parameters, see page 40.
v For HTTP: Configure using rules based on the client request content (rule type
content). For example,
dscontrol rule 125.22.22.03:80:contentRule1 type content pattern pattern
Where pattern specifies the pattern to be used for the content type rule. For more
information on the content rule type, see “Using rules based on the request
content” on page 176. For more information on valid expressions for pattern, see
Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern) syntax,” on page 409.

Note: The connection record replication feature of high availability (which ensures
that a client's connection will not drop when a backup Dispatcher machine
takes over for the primary machine) is not supported with Dispatcher's
content-based routing.

Sample steps for configuring Dispatcher's nat or cbr

forwarding methods

Internet 2 Load Balancer Internet

router 1 server
client cluster return router 2
1.2.3.5 address
address address address 10.10.10.6
(clientgateway) 192.10.10.10
1.2.3.44 10.10.10.99

Figure 12. Example for using Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding methods

You will need at least three IP addresses for the Dispatcher machine. For Figure 12,
the following are the necessary steps to minimally configure Dispatcher's nat or cbr
forwarding methods:
1.Start the executor
dscontrol executor start

2.Define the client gateway

dscontrol executor set clientgateway 1.2.3.5
NOTE: If your subnet does not have a local router, then you must
configure a machine to do IP forwarding and use that as the
clientgateway. Consult your operating system documentation
to determine how to enable IP forwarding.

3.Define the cluster address

dscontrol cluster add 1.2.3.44

4.Configure the cluster address

dscontrol executor configure 1.2.3.44

5.Define the port with a method of nat or cbr

dscontrol port add 1.2.3.44:80 method nat
or
dscontrol port add 1.2.3.44:80 method cbr protocol http

42 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 6.Configure an alias return address on Load Balancer (using ethernet card 0)
NOTE: On Linux systems, you do not need to alias the return address if using
nat forwarding on a collocated machine.

dscontrol executor configure 10.10.10.99

or use the ifconfig command (for Linux or UNIX only):

AIX: ifconfig en0 alias 10.10.10.99 netmask 255.255.255.0
HP-UX: ifconfig lan0:1 10.10.10.99 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
Linux: ifconfig eth0:1 10.10.10.99 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
Solaris: ifconfig eri0 addif 10.10.10.99 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

7.Define the backend servers

dscontrol server add 1.2.3.4:80:192.10.10.10
router 10.10.10.6 returnaddress 10.10.10.99

The client gateway (1.2.3.5) is the router 1 address between Load Balancer and the
client. The router (10.10.10.6) is the router 2 address between Load Balancer and
the backend server. If you are unsure of the clientgateway or router 2 address, you
can use a traceroute program with the client (or server) address to determine the
router address. The exact syntax of this program will differ based on the operating
system you are using. You should consult your operating system documentation
for more information regarding this program.

If the server is on the same subnet as Load Balancer (that is, no routers are
returned using traceroute) enter the server address as the router address. However,
if the server is located on the same machine as Load Balancer, the router address
should be entered in the router field instead of the server address. The router
address is the address used in the "server add" command on the Load Balancer
machine in step 7.

Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server

(IP address)
With server partitioning, you can further distinguish between particular URLs and
their specific applications. For example, one Web server can serve JSP pages,
HTML pages, GIF files, database requests, and so on. Load Balancer now provides
the ability to partition one cluster and port specific server into several logical
servers. This allows you to advise on a particular service on the machine to detect
if a servlet engine or a database request is running faster, or not running at all.

Server partitioning allows Load Balancer to detect, for example, that the HTML
service is serving pages rapidly, but the database connection has gone down. This
allows you to distribute load based on more granular service-specific workload,
rather than server-wide weighting alone.

Server partitioning using HTTP or HTTPS advisors

Server partitioning can be useful when used in conjunction with the HTTP and
HTTPS advisors. For example, when you have an HTML server that handles
HTML, GIF, and JSP pages, if you define (by adding) the server once under port
80, you receive just one load value for the whole HTTP server. This might be
misleading because it is possible that the GIF service might not be functioning on
the server. Dispatcher still forwards GIF pages to the server, but the client sees a
timeout or a failure.

If you define the server three times (for example, ServerHTML, ServerGIF,
ServerJSP) under the port and define the server advisorrequest parameter with a

Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher 43

 different string for each logical server, then you can query the health of the
particular service on the server. ServerHTML, ServerGIF and ServerJSP represent
three logical servers that have been partitioned from one physical server. For
ServerJSP, you can define the advisorrequest string to query the service on the
machine that handles JSP pages. For ServerGIF, you can define the advisorrequest
string to query the GIF service. And for ServerHTML, you define the
advisorrequest to query the HTML service. So, if the client gets no response from
the advisorrequest to query the GIF service, Dispatcher will mark that logical
server (ServerGIF) as down, while the other two logical servers may be healthy.
Dispatcher does not forward any more GIFs to the physical server, but it can still
send JSP and HTML requests to the server.

For more information on the advisorrequest parameter, see “Configuring the HTTP
or HTTPS advisor using the request and response (URL) option” on page 152.

Example for configuring a physical server into logical servers

Within the Dispatcher configuration, you can represent a physical server or a
logical server using the cluster:port:server hierarchy. The server can be a unique IP
address of the machine (physical server) in either a symbolic name or IP address
format. Or, if you define the server to represent a partitioned server, then you must
provide a resolvable server address for the physical server on the address
parameter of the dscontrol server add command. See “dscontrol server —
configure servers” on page 330 for more information.

Following is an example of partitioning physical servers into logical servers to

handle different types of requests.
Cluster: 1.1.1.1
Port: 80
Server: A (IP address 1.1.1.2)
HTML server
Server: B (IP address 1.1.1.2)
GIF server
Server: C (IP address 1.1.1.3)
HTML server
Server: D (IP address 1.1.1.3)
JSP server
Server: E (IP address 1.1.1.4)
GIF server
Server: F (IP address 1.1.1.4)
JSP server
Rule1: /*.htm
Server: A
Server: C
Rule2: /*.jsp
Server: D
Server: F
Rule3: /*.gif
Server: B
Server: E

In this example, server 1.1.1.2 is partitioned into 2 logical servers: "A" (handling
HTML requests) and "B" (handling GIF requests). Server 1.1.1.3 is partitioned into 2
logical servers: "C" (handling HTML requests) and "D" (handling JSP requests).
Server 1.1.1.4 is partitioned into 2 logical servers: "E" (handling GIF requests) and
"F" (handling JSP requests).

44 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

High availability

Simple high availability

Figure 13. Example of a Dispatcher using simple high availability

The high availability feature involves the use of a second Dispatcher machine. The
first Dispatcher machine performs load balancing for all the client traffic as it does
in a single Dispatcher configuration. The second Dispatcher machine monitors the
“health" of the first, and takes over the task of load balancing if it detects that the
first Dispatcher machine has failed.

Each of the two machines is assigned a specific role, either primary or backup. The
primary machine sends connection data to the backup machine on an ongoing
basis. While the primary is active (load balancing), the backup is in a standby state,
continually updated and ready to take over, if necessary.

The communication sessions between the two machines are referred to as

heartbeats. The heartbeats allow each machine to monitor the health of the other.

If the backup machine detects that the active machine has failed, it will take over
and begin load balancing. At that point the statuses of the two machines are
reversed: the backup machine becomes active and the primary becomes standby.

In the high availability configuration, both primary and backup machines must be
on the same subnet with identical configuration.

For information about configuring high availability, see “High availability” on page
164.

Chapter 6. Planning for Dispatcher 45

 Mutual high availability

Server 1

Port 80 Server 2

Dispatcher 1 Server 3
Primary - cluster A
Backup - cluster B
Client Internet

Dispatcher 2
Primary - cluster B Server 4
Backup - cluster A

Port 443 Server 5

Server 6

Figure 14. Example of a Dispatcher using mutual high availability

The mutual high availability feature involves the use of two Dispatcher machines.
Both machines actively perform load balancing of client traffic, and both machines
provide backup for each other. In a simple high availability configuration, only one
machine performs load balancing. In a mutual high availability configuration, both
machines load balance a portion of the client traffic.

For mutual high availability, client traffic is assigned to each Dispatcher machine
on a cluster address basis. Each cluster can be configured with the NFA
(nonforwarding address) of its primary Dispatcher. The primary Dispatcher
machine normally performs load balancing for that cluster. In the event of a
failure, the other machine performs load balancing for both its own cluster and for
the failed Dispatcher's cluster.

For an illustration of a mutual high availability configuration with shared “cluster

set A" and shared “cluster set B," see Figure 14. Each Dispatcher can actively route
packets for its primary cluster. If either Dispatcher were to fail and could no longer
actively route packets for its primary cluster, then the other Dispatcher could take
over routing packets for its backup cluster.

Note: Both machines must configure their shared cluster sets the same. That is, the
ports used and the servers under each port must be identical in the two
configurations.

For information about configuring high availability and mutual high availability,
see “High availability” on page 164.

46 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher
Before following the steps in this chapter, see Chapter 6, “Planning for Dispatcher,”
on page 37. This chapter explains how to create a basic configuration for the
Dispatcher component of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 20, “Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher,
CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 141 and Chapter 21, “Advanced features for
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 161 for more complex
configurations of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.

Note: For previous versions, when the product was known as Network Dispatcher,
the Dispatcher control command name was ndcontrol. The Dispatcher
control command name is now dscontrol.

Overview of configuration tasks

Before you begin the configuration steps in this table, ensure that your Dispatcher
machine and all server machines are connected to the network, have valid IP
addresses, and are able to ping one another.
Table 1. Configuration tasks for the Dispatcher function
Task Description Related information
Set up the Dispatcher machine. Set up your load balancing configuration. “Setting up the Dispatcher
machine” on page 50
Set up machines to be Alias the loopback device, check for an extra “Setting up server machines
load-balanced. route, and delete any extra routes. for load balancing” on page
55

Methods of configuration
There are four basic methods of configuring the Dispatcher:
v Command line
v Scripts
v Graphical user interface (GUI)
v Configuration wizard

Command line
This is the most direct means of configuring the Dispatcher. The command
parameter values must be entered in English characters. The only exceptions are
host names (used in cluster, server, and highavailability commands) and file names
(used in file commands).

To start the Dispatcher from the command line:

1. Issue the dsserver command from the command prompt. To stop the service,
type: dsserver stop

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 47

 Note: For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative
Tools > Services. Right-click IBM Dispatcher and select Start. To stop
the service, follow the same steps and select Stop.
2. Next, issue Dispatcher control commands you want in order to set up your
configuration. The procedures in this manual assume use of the command line.
The command is dscontrol. For more information about commands, see
Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287.

You can use a minimized version of the dscontrol command parameters by typing
the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the file save
command, you can type dscontrol he f instead of dscontrol help file.

To start up the command line interface: issue dscontrol to receive an dscontrol

command prompt.

To end the command line interface: issue exit or quit.

Scripts
You can enter commands for configuring Dispatcher into a configuration script file
and run them together. See “Sample Load Balancer configuration files” on page
413.

Note: To quickly run the content of a script file (for example, myscript), use either
of the following commands:
v To update the current configuration, run the following executable
commands from your script file:
dscontrol file appendload myscript
v To completely replace the current configuration, run the following
executable commands from your script file:
dscontrol file newload myscript

To save the current configuration into a script file (for example, savescript), run the
following command:
dscontrol file save savescript

This command will save the configuration script file in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/dispatcher
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\dispatcher

GUI
For general instructions and an example of the graphical user interface (GUI), see
Figure 38 on page 403.

To start the GUI, follow these steps:

1. Ensure dsserver is running
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems, run the following command as
root:
dsserver
v For Windows systems, dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically
2. Do one of the following actions, depending on your operating system:

48 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: type lbadmin
v For Windows systems: click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere > Edge
Components > IBM Load Balancer > Load Balancer

To configure the Dispatcher component from the GUI, you must first select
Dispatcher in the tree structure. You can start the executor and manager after you
connect to a Host. You can also create clusters containing ports and servers, and
start advisors for the manager.

The GUI can be used to do anything that you would do with the dscontrol
command. For example, to define a cluster using the command line, you would
enter dscontrol cluster add cluster command. To define a cluster from the GUI,
right-click Executor, then in the pop-up menu, left-click Add Cluster. Enter the
cluster address in the pop-up window, then click OK.

Pre-existing Dispatcher configuration files can be loaded using the Load New
Configuration(for completely replacing the current configuration) and Append to
Current Configuration (for updating the current configuration) options presented
in the Host pop-up menu. You should save your Dispatcher configuration to a file
periodically using the Save Configuration File As option also presented in the
Host pop-up menu. The File menu located at the top of the GUI will allow you to
save your current host connections to a file or restore connections in existing files
across all Load Balancer components.

The configuration commands can also be run remotely. For more information, see
“Remote Method Invocation (RMI)” on page 213.

In order to run a command from the GUI: highlight the Host node from the GUI
tree and select Send command.... from the Host pop-up menu. In the command
entry field, type the command that you want to run, for example: executor report.
The results and history of the commands run in the current session and appear in
the window provided.

You can access Help by clicking the question mark icon in the upper right corner
of the Load Balancer window.
v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from that screen
v InfoCenter — provides centralized access to product information

For more information about using the GUI, see Appendix A, “GUI: General
instructions,” on page 403.

Configuring with the configuration wizard

If you are using the configuration wizard, follow these steps:
1. Start the dsserver on Dispatcher:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems, run the following as root user:
dsserver
v For Windows systems, dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically.
2. Start the wizard function of Dispatcher, dswizard.

The wizard guides you step by step through the process of creating a basic
configuration for the Dispatcher component. You will be asked questions about

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 49

 your network. You will be guided through the setup of a cluster for Dispatcher to
load balance traffic between a group of servers.

Setting up the Dispatcher machine

Before setting up the Dispatcher machine, you must be the root user (for AIX,
HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems) or the Administrator on Windows systems.

On all supported platforms, the Load Balancer can have a collocated server.
Collocation means that Load Balancer can physically reside on a server machine
which it is load balancing.

For the Dispatcher machine, when using the mac forwarding method, you will
need at least two valid IP addresses. For cbr or nat forwarding method, you will
need at least three valid IP addresses:
v An IP address specifically for the Dispatcher machine
This IP address is the primary IP address of the Dispatcher machine and is
called the nonforwarding address (NFA). This is by default the same address as
that returned by the hostname command. Use this address to connect to the
machine for administrative purposes, such as doing remote configuration using
Telnet or accessing the SNMP subagent. If the Dispatcher machine can already
ping other machines on the network, you do not need to do anything further to
set up the nonforwarding address.
v One IP address for each cluster
A cluster address is an address that is associated with a host name (such as
www.yourcompany.com). This IP address is used by a client to connect to the
servers in a cluster. This is the address that is load balanced by the Dispatcher.
v For cbr or nat forwarding, an IP address for the return address
Dispatcher uses the return address as its source address when load balancing the
client's request to the server. This ensures that the server returns the packet to
the Dispatcher machine rather than sending the packet directly to the client.
(Dispatcher will then forward the IP packet to the client.) You must specify the
return address value when adding the server. You cannot modify the return
address unless you remove the server and then add it again.
The number of connections that Load Balancer can keep active with the backend
server is limited by the number of return addresses that are defined. Load
Balancer uses ports that are based upon the return address only; not the return
address and server combination. When all the available ports are in use,
additional connections fail. In a busy environment, use multiple return addresses
to prevent a shortage of available ports.

Solaris systems only:

v By default, Dispatcher is configured to load balance traffic on 100Mbps Ethernet
network interface cards. The default 100Mbps Ethernet adapter is specified in
the ibmlb.conf file as eri. However, support is also provided for other types of
interface cards, which include: le, ce, ge, hme, eri, bge, vge, qfe, dfme, fjgi and
fjge.
For example, to change the default setting, edit the /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
ibmlb.conf file as follows:
– To use a 10 Mbps Ethernet adapter, replace eri with le.
– To use a 1Gbps Ethernet adapter, replace eri with ge.
– To use a multi-port adapter, replace eri with qfe.

50 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 To support multiple types of adapters, replicate the line in the ibmlb.conf file
and modify each line to match your device type.
For example, if you plan to use two 100Mbps Ethernet adapters, you need a
single line in the ibmlb.conf file specifying the eri device.
If you plan to use one 10Mbps Ethernet adapter and one 100Mbps Ethernet
adapter, you need to specify two lines in the ibmlb.conf file: one line specifying
the le device and one line specifying the eri device.

Note: The ibmlb.conf file provides input to the Solaris autopush command and
must be compatible with the autopush command.
v To determine the type of Ethernet network interface in use on your machine,
issue the following command from the Solaris command prompt:
ifconfig -a

If the following output results:

lo0: flags=2001000849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL>
mtu 8232 index 1 inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
eri0: flags=1000843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4>
mtu 1500 index 2 inet 9.42.93.208
netmask fffffc00 broadcast 9.42.95.255 ether 0:3:ba:2d:24:45

Then you would edit the ibmlb.conf file as follows:

eri -1 0 ibmlb
v Starting or stopping the Dispatcher executor will unconfigure all aliases on the
adapters listed in the ibmlb.conf file. To automatically reconfigure aliases on
those adapters (except those for use by the Dispatcher component of Load
Balancer) use the goAliases script file. A sample script is located in the following
directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples
This script must be moved to the following directory before it will run:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
bin
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin
The goAliases script is automatically run when the Dispatcher executor starts or
stops.
For example, if clusters X and Y are configured for use by the CBR component
on any of the adapters listed in ibmlb.conf, clusters X and Y are unconfigured
when the dscontrol executor start or dscontrol executor stop commands are
issued. This may not be the desired result. When clusters X and Y are configured
in the goAliases script, the clusters are automatically reconfigured after the
Dispatcher executor starts or stops.

Ensure that IP forwarding is not enabled for the TCP/IP protocol.

Figure 15 on page 52 shows an example of Dispatcher set up with a single cluster,

two ports, and three servers.

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 51

 204.0.0.1

80

204.67.172.72 204.0.0.2
www.productworks.com
Client Dispatcher
nonforwarding address
204.67.32.54
204.0.0.3
443

Figure 15. Example of the IP addresses needed for the Dispatcher machine

For help with commands used in this procedure, see Chapter 26, “Command
reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287.

For a sample configuration file, see “Sample Load Balancer configuration files” on
page 413.

Step 1. Start the server function

AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: To start the server function, type dsserver.

Windows systems: The server function starts automatically as a service.

Note: A default configuration file (default.cfg) gets automatically loaded when

starting dsserver. If the user decides to save the Dispatcher configuration in
default.cfg, then everything saved in this file is automatically loaded next
time dsserver gets started.

Step 2. Start the executor function

To start the executor function, enter the dscontrol executor start command. You
may also change various executor settings at this time. See Chapter 26, “Command
reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287.

Step 3. Define the nonforwarding address (if different from

hostname)
The nonforwarding address is used to connect to the machine for administrative
purposes, such as using Telnet or SMTP to this machine. By default, this address is
the hostname.

To define the nonforwarding address, enter the dscontrol executor set nfa
IP_address command or edit the sample configuration file. IP_address is either the
symbolic name or the IP address.

Step 4. Define a cluster and set cluster options

Dispatcher will balance the requests sent to the cluster address to the servers
configured on the ports for that cluster.

The cluster is either the symbolic name, the dotted decimal address, or the special
address 0.0.0.0 that defines a wildcard cluster. To define a cluster, issue the

52 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 command dscontrol cluster add. To set cluster options, issue the command
dscontrol cluster set or you can use the GUI to issue commands. Wildcard clusters
can be used to match multiple IP addresses for incoming packets to be load
balanced. See “Use wildcard cluster to combine server configurations” on page 191,
“Use wildcard cluster to load balance firewalls” on page 191, and “Use wildcard
cluster with Caching Proxy for transparent proxy” on page 192 for more
information.

Step 5. Alias the network interface card

When the cluster has been defined, you normally must configure the cluster
address on one of the network interface cards of the Dispatcher machine. To do
this, issue the command dscontrol executor configure cluster_address. This will look
for an adapter with an existing address that belongs on the same subnet as the
cluster address. It will then issue the operating system's adapter configuration
command for the cluster address, using the adapter found and the netmask for the
existing address found on that adapter. For example:
dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72

Circumstances where you do not want to configure the cluster address include
clusters added to a standby server in high-availability mode, or clusters added to a
wide-area dispatcher acting as a remote server. You also do not need to run the
executor configure command if, in stand-alone mode, you use the sample goIdle
script. For information on the goIdle script, see “Using scripts” on page 167.

In rare cases you might have a cluster address that does not match any subnet for
existing addresses. In this case, use the second form of the executor configure
command and explicitly provide the interface name and netmask. Use dscontrol
executor configure cluster_address interface_name netmask.

Some examples include:

dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72 en0 255.255.0.0
(AIX systems)
dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72 eth0:1 255.255.0.0
(Linux systems)
dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72 eri0 255.255.0.0
(Solaris systems)
dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72 en1 255.255.0.0
(Windows systems)

Windows systems
To use the second form of the executor configure command on Windows systems,
you must determine the interface name to use. If you have only one Ethernet card
in your machine, the interface name is en0. If you have multiple cards, you will
need to determine the mapping of the cards. Use the following steps:
1. From the command line start the executor: dscontrol executor start
2. Run the command: dscontrol executor xm 1

Output will be displayed to the screen. To determine the interface name to use for
your Load Balancer configuration, look for the IP address of your Load Balancer
Machine in the lines that follow Number of NIC records.

The IP addresss of your Load Balancer machine will be listed as: ia->ia_addr. The
associated interface name will be listed as: ifp->if_name.

The interface names assigned by the executor configure command map to the
interface names listed in this command.

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 53

 After you obtain this mapping information, you can create an alias on the network
interface to the cluster address.

Using ifconfig commands to configure cluster aliases

On Linux or UNIX systems, the executor configure command runs ifconfig
commands.

Solaris and HP-UX systems: When using bind-specific server applications that
bind to a list of IP addresses that do not contain the server's IP, use arp publish
command instead of ifconfig to dynamically set an IP address on the Load
Balancer machine. For example:
arp -s <cluster> <Load Balancer MAC address> pub

Step 6. Define ports and set port options

To define a port, enter the dscontrol port add cluster:port command, edit the
sample configuration file, or use the GUI. Cluster is either the symbolic name or
the IP address. Port is the number of the port you are using for that protocol. You
may also change various port settings at this time. You must define and configure
all servers for a port. See Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and
CBR,” on page 287.

Port number 0 (zero) is used to specify a wildcard port. This port will accept traffic
for a port that is not destined for any of the defined ports on the cluster. The
wildcard port is used to configure rules and servers for any port. This function
could also be used if you have an identical server and rule configuration for
multiple ports. The traffic on one port could then affect the load-balancing
decisions for traffic on other ports. See “Use wildcard port to direct unconfigured
port traffic” on page 192 for more information about when you might want to use
a wildcard port.

Step 7. Define load-balanced server machines

To define a load-balanced server machine, enter the dscontrol server add
cluster:port:server command, edit the sample configuration file, or use the GUI.
Cluster and server are either the symbolic name or the IP address. Port is the
number of the port you are using for that protocol. You must define more than one
server to a port on a cluster in order to perform load balancing.

Bind-specific servers: If the Dispatcher component is load balancing to

bind-specific servers, then the servers must be configured to bind to the cluster
address. Because the Dispatcher forwards packets without changing the destination
IP address, when the packets reach the server, the packets will still contain the
cluster address as the destination. If a server has been configured to bind to an IP
address other than the cluster address, then the server will be unable to accept
requests destined for the cluster.

To determine if the server is bind specific, issue the netstat -an command and
look for the server:port. If the server is not bind specific, the result from this
command will be 0.0.0.0:80. If the server is bind specific, you will see an address
such as 192.168.15.103:80.

Note: For Solaris and Linux systems: When using advisors, bind-specific servers
must not be collocated.

Multiple address collocation: In a collocated configuration, the address of the

collocated server machine does not have to be identical to the nonforwarding

54 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 address (NFA). You can use another address if your machine has been defined
with multiple IP addresses. For the Dispatcher component, the collocated server
machine must be defined as collocated using the dscontrol server command. For
more information on collocated servers, see “Using collocated servers” on page
162.

For more information on dscontrol server command syntax, see “dscontrol server
— configure servers” on page 330.

Step 8. Start the manager function (optional)

The manager function improves load balancing. To start the manager, enter the
dscontrol manager start command, edit the sample configuration file, or use the
GUI.

Step 9. Start the advisor function (optional)

The advisors give the manager more information about the ability of the
load-balanced server machines to respond to requests. An advisor is specific to a
protocol. For example, to start the HTTP advisor, issue the following command:
dscontrol advisor start http port

For a list of advisors along with their default ports, see Chapter 26, “Command
reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287. For a description of each advisor,
see “List of advisors” on page 149.

Step 10. Set cluster proportions as required

If you start advisors, you may modify the proportion of importance given to
advisor information being included in the load balancing decisions. To set the
cluster proportions, issue the dscontrol cluster set cluster proportions command.
For more information, see “Proportion of importance given to status information”
on page 142.

Setting up server machines for load balancing

Perform the following steps if one of these conditions is true:
v If you are using mac forwarding method and this is a backend server machine.
v If you are using mac forwarding method and this is a collocated server that is
configured as the high availability standby machine.
Notes:
1. Procedures to delete the aliasing of the loopback will need to be put in the
go* scripts in case the machine changes to active.
2. If this is configured as the high availability active machine, procedures to
alias the loopback device will need to be put in the go* scripts in case the
machine changes to standby.

When using mac forwarding method, Dispatcher will only load balance across
servers that allow the loopback adapter to be configured with an additional IP
address, for which the backend server will never respond to ARP (address
resolution protocol) requests. Follow the steps in this section to set up the
load-balanced server machines.

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 55

 Step 1. Alias the loopback device
For the load-balanced server machines to work, you must set (or preferably alias)
the loopback device (often called lo0) to the cluster address. When using the mac
forwarding method, the Dispatcher component does not change the destination IP
address in the TCP/IP packet before forwarding the packet to a TCP server
machine. By setting or aliasing the loopback device to the cluster address, the load
balanced server machines will accept a packet that was addressed to the cluster
address.

If you have an operating system that supports network interface aliasing (such as
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, or Windows systems), you should alias the loopback
device to the cluster address. The benefit of using an operating system that
supports aliases is that you have the ability to configure the load-balanced server
machines to serve multiple cluster addresses.

IMPORTANT: For Linux systems, see “Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when
using Load Balancer's mac forwarding” on page 60.

If you have a server with an operating system that does not support aliases you
must set the loopback device to the cluster address.

Use the command for your operating system as shown in Table 2 to set or alias the
loopback device.
Table 2. Commands to alias the loopback device (lo0) for Dispatcher
AIX
AIX 4.3 or earlier:
ifconfig lo0 alias cluster_address netmask netmask

Note: Use the netmask of the primary adapter.

AIX 5.x or later:
ifconfig lo0 alias cluster_address netmask 255.255.255.255

HP-UX ifconfig lo0:1 cluster_address up

Note: If you use bind-specific server applications that bind to a list of IP

addresses that do not contain the server's IP, use the arp publish
command instead of ifconfig to dynamically set an IP address on the
Load Balancer machine.

For example:
arp -s cluster_address Load Balancer’s_MAC_address pub
Linux Choose one of the following commands:
v Use the ip command:
ip -4 addr add cluster_address/32 dev lo
v Use the ifconfig command:
ifconfig lo:1 cluster_address netmask 255.255.255.255 up
IMPORTANT: Once you issue one of the configuration commands on
your machine, consistently use the same configuration command (ip or
ifconfig), or results can occur that are not expected.
OS/2 ifconfig lo cluster_address

56 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 2. Commands to alias the loopback device (lo0) for Dispatcher (continued)
OS/390® Configuring a loopback alias on OS/390 system
v In the IP parameter member (file), an Administrator will need to
create an entry in the Home address list. For example
HOME
;Address Link
192.168.252.11 tr0
192.168.100.100 1tr1
192.168.252.12 loopback
v Several addresses can be defined for the loopback.
v The loopback address of 127.0.0.1 is configured by default.
Solaris
Solaris 7
ifconfig lo0:1 cluster_address 127.0.0.1 up
Solaris 8 and later
ifconfig lo0:1 plumb cluster_address netmask netmask up

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 57

 Table 2. Commands to alias the loopback device (lo0) for Dispatcher (continued)
Windows
Windows NT
1. Click Start, then click Settings.
2. Click Control Panel, then double-click Network.
3. If you have not done so already, add the MS Loopback
Adapter Driver.
a. In the Network window, click Adapters.
b. Select MS Loopback Adapter, then click OK.
c. When prompted, insert your installation CD or disks.
d. In the Network window, click Protocols.
e. Select TCP/IP Protocol, then click Properties.
f. Select MS Loopback Adapter, then click OK.
4. Set the loopback address to your cluster address. Accept the
default subnet mask (255.0.0.0), and do not enter a gateway
address.
Note: You may have to exit and reenter Network Settings
before the MS Loopback Driver shows up under TCP/IP
Configuration.
Other versions of Windows (including Windows Server 2003 and
later)
1. Use the ipconfig command to determine the interface name
for the loopback device:
ipconfig /all

This command locates the connection with a description of

the Microsoft Loopback Adapter. The following example is
the output from the ipconfig /all command, where the
Microsoft Loopback Adapter is Ethernet adapter Local Area
Connection 2, so the connection is Local Area Connection 2:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ndserv10

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : rtp.somewhere.ibm.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : rtp.somewhere.ibm.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Loopback Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-4C-4F-4F-50
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 9.42.92.158
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 9.42.92.159
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 9.42.92.160
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 9.42.92.159
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 127.0.0.1
2. Add the cluster address to the loopback using the netsh
command. For example:
netsh interface ipv4 add address "Local Area Connection 2"
9.42.92.161

Note: If you are using a high-availability configuration, and

58 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide the machine is running as the primary machine, do not alias
to the loopback device, because this scenario prevents traffic
to the cluster address from being routed by the Load
Balancer machine.
Step 2. Check for an extra route
On some operating systems, a default route may have been created and needs to
be removed.
v Check for an extra route on Windows operating systems with the following
command:
route print
IMPORTANT: Any extra routes should be ignored on Windows 2003. If
problems are encountered with routing after aliasing, remove the alias and add
it back using a different netmask.
v Check for an extra route on all AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating
systems with the following command:
netstat -nr

Windows Example:
1. After route print is entered, a table similar to the following example will be
displayed. (This example shows finding and removing an extra route to cluster
9.67.133.158 with a default netmask of 255.0.0.0.)
Active Routes:

Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric

0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 9.67.128.1 9.67.133.67 1
9.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 9.67.133.158 9.67.133.158 1
9.67.128.0 255.255.248.0 9.67.133.67 9.67.133.67 1
9.67.133.67 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
9.67.133.158 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
9.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 9.67.133.67 9.67.133.67 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 9.67.133.158 9.67.133.158 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 9.67.133.67 9.67.133.67 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 9.67.133.67 9.67.133.67 1
2. Find your cluster address under the “Gateway Address” column. If you have
an extra route, the cluster address will appear twice. In the example given, the
cluster address (9.67.133.158) appears in row 2 and row 8.
3. Find the network address in each row in which the cluster address appears.
You need one of these routes and will need to delete the other route, which is
extraneous. The extra route to be deleted is the one whose network address
begins with the first digit of the cluster address, followed by three zeroes. In
the example shown, the extra route is the one in row two, which has a network
address of 9.0.0.0:
9.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 9.67.133.158 9.67.133.158 1

Step 3. Delete any extra route

You must delete the extra route. Use the command for your operating system
shown in Table 3 to delete the extra route.

Example: To delete the extra route as shown in the "Active Routes" example table
for Step 2, enter:
route delete 9.0.0.0 9.67.133.158
Table 3. Commands to delete any extra route for Dispatcher
HP-UX route delete cluster_address cluster_address

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 59

 Table 3. Commands to delete any extra route for Dispatcher (continued)
Windows route delete network_address cluster_address (at an MS-DOS prompt)
Note: You must delete the extra route every time you reboot the server.

On Windows 2003, it is not possible to delete routes. Any extra routes

should be ignored on Windows 2003. If problems are encountered with
routing after aliasing, remove the alias and add it back using a different
netmask.

Using the example shown in Figure 15 on page 52, and setting up a server machine
that is running and AIX system, the command would be:
route delete -net 204.0.0.0 204.67.172.72

Step 4. Verify server is properly configured

To verify if a backend server is properly configured, perform the following steps
from a different machine on the same subnet when the Load Balancer is not
running and cluster is unconfigured:
1. Issue the command:
arp -d cluster
2. Issue the command:
ping cluster

There should be no response. If there is a response to the ping, ensure that you
did not ifconfig the cluster address to the interface. Ensure that no machine has
a published arp entry to the cluster address.
3. Ping the backend server, then immediately issue the command:
arp -a

In the output from the command, you should see the MAC address of your
server. Issue the command:
arp -s cluster server_mac_address
4. Ping the cluster. You should get a response. Issue a http, telnet, or other request
that is addressed to the cluster that you expect your backend server to handle.
Ensure that it works properly.
5. Issue the command:
arp -d cluster
6. Ping the cluster. There should be no response.

Note: If there is a response, issue an arp cluster instruction to get the MAC
address of the misconfigured machine. Then, repeat steps 1 through 6.

Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when using Load Balancer's mac

forwarding
Some versions of Linux systems issue ARP responses for any IP address configured
on the machine on any interface present on the machine. It may also choose an
ARP source IP address for ARP who-has queries based on all IP addresses present
on the machine, regardless of the interfaces on which those addresses are
configured. This causes all cluster traffic to be directed to a single server in an
indeterminate manner.

60 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

When using Dispatcher's mac forwarding method, a mechanism must be employed
to ensure that cluster-addressed traffic can be accepted by the stacks of the
backend servers, including the collocated high availability standby machine, when
both high availability and collocation are in use.

In most cases, you must alias the cluster address on the loopback; therefore,
backend servers must have the cluster aliased on the loopback, and if you use high
availability and collocation, the standby load-balancing servers must have clusters
aliased on the loopback.

To ensure that Linux systems do not advertise addresses on the loopback, you can
use any one of the following four solutions to make Linux systems compatible
with Dispatcher's mac forwarding.
1. Use a kernel that does not advertise the addresses. This is the preferred option,
as it does not incur a per-packet overhead and it does not require per-kernel
reconfiguration.
v United Linux 1 / SLES8 with SP2(x86) or SP3 (all other architectures) and
higher contains the Julian ARP hidden patch. Ensure that it is always in
effect before aliasing the cluster address with the command:
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.hidden=1 net.ipv4.conf.lo.hidden=1

Clusters can then be aliased in the normal way, such as:

# ifconfig lo:1 $CLUSTER_ADDRESS netmask 255.255.255.255 up
v Use the arp_ignore sysctl available in 2.4.25 and 2.6.5 and higher, but note
that distributions sometimes backport features. Ensure that it is enabled
before aliasing the cluster addresses with the commands:
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore=3
net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_announce=2

Clusters must then be aliased with the following command:

# ip addr add $CLUSTER_ADDRESS/32 scope host dev lo

A similar command must be in the go* scripts in high availability collocation

configurations.
v Note: When using sysctl, ensure that these settings survive reboot by
adding the settings to /etc/sysctl.conf.
2. Use IP tables to redirect all incoming cluster traffic to the localhost. If you use
this method, do not configure the loopback adapter with an alias. Instead, use
the command:
# iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -d $CLUSTER_ADDRESS -j REDIRECT

This command causes Linux systems to do destination NAT on each packet,

converting the cluster address to the interface address. This method has about a
6.4% connections-per-second throughput penalty. This method works on any
supported stock distribution; no kernel module or kernel patch+build+install is
needed.
3. Apply the noarp module version 1.2.0 or higher. The kernel source must be
available and properly configured, and development tools (gcc, gnu make, and
so forth) must be available. You must build and install the module every time
the kernel is upgraded. It is available at http://www.masarlabs.com/noarp/.
Because the kernel code itself is not modified, it is much less intrusive than
solution #4 (listed below), and is much less prone to error. It also must be
configured before any cluster address is aliased on the loopback. For example:

Chapter 7. Configuring Dispatcher 61

 # modprobe noarp
# noarpctl add $CLUSTER_ADDRESS nic-primary-addr

where nic-primary-addr is an address in the same subnet as the cluster

address. Clusters can then be aliased in the normal way, such as:
# ifconfig lo:1 cluster address netmask 255.255.255.255 up

Note: For high availability collocation configurations, noarpctl adds and dels
must be placed in the go* scripts. This ensures that the active Load
Balancer can use ARP for the cluster address and that the standby Load
Balancer, which is acting as a server, does not accidentally (that is,
indeterminately) begin to receive all cluster traffic.
4. Obtain the Julian patch from the following Web site: http://www.ssi.bg/~ja/
#hidden. Follow your distribution instructions for patching and compiling a
kernel suitable for use with that distribution. If this is a collocated high
availability Load Balancer, ensure that the uname -r matches the
distribution-supplied kernel, and ensure that you start with the distribution
kernel .config file. After you build, install, and run your kernel with the Julian
hidden patch, following the instructions under the first solution listed for
enabling the patch.

Note: Distribution support implications might exist for running a custom

kernel.

62 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Part 3. Content Based Routing (CBR) component
This part provides information on a quick start configuration, planning
considerations, and describes the methods of configuring Load Balancer's CBR
component. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 8, “Quick start configuration,” on page 65
v Chapter 9, “Planning for Content Based Routing,” on page 71
v Chapter 10, “Configuring Content Based Routing,” on page 75

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 63

64 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 8. Quick start configuration
This quick start example shows how to configure three locally attached
workstations using CBR along with Caching Proxy to load-balance Web traffic
between two Web servers. (For simplicity, this example illustrates servers on the
same LAN segment, however with CBR there is no restriction for using servers on
the same LAN.)

Server 2
(Cluster address -- Used by clients) 9.27.27.102

9.27.27.104 Port 80
www.mywebsite.com CBR
---------
Client Internet Caching Proxy
nonforwarding address
9.27.27.101
Server 1
(NFA — For maintenance)

Server 3
9.27.27.103
Port 80

Figure 16. A simple local CBR configuration

What do you need?

For the quick start example, you will need three workstations and four IP
addresses. One workstation is used as the CBR machine; the other two
workstations are used as Web servers. Each Web server requires one IP address.
The CBR workstation requires one actual address, and one address to be load
balanced.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

To use CBR, Caching Proxy must be installed on the same server. To configure
Caching Proxy for CBR, see “Step 1. Configure Caching Proxy to use CBR” on
page 79.

How do you prepare?

1. For this example, set up your workstations on the same LAN segment. Ensure
that network traffic between the three machines does not have to pass through
any routers or bridges.
2. Configure the network adapters of the three workstations. For this example, we
will assume you have the following network configuration:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 65

 Workstation Name IP Address
1 server1.mywebsite.com 9.27.27.101
2 server2.mywebsite.com 9.27.27.102
3 server3.mywebsite.com 9.27.27.103
Netmask = 255.255.255.0

Each of the workstations contains only one standard Ethernet network interface
card.
3. Ensure that server1.mywebsite.com can ping both server2.mywebsite.com and
server3.mywebsite.com.
4. Ensure that server2.mywebsite.com and server3.mywebsite.com can ping
server1.mywebsite.com.
5. Ensure that Web servers on server2.mywebsite.com and server3.mywebsite.com
are operational. Use a Web browser to request pages directly from
http://server2.mywebsite.com (for example, .../member/index.html) and
http://server3.mywebsite.com (for example, .../guest/index.html).
6. Obtain another valid IP address for this LAN segment. This is the cluster
address you will provide to clients who wish to access your site. For this
example we will use:
Name= www.mywebsite.com
IP=9.27.27.104

Configuring the CBR component

With CBR, you can create a configuration by using the command line, the
configuration wizard, or the graphical user interface (GUI). For this quick start
example, configuration steps are demonstrated using the command line.

Note: The parameter values must be typed in English characters. The only
exceptions are parameter values for host names and file names.

Configuring with the command line

From a command prompt, follow these steps:
1. Start the cbrserver. Run the following command as root user or Administrator:
cbrserver

Note: For Windows platform: Start cbrserver (Content Based Routing) from
the Services panel: Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services.
2. Start the executor function of CBR:
cbrcontrol executor start
3. Start Caching Proxy. (Caching Proxy can be started any time after you start
the executor function):
ibmproxy

Note: For Windows platform: You can also start Caching Proxy from the
Services panel: Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services.
4. Add the cluster (the host name, Web site, to which clients connect) to the CBR
configuration:
cbrcontrol cluster add www.mywebsite.com

66 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 5. Add the cluster address (9.27.27.104) for the Web site to the network interface
card on the CBR machine. See“Step 5. Alias the network interface card
(optional)” on page 81 for more information.
6. Add the http protocol port to the CBR configuration:
cbrcontrol port add www.mywebsite.com:80
7. Add each of the Web servers to the CBR configuration:
cbrcontrol server add www.mywebsite.com:80:server2.mywebsite.com
cbrcontrol server add www.mywebsite.com:80:server3.mywebsite.com
8. Add content rules to your CBR configuration. (A content rule defines how a
URL request will be distinguished and sent to one of the servers or server
sets):
cbrcontrol rule add www.mywebsite.com:80:memberRule type content
pattern uri=*/member/*
cbrcontrol rule add www.mywebsite.com:80:guestRule type content pattern
uri=*/guest/*
In this example, using the content rule, client requests to Web site
www.mywebsite.com are sent to a different server based on a directory in
their URI request path. See Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern) syntax,” on
page 409 for more information.
9. Add servers to your rules:
cbrcontrol rule useserver www.mywebsite:80:memberRule
server2.mywebsite.com
cbrcontrol rule useserver www.mywebsite:80:guestRule
server3.mywebsite.com
CBR will now do load balancing based on content-based rule. A client with a
URL request containing /member/ will be directed to server2.mywebsite.com.
A client with a URL request containing /guest/ will be directed to
server3.mywebsite.com.
10. Start the manager function of CBR:
cbrcontrol manager start
11. Start the advisor function of CBR:
cbrcontrol advisor start http 80
CBR will now make sure that client requests are not sent to a failed Web
server.

Your basic configuration with locally attached servers is now complete.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. From a Web browser, go to location http://www.mywebsite.com/member/
index.htm. If a page is displayed, the configuration is working.
2. Reload the page in the Web browser.
3. Look at the results of the following command:
cbrcontrol server report www.mywebsite.com:80:

The total connections column of the two servers should add up to “2.”

Configuring with the graphical user interface (GUI)

For information on using the CBR GUI, see “GUI” on page 77 and see
Appendix A, “GUI: General instructions,” on page 403.
Chapter 8. Quick start configuration 67
 Configuring with the configuration wizard
For information on using the CBR wizard, see “Configuration wizard” on page 78.

Types of cluster, port, server configurations

There are many ways that you can configure CBR to support your site. If you have
only one host name for your site to which all of your customers will connect, you
can define a single cluster of servers. For each of these servers, you configure a
port through which CBR communicates. See Figure 9 on page 34.

Server 1

port
80
Server 2
CBR
--------- www.productworks.com
Client Internet
Caching Proxy
Server 3
port
443

Server 4

Figure 17. Example of CBR configured with a single cluster and 2 ports

In this example for the CBR component, one cluster is defined at

www.productworks.com. This cluster has two ports: port 80 for HTTP and port 443
for SSL. A client making a request to http://www.productworks.com (port 80)
would go to a different server than a client requesting https://
www.productworks.com (port 443).

Another way of configuring CBR would be appropriate if you have a very large
site with many servers dedicated to each protocol supported. In this case, you
might want to define a cluster for each protocol with a single port but with many
servers, as shown in Figure 10 on page 35.

68 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Server 1
www.productworks.com

cluster port 80
Server 2

Server 3
CBR
Client Internet ---------
Caching Proxy
Server 4

cluster port 443

Server 5

www.testworks.com Server 6

Figure 18. Example of CBR configured with two clusters, each with one port

In this example for the CBR component, two clusters are defined:
www.productworks.com for port 80 (HTTP) and www.testworks.com for port 443
(SSL).

A third way of configuring CBR would be necessary if your site does content
hosting for several companies or departments, each one coming into your site with
a different URL. In this case, you might want to define a cluster for each company
or department and then define any ports to which you want to receive connections
at that URL, as shown in Figure 11 on page 36.

Chapter 8. Quick start configuration 69

 Server 1

port
80
Server 2
www.productworks.com

Server 3
port
443

Server 4

CBR
Client Internet ---------
Caching Proxy
Server 5

port
80
Server 6

www.testworks.com
Server 7
port
443

Server 8

Figure 19. Example of CBR configured with 2 clusters, each with 2 ports

In this example for the CBR component, two clusters are defined with port 80
(HTTP) and port 443 (SSL) for each of the sites at www.productworks.com and
www.testworks.com.

70 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 9. Planning for Content Based Routing
This chapter describes what the network planner should consider before installing
and configuring the CBR component with Caching Proxy.
v See Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer
features to use,” on page 17 for an overview of features that are available for
managing your network.
v See Chapter 10, “Configuring Content Based Routing,” on page 75 for
information on configuring the load-balancing parameters of CBR.
v See Chapter 21, “Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on
page 161 for information on how to set up Load Balancer for more advanced
functions.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.

This chapter includes the following section:

v “Planning considerations”
v “Using rules-based load balancing with CBR” on page 73
v “Load balancing across fully secure (SSL) connections” on page 73
v “Load balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and proxy-to-server in HTTP” on page 73

Planning considerations
The CBR component allows you to load balance HTTP and SSL traffic using
Caching Proxy to proxy the request. With CBR, you can load balance servers that
you configure from your CBR configuration file using cbrcontrol commands.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

CBR is very similar to Dispatcher in its component structure. CBR consists of the
following functions:
v cbrserver handles requests from the command line to the executor, manager, and
advisors.
v The executor supports load balancing of client requests. The executor must be
started in order to use the CBR component.
v The manager sets weights used by the executor based on:
– Internal counters in the executor
– Feedback from the servers provided by the advisors
– Feedback from a system-monitoring program, such as Metric Server.
Using the manager is optional. However, if the manager is not used, load
balancing is performed using weighted round-robin scheduling based on the
current server weights, and advisors will not be available.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 71

 v The advisors query the servers and analyze results by protocol before calling the
manager to set weights as appropriate. It may not make sense to use some of
these advisors in a typical configuration. You also have the option of writing
your own advisors. Using the advisors is optional but recommended. Load
Balancer provides a Caching Proxy (cachingproxy) advisor. See “Advisors” on
page 146 for more information.
v To configure and manage the executor, advisors, and manager, use the command
line (cbrcontrol) or the graphical user interface (lbadmin).

The three key functions of CBR (executor, manager, and advisors) interact to
balance and dispatch the incoming requests between servers. Along with load
balancing requests, the executor monitors the number of new connections and
active connections and supplies this information to the manager.

Load balancing requests for different types of content

The CBR component gives you the ability to specify a set of servers that will
handle a request based on regular expression matching the content of the client
request. CBR allows you to partition your site so that different content or
application services can be served by different sets of servers. This partitioning is
transparent to clients accessing your site.

Dividing your site content for better response time

One way to divide your site would be to assign some servers to handle only cgi
requests, and another set of servers to handle all other requests. This would stop
compute intensive cgi scripts from slowing down the servers for normal HTML
traffic, allowing clients to get better overall response time. Using this scheme, you
could also assign more powerful workstations for normal requests. This would
give clients better response time without the expense of upgrading all your servers.
You could also assign more powerful workstations for cgi requests.

Another possibility for partitioning your site could be to direct clients who are
accessing pages requiring registration to one set of servers, and all other requests
to a second set of servers. This would keep casual browsers of your site from tying
up resources that could be used by clients who have committed to your
registration. It would also allow you to use more powerful workstations to service
those clients who have registered.

You could of course combine the methods above for even more flexibility, and
improved service.

Providing backup of Web server content

Because CBR allows you to specify multiple servers for each type of request, the
requests can be load balanced for optimal client response. By allowing multiple
servers to be assigned to each type of content, you are protected if one workstation
or server fails. CBR will recognize the failure and continue to load balance client
requests to the other servers in the set.

Using multiple Caching Proxy processes to improve CPU

utilization
Caching Proxy communicates with a CBR process through its plug-in interface.
CBR must be running on the local machine for this to work. Because these are two
separate processes, multiple instances of the Caching Proxy can be running and
working with a single instance of CBR. This setup might be configured in order to

72 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 segregate addresses or functionality between the Caching Proxies, or to improve
the resource utilization of the machine by having several Caching Proxies handling
client traffic. The proxy instances can be listening on different ports or binding to
unique IP addresses on the same port, depending on what best suits the traffic
requirements.

Using rules-based load balancing with CBR

CBR along with Caching Proxy examines HTTP requests using specified rule types.
When running, Caching Proxy accepts client requests and queries the CBR
component for the best server. Upon this query, CBR matches the request to a set
of prioritized rules. When a rule is matched, an appropriate server is chosen from
a preconfigured server set. Finally, CBR informs Caching Proxy which server was
chosen and the request gets proxied there.

After you define a cluster to be load balanced, you must make sure that all
requests to that cluster have a rule that will choose a server. If no rule is found
that matches a particular request, the client will receive an error page from
Caching Proxy. The easiest way to ensure that all requests will match some rule is
to create an "always true" rule at a very high priority number. Make sure that the
servers used by this rule can handle all the requests not explicitly handled by the
rules that have a lower-numbered priority. (Note: The lower-numbered priority
rules are evaluated first.)

For more information see “Configure rules-based load balancing” on page 170.

Load balancing across fully secure (SSL) connections

CBR with Caching Proxy can receive SSL transmission from the client to the proxy
(client-to-proxy side) as well as support transmission from the proxy to an SSL
server (proxy-to-server side). By defining an SSL port on a server in the CBR
configuration to receive the SSL request from the client, you have the ability to
maintain a fully secure site, using CBR to load balance across secure (SSL) servers.

In addition to other ibmproxy.conf file changes for CBR, another configuration

statement needs to be added to the ibmproxy.conf file for Caching Proxy to enable
SSL encryption on the proxy-to-server side. The format must be:
proxy uri_pattern url_pattern address

where uri_pattern is a pattern to match (for example: /secure/*), url_pattern is a

replacement URL (for example: https://clusterA/secure/*), and address is the
cluster address (for example: clusterA).

Load balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and proxy-to-server in

HTTP
CBR with Caching Proxy can also receive SSL transmission from the client and
then decrypt the SSL request before proxying the request to an HTTP server. For
CBR to support client-to-proxy in SSL and proxy-to-server in HTTP, there is an
optional keyword mapport on the cbrcontrol server command. Use this keyword
when you need to indicate that the port on the server is different from the
incoming port from the client. The following is an example of adding a port using
the mapport keyword, where the client's port is 443 (SSL) and the server's port is
80 (HTTP):
cbrcontrol server add cluster:443 mapport 80

Chapter 9. Planning for Content Based Routing 73

 The port number for mapport can be any positive integer value. The default is the
port number value of the incoming port from the client.

Because CBR must be able to advise on an HTTP request for a server configured
on port 443 (SSL), a special advisor ssl2http is provided. This advisor starts on port
443 (the incoming port from the client) and advises on the server(s) configured for
that port. If there are two clusters configured and each cluster has port 443 and
servers configured with a different mapport, then a single instance of the advisor
can open the appropriate port accordingly. The following is an example of this
configuration:
Executor
Cluster1
Port:443
Server1 mapport 80
Server2 mapport 8080
Cluster2
Port:443
Server3 mapport 80
Server4 mapport 8080
Manager
Advisor ssl2http 443

74 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based Routing
Before following the steps in this chapter, see Chapter 9, “Planning for Content
Based Routing,” on page 71. This chapter explains how to create a basic
configuration for the CBR component of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 20, “Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher,
CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 141 and Chapter 21, “Advanced features for
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 161 for more complex
configurations of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.

Overview of configuration tasks

Before you begin the configuration steps in this table, ensure that your CBR
machine and all server machines are connected to the network, have valid IP
addresses, and are able to ping one another.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.
Table 4. Configuration tasks for the CBR component
Task Description Related information
Set up the CBR machine. Finding out about the requirements. “Setting up the CBR machine”
on page 79
Set up machines to be Set up your load balancing configuration. “Step 7. Define load balanced
load-balanced. server machines” on page 82

Methods of configuration
To create a basic configuration for the CBR component of Load Balancer, there are
four basic methods:
v Command line
v Scripts
v Graphical user interface (GUI)
v Configuration wizard

To use CBR, Caching Proxy must be installed.

Note: Caching Proxy is a service that starts automatically by default after

installation. You must stop Caching Proxy before starting the CBR server
function (cbrserver) and modify the Caching Proxy service to start manually
rather than automatically.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 75

 v For Linux or UNIX systems: Stop Caching Proxy by finding its process
identifier using ps -ef | grep ibmproxy command and then ending the
process using kill process_id command.
v For Windows systems: Stop Caching Proxy from the Services panel.

Command line
This is the most direct means of configuring CBR. The command parameter values
must be entered in English characters. The only exceptions are host names (used,
for example, in cluster and server commands) and file names.

To start CBR from the command line:

v On Linux or UNIX systems: As root user, issue cbrserver command from the
command prompt. (To stop the service, issue the following: cbrserver stop.
On Windows systems: Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services. Right-click IBM Content Based Routing and select Start. To stop the
service, follow the same steps and select Stop.
v Next, issue the CBR control commands you want in order to set up your
configuration. The procedures in this manual assume use of the command line.
The command is cbrcontrol. For more information about commands, see
Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287.
v Start Caching Proxy. Issue ibmproxy command from the command prompt. (You
must start the executor prior to starting Caching Proxy.)

Note: For Windows platforms: Start Caching Proxy from the Services panel:
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

You can enter an abbreviated version of the cbrcontrol command parameters. You
only need to enter the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on
the file save command, you can type cbrcontrol he f instead of cbrcontrol help
file.

To start up the command line interface: issue cbrcontrol to receive a cbrcontrol

command prompt.

To end the command line interface: issue exit or quit.

Notes:
1. On Windows platform, the Dispatcher component's dsserver starts
automatically. If you are using only CBR and not the Dispatcher component,
you can stop dsserver from starting automatically as follows:
a. In the Services window, right-click IBM Dispatcher.
b. Select Properties.
c. In the Startup type field, select Manual.
d. Click OK, and close the Services window.
2. When you configure Content Based Routing (CBR) from the operating system's
command prompt rather than from the cbrcontrol>> prompt, take care using
these characters:
( ) right and left parentheses
& ampersand
| vertical bar
! exclamation point
* asterisk

76 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 The operating system's shell may interpret these as special characters and
convert them to alternate text before cbrcontrol evaluates them.
The special characters in the above list are optional characters on the cbrcontrol
rule add command, and are used when specifying a pattern for a content rule.
For example, the following command might be valid only when using the
cbrcontrol>> prompt.
rule add 10.1.203.4:80:cbr_prod_rule_ek type content
pattern uri=/nipoek/*
For this same command to work at the operating system's prompt, double
quotation marks (" ") must be placed around the pattern as follows:
cbrcontrol rule add 10.1.203.4:80:cbr_prod_rule_ek type content
pattern "uri=/nipoek/*"
If the quotation marks are not used, some of the pattern might be truncated
when the rule is saved in CBR. Note that quotation marks are not supported
when using the cbrcontrol>> command prompt.

Scripts
You can enter the commands for configuring CBR into a configuration script file
and run them together.

Note: To quickly run the content of a script file (for example, myscript), use either
of the following commands:
v To update the current configuration, run the following executable
commands from your script file:
cbrcontrol file appendload myscript
v To completely replace the current configuration, run the following
executable commands from your script file:
cbrcontrol file newload myscript

To save the current configuration into a script file (for example, savescript), run the
following command:
cbrcontrol file save savescript

This command will save the configuration script file in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/cbr
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\cbr

GUI
For general instructions and an example of the graphical user interface (GUI), see
Figure 38 on page 403.

To start the GUI, follow these steps

1. Ensure cbrserver is running. As root user or administrator, issue the following
from a command prompt: cbrserver
2. Do one of the following actions, depending on your operating system:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: enter lbadmin
v For Windows systems: click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere > Edge
Components > IBM Load Balancer > Load Balancer

Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based Routing 77

 3. Start Caching Proxy. (From the GUI, you must first connect to the Host and
start the Executor for the CBR component prior to starting Caching Proxy.) Do
one of the following:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: To start Caching Proxy, enter
ibmproxy
v For Windows systems: To start Caching Proxy, go to the Services panel: Start
> Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

In order to configure the CBR component from the GUI, you must first select
Content Based Routing in the tree structure. You can start the manager after you
connect to a Host. You can also create clusters containing ports and servers, and
start advisors for the manager.

The GUI can be used to do anything that you would do with the cbrcontrol
command. For example, to define a cluster using the command line, you would
enter cbrcontrol cluster add cluster command. To define a cluster from the GUI,
right-click Executor, then in the pop-up menu, left-click Add Cluster. Enter the
cluster address in the pop-up window, then click OK.

Pre-existing CBR configuration files can be loaded using the Load New
Configuration (for completely replacing the current configuration) and Append to
Current Configuration (for updating the current configuration) options presented
in the Host pop-up menu. You should save your CBR configuration to a file
periodically using the Save Configuration File As option also presented in the
Host pop-up menu. The File menu located at the top of the GUI will allow you to
save your current host connections to a file or restore connections in existing files
across all Load Balancer components.

You can access Help by clicking the question mark icon in the upper right corner
of the Load Balancer window.
v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from that screen
v InfoCenter — provides centralized access to product information

In order to run a command from the GUI: highlight the Host node from the GUI
tree and select Send command... from the Host pop-up menu. In the command
entry field, type the command that you want to run, for example: executor report.
The results and history of the commands run in the current session appear in the
window provided.

For more information about using the GUI, see Appendix A, “GUI: General
instructions,” on page 403.

Configuration wizard
If you are using the configuration wizard, follow these steps:
1. Start the cbrserver: issue cbrserver on the command prompt as root user or
administrator.
2. Start the wizard function of CBR:
Launch the wizard from the command prompt by issuing the cbrwizard. Or,
select the Configuration Wizard from the CBR component menu as presented in
the GUI.
3. Start Caching Proxy in order to load balance HTTP or HTTPS (SSL) traffic.

78 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: To start Caching Proxy, enter
ibmproxy
For Windows systems: To start Caching Proxy, go to the Services panel: Start >
Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

The CBR wizard guides you step-by-step through the process of creating a basic
configuration for the CBR component. It asks you questions about your network
and guides you as you set up a cluster that enables CBR to load balance traffic
between a group of servers.

Setting up the CBR machine

Before setting up the CBR machine, you must be the root user (for AIX, HP-UX,
Linux, or Solaris systems) or the Administrator (for Windows systems).

You will need one IP address for each cluster of servers that is set up. A cluster
address is an address that is associated with a host name (such as
www.company.com). This IP address is used by a client to connect to the servers in
a cluster. Specifically, this address is found in the URL request from the client. All
requests made to the same cluster address are load balanced by CBR.

For Solaris systems only: Before using the CBR component, the system defaults for
IPCs (Inter-process Communication) must be modified. The maximum size of a
shared memory segment and the number of semaphore identifiers need to be
increased. To tune your system to support CBR, edit the /etc/system file on your
system to add the following statements and then reboot:
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax=0x02000000
set semsys:seminfo_semmap=750
set semsys:seminfo_semmni=30
set semsys:seminfo_semmns=750
set semsys:seminfo_semmnu=30
set semsys:seminfo_semume=30

If you do not increase the shared memory segment to the values shown above,
cbrcontrol executor start command will fail.

Step 1. Configure Caching Proxy to use CBR

To use CBR, Caching Proxy must be installed.

Note: Caching Proxy is a service that starts automatically by default after

installation. You must stop Caching Proxy before starting the CBR server
function and modify the Caching Proxy service to start manually rather than
automatically.
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: Stop Caching Proxy by
finding its process identifier using ps -ef | grep ibmproxy command and
then ending the process using kill process_id command.
v For Windows systems: Stop Caching Proxy from the Services panel.

You must make the following modifications to the Caching Proxy configuration file
(ibmproxy.conf):

Verify that the incoming URL directive CacheByIncomingUrl is "off" (default).

In the mapping rules section of the configuration file, for every cluster, add a
mapping rule similar to:

Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based Routing 79

 Proxy /* http://cluster.domain.com/* cluster.domain.com

Note: CBR sets the protocol, server, and target port at a later time.

There are four entries that must be edited for the CBR Plug-in:
v ServerInit
v PostAuth
v PostExit
v ServerTerm
Each entry must be on a single line. There are several instances of "ServerInit" in
the ibmproxy.conf file, one for each plug-in. The entries for the "CBR Plug-in"
should be edited and uncommented.

The specific additions to the configuration file for each of the operating systems
follow:
Table 5. Necessary additions to the CBR configuration file, by operating system
Operating system Additions to CBR configuration file
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems ServerInit /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/liblbcbr.so:ndServerInit

PostAuth /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/liblbcbr.so:ndPostAuth

PostExit /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/liblbcbr.so:ndPostExit

ServerTerm /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/liblbcbr.so:ndServerTerm
Windows systems ServerInit <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\liblbcbr.dll:ndServerInit

PostAuth <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\liblbcbr.dll:ndPostAuth

PostExit <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\liblbcbr.dll:ndPostExit

ServerTerm <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\liblbcbr.dll:ndServerTerm

Step 2. Start the server function

To start the CBR server function, type cbrserver on the command line.

A default configuration file (default.cfg) gets automatically loaded when starting

cbrserver. If you decide to save the CBR configuration in default.cfg, then
everything saved in this file is automatically loaded next time cbrserver gets
started.

Step 3. Start the executor function

To start the executor function, enter the cbrcontrol executor start command. You
may also change various executor settings at this time. See “dscontrol executor —
control the executor” on page 299.

Step 4. Define a cluster and set cluster options

CBR will balance the requests sent for the cluster to the corresponding servers
configured on the ports for that cluster.

The cluster is the symbolic name located in the host portion of the URL and
should match the name used in the Proxy statement of the ibmproxy.conf file.

80 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Clusters defined in CBR should be defined to match the incoming request. A
cluster must be defined using the same hostname or IP address that the incoming
request will contain. For example, if the request will enter as the IP address, the
cluster must be defined as the IP address. If there is more than one hostname that
resolves to a single IP address (and requests can arrive with any one of those
hostnames) then all the hostnames should be defined as clusters.

To define a cluster, issue the following command:

cbrcontrol cluster add cluster

To set cluster options, issue the following command:

cbrcontrol cluster set cluster option value

For more information, see Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and
CBR,” on page 287.

Step 5. Alias the network interface card (optional)

If you are running Caching Proxy configured as a reverse proxy, when load
balancing for multiple Web sites, you must add the cluster address for each Web
site to at least one of the network interface cards of the Load Balancer machine.
Otherwise, this step can be omitted.

For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: To add the cluster address to the
network interface, use the ifconfig command. Use the command for your operating
system as shown in Table 6.
Table 6. Commands to alias the NIC
AIX ifconfig interface_name alias cluster_address netmask netmask
HP-UX ifconfig interface_name cluster_address netmask netmask up
Linux ifconfig interface_name cluster_address netmask netmask up
Solaris 9, and ifconfig interface_name addif cluster_address netmask netmask up
Solaris 10

Note: For Linux and HP-UX systems, interface_name must have a unique number
for each cluster address that is added, for example: eth0:1, eth0:2, and so on.

For Windows 2003: To add the cluster address to the network interface, do the
following:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection
2. Click Properties.
3. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
4. Select Use the following IP address and click Advanced.
5. Click Add and then type the IP address and subnet mask for the cluster.

Step 6. Define ports and set port options

The port number is the port on which the server applications are listening. For
CBR with Caching Proxy running HTTP traffic, this is typically port 80.

To define a port to the cluster you defined in the previous step, issue the following
command:
cbrcontrol port add cluster:port

Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based Routing 81

 To set port options, issue the following command:
cbrcontrol port set cluster:port option value

For more information, see Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and
CBR,” on page 287.

Step 7. Define load balanced server machines

The server machines are the machines running the applications that you want load
balanced. The server is the symbolic name or dotted decimal address of the server
machine. To define a server on the cluster and port, issue the following command:
cbrcontrol server add cluster:port:server

You must define more than one server per port on a cluster in order to perform
load balancing.

Step 8. Add rules to your configuration

This is the key step in configuring CBR with Caching Proxy. A rule defines how a
URL request will be distinguished and sent to one of the appropriate set of servers.
The special rule type used by CBR is called a content rule. To define a content rule,
issue the following command:
cbrcontrol rule add cluster:port:rule type content pattern pattern

The value pattern is the regular expression that is compared to the URL in each
client request. For more information on how to configure the pattern, see
Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern) syntax,” on page 409.

Some other rule types defined in Dispatcher can also be used in CBR. For more
information, see “Configure rules-based load balancing” on page 170.

Step 9. Add servers to your rules

When a rule is matched by a client request, the rule's set of servers is queried for
which server is best. The rule's server set is a subset of the servers defined in the
port. To add servers to a rule's server set, issue the following command:
cbrcontrol rule useserver cluster:port:rule server

Step 10. Start the manager function (optional)

The manager function improves load balancing. To start the manager, issue the
following command:
cbrcontrol manager start

Step 11. Start the advisor function (optional)

The advisors give the manager more information about the ability of the load
balanced server machines to respond to requests. An advisor is specific to a
protocol. For example, to start the HTTP advisor, issue the following command:
cbrcontrol advisor start http port

Step 12. Set cluster proportions as required

If you start advisors, you may modify the proportion of importance given to
advisor information being included in the load balancing decisions. To set the
cluster proportions, issue the cbrcontrol cluster set cluster proportions command.
For more information, see “Proportion of importance given to status information”
on page 142.

82 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Step 13. Start Caching Proxy
v AIX systems: Add to your LIBPATH environment variable:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib
v Linux, HP-UX or Solaris systems: Add to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment
variable:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib
v Windows systems: Add to your PATH environment variable:
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib

In the new environment, start Caching Proxy:

v From the command prompt, issue ibmproxy
v For Windows systems, you can start Caching Proxy from the Services panel.
Click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services.

CBR configuration example

To configure CBR follow these steps:
1. Start CBR: issue the cbrserver command.
2. Start up the command line interface: issue the cbrcontrol command.
3. The cbrcontrol prompt is displayed. Issue the following commands.
(cluster(c),port(p),rule(r),server(s))
v executor start
v cluster add c
v port add c:p
v server add c:p:s
v rule add c:p:r type content pattern uri=*
v rule useserver c:p:r s
4. Start Caching Proxy: Issue the ibmproxy command. (For Windows platform,
start Caching Proxy from the Services panel.
5. Remove all proxy configurations from the browser.
6. Load http://c/ into your browser where "'c" is the cluster that you configured
previously.
v Server "s" is invoked
v The following Web page is displayed http://s/

Chapter 10. Configuring Content Based Routing 83

84 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 4. Site Selector component
This part provides information on a quick start configuration, planning
considerations, and describes the methods of configuring Load Balancer's Site
Selector component. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 11, “Quick start configuration,” on page 87
v Chapter 12, “Planning for Site Selector,” on page 91
v Chapter 13, “Configuring Site Selector,” on page 95

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 85

86 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 11. Quick start configuration
This quick start example shows how to create a site name configuration using Site
Selector to load balance traffic among a set of servers based on the domain name
used on a client request.

mywebshop.com
(domain)
apps.mywebshop.com
(subdomain)

marketing.apps.mywebshop.com
developer.apps.mywebshop.com
(site names)

name server Site Selector server 1 server 2

Client Internet

server 3 server 4

Figure 20. A simple Site Selector configuration

What do you need?

For this quick start configuration example, you will need the following:
v Administrative access to your site's name server
v Four servers (server1, server2, server3, server4) configured to the network and
an additional server with the installed Site Selector component

Note: If you collocate Site Selector on one of the load balanced servers, then you
will need four servers instead of five. However, collocation will impact
the performance of the load balanced servers.

How do you prepare?

For this quick start example, the company's site domain is mywebshop.com. Site
Selector is responsible for a subdomain within mywebshop.com. Therefore, you
need to define a subdomain within mywebshop.com. For example:
apps.mywebshop.com. Site Selector is not a fully implemented DNS, such as BIND,
and acts as a leafnode in a DNS hierarchy. Site Selector is authoritative for the
apps.mywebshop.com subdomain. Subdomain apps.mywebshop.com will include
the following site names: marketing.apps.mywebshop.com and
developer.apps.mywebshop.com.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 87

 1. Update the company site's domain name server (see Figure 20 on page 87).
Create a name server record in the named.data file for the subdomain
(apps.mywebshop.com) where Site Selector is the authoritative name server:
apps.mywebshop.com. IN NS siteselector.mywebshop.com
2. Ensure that the fully qualified hostname or site does not resolve in the current
domain name system.
3. Install Metric Server on the servers (server1, server2, server3, server4) that you
intend to have Site Selector load balance. See “Metric Server” on page 157 for
more information.

Configuring the Site Selector component

With Site Selector, you can create a configuration by using the command line, the
configuration wizard, or the graphical user interface (GUI). For this quick start
example, configuration steps are demonstrated using the command line.

Note: The parameter values must be typed in English characters. The only
exceptions are parameter values for host names and file names.

Configuring with the command line

From a command prompt, follow these steps:
1. Start the ssserver on the machine hosting Site Selector. As root user or
administrator, issue the following from a command prompt: ssserver

Note: For Windows platform: Start ssserver (IBM Site Selector) from the
Services panel: Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
2. Start the name server on the Site Selector configuration:
sscontrol nameserver start
3. Configure the site names (marketing.apps.mywebshop.com and
developer.apps.mywebshop.com) on Site Selector:
sscontrol sitename add marketing.apps.mywebshop.com
sscontrol sitename add developer.apps.mywebshop.com
4. Add the servers to the Site Selector configuration. (Configure server1 and
server2 to site name marketing.apps.mywebshop.com. Configure server3 and
server4 to site name developer.apps.myeebshop.com):
sscontrol server add marketing.apps.mywebshop.com:server1+server2
sscontrol server add developer.apps.mywebshop.com:server3+server4
5. Start the manager function of Site Selector:
sscontrol manager start
6. Start the advisor function of Site Selector (HTTP advisor for
marketing.apps.mywebshop.com and FTP advisor for
developer.apps.mywebshop):
sscontrol advisor start http marketing.apps.mywebshop.com:80
sscontrol advisor start ftp developer.apps.mywebshop.com:21
Site Selector will now make sure that client requests are not sent to a failed
server.
7. Ensure the Metric Server has been started on each of the load-balanced servers.

Your basic Site Selector configuration is now complete.

88 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Testing your configuration
Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. From a client, that has a primary DNS configured as the nameserver
responsible for mywebshop.com, try to ping one of the configured site names.
2. Connect to the application. For example:
v Open a browser, request marketing.apps.mywebshop.com and a valid page
should be served
v Open an FTP client to developer.apps.mywebshop.com and enter a valid user
and password
3. Look at the results of the following command:
sscontrol server status marketing.apps.mywebshop.com:
sscontrol server status developer.apps.mywebshop.com:
The total hits entry of each server should add up to the ping and application
request

Configuring with the graphical user interface (GUI)

For information on using the Site Selector GUI, see “GUI” on page 96 and
Appendix A, “GUI: General instructions,” on page 403.

Configuring with the configuration wizard

For information on using the Site Selector wizard, see “Configuration wizard” on
page 97.

Chapter 11. Quick start configuration 89

90 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 12. Planning for Site Selector
This chapter describes what the network planner should consider before installing
and configuring the Site Selector component.
v See Chapter 3, “Managing your network: Determining which Load Balancer
features to use,” on page 17 for an overview of features that are available for
managing your network.
v See Chapter 13, “Configuring Site Selector,” on page 95 for information on
configuring the load-balancing parameters of Site Selector.
v See Chapter 21, “Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on
page 161 for information on how to set up Load Balancer for more advanced
functions.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.

This chapter includes the following sections:

v “Planning Considerations”
v “TTL considerations” on page 93
v “Using the Network Proximity feature” on page 93

Planning Considerations
Site Selector works in conjunction with a domain name server to load balance
among a group of servers using measurements and weights that are gathered. You
can create a site configuration to let you load balance traffic among a group of
servers based on the domain name used for a client's request.

Limitations: The DNS queries that Site Selector supports are Type A queries only.
Any other query types will result in a return code of NOTIMPL (Not
Implemented). If an entire domain is delegated to Site Selector, ensure that the
domain receives only Type A queries.

com

company Managed by
atlanta boston company’s
DNS servers

Managed by
siteload Site Selector

Figure 21. Example of a DNS environment

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 91

 When setting up a subdomain for Site Selector within your DNS environment, Site
Selector should have authority over its own subdomain. For example (see Figure 21
on page 91), your company has been assigned authority over company.com
domain. Within the company, there are several subdomains. Site Selector would
have authority for siteload.company.com, while the DNS server(s) would still
maintain authority for atlanta.company.com and boston.company.com.

In order for company's name server to recognize Site Selector as having authority
for the siteload subdomain, a name server entry will need to be added to its
named data file. For example, on AIX systems, a name server entry would look
like the following:
siteload.company.com. IN NS siteselector.company.com.

Where siteselector.company.com is the hostname of the Site Selector machine.

Equivalent entries would need to be made in any other named database files for
use by DNS servers.

A client submits a request for resolution of a domain name to a name server

within its network. Name server forwards the request to the Site Selector machine.
Site Selector then resolves the domain name to the IP address of one of the servers
that has been configured under the site name. Site Selector returns the IP address
of the selected server to the name server. Name server returns the IP address to the
client. (Site Selector acts as a non-recursive (leaf node) name server, and it will
return an error if it does not resolve the domain name request.)

Refer to Figure 5 on page 12 which illustrates a site in which Site Selector is used
in conjunction with a DNS system to load balance across local and remote servers.

Site Selector consists of the following functions:

v ssserver handles request from the command line to the Name Server, manager,
and advisors.
v The name server function supports the load balancing of incoming name server
requests. You must start the name server function for Site Selector to begin
providing DNS resolution. Site Selector listens on port 53 for incoming DNS
requests. If the requesting site name is configured, then Site Selector returns a
single server address (from a set of server addresses) associated with the site
name.
v The manager sets weights used by the name server based on:
– Feedback from the servers provided by the advisors
– Feedback from a system-monitoring program, such as Metric Server.
Using the manager is optional. However, if the manager is not used, load
balancing is performed using weighted round-robin scheduling based on the
current server weights, and advisors will not be available.
v The Metric Server is a system monitoring component of Load Balancer that you
install on the backend server machine. (If you collocate Load Balancer on a
server machine that is being load balanced, then you would install Metric Server
on the Load Balancer machine.)
With Metric Server, Site Selector can monitor the level of activity on a server,
detect when a server is the least heavily loaded, and detect a failed server. The
load is a measure of how hard the server is working. The system Site Selector
administrator controls the type of measurement used to measure the load. You
can configure Site Selector to suit your environment, considering such factors as
frequency of access, the total number of users, and types of access (for example,
short queries, long-running queries, or CPU-intensive loads).
92 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 Load balancing is based on server weights. For Site Selector, there are four
proportions which the manager uses to determine weights:
– CPU
– memory
– port
– system
CPU and memory values are all supplied by Metric Server. Consequently, use of
Metric Server is recommended with the Site Selector component.
See “Metric Server” on page 157 for more information.
v The advisors query the servers and analyze results by protocol before calling the
manager to set weights as appropriate. It may not make sense to use some of
these advisors in a typical configuration. You also have the option of writing
your own advisors. Using the advisors is optional but recommended. See
“Advisors” on page 146 for more information.
v To configure and manage the name server, advisors, Metric Server, and manager,
use the command line (sscontrol) or the graphical user interface (lbadmin).

The four key functions of Site Selector (name server, manager, Metric Server, and
advisors) interact to balance and resolve the incoming requests between servers.

TTL considerations
Using DNS-based load balancing requires that caching of name resolutions be
disabled. The TTL (time to live) value determines the effectiveness of DNS-based
load balancing. TTL determines how long another nameserver will cache the
resolved response. Small TTL values allow for subtle changes in the server or
network load to be realized more quickly. However, disabling caching requires that
clients contact the authoritative name server for every name resolution request,
thus potentially increasing the client latency. When choosing a TTL value, careful
consideration should be given to the impact that disabled-caching has on an
environment. Also be aware that DNS-based load balancing is potentially limited
by client-side caching of name resolutions.

TTL can be configured using the sscontrol sitename [add | set] command. See
“sscontrol sitename — configure a sitename” on page 362 for more information.

Using the Network Proximity feature

Network proximity is the calculation of each server's nearness to the requesting
client. To determine network proximity, the Metric Server agent (which must reside
on each load-balanced server) sends a ping to the client IP address and returns the
response time to Site Selector. Site Selector uses the proximity response in the
load-balancing decision. Site Selector combines the network proximity response
value with the weight from the manager to create a combined final weight value
for the server.

Use of the network proximity feature with Site Selector is optional.

The Site Selector provides the following network proximity options that can be set
per site name:
v Cache life: The amount of time a proximity response is valid and saved in the
cache.
v Proximity percent: The importance of the proximity response versus the health
of the server (as input from the manager weight).

Chapter 12. Planning for Site Selector 93

 v Wait for all: Determines whether to wait for all proximity (ping) responses from
the servers before responding to the client request.
If set to yes, the Metric Server pings the client to obtain the proximity response
time. Name server waits for all Metric Servers to respond or for a time-out to
occur. Then, for each server, the name server combines the proximity response
time with the weight the manager calculated to create a "combined weight"
value for each server. Site Selector will supply the client with the server IP
address with the best combined weight. (It is expected that most client name
servers have a 5 second time-out. Site Selector tries to respond before that
time-out is exceeded.)
If set to no, a name resolution is provided to the client based on the current
manager weights. Then, the Metric Server pings the client to obtain the
proximity response time. The name server caches the response time it receives
from the Metric Server. When the client returns for a second request, the name
server combines the current manager weight with the cached ping response
value for each server to obtain the server with the best "combined weight." Site
Selector returns this server's IP address to the client for its second request.

Network proximity options can be set on the sscontrol sitename [add | set]
command. See Chapter 27, “Command reference for Site Selector,” on page 341 for
more information.

94 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 13. Configuring Site Selector
Before following the steps in this chapter, see Chapter 12, “Planning for Site
Selector,” on page 91. This chapter explains how to create a basic configuration for
the Site Selector component of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 20, “Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher,
CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 141 and Chapter 21, “Advanced features for
Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 161 for more complex
configurations of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.

Overview of configuration tasks

Note: Before you begin the configuration steps in this table, ensure that your Site
Selector machine and all server machines are connected to the network, have
valid IP addresses, and are able to ping one another.
Table 7. Configuration tasks for the Site Selector component
Task Description Related information
Set up the Site Selector machine. Finding out about the requirements. “Setting up the Site Selector
machine” on page 98
Set up machines to be Set up your load balancing configuration. “Step 4. Define load balanced
load-balanced. server machines” on page 98

Methods of configuration
To create a basic configuration for the Site Selector component of Load Balancer,
there are four basic methods of configuring the Site Selector component:
v Command line
v Scripts
v Graphical user interface (GUI)
v Configuration wizard

Command line
This is the most direct means of configuring Site Selector. The command parameter
values must be entered in English characters. The only exceptions are host names
(used, for example, in site name and server commands) and file names.

To start Site Selector from the command line:

1. Issue the ssserver command from the command prompt. To stop the service,
type: ssserver stop

Note: For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative
Tools > Services. Right-click IBM Site Selector and select Start. To stop
the service, follow the same steps and select Stop.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 95

 2. Next, issue Site Selector control commands you want in order to set up your
configuration. The procedures in this manual assume use of the command line.
The command is sscontrol. For more information about commands, see
Chapter 27, “Command reference for Site Selector,” on page 341.

You can enter a minimized version of the sscontrol command parameters. You only
need to enter the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the
file save command, you can type sscontrol he f instead of sscontrol help file.

To start up the command line interface: issue sscontrol to receive an sscontrol

command prompt.

To end the command line interface: issue exit or quit.

Note: On Windows platform, the Dispatcher component's dsserver starts

automatically. If you are using only Site Selector and not the Dispatcher
component, you can stop dsserver from starting automatically as follows:
1. From Windows Services, right-click IBM Dispatcher.
2. Select Properties.
3. In the Startup type field, select Manual.
4. Click OK, and close the Services window.

Scripts
The commands for configuring Site Selector can be entered into a configuration
script file and run together.

Note: To quickly run the content of a script file (for example, myscript), use either
of the following commands:
v For updating the current configuration, run the executable commands
from your script file using —
sscontrol file appendload myscript
v For completely replacing the current configuration, run the executable
commands from your script file using —
sscontrol file newload myscript

To save the current configuration into a script file (for example, savescript), run the
following command:
sscontrol file save savescript

This command will save the configuration script file in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/ss
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\ss

GUI
For general instructions and an example of the GUI, see Figure 38 on page 403.

To start the GUI, follow these steps

1. Ensure ssserver is running. As root user or administrator, issue the following
from a command prompt: ssserver
2. Next, do one of the following:

96 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: enter lbadmin
v For Windows systems: click Start > Programs IBM WebSphere > Edge
Components > IBM Load Balancer > Load Balancer

In order to configure the Site Selector component from the GUI, you must first
select Site Selector in the tree structure. After you connect to a host running
ssserver, you can create site names containing servers, start the manager, and start
advisors.

The GUI can be used to do anything that you would do with the sscontrol
command. For example, to define a site name using the command line, you would
enter sscontrol sitename add sitename command. To define a site name from the
GUI, right-click Name Server, then in the pop-up menu, left-click Add Site Name.
Enter the site name in the pop-up window, then click OK.

Pre-existing Site Selector configuration files can be loaded using the Load New
Configuration (for completely replacing the current configuration) and Append to
Current Configuration (for updating the current configuration) options presented
in the Host pop-up menu. You should save your Site Selector configuration to a
file periodically using the Save Configuration File As option also presented in the
Host pop-up menu. The File menu located at the top of the GUI will allow you to
save your current host connections to a file or restore connections in existing files
across all the Load Balancer components.

To run a command from the GUI: highlight the Host node from the GUI tree and
select Send command.... from the Host pop-up menu. In the command entry field,
type the command that you want to run, for example: nameserver status. The
results and history of the commands run in the current session appear in the
window provided.

You can access Help by clicking the question mark icon in the upper right corner
of the Load Balancer window.
v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from that screen
v InfoCenter — provides centralized access to product information

For more information about using the GUI, see Appendix A, “GUI: General
instructions,” on page 403.

Configuration wizard
If you are using the configuration wizard, follow these steps:
1. Start the ssserver on Site Selector:
v Run the following as root use or Administrator:
ssserver
2. Start the wizard function of Site Selector, sswizard.
You can launch this wizard from the command prompt by issuing the
sswizard. Or, select the Configuration Wizard from the Site Selector component
menu as presented in the GUI.

The Site Selector wizard guides you step-by-step through the process of creating a
basic configuration for the Site Selector component. It asks you questions about
your network and guides you as you setup a site name that enables Site Selector to
load balance traffic between a group of servers.

Chapter 13. Configuring Site Selector 97

Setting up the Site Selector machine
Before setting up the Site Selector machine, you must be the root user (for AIX,
HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems) or the Administrator (for Windows systems).

You will need an unresolvable fully qualified hostname to use as a site name for a
group of servers that you set up. The site name is the name that the clients use to
access your site (such as www.yourcompany.com). Site Selector will load-balance
traffic for this site name among the group of servers using DNS.

Step 1. Start the server function

To start the Site Selector server function, type ssserver on the command line.

Note: A default configuration file (default.cfg) gets automatically loaded when

starting ssserver. If you decide to save the configuration in default.cfg, then
everything saved in this file is automatically loaded next time ssserver gets
started.

Step 2. Start the Name Server

To start the Name Server, enter the sscontrol nameserver start command.

Optionally, start the Name Server using the bindaddress keyword to bind only to
the specified address.

Step 3. Define a site name and set site name options

Site Selector will balance the requests sent for the site name to the corresponding
servers configured to it.

The site name is an unresolvable host name that the client will request. The site
name must be a fully qualified domain name (for example,
www.dnsdownload.com). When a client requests this site name, one of the server
IP addresses associated with the site name is returned.

To define a site name, issue the following command:

sscontrol sitename add sitename

To set site name options, issue the following command:

sscontrol sitename set sitename option value

For more information, see Chapter 27, “Command reference for Site Selector,” on
page 341.

Step 4. Define load balanced server machines

The server machines are the machines running the applications that you want load
balanced. The server is the symbolic name or dotted decimal address of the server
machine. To define a server on the site name from step 3, issue the following
command:
sscontrol server add sitename:server

You must define more than one server under a site name in order to perform load
balancing.

98 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Step 5. Start the manager function (optional)
The manager function enhances load balancing. Prior to starting the manager
function, ensure that the metric server is installed in all the load-balanced
machines.

To start the manager, issue the following command:

sscontrol manager start

Step 6. Start the advisor function (optional)

The advisors give the manager more information about the ability of the load
balanced server machines to respond to requests. An advisor is specific to a
protocol. The Load Balancer supplies many advisors. For example, to start the
HTTP advisor for a specific site name, issue the following command:
sscontrol advisor start http sitename:port

Step 7. Define system metric (optional)

See “Metric Server” on page 157 for information on using system metrics and
Metric Server.

Step 8. Set site name proportions as required

If you start advisors, you may modify the proportion of importance given to
advisor (port) information being included in the load balancing decisions. To set
the site name proportions, issue the sscontrol sitename set sitename proportions
command. For more information, see “Proportion of importance given to status
information” on page 142.

Setting up server machines for load balancing

Use Metric Server with the Site Selector component. Refer to “Metric Server” on
page 157 for information on setting up Metric Server on all server machines that
Site Selector is load balancing.

Chapter 13. Configuring Site Selector 99

100 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 5. Cisco CSS Controller component
This part provides information on a quick start configuration, planning
considerations, and describes the methods of configuring Load Balancer's Cisco
CSS Controller component. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 14, “Quick start configuration,” on page 103
v Chapter 15, “Planning for Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 107
v Chapter 16, “Configuring Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 113

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 101

102 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 14. Quick start configuration
This quick start example shows how to create a configuration using the Cisco CSS
Controller component. Cisco CSS Controller provides server weight information
that assists Cisco CSS Switch in determining optimal server selection for load
balancing decisions.

server A
9.17.32.51
server B
9.17.32.52

Client
www.Intersplash.com
Internet Cisco CSS
VIP=9.17.32.59 server C
Switch IP=9.17.32.50
Cisco CSS
VIP = 9.17.32.59 Controller
service A IP=9.17.32.51 9.17.32.53
service B IP = 9.17.32.52
service C IP = 9.17.32.53
SNMP enabled WsConsultant-1
read-write community = Public switch IP=9.17.32.50
read-write community = public
OwnerContent-1
OwnerName-1
Service A IP=9.17.32.51
Service B IP=9.17.32.52
ContentRule-1
contentName-1

Figure 22. A simple Cisco CSS Controller configuration

What do you need?

For this quick start configuration example, you will need the following:
v A Cisco CSS Switch
v A server machine with the Cisco CSS Controller component
v Two Web server machines
v This configuration example requires five IP addresses:
– An IP address that you provide to clients to access your Web site,
www.Intersplashx.com (9.17.32.59)
– An IP address for an interface (gateway) to Cisco CSS Switch (9.17.32.50)
– An IP address for server A (9.17.32.51)
– An IP address for server B (9.17.32.52)
– An IP address for the Cisco CSS Controller server C (9.17.32.53)

How do you prepare?

Ensure the following steps are complete before beginning configuration for this
example:
v Ensure that your Cisco CSS Switch is properly configured. For configuration
information, refer to Cisco Content Services Switch Getting Started Guide.
v Ensure that the Cisco CSS Controller machine can ping the Cisco CSS Switch
(9.17.32.50), server A (9.17.32.51), and server B (9.17.32.52).
v Ensure that the client machine can ping the VIP (9.17.32.59)

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 103

Configuring the Cisco CSS Controller component
With Cisco CSS Controller, you can create a configuration by using the command
line or the graphical user interface (GUI). For this quick start example,
configuration steps are demonstrated using the command line.

Note: The parameter values must be typed in English characters. The only
exceptions are parameter values for host names and file names.

Configuring with the command line

From a command prompt, follow these steps:
1. Start the ccoserver on Load Balancer. As root user or administrator, issue the
following from a command prompt: ccoserver
2. Add a switch consultant to the Cisco CSS Controller configuration, specifying
the Cisco CSS Switch IP interface address and the read-write community name.
These values must match the corresponding attributes on the Cisco CSS Switch:
ccocontrol consultant add SwConsultant-1 address 9.17.32.50 community
public
This will check connectivity to Cisco CSS Switch and will verify that the SNMP
read-write community name is working properly.
3. Add ownercontent (OwnerContent-1) to the switch consultant, specifying
ownername (OwnerName-1) and contentrule (ContentRule-1):
ccocontrol ownercontent add SwConsultant-1:OwnerContent-1 ownername
OwnerName-1 contentrule ContentRule-1
These values must match the corresponding attributes on the Cisco CSS Switch.
Cisco CSS Controller can now communicate with the switch over SNMP and
will obtain the necessary configuration information from the switch. After this
step, you should see information in the Cisco CSS Controller about which
services are configured on Cisco CSS Switch for the specified ownercontent.
4. Configure the type of metrics to collect (active connection, connection rate,
HTTP) and proportion for each metric on the ownercontent:
ccocontrol ownercontent metrics SwConsultant-1:OwnerContent-1 activeconn
45 connrate 45 http 10
This command will configure which metric information and proportion you
want to collect from the services to be used for weight calculation. The total
proportion of all the metrics must equal 100.
5. Start the switch consultant function of Cisco CSS Controller:
ccocontrol consultant start SwConsultant-1
With this command, all the metric collectors will start, and service weight
calculations will begin. Cisco CSS Controller communicates the results of its
service weight calculations to Cisco CSS Switch using SNMP.

Your basic Cisco CSS Controller configuration is now complete.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. From the Client Web browser, go to location http://www.Intersplashx.com. If a
page is displayed, the configuration is working.
2. Reload the page in the Web browser.

104 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 3. Look at the results of the following command: ccocontrol service report
SwConsultant-1:OwnerContent-1:Service-1. The total connections column of
the two Web servers should add up to “2.”

Configuring with the graphical user interface (GUI)

For information on using the Cisco CSS Controller GUI, see “GUI” on page 115
and Appendix A, “GUI: General instructions,” on page 403.

Chapter 14. Quick start configuration 105

106 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 15. Planning for Cisco CSS Controller
Note: The Cisco CSS Controller component is shipped with Version 8.5 of Load
Balancer for IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware.
Consult the prerequisites page for supported hardware:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

This chapter describes what a network planner should consider before installing
and configuring the Cisco CSS Controller component.
v See Chapter 16, “Configuring Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 113 for information
on configuring the load-balancing parameters of the Cisco CSS Controller
component.
v See Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 for information on how to set up Load Balancer for
more advanced functions.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.
This chapter includes:
v “System requirements”
v “Planning considerations”
– “Placement of the consultant in the network” on page 108
– “High availability” on page 110
– “Calculating weights” on page 110
– “Problem determination” on page 111

System requirements
For hardware and software requirements, refer to the following Web page:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

You will also need

v A system on which to run the Cisco CSS Controller.
v An installed and configured Cisco CSS 11000 series content services switch

Planning considerations
The Cisco CSS Controller manages a set of switch consultants. Each consultant
determines weights for services that are load balanced by a single switch. The
switch for which the consultant provides weights is configured for content load
balancing. The consultant uses the SNMP protocol to send the calculated weights
to the switch. The switch uses the weights to select a service for the content rule it
is load balancing when the load balancing algorithm is weighted round-robin. To
determine weights, the consultant uses one or more of the following pieces of
information:
v Availability and response times, determined through the use of application
advisors that communicate with applications running on the service.
v System load information, determined by retrieving a metric value from metric
server agents running on the service.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 107

 v Connection information about the service, obtained from the switch.
v Reachability information, obtained by pinging the service.

See the Cisco Content Services Switch Getting Started Guide for a description of
content load balancing and for detailed information on configuring the switch.

For a consultant to obtain the information it needs to determine service weights,

you must have:
v IP connectivity between the consultant and the services for which weights are
calculated.
v IP connectivity between the consultant and the switch that is load balancing the
servers for which weights are calculated.
v SNMP enabled on the switch. Both read and write capabilities must be enabled.

Placement of the consultant in the network

As indicated in Figure 23 on page 109, the consultant can be connected to the
network behind the switch or switches for which it provides weights. Some
parameters must be configured on the switch and some on the controller to enable
connectivity between the controller, the switch, and the services.

In Figure 23 on page 109:

v A consultant is connected to the network behind the switches for which it is
providing weights.
v The network consists of two VLANs.
v For the consultant to communicate with services in both VLANs, IP forwarding
must be enabled on the interfaces through which the services are connected, and
on the interface through which the consultant is connected.
v The IP address of the switch must be configured as the default gateway on the
consultant and the service systems.

Refer to the Cisco Content Services Switch Getting Started Guide for detailed
information about configuring VLANs and IP routing on the switch.

108 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 VLAN-1
server farm

L2
Switch

clients
Cisco CSS
Controller

Internet Cisco CSS

L2
Switch

server farm

VLAN-2

Figure 23. Example of a consultant connected behind the switches

You can manage the Cisco CSS Controller using any of the following interfaces:
v A browser
v A GUI (remote or local)
v A command line (remote or local)

For remote management, in Figure 24 on page 110 :

v The consultant is connected behind the switch for which it is providing weights.
v The user interface is running on a remote system in front of the switch.
v The switch must be configured to allow the remote system to communicate
through it to the controller system.
Refer to Cisco Content Services Switch Getting Started Guide for detailed information.

Chapter 15. Planning for Cisco CSS Controller 109

 VLAN-1
server farm

clients

Internet Cisco CSS

L2
Switch

intranet

Cisco CSS
Controller
Cisco CSS (optional secondary)
browser, GUI, or Controller
command line (primary)
interface

Figure 24. Example of consultant (with optional high availability partner), configured behind
switch with user interface in front of switch

High availability
Controller high availability enhances the fault tolerance capabilities of Load
Balancer. Designed with packet-forwarding high availability in mind, controller
high availability involves two controllers running simultaneously, one in the
primary role, the other in the secondary role.

Each controller is configured with identical switch information, and only one
controller is active at a time. This means that, as determined by the high
availability logic, only the active controller calculates and updates the switch with
new weights.

Controller high availability communicates with its partner using simple user
datagram protocol (UDP) packets over an address and port that you configure.
These packets are used to exchange information between controllers as it pertains
to high availability (reach information), and to determine partner controller
availability (heartbeats). If the standby controller determines that the active
controller has failed for any reason, the standby controller takes over from the
failed active controller. The standby controller then becomes the active controller,
and begins calculating and updating the switch with new weights.

In addition to partner availability, reach targets can be configured for high

availability. Controller high availability uses the reach information to determine
which controller is active and which is standby. The active controller is the
controller that can ping more targets and is reachable from its partner.

See “High availability” on page 197 for more information.

Calculating weights
If the consultant determines that a service is unavailable, it will suspend that
service on the switch to prevent the switch from considering the server when it
load balances requests. When the service is available again, the consultant activates
the service on the switch so that it is considered for load balancing requests.

110 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Problem determination
Cisco CSS Controller posts entries to the following logs:
v server.log
v consultant.log
v highavailability.log
v metriccollector.log
v binary.log

These logs are located in the following directories:

v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/cco/
consultantName
v For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\logs\cco\
consultantName

In each log, you can set the log size and logging level. See “Using Load Balancer
logs” on page 217 for more information.

Chapter 15. Planning for Cisco CSS Controller 111

112 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 16. Configuring Cisco CSS Controller
Before following the steps in this chapter, see Chapter 15, “Planning for Cisco CSS
Controller,” on page 107. This chapter explains how to create a basic configuration
for the Cisco CSS Controller component of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 for more complex configurations.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, logs, and usage of the Cisco
CSS Controller component.

Overview of configuration tasks

Before you begin any of the configuration methods in this chapter:
1. Ensure that your Cisco CSS Switch and all server machines are properly
configured.
2. Configure Cisco CSS Controller, ensuring that Cisco CSS Switch's address and
SNMP community name match the corresponding attributes on the Cisco CSS
Switch. See “ccocontrol consultant — configure and control a consultant” on
page 368 for information on configuring the consultant.
Table 8. Configuration tasks for the Cisco CSS Controller component
Task Description Related information
Set up the Cisco CSS Controller Finding out about the requirements “Setting up the Controller for
machine Cisco CSS Switches machine”
on page 116
Test your configuration Confirming that the configuration is working “Testing your configuration”
on page 117

Methods of configuration
To create a basic configuration for the Cisco CSS Controller component of Load
Balancer, there are three methods:
v Command line
v XML file
v Graphical user interface (GUI)

Command line
This method is the most direct means of configuring Cisco CSS Controller. The
procedures in this manual assume use of the command line. The command
parameter values must be entered in English characters. The only exceptions are
host names (used, for example, in the consultant add command) and file names.

To start Cisco CSS Controller from the command line:

1. Issue the ccoserver command from the command prompt. To stop the server,
type: ccoserver stop

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 113

 Notes:
a. For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services. Right-click IBM Cisco CSS Controller and select Start. To stop the
service, follow the same steps and select Stop.
b. On Windows systems, you can start the ccoserver automatically during
boot:
1) Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services.
2) Right-click IBM Cisco CSS Controller, then select Properties.
3) Click the arrow for the Startup type field, then select Automatic.
4) Click OK.
2. Next, issue the Cisco CSS Controller control commands you want to set up
your configuration. The procedures in this manual assume use of the command
line. The command is ccocontrol. For more information about commands, see
Chapter 28, “Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 367.

You can enter an abbreviated version of the ccocontrol command parameters. You
only need to enter the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on
the file save command, you can type ccocontrol he f instead of ccocontrol help
file.

To start up the command line interface: issue ccocontrol to receive an ccocontrol

command prompt.

To end the command line interface: issue exit or quit.

Note: On Windows platforms, the Dispatcher component's dsserver starts

automatically. If you are using only Cisco CSS Controller and not the
Dispatcher component, you can stop dsserver from starting automatically as
follows:
1. Form Windows Services, right-click IBM Dispatcher.
2. Select Properties.
3. In the Startup type field, select Manual.
4. Click OK, and close the Services window.

XML
The currently-defined configuration can be saved to an XML file. This enables the
configuration to be loaded at a later time when you want to quickly recreate the
configuration.

To run the content of an XML file (for example, myscript.xml), use either of the
following commands:
v To save the current configuration into an XML file, issue the following
command:
ccocontrol file save XMLFilename
v To load a saved configuration, issue the following command:
ccocontrol file load XMLFileName
Use the load command only if you have previously done a file save.

The XML files are saved in the following directory:

114 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/cco
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\cco

GUI
For general instructions and an example of the graphical user interface (GUI), see
Figure 38 on page 403.

To start the GUI, follow these steps

1. If ccoserver is not already running, start it now by running the following as
root:
ccoserver.
2. Next, do one of the following:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, or Solaris systems: enter lbadmin
v For Windows systems: click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere > Edge
Components > IBM Load Balancer > Load Balancer

To configure the Cisco CSS Controller component from the GUI:

1. Right-click Cisco CSS Controller in the tree structure.
2. Connect to a Host.
3. Create one or more switch consultants containing the desired ownercontents
and their associated metrics.
4. Start the consultant.

You can use the GUI to do anything that you would do with the ccocontrol
command. For example:
v To define a consultant using the command line, type ccocontrol consultant add
consultantID address IPAddress community name .
v To define a consultant from the GUI, right-click the Host node, then click Add a
switch consultant. Type the switch address and community name in the pop-up
window, then click OK.
v Use Load Configuration presented in the Host pop-up menu to load
pre-existing Cisco CSS Controller configuration files and to append to the
current configuration.
v Select Save Configuration File As to periodically save your Cisco CSS
Controller configuration to a file.
v Select File from the menu bar to save your current host connections to a file or
to restore connections in existing files across all Load Balancer components.

To run a command from the GUI:

1. Right-click the Host node and select Send command...
2. In the Command entry field, type the command that you want to run; for
example, consultant report.
3. Click Send.
The results and history of the commands that you run in the current session
appear in the Result box.

To access Help click the question mark icon in the upper right corner of the Load
Balancer window.

Chapter 16. Configuring Cisco CSS Controller 115

 v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from that screen
v InfoCenter — provides centralized access to product information

For more information about using the GUI, see Appendix A, “GUI: General
instructions,” on page 403.

Setting up the Controller for Cisco CSS Switches machine

Before setting up the Cisco CSS Controller machine, you must be the root user (on
AIX, HP-UX, Linux , or Solaris systems) or the Administrator (on Windows
systems).

Consultant must be able to connect to the Cisco CSS Switch as a Cisco CSS Switch
administrator.

When configuring the consultant, you must configure the address and SNMP
community name to match the corresponding attributes on the Cisco CSS Switch.

For help with commands used in this procedure, see Chapter 28, “Command
reference for Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 367.

Step 1. Start the server function

If the ccoserver is not already running, type ccoserver as root to start it now.

Note: For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services. Right-click IBM Cisco Controller and select Start.

Step 2. Start the command line interface

Type ccocontrol to start the command line interface.

Step 3. Configure the consultant

You must configure the switch address and SNMP community name. These values
must match the corresponding attributes on the Cisco CSS Switch.

To add a consultant, type:

consultant add switchConsultantID address switchIPAddress
community communityName

Step 3. Configure an ownercontent

An ownercontent is a representation of a content rule for an owner, which is
defined on the Cisco CSS Switch. The owner name and content rule name must
match how it is defined on the switch.

To define an ownercontent, type:

ownercontent add switchConsultantID:ownercontentID ownername ownerName
contentrule contentRuleName

Step 4. Verify that services are correctly defined

When the ownercontent is defined, the consultant completes the configuration by
retrieving the services configured on the switch. Compare the configuration on the
switch with the configuration for the consultant to ensure that the services match.

116 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Step 5. Configure metrics
Metrics are the measurements used to determine the service weights and
associated proportions (importance of one metric compared to another), and can be
any combination of connection data metrics, application advisor metrics, and
metric server metrics. The proportions must always total 100.

When the ownercontent is configured, the default metrics are defined as

activeconn and connrate. If you want additional metrics, or if you want metrics
that are altogether different from the defaults, type:
ownercontent metrics switchConsultantID:ownercontentID metric1 proportion1
metric2 proportion2...metricN proportionN

Step 6. Start the consultant

To start the consultant, type:
consultant start switchConsultantID

This starts the metric collectors, and weight calculation begins.

Step 7. Start the Metric Server (optional)

If system metrics are defined in Step 5, the metric server must be started on the
service machines. See “Metric Server” on page 157 for information on using the
metric server.

Step 8. Configure high availability (optional)

To configure high availability, type:
highavailability add address IPaddress partneraddress IPaddress port 80
role primary

In a high availability environment, you can configure multiple switches. To ensure

that weight information is always available when one switch takes over for another
switch, the Cisco CSS Controller must be configured to provide weights for all
switches and their backups.

See Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 for detailed information on how to use and configure
controller high availability.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. Set the consultant loglevel to 4.
2. Disconnect a server from the Cisco CSS Switch for one minute, or shut down
the application server for one minute.
3. Reconnect the server, or restart the application server.
4. Set the consultant loglevel back to the desired level (1).
5. View the consultant.log file located in the following directories, and look for
setServerWeights setting service:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/
cco/consultantName
v For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\logs\cco\
consultantName

Chapter 16. Configuring Cisco CSS Controller 117

118 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 6. Nortel Alteon Controller component
This part provides information on a quick start configuration, planning
considerations, and describes the methods of configuring Load Balancer's Nortel
Alteon Controller component. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 17, “Quick start configuration,” on page 121
v Chapter 18, “Planning for Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 125
v Chapter 19, “Configuring Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 133

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 119

120 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 17. Quick start configuration
This quick start example shows how to create a configuration using the Nortel
Alteon Controller component. Nortel Alteon Controller provides server weights to
the Nortel Alteon Web Switch. These weights are used to select servers for services
that the switch is load balancing.

port configured for

server processing

port configured for real server 1

client processing 9.87.32.51
real server 2
9.87.32.52

Client
www.Intersplash.com
Internet Nortel Alteon Layer 2
9.87.32.59 Switch Switch
switch IP = 9.87.32.50 Nortel Alteon
virtual server ID = 1 Controller
virtual server IP = 9.87.32.59 9.87.32.53
virtual port = 80
real server 1 IP = 9.87.32.51
real server 2 IP = 9.87.32.52 Consultant-1
SNMP enabled switch IP = 9.87.32.50
read community = Public read community = Public
write community = Private write community = Private
Service-1
virtual server ID = 1
virtual port = 80
real server 1
IP = 9.87.32.51
real server 2
IP = 9.87.32.52

Figure 25. A simple Nortel Alteon Controller configuration

What do you need?

For this quick start configuration example, you will need the following:
v A Nortel Alteon Web Switch, running Web OS version 9.0 or version 10.0
v A server machine with the Nortel Alteon Controller component
v Two Web server machines
v A Layer 2 Switch connected to a port on the Nortel Alteon Web Switch

Note: If a Layer 2 Switch is not used, the Nortel Alteon Controller machine and
the Web server machines can be connected directly to ports on Nortel
Alteon Web Switch.
v This configuration example requires five IP addresses:
– An IP address that you provide to clients to access your Web site,
www.Intersplashx.com (9.87.32.59)
– An IP address for an interface configured to the Nortel Alteon Web Switch
(9.87.32.50)
– An IP address for real server 1 (9.87.32.51)
– An IP address for real server 2 (9.87.32.52)
– An IP address for the Nortel Alteon Controller (9.87.32.53)

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 121

How do you prepare?
Ensure the following steps are complete before beginning configuration for this
example:
v Ensure that the Nortel Alteon Web Switch is properly configured. (For more
complete configuration information, refer to your Nortel Alteon Web OS
Application Guide):
– Enable layer 4 server load balancing on the switch.
– Configure an IP interface (9.87.32.50) on Nortel Alteon Web Switch
– Enable SNMP on Nortel Alteon Web Switch
– Enable server load-balancing client processing on the Nortel Alteon Web
Switch port that receives client requests.
– Enable server load-balancing server processing on the Nortel Alteon Web
Switch port that the servers are connected.
– Configure the default gateway to be the switch IP interface (9.87.32.50) on real
server 1, real server 2, and Nortel Alteon Controller.
– Configure Nortel Alteon Web Switch with real server 1 and real server 2.
– Configure Nortel Alteon Web Switch with a Server Group comprised of real
server 1and real server 2. Assign the group an ID of 1.
– Configure Nortel Alteon Web Switch with a Virtual Server. The virtual server
IP address is 9.87.32.59. Assign an ID of 1 to the virtual server.
– Configure Nortel Alteon Web Switch with a service that uses virtual port 80
and is serviced by group 1.
v Ensure that the client machine can ping the Virtual Server IP address 9.87.32.59.
v Ensure that the Nortel Alteon Controller machine can ping the Nortel Alteon
Web Switch IP interface (9.87.32.50), real server 1 (9.87.32.51), and real server 2
(9.87.32.52).

Configuring the Nortel Alteon Controller component

With Nortel Alteon Controller, you can create a configuration by using the
command line or the graphical user interface (GUI). For this quick start example,
configuration steps are demonstrated using the command line.

Note: The parameter values must be typed in English characters. The only
exceptions are parameter values for host names and file names.

Configuring with the command line

From a command prompt, follow these steps:
1. Start the nalserver on Nortel Alteon Controller. As root user or administrator,
issue the following from a command prompt: nalserver
2. Add a consultant to the Nortel Alteon Controller configuration, specifying the
Nortel Alteon Web Switch IP interface address. (Only specify the read
community and write community if it is different from the default (public,
private):
nalcontrol consultant add Consultant-1 address 9.87.32.50
This will check connectivity to Nortel Alteon Web Switch and will verify that
the SNMP community names are working properly.
3. Add a service (Service-1) to the consultant (Consultant-1), specifying the virtual
server identifier (1) and virtual port number (80) for the service:
nalcontrol service add Consultant-1:Service-1 vsid 1 vport 80
122 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 Nortel Alteon Controller will communicate with the switch over SNMP and
will obtain the necessary configuration information from the switch. After this
step, you should see information in the Nortel Alteon Controller about what
servers are configured on Nortel Alteon Web Switch for the service.
4. Configure the metrics to be collected for the set of servers associated with the
service:
nalcontrol service metrics Consultant-1:Service-1 http 40 activeconn 30
connrate 30
This command will configure which metric information you want to collect
from the servers and the relative importance of those metrics during weight
calculation.
5. Start the consultant function of Nortel Alteon Controller:
nalcontrol consultant start Consultant-1
With this command, all the metric collectors will start, and server weight
calculations will begin. Nortel Alteon Controller communicates the results of its
server weight calculations to Nortel Alteon Web Switch using SNMP.

Your basic Nortel Alteon Controller configuration is now complete.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. From the Client Web browser, go to location http://www.Intersplashx.com. If a
page is displayed, the configuration is working.
2. Reload the page in the Web browser.
3. Look at the results of the following command: nalcontrol service report
Consultant-1:Service-1. The total connections column of the two Web servers
should add up to “2.”

Configuring with the graphical user interface (GUI)

For information on using the Nortel Alteon Controller GUI, see “GUI” on page 134
and Appendix A, “GUI: General instructions,” on page 403.

Chapter 17. Quick start configuration 123

124 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 18. Planning for Nortel Alteon Controller
Note: The Nortel Alteon Controller component is shipped with Load Balancer for
IPv4, but this component might not support newer hardware. Consult the
prerequisites page for supported hardware: http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

This chapter describes what a network planner should consider before installing
and configuring the Nortel Alteon Controller component.
v See Chapter 19, “Configuring Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 133 for
information on configuring the load-balancing parameters of the Nortel Alteon
Controller component.
v See Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 for information on how to configure advisors and
metric servers.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, Load Balancer logs, and
usage of the Load Balancer components.
This chapter includes:
v “System requirements”
v “Planning considerations”
– “Placement of the consultant in the network” on page 126
– “Server attributes on the switch (set by the controller)” on page 128
– “Configuring backup servers” on page 128
– “Configuring groups” on page 129
– “High availability” on page 130
– “Tuning” on page 131
– “Problem determination” on page 132

System requirements
For hardware and software requirements, refer to the following Web page:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

You will also need

v A system on which to run the Nortel Alteon Controller.
v An installed and configured Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The Web switch
hardware platforms are AD3, AD4, 180e 184, and the layer 4/7 blade for the
Passport 8600.

Planning considerations
The Nortel Alteon Controller manages a set of switch consultants. Each consultant
determines weights for servers that are load balanced by a single switch. The
switch for which the consultant provides weights is configured for server load
balancing. The consultant uses the SNMP protocol to send the calculated weights
to the switch. The switch uses the weights to select a server for the service it is
load balancing. To determine weights, the consultant uses one or more of the
following pieces of information:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 125

 v Availability and response times, determined through the use of advisors that
communicate with applications running on the servers.
v System load information, determined by retrieving a metric value from metric
server agents running on the servers.
v Connection information about the servers, obtained from the switch.
v Reachability information, obtained by pinging the servers.

See your Nortel Alteon Web OS Application Guide for a description of server load
balancing and for detailed information on configuring the switch.

For a consultant to obtain the information it needs to determine server weights,

you must have:
v IP connectivity between the consultant and the servers for which weights are
calculated.
v IP connectivity between the consultant and the switch that is load balancing the
servers for which weights are calculated.
v SNMP enabled on the switch. Both read and write capabilities must be enabled.

Placement of the consultant in the network

The consultant can be connected to the network in front of or behind the switch or
switches for which it provides weights. Some parameters must be configured on
the switch and some on the controller to enable connectivity between the
controller, the switch, and the servers.

In Figure 26 on page 127:

v A consultant is connected to the network behind the switches for which it is
providing weights.
v The network consists of two VLANs.
v For the consultant to communicate with servers in both VLANs, IP forwarding
must be enabled on the interfaces through which the servers are connected, and
on the interface through which the consultant is connected.
v The IP address of the switch must be configured as the default gateway on the
consultant and the server systems.

Refer to your Nortel Alteon Web OS Application Guide or Command Reference for
detailed information about configuring VLANs and IP routing on the switch.

126 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 VLAN-1
server farm

L2
Switch

clients
Nortel Alteon
Controller

Internet Nortel Alteon

Switch

L2
Switch

server farm

VLAN-2

Figure 26. Example of a consultant connected behind the switch

In Figure 27:
v The consultant is connected to the switch through an intranet in front of the
switch.
v Server load balancing direct access mode must be enabled on the switch to allow
the consultant to communicate with the switch and with the servers.
v With server load balancing direct access mode enabled, any client can send
traffic directly to any server. To limit direct server access to only the consultant,
you can specify load balancing mnet and mmask to the switch. Refer to your
Nortel Alteon Web OS Application Guide or Command Reference for detailed
information on configuring server load balancing and on direct server
interaction.

server farm

clients

Internet Nortel Alteon

Switch L2
Switch

intranet

Nortel Alteon
Controller

Figure 27. Example of consultant connected through an intranet in front of switch

You can manage the Nortel Alteon Controller using any of the following interfaces:

Chapter 18. Planning for Nortel Alteon Controller 127

 v A browser
v A GUI
v A remote command line

In Figure 28:
v The consultant is connected behind the switch for which it is providing weights.
v The user interface is running on a remote system in front of the switch.
v The network must be configured so that the user interface is able to
communicate with the controller.

VLAN-1
server farm

clients

Internet Nortel Alteon

Switch L2
Switch

intranet

Nortel Alteon
browser, GUI, or Controller
command line
interface

Figure 28. Example of consultant behind switch and user interface in front of switch

Server attributes on the switch (set by the controller)

When a consultant calculates weights for servers that provide a service that is load
balanced by a switch, the consultant disables the normal server health checking at
the switch to reduce unnecessary traffic to the servers. The consultant re-enables
the health checking when it stops providing weights for the service. The server
health check interval corresponds to MIB variable
slbNewCgRealServerPingInterval.

If the consultant determines that a server is unavailable, the consultant sets the
server's maximum number of connections to zero to prevent the switch from
considering the server when it load balances requests. When the server is available
again, the maximum number of connections is restored to its original value. The
server maximum connections value corresponds to MIB variable
slbNewCfgRealServerMaxCons.

When a weight is calculated for a real server, the weight is set for the server. The
server weight value corresponds to MIB variable slbNewCfgRealServerWeight.

Configuring backup servers

The switch allows the configuration of some servers as backups to others. If the
switch determines that a server that has a backup is unavailable, the switch might
start sending requests to the backup. When the consultant calculates weights for a
service with a backup, it calculates weights for both the backup and the primary
servers, and subsequently has weights to use for server selection when the backup
is required.

128 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 The weight for a backup server might be higher than the weight for a primary
server. This is because no requests are forwarded to it, so it has low loads until the
switch decides to use it.

To avoid idle server resources, it is common practice that servers assigned to one
service be used as backups for servers assigned to a different service. When
implementing a configuration like this, avoid assigning the same real servers to
multiple concurrently-active services. If this occurs, the weight for the server is
overwritten by the consultant for each service in which the server is a part.

Each real server is identified by an integer and has a weight and IP address
attribute. Two real servers might have the same IP address. In this case, two real
servers are associated with the same physical server machine. The real servers
identified as backups should only be configured as backups for a single service. If
the same physical server machines will backup servers assigned to multiple
services, they must be configured once for each service and be given a server
identification that is unique for each service. This allows the backups to have a
unique weight assigned to them for each service they are backing up.

Nortel Alteon
Switch

L2 L2
Switch Switch
virtual server ID=1 virtual server ID=2
virtual port=80 virtual port=80

Real Server ID1 Real Server ID2 Real Server ID3 Real Server ID4
Read Server ID5 Read Server ID6 Read Server ID7 Read Server ID8
IP=9.67.50.1 IP=9.67.50.2 IP=9.67.50.3 IP=9.67.50.4

Figure 29. Example of consultant configured with backup servers

Configuring groups
Servers on a switch can be configured as part of multiple groups, and groups on
the switch can be configured to service multiple services.

Because it is possible to configure the same server for multiple services, the weight
is calculated for each service in which the server is a part. It is possible, therefore,
for the weight to be incorrect because it is unknown at any time for which service
the weight is intended.

Chapter 18. Planning for Nortel Alteon Controller 129

 In addition, if the consultant is determining weights for one service and not for
another, it is possible that the service that the consultant is not calculating weights
for has server health checking disabled. In this case, the switch might not properly
load balance that service.

Because of these possibilities, you must ensure that a real server is not assigned to
multiple services that are being load balanced. This does not mean that the same
server machine cannot be servicing requests for multiple services. It means that a
real server with a unique identifier must be configured on the switch for each
service that the server machine will handle requests for.

High availability
Both the Nortel Alteon Controller and the Nortel Alteon Web Switch have high
availability capabilities.

You can configure two controllers to run on different systems in a hot-standby

configuration.

Two or more switches can back each other up when you configure them to act as a
virtual IP interface router (VIR) or as a virtual IP server router (VSR).

One consultant (managed by the controller) provides weights for only one switch.
Because a backup switch might take over for the master, you must configure the
controller with one consultant for each switch that has the possibility of becoming
master. In this way, when a switch becomes master, it is ensured of being provided
with weights.

In addition, when the controllers are connected to a VIR, they are ensured of
communication with the servers, the switches, and the backup controller, should it
lose connectivity to one of the switches.

Refer to your Nortel Alteon Web OS Application Guide for information about high
availability on the switch.

Controller high availability enhances the fault tolerance capabilities of Load

Balancer. Designed with classic packet-forwarding high availability in mind,
controller high availability involves two controllers running simultaneously, one in
the primary role, the other in the secondary role.

Each controller is configured with identical switch information. Similar to classic

high availability, only one controller is active at a time. This means that, as
determined by the high availability logic, only the active controller calculates and
updates the switch with new weights.

Controller high availability communicates with its partner using simple user
datagram protocol (UDP) packets over an address and port that you configure.
These packets are used to exchange information between controllers as it pertains
to high availability (reach information), and to determine partner controller
availability (heartbeats). If the standby controller determines that the active
controller has failed for any reason, the standby controller takes over from the
failed active controller. The standby controller then becomes the active controller,
and begins calculating and updating the switch with new weights.

In addition to partner availability, reach targets can be configured for high

availability. As with classic high availability, controller high availability uses the

130 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 reach information to determine which controller is active and which is standby.
The active controller is the controller that can ping more targets and is reachable
from its partner.

See “High availability” on page 197 for more information.

In Figure 30:
v Two Nortel Alteon Controllers are connected behind switches.
v One controller is primary and is actively providing the switches with server
weights; the other controller is backup.
v The controllers must have TCP/IP communication for the backup to know when
it should take primary responsibility.
v Two Nortel Alteon Web Switches are configured, as a VIR and a VSR.
v The VIR provides high availability for connections to the servers.
v The VSR provides high availability for access to the virtual servers configured
on the switches.
v One of the switches is master and the other is backup.
v The primary controller is providing weights for both switches.
v The backup controller is sending heartbeats to the primary to determine when to
take over.

Internet

virtual server router (VSR)

Nortel Alteon Nortel Alteon

Switch Switch
virtual interface router (VIR)

L2 L2
Switch Switch

Nortel Alteon Nortel Alteon

Controller group 1 group 2 Controller
(primary) (backup)
server server server server
1 2 3 4

Figure 30. Example of Nortel Alteon Controller and Nortel Alteon Web Switch high availability

Tuning
To avoid changing weights too often, you can configure the consultant with a
sensitivity threshold. The sensitivity threshold specifies the amount of change that
must take place between the old and new weights before the weight can change.
See “Sensitivity threshold” on page 201 for more information.

Chapter 18. Planning for Nortel Alteon Controller 131

 If the switch becomes too busy updating weights, you can increase the consultant
sleeptime to reduce the traffic between the controller and the servers and the
switch. Sleeptime sets the number of seconds to sleep between weight-setting
cycles.

If the servers are handling too many monitoring requests from the consultant, you
can modify the metric collectors' sleeptime. See “Weight calculation sleeptimes” on
page 201 for a detailed description.

Problem determination
Cisco CSS Controller posts entries to the following logs:
v server.log
v consultant.log
v highavailability.log
v metriccollector.log
v binary.log

These logs are located in the following directories:

v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux , and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/nal/
consultantName
v For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\logs\nal\
consultantName

In each log, you can set the log size and logging level. See “Using Load Balancer
logs” on page 217 for more information.

132 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 19. Configuring Nortel Alteon Controller
Before following the steps in this chapter, see Chapter 18, “Planning for Nortel
Alteon Controller,” on page 125. This chapter explains how to create a basic
configuration for the Nortel Alteon Controller component of Load Balancer.
v See Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 form more complex configurations.
v See Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213 for
information on remote authenticated administration, logs, and usage of the
Nortel Alteon Controller component.

Overview of configuration tasks

Before you begin any of the configuration methods in this chapter, ensure that
your Nortel Alteon Web Switch and all server machines are properly configured.
Table 9. Configuration tasks for the Nortel Alteon Controller component
Task Description Related information
Configure the Nortel Alteon Web Configuring the switch. Configure the switch, on
Switch and the servers page 136
Set up the Nortel Alteon Configuring the controller. “Step 1. Start the server
Controller machine function” on page 136
Test your configuration Confirm that the configuration is working “Testing your configuration”
on page 137

Methods of configuration
To create a basic configuration for the Nortel Alteon Controller component of Load
Balancer, there are three methods:
v Command line
v XML file
v Graphical user interface (GUI)

Command line
This is the most direct means of configuring Nortel Alteon Controller. The
procedures in this manual assume use of the command line.

To start Nortel Alteon Controller from the command line:

1. Issue the nalserver command from the command prompt. To stop the service,
type: nalserver stop
Notes:
a. For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services. Right-click IBM Nortel Alteon Controller and select Start. To stop
the service, follow the same steps and select Stop.
b. For Windows systems, you can start the nalserver automatically during
boot:
1) Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
2) Right-click IBM Nortel Alteon Controller, then select Properties.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 133
 3) Click the arrow for the Startup type field, then select Automatic.
4) Click OK.
2. Next, issue the Nortel Alteon Controller control commands you want to set up
your configuration. The procedures in this manual assume use of the command
line. The command is nalcontrol. For more information about commands, see
Chapter 29, “Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 385.

You can use an abbreviated version of the nalcontrol command parameters by

typing the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the file
save command, you can type nalcontrol he f instead of nalcontrol help file.

To end the command line interface: type exit or quit.

Notes:
1. You must use English characters for all command parameter values. The only
exceptions are host names (used in server commands) and file names (used in
file commands).
2. On Windows systems, the Dispatcher component's dsserver starts automatically.
If you are using only Nortel Alteon Controller and not the Dispatcher
component, you can prevent ndserver from starting automatically as follows:
a. In Windows Services, right-click IBM Dispatcher.
b. Select Properties.
c. In the Startup type field, select Manual.
d. Click OK, and close the Services window.

XML
The currently-defined configuration can be saved to an XML file. This enables the
configuration to be loaded at a later time when you want to quickly recreate the
configuration.

To run the content of an XML file (for example, myscript.xml), use the following
commands:
v To save the current configuration into an XML file, issue the following
command:
nalcontrol file save XMLFilename
Use the load command only if you have previously done a file save.
v To load a saved configuration, issue the following command:
nalcontrol file load XMLFileName
Use the load command only if you have previously done a file save.

The XML files are saved in the following directory:

v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/nal
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\nal

GUI
For an example of the graphical user interface (GUI), see Figure 38 on page 403.

To start the GUI:

1. If nalserver is not already running, start it now by typing nalserver as root.

134 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 2. Next, do one of the following:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux , or Solaris systems: type lbadmin
v For Windows systems: click Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere > Edge
Components > IBM Load Balancer > Load Balancer

To configure the Nortel Alteon Controller component from the GUI:

1. Right-click Nortel Alteon Controller in the tree structure.
2. Connect to a Host.
3. Create one or more switch consultants containing the desired services and their
associated metrics.
4. Start the consultant.

You can use the GUI to do anything that you would do with the nalcontrol
command. For example:
v To define a reach target using the command line, type nalcontrol
highavailability usereach address. To define a reach target from the GUI,
right-click High Availability > Add Reach Target.... Type the reach address in the
pop-up window, then click OK.
v Use Load Configuration presented in the Host pop-up menu to append the
configuration stored in a file to the running configuration. If you want to load a
new configuration, you must stop and restart the server before you load the file.
v Right-click the Host node, then select Save Configuration File As to periodically
save your Nortel Alteon Controller configuration to a file.
v Select File from the menu bar to save your current host connections to a file or
to restore connections in existing files across all Load Balancer components.

To run a command from the GUI:

1. Right-click the Host node and select Send command....
2. In the Command entry field, type the command that you want to run; for
example, consultant report.
3. Click Send.
The results and history of the commands that you run in the current session
appear in the Result box.

To access Help, click the question mark icon in the upper right corner of the Load
Balancer window.
v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from that screen
v InfoCenter — provides centralized access to product information

For more information about using the GUI, see Appendix A, “GUI: General
instructions,” on page 403.

Setting up Nortel Alteon Controller

For help with commands used in this procedure, see Chapter 29, “Command
reference for Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 385.

Before setting up the Nortel Alteon Controller machine:

v You must be the root user (on AIX, HP-UX, Linux , and Solaris systems) or the
Administrator (on Windows systems).

Chapter 19. Configuring Nortel Alteon Controller 135

 v Nortel Alteon Controller must have IP connectivity to a Nortel Alteon Web
Switch and to all servers for which weights are calculated.
v The Nortel Alteon Web Switch must be configured as follows:
1. Enable layer 4 server load balancing on the switch.
2. Configure an IP interface.
3. Enable SNMP.
4. Enable server load-balancing client processing on the port that receives client
requests.
5. Enable server load-balancing server processing on the port that the real
servers are connected through.
6. Configure real servers for the Web server machines.
7. Configure a real server group consisting of the real servers that are running
the application server.
8. Configure a virtual server.
9. Configure a service on a virtual port and assign the real server group to
service it.

Step 1. Start the server function

If the nalserver is not already running, type nalserver as root to start it now.

Note: For Windows systems, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
Services. Right-click IBM Nortel Alteon Controller and select Start.

Step 2. Start the command line interface

Type nalcontrol to start the command line interface.

Step 3. Define a Nortel Alteon Web Switch consultant

To add a switch consultant, type:
consultant add switchconsultantID address switchIPAddress

Step 4. Add a service to the switch consultant

To add a service, type:
service add switchConsultantID:serviceID vsid virtualServerID vport
virtualPortNumber

A service is identified by a virtual server identifier (VSID) and a virtual port

(VPORT) number, both of which are associated with a virtual server previously
configured on the switch.

Step 5. Configure metrics

Metrics is the information used to determine the server weights. Each metric is
assigned a proportion to indicate its importance relative to other metrics. Any
combination of metrics can be configured: connection data metrics, application
advisor metrics, and metric server metrics. The proportions must always total 100.

When a service is configured, the default metrics are defined as activeconn and
connrate. If you want additional metrics, or if you want metrics that are altogether
different from the defaults, type:
service metrics switchConsultantID:serviceID metricName 50
metricName2 50

136 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Step 6. Start the consultant
To start the consultant, type:
consultant start switchConsultantID

This starts the metric collectors, and weight calculation begins.

Step 7. Configure high availability (optional)

To configure high availability, type:
highavailability add address IPaddress partneraddress IPaddress port 80
role primary

SeeChapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197 for detailed information on how to use and configure
controller high availability.

Step 8. Start the Metric Server (optional)

If system metrics are defined in Step 5, the metric server must be started on the
service machines. See “Metric Server” on page 206 for information on using the
metric server.

Step 9. Refreshing the Nortel Alteon Controller configuration

If you modify the configuration on the Nortel Alteon Web Switch, you can refresh
the controller configuration. Type:
service refresh

Before you do a refresh of the configuration, stop the consultant. After the refresh
command updates the configuration, restart the consultant.

Testing your configuration

Test to see if the configuration is working:
1. Set the consultant loglevel to 4.
2. Disconnect a server from the Nortel Alteon Web Switch for one minute, or shut
down the application server for one minute.
3. Reconnect the server, or restart the application server.
4. Set the consultant loglevel back to the desired level (1).
5. View the consultant.log file located in the following directories, and look for
setServerWeights setting service. This means that an attempt has been made to
send weights to the switch.
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/
cco/consultantName
v For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\logs\cco\
consultantName
6. Display server weights on the switch and verify that these weights match the
weights shown on the controller report.

Chapter 19. Configuring Nortel Alteon Controller 137

138 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 7. Functions and advanced features for Load Balancer
This part provides information on functions and advanced configuration features
that are available for Load Balancer. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 20, “Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher,
CBR, and Site Selector,” on page 141
v Chapter 21, “Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector,” on page
161
v Chapter 22, “Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon
Controller,” on page 197

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 139

140 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions
for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector
This chapter explains how to configure the load balancing parameters and how to
set up the manager, advisors, and Metric Server functions of Load Balancer.

Note: When reading this chapter, if you are not using the Dispatcher component,
then substitute "dscontrol" with the following:
v For CBR, use cbrcontrol
v For Site Selector, use sscontrol (see Chapter 27, “Command reference for
Site Selector,” on page 341)
Table 10. Advanced configuration tasks for Load Balancer
Task Description Related information
Optionally, change load-balancing You can change the following “Optimizing the load balancing
settings load-balancing settings: provided by Load Balancer” on
v Proportion of importance given to status page 142
information
The default ratio is 50-50-0-0. If you use
the default, information from advisors,
Metric Server, and WLM are not used.
v Weights
v Manager fixed weights
v Manager intervals
v Sensitivity threshold
v Smoothing index
Use scripts to generate an alert or Load Balancer provides user exits that “Using scripts to generate an alert
record server failure when trigger scripts that you can customize or record server failure” on page
manager marks server(s) down when the manager marks server(s) down 145
or up or up
Use advisors Describes and lists the advisors, which “Advisors” on page 146
report on specific statuses of your servers
Use HTTP or HTTPS advisor Define a unique client HTTP URL string, “Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS
request and response (URL) specific for a service that you want to advisor using the request and
option query on the machine response (URL) option” on page 152
Use self advisor Provides backend server load status in a “Using Self Advisor in a two-tiered
Load Balancer two-tiered WAN WAN configuration” on page 153
configuration
Create custom advisors Describes how to write your own custom “Create custom (customizable)
advisors advisors” on page 154
Use Metric Server agent Metric Server provides system load “Metric Server” on page 157
information to Load Balancer
Use Workload Manager advisor WLM advisor provides system load “Workload Manager advisor” on
(WLM) information to Load Balancer page 159

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 141

Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer
The manager function of Load Balancer performs load balancing based on the
following settings:
v “Proportion of importance given to status information”
v “Weights” on page 143
v “Manager intervals” on page 144
v “Advisor intervals” on page 148
v “Advisor report timeout” on page 148
v “Sensitivity threshold” on page 145
v “Smoothing index” on page 145
You can change these settings to optimize load balancing for your network.

Proportion of importance given to status information

The manager can use some or all of the following external factors in its weighting
decisions:
v Active connections: The number of active connections on each load balanced
server machine (as tracked by the executor). This proportion does not apply to
Site Selector.
Or —
CPU: The percentage of CPU in use on each load balanced server machine
(input from Metric Server agent). For Site Selector only, this proportion appears
in place of the active connection proportion column.
v New connections: The number of new connections on each load balanced server
machine (as tracked by the executor). This proportion does not apply to Site
Selector.
Or —
Memory: The percentage of memory in use (input from Metric Server agent) on
each load balanced server. For Site Selector only, this proportion appears in place
of the new connection proportion column.
v Port-specific: The input from advisors listening on the port.
v System metric: The input from the system monitoring tools, such as Metric Server
or WLM.

Along with the current weight for each server and some other information
required for its calculations, the manager gets the first two values (active and new
connections) from the executor. These values are based on information that is
generated and stored internally in the executor.

Note: For Site Selector, the manager obtains the first two values (CPU and
memory) from Metric Server.

You can change the relative proportion of importance of the four values on a per
cluster (or site name) basis. Think of the proportions as percentages; the sum of the
relative proportions must equal 100%. The default ratio is 50/50/0/0, which
ignores the advisor and system information. In your environment, you may need
to try different proportions to find the combination that gives the best
performance.

142 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Note: When adding an advisor (other than WLM), if the port proportion is zero,
then the manager increases this value to 1. Because the sum of the relative
proportions must total 100, the highest value is then decreased by 1.

When adding the WLM advisor, if the system metric proportion is zero,
then the manager increases this value to 1. Because the sum of the relative
proportions must total 100, the highest value is then decreased by 1.

The number of active connections is dependent upon the number of clients as well
as the length of time necessary to use the services that are being provided by the
load balanced server machines. If the client connections are quick (such as small
Web pages served using HTTP GET), then the number of active connections are
fairly low. If the client connections are slower (such as a database query), then the
number of active connections are higher.

You should avoid setting active and new connections proportions values too low.
You will disable load balancing and smoothing unless you have these first two
values set to at least 20 each.

To set the proportion of importance values use the dscontrol cluster set cluster
proportions command. See “dscontrol cluster — configure clusters” on page 295
for more information.

Weights
Weights are set by the manager function based upon internal counters in the
executor, feedback from the advisors, and feedback from a system-monitoring
program, such as Metric Server. If you want to set weights manually while running
the manager, specify the fixedweight option on the dscontrol server command. For
a description of the fixedweight option, see “Manager fixed weights” on page 144.

Weights are applied to all servers on a port. For any particular port, the requests
are distributed between servers based on their weights relative to each other. For
example, if one server is set to a weight of 10, and the other to 5, the server set to
10 should get twice as many requests as the server set to 5.

To specify the maximum weight boundary that any server can have, use the
dscontrol port set port weightbound weight command. This command affects how
much difference there can be between the number of requests each server will get.
If you set the maximum weightbound to 1, then all the servers can have a weight
of 1, 0 if quiesced, or -1 if marked down. As you increase this number, the
difference in how servers can be weighted is increased. At a maximum
weightbound of 2, one server could get twice as many requests as another. At a
maximum weightbound of 10, one server could get 10 times as many requests as
another. The default maximum weightbound is 20.

If an advisor finds that a server has gone down, it tells the manager, which sets the
weight for the server to zero. As a result, the executor will not send any additional
connections to that server as long as that weight remains zero. If there were any
active connections to that server before the weight changed, they will be left to
complete normally.

If all the servers are down, the manager sets the weights to half the weightbound.

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 143
 Manager fixed weights
Without the manager, advisors cannot be run and cannot detect if a server is
down. If you choose to run the advisors, but do not want the manager to update
the weight you have set for a particular server, use the fixedweight option on the
dscontrol server command. For example:
dscontrol server set cluster:port:server fixedweight yes

After fixedweight is set to yes, use the dscontrol server set weight command to set
the weight to the value you desire. The server weight value remains fixed while
the manager is running until you issue another dscontrol server command with
fixedweight set to no. For more information, see “dscontrol server — configure
servers” on page 330.

Sending TCP reset to a down server (Dispatcher component

only)
If TCP reset is activated, Dispatcher will send a TCP reset to the client when the
client has a connection to a server whose weight is 0. A server's weight may be 0 if
it is configured 0 or if an advisor marks it down. A TCP reset will cause the
connection to be immediately closed. This feature is useful for long-lived
connections where it hastens the client's ability to renegotiate a failed connection.
To activate TCP reset, use the dscontrol port add|set port reset yes command. The
default value for reset is no.

Note: TCP reset applies to all of the Dispatcher's forwarding methods. However, to
use the TCP reset feature, the clientgateway on the dscontrol executor
command must be set to a router address.

A useful feature to configure, in conjunction with TCP reset, is advisor retry. With
this feature, an advisor has the ability to retry a connection before marking a
server down. This would help prevent the advisor from marking the server down
prematurely which could lead to connection-reset problems. That is, just because
the advisor failed on the first attempt does not necessarily mean that the existing
connections are also failing. See “Advisor retry” on page 149 for more information.

Manager intervals
To optimize overall performance, the manager is restricted in how often it can
interact with the executor. You can make changes to this interval by entering the
dscontrol manager interval and dscontrol manager refresh commands.

The manager interval specifies how often the manager will update the server
weights that the executor uses in routing connections. If the manager interval is
too low, it can mean poor performance as a result of the manager constantly
interrupting the executor. If the manager interval is too high, it can mean that the
executor's request routing will not be based on accurate, up-to-date information.

For example, to set the manager interval to 1 second, enter the following
command:
dscontrol manager interval 1

The manager refresh cycle specifies how often the manager will ask the executor
for status information. The refresh cycle is based on the interval time.

For example, to set the manager refresh cycle to 3, enter the following command:
dscontrol manager refresh 3

144 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 This will cause the manager to wait for 3 intervals before asking the executor for
status.

Sensitivity threshold
Other methods are available for you to optimize load balancing for your servers.
To work at top speed, updates to the weights for the servers are only made if the
weights have changed significantly. Constantly updating the weights when there is
little or no change in the server status would create an unnecessary overhead.
When the percentage weight change for the total weight for all servers on a port is
greater than the sensitivity threshold, the manager updates the weights used by
the executor to distribute connections. Consider, for example, that the total weight
changes from 100 to 105. The change is 5%. With the default sensitivity threshold
of 5, the manager will not update the weights used by the executor, because the
percentage change is not above the threshold. If, however, the total weight changes
from 100 to 106, the manager will update the weights. To set the manager's
sensitivity threshold to a value other than the default (for example, 6), enter the
following command:
dscontrol manager sensitivity 6

In most cases, you will not need to change this value.

Smoothing index
The manager calculates the server weights dynamically. As a result, an updated
weight can be very different from the previous one. Under most circumstances, this
will not be a problem. Occasionally, however, it may cause an oscillating effect in
the way the requests are load balanced. For example, one server can end up
receiving most of the requests due to a high weight. The manager will see that the
server has a high number of active connections and that the server is responding
slowly. It will then shift the weight over to the free servers and the same effect will
occur there too, creating an inefficient use of resources.

To alleviate this problem, the manager uses a smoothing index. The smoothing
index limits the amount that a server's weight can change, effectively smoothing
the change in the distribution of requests. A higher smoothing index will cause the
server weights to change less drastically. A lower index will cause the server
weights to change more drastically. The default value for the smoothing index is
1.5. At 1.5, the server weights can be rather dynamic. An index of 4 or 5 will cause
the weights to be more stable. For example, to set the smoothing index to 4, enter
the following command:
dscontrol manager smoothing 4

In most cases, you will not need to change this value.

Using scripts to generate an alert or record server failure

Load Balancer provides user exits that trigger scripts that you can customize. You
can create the scripts to perform automated actions, such as alerting an
Administrator when servers are marked down by the manager or simply record
the event of the failure. Sample scripts, which you can customize, are in the
following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\samples

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 145
 In order to run the files, you must move them to the following directory and
remove the "sample" file extension:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/bin
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin
The following sample scripts are provided:
v serverDown — a server is marked down by the manager.
v serverUp — a server is marked back up by the manager.
v managerAlert — all servers are marked down for a particular port.
v managerClear — at least one server is now up, after all were marked down for
a particular port.

If all servers on a cluster are marked down (either by the user or by the advisors),
the managerAlert (if configured) starts, and Load Balancer attempts to route traffic
to the servers using a round-robin technique. The serverDown script does not start
when the last server in the cluster is detected as offline.

By design, Load Balancer attempts to continue to route the traffic in case a server
comes back online and responds to the request. If Load Balancer instead dropped
all traffic, the client would receive no response.

When Load Balancer detects that the first server of a cluster is back online, the
managerClear script (if configured) starts, but the serverUp script (if configured) is
not run until an additional server is brought back online.

Considerations when using serverUp and serverDown scripts:

v If you define the manager cycle to be less than 25% of the advisor time, false
reports of servers up or down can result. By default, the manager runs every 2
seconds, but the advisor runs every 7 seconds. Therefore, the manager expects
new advisor information within 4 cycles. However, removing this restriction
(that is, defining the manager cycle to be greater than 25% of the advisor time)
significantly decreases performance because multiple advisors can advise on a
single server.
v When a server goes down, the serverDown script starts. However, if you issue a
serverUp command, it is assumed that the server is up until the manager
obtains new information from the advisor cycle. If the server is still down, the
serverDown script runs again.

Advisors
Advisors are agents within Load Balancer. Their purpose is to assess the health
and loading of server machines. They do this with a proactive client-like exchange
with the servers. Advisors can be considered as lightweight clients of the
application servers.

The product provides several protocol-specific advisors for the most popular
protocols. However, it does not make sense to use all of the provided advisors
with every component of Load Balancer. (For instance, you do not use the Telnet
advisor with the CBR component.) Load Balancer also supports the concept of a
“custom advisor” that allows users to write their own advisors.

Limitation on using bind-specific server applications: In order to use advisors on

bind specific servers, start two instances of the server: One instance to bind on the
cluster:port and the other instance to bind on the server:port. To determine if the

146 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 server is bind specific, issue the netstat -an command and look for the
server:port. If the server is not bind specific, the result from this command will be
0.0.0.0:80. If the server is bind specific, you will see an address such as
192.168.15.103:80.

For HP-UX and Solaris systems, limitation on using bind-specific server

applications: If using arp publish instead of ifconfig alias command, Load Balancer
will support the use of advisors when load-balancing servers with bind-specific
server applications (including other Load Balancer components such as CBR or Site
Selector) when they are binding to the cluster IP address. However, when using
advisors against bind-specific server application, do not collocate Load Balancer on
the same machine with the server application.

Note: When Load Balancer is running on a computer with multiple network

adapter cards, and if you want the advisor traffic to flow over a particular
adapter, you can force the source IP address of the packets to be a particular
address. To force the advisor packet source address to a particular address,
add the following to the java...SRV_XXXConfigServer... line of the
appropriate Load Balancer start script file (dsserver, cbrserver, or ssserver):
-DLB_ADV_SRC_ADDR=IP_address

How advisors work

Advisors periodically open a TCP connection with each server and send a request
message to the server. The content of the message is specific to the protocol
running on the server. For example, the HTTP advisor sends an HTTP “HEAD”
request to the server.

Advisors then listen for a response from the server. After getting the response, the
advisor makes an assessment of the server. To calculate this “load” value, most
advisors measure the time for the server to respond, and then use this value (in
milliseconds) as the load.

Advisors then report the load value to the manager function, where it appears in
the manager report in the “Port” column. The manager then calculates aggregate
weight values from all its sources, per its proportions, and sets these weight values
into the executor function. The Executor will then use these weights for load
balancing new incoming client connections.

If the advisor determines that a server is alive and well, it will report a positive,
non-zero load number to the Manager. If the advisor determines that a server is
not active, it will return a special load value of negative one (-1). The Manager and
the Executor will not forward any further connections to that server until that
server has come back up.

Note: Before sending the initial request message, the advisor will ping the server.
This is intended to provide quick status to determine if the machine is
online. After the server responds to the ping, no more pings are sent. To
disable the pings, add -DLB_ADV_NO_PING to the Load Balancer start
script file.

Starting and stopping an advisor

You can start an advisor for a particular port across all clusters (group advisor). Or,
you can choose to run different advisors on the same port, but on different clusters

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 147
 (cluster/site specific advisor). For example, if you have Load Balancer defined with
three clusters (clusterA, clusterB, clusterC), each having port 80 you can do the
following:
v Cluster/site specific advisor: To start an advisor on port 80 for clusterA, specify
both the cluster and port:
dscontrol advisor start http clusterA:80

This command will start the HTTP advisor on port 80 for clusterA. The HTTP
advisor will advise on all servers attached to port 80 for clusterA.
v Group advisor: To start a custom advisor on port 80 for all other clusters, simply
specify the port:
dscontrol advisor start ADV_custom 80

This command will start the ADV_custom advisor on port 80 for clusterB and
clusterC. Your custom advisor will advise on all servers attached to port 80 for
clusterB and clusterC. (For more information on custom advisors, see “Create
custom (customizable) advisors” on page 154.)

Note: The group advisor will advise on all clusters/sites that do not currently
have a cluster/site specific advisor.

Using the previous configuration example for the group advisor, you can choose to
stop the custom advisor ADV_custom for port 80 on just one of the clusters or for
both clusters (clusterB and clusterC).
v To stop the custom advisor for port 80 on just clusterB, specify cluster and port:
dscontrol advisor stop ADV_custom clusterB:80
v To stop the custom advisor for port 80 on clusterB and clusterC, specify just the
port:
dscontrol advisor stop ADV_custom 80

Advisor intervals
Note: The advisor defaults should work efficiently for the great majority of
possible scenarios. Be careful when entering values other than the defaults.

The advisor interval sets how often an advisor asks for status from the servers on
the port it is monitoring and then reports the results to the manager. If the advisor
interval is too low, it can mean poor performance as a result of the advisor
constantly interrupting the servers. If the advisor interval is too high, it can mean
that the manager's decisions about weighting will not be based on accurate,
up-to-date information.

For example, to set the interval to 3 seconds for the HTTP advisor for port 80,
enter the following command:
dscontrol advisor interval http 80 3

It does not make sense to specify an advisor interval that is smaller than the
manager interval. The default advisor interval is seven seconds.

Advisor report timeout

To make sure that out-of-date information is not used by the manager in its
load-balancing decisions, the manager will not use information from the advisor
whose time stamp is older than the time set in the advisor report timeout. The

148 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 advisor report timeout should be larger than the advisor polling interval. If the
timeout is smaller, the manager will ignore reports that logically should be used.
By default, advisor reports do not timeout — the default value is unlimited.

For example, to set the advisor report timeout to 30 seconds for the HTTP advisor
for port 80, enter the following command:
dscontrol advisor timeout http 80 30

For more information on setting the advisor report timeout, see “dscontrol advisor
— control the advisor” on page 289.

Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout for servers

For Load Balancer, you can set the advisor's timeout values at which it detects a
particular port on the server (a service) is failed. The failed-server timeout values
(connecttimeout and receivetimeout) determine how long an advisor waits before
reporting that either a connect or receive has failed.

To obtain the fastest failed-server detection, set the advisor connect and receive
timeouts to the smallest value (one second), and set the advisor and manager
interval time to the smallest value (one second).

Note: If your environment experiences a moderate to high volume of traffic such

that server response time increases, be careful not to set the connecttimeout
and receivetimeout values too small, or the advisor may prematurely mark a
busy server as failed.

For example, to set the connecttimeout and receivetimeout to 9 seconds for the
HTTP advisor on port 80, type the following command:
dscontrol advisor connecttimeout http 80 9
dscontrol advisor receivetimeout http 80 9

The default for connect and receive timeout is 3 times the value specified for the
advisor interval time.

Advisor retry
Advisors have the ability to retry a connection before marking a server down. The
advisor will not mark a server down until the server query has failed the number
of retries plus 1. The retry value should be no larger than 3. The following
command sets a retry value of 2 for the LDAP advisor on port 389:
dscontrol advisor retry ldap 389 2

List of advisors
v The HTTP advisor opens a connection, sends a HEAD request by default, waits
for a response connection, and returns the elapsed time as a load. See
“Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS advisor using the request and response (URL)
option” on page 152 for more information on how to change the type of request
sent by the HTTP advisor.
v The HTTPS advisor is a "heavyweight" advisor for SSL connections. It performs
a full SSL socket connection with the server. The HTTPS advisor opens an SSL
connection, sends an HTTPS request, waits for a response, closes the
connnection, and returns the elapsed time as a load. (See also the SSL advisor,
which is a "lightweight" advisor for SSL connections.)

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 149
 Note: The HTTPS advisor has no dependency upon server key or certificate
content, but they must not be expired.
v The SIP advisor opens a connection, sends an OPTIONS request, waits for a
response, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a load. The SIP
advisor that is supported runs on TCP only and requires an application to be
installed on a server that responds to an OPTIONS request.
v The FTP advisor opens a connection, sends a SYST request, waits for a response,
closes the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a load.
v The LDAP advisor opens a connection, sends an anonymous BIND request,
waits for a response, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a
load.

Note: Use the LDAPS advisor instead of this advisor if it is possible for your
environment.
v The LDAPS is a secure version of the LDAP advisor. It performs a full SSL
socket connection with the server. The LDAPS advisor opens an SSL connection,
sends an LDAPS request, waits for a response, closes the connnection, and
returns the elapsed time as a load.
v The Telnet advisor opens a connection, waits for an initial message from the
server, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a load.
v The NNTP advisor opens a connection, waits for an initial message from the
server, sends a quit command, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed
time as a load.
v The IMAP advisor opens a connection, waits for an initial message from the
server, sends a quit command, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed
time as a load.
v The POP3 advisor opens a connection, waits for an initial message from the
server, sends a quit command, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed
time as a load.
v The SMTP advisor opens a connection, waits for an initial message from the
server, sends a quit, closes the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a
load.
v The SSL advisor is a "lightweight" advisor for SSL connections. It does not
establish a full SSL socket connection with the server. The SSL advisor opens a
connection, sends an SSL CLIENT_HELLO request, waits for a response, closes
the connection, and returns the elapsed time as a load. (See also the HTTPS
advisor, which is a "heavyweight" advisor for SSL connections.)

Note: Be aware of the following:

– The SSL advisor has no dependency on key management or certificates.
Server key and certificate content must not be expired.
– Use the LDAPS or TLS advisor if it is possible for your environment;
these advisors are preferred over the SSL advisor.
– You might want to use the TLS advisor if you find that the SSL advisor
is marking servers down, you know that the server is still up, and you
see messages stating "No ciphers found."
– The SSL advisor has no dependency upon key management or
certificates.
v The ssl2http advisor starts and advises on the servers listed under port 443, but
the advisor will open a socket to the “mapport" for HTTP requests. Only use the
ssl2http advisor for CBR if the client-to-proxy protocol is SSL and the

150 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 proxy-to-server protocol is HTTP. See “Load balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and
proxy-to-server in HTTP” on page 73 for more information
v The TLS advisor is an alternative to the SSL advisor, and it is preferred over the
SSL advisor. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the successor to the SSL protocol.
TLS 1.0 was the follow up to SSLv3.
Use the TLS advisor if you find that the SSL advisor is marking servers down,
you know that the server is still up, and you see messages stating "No ciphers
found."
v The Caching Proxy (cachingproxy) advisor opens a connection, sends a Caching
Proxy specific HTTP GET request, and interprets the response as a Caching
Proxy load.

Note: When using the Caching Proxy advisor, Caching Proxy needs to be
running on all servers being load balanced. The machine on which the
Load Balancer resides does not need to have Caching Proxy installed
unless it is collocated on the same machine it is load balancing.
v The connect advisor does not exchange any protocol-specific data with the
server. It simply measures the time it takes to open and close a TCP connection
with the server. This advisor is useful for server applications which use TCP, but
with a higher-level protocol for which an IBM-supplied or custom advisor is not
available.
v The DB2 advisor works in conjunction with the DB2 servers. Dispatcher has the
built in capability of checking the health of DB2 servers without the need for
customers to write their own custom advisors. The DB2 advisor communicates
with the DB2 connection port only, not the Java connection port.
v The DNS advisor opens a connection, sends a pointer query for DNS, waits for
a response, closes the connection and returns the elapsed time as a load.
v The ping advisor does not open a TCP connection with the servers, but instead
reports whether the server responds to a ping. While the ping advisor may be
used on any port, it is also designed for configurations using the wildcard port,
over which multiple protocol traffic may be flowing. It is also useful for
configurations using non-TCP protocols with their servers, such as UDP.

Note: If you disable pings in your Load Balancer start script, the ping advisor
will not work.
v The reach advisor pings its target machines. This advisor is also designed for the
Dispatcher's high availability components to determine reachability of its reach
targets. Its results flow to high availability component and do not appear in the
manager report. Unlike the other advisors, the reach advisor starts automatically
by the manager function of the Dispatcher component.
v The self advisor collects load status information on backend servers. You can
use the self advisor when using Dispatcher in a two–tiered configuration, where
the Dispatcher furnishes information from the self advisor to the top-tiered Load
Balancer. The self advisor specifically measures the connections per second rate
on backend servers of the Dispatcher at the executor level. See “Using Self
Advisor in a two-tiered WAN configuration” on page 153 for more information.
v The WLM (Workload Manager) advisor is designed to work in conjunction with
servers on OS/390 mainframes running the MVS™ Workload Manager (WLM)
component. For more information, see “Workload Manager advisor” on page
159.
v Dispatcher provides the ability for a customer to write a custom (customizable)
advisor. This enables support for proprietary protocols (on top of TCP) for

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 151
 which IBM has not developed a specific advisor. For more information, see
“Create custom (customizable) advisors” on page 154.
v The WAS (WebSphere Application Server) advisor works in conjunction with the
WebSphere Application servers. Customizable sample files for this advisor are
provided in the installation directory. For more information, see “WAS advisor”
on page 155.

Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS advisor using the request and

response (URL) option
The URL option for the HTTP or HTTPS advisor is available for the Dispatcher
and CBR components.

After you have started an HTTP or HTTPS advisor, you can define a unique client
HTTP URL string, specific for the service that you want to query on the server.
This allows the advisor to assess the health of the individual services within a
server. You can do this by defining logical servers with unique server names that
have the same physical IP address. See “Server Partitioning: logical servers
configured to one physical server (IP address)” on page 43 for more information.

For each defined logical server under the HTTP port you can specify a unique
client HTTP URL string, specific for the service that you want to query on the
server. The HTTP or HTTPS advisor uses the advisorrequest string to query the
health of the servers. The default value is HEAD / HTTP/1.0. The advisorresponse
string is the response that the advisor scans for in the HTTP response. The advisor
uses the advisorresponse string to compare to the real response that is received
from the server. The default value is null.

Important: If a blank is contained within the HTTP URL string:

v When issuing the command from the dscontrol>> shell prompt, you must place
quotes around the string if a blank is contained within the string. For example:
server set cluster:port:server advisorrequest "head / http/1.0"
server set cluster:port:server advisorresponse "HTTP 200 OK"
v When issuing the dscontrol command from the operating system prompt, you
must precede the text with "\" and follow the text with \"". For example:
dscontrol server set cluster:port:server
advisorrequest "\"head / http/1.0\""

dscontrol server set cluster:port:server advisorresponse "\"HTTP 200 OK\""

When you create the request that the HTTP or HTTPS advisor sends to backend
servers to see if they are functioning, you type the start of the HTTP request and
Load Balancer completes the end of the request with the following:
\r\nAccept:
*/*\r\nUser-Agent:IBM_Load_Balanacer_HTTP_Advisor\r\n\r\n

If you want to add other HTTP header fields before Load Balancer appends this
string to the end of the request, you can do so by including your own \r\n string
in the request. The following is an example of what you might type to add the
HTTP host header field to your request:
GET /pub/WWW/TheProject.html HTTP/1.0 \r\nHost: www.w3.org

Note: After starting an HTTP or HTTPS advisor for a specified HTTP port number,
the advisor request and response value is enabled for servers under that
HTTP port.

152 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 See “dscontrol server — configure servers” on page 330 for more information.

Using Self Advisor in a two-tiered WAN configuration

The self advisor is available on the Dispatcher component.

For Load Balancer in a two-tiered WAN (wide area network) configuration,

Dispatcher provides a self advisor that collects load status information on backend
servers.

Load
Balancer

Dispatcher 1 Dispatcher 2
Self advisor Self advisor
Metric Server Metric Server

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3 Server 4 Server 5 Server 6

Figure 31. Example of a two-tiered WAN configuration using the self advisor

In this example, the self advisor along with Metric Server reside on the two
Dispatcher machines that are being load balanced by the top tier Load Balancer.
The self advisor specifically measures the connections per second rate on backend
servers of the Dispatcher at the executor level.

The self advisor writes the results to the dsloadstat file. Load Balancer also
provides an external metric called dsload. The Metric Server agent on each
Dispatcher machine runs its configuration that calls the external metric dsload. The
dsload script extracts a string from the dsloadstat file and returns it to the Metric
Server agent. Subsequently, each of the Metric Server agents (from each of the
Dispatchers) returns the load status value to the top-tiered Load Balancer for use
in determining which Dispatcher to forward client requests.

The dsload executable resides in the following directory:

v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ms\script

See “Configure wide area Dispatcher support” on page 184 for more information
on using Dispatcher in WAN configurations. See “Metric Server” on page 157 for
more information on Metric Server.

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 153
Create custom (customizable) advisors
The custom (customizable) advisor is a small piece of Java code, which you
provide as a class file, that gets called by the base code. The base code provides all
administrative services, such as starting and stopping an instance of the custom
advisor, providing status and reports, and recording history information in a log
file. It also reports results to the manager component. Periodically the base code
will perform an advisor cycle, where it individually evaluates all servers in its
configuration. It starts by opening a connection with a server machine. If the
socket opens, the base code will call the “getLoad” method (function) in the
custom advisor. The custom advisor then performs whatever steps are necessary to
evaluate the health of the server. Typically, it will send a user-defined message to
the server and then wait for a response. (Access to the open socket is provided to
the custom advisor.) The base code then closes the socket with the server and
reports the load information to the Manager.

The base code and custom advisor can operate in either normal or replace mode.
Choice of the mode of operation is specified in the custom advisor file as a
parameter in the constructor method.

In normal mode, the custom advisor exchanges data with the server, and the base
advisor code times the exchange and calculates the load value. The base code then
reports this load value to the manager. The custom advisor needs only return a
zero (on success) or negative one (on error). To specify normal mode, the replace
flag in the constructor is set to false.

In replace mode, the base code does not perform any timing measurements. The
custom advisor code performs whatever operations are desired for its unique
requirements, and then returns an actual load number. The base code will accept
the number and report it to the manager. For best results, normalize your load
number between 10 and 1000, with 10 representing a fast server, and 1000
representing a slow server. To specify replace mode, the replace flag in the
constructor is set to true.

With this feature, you can write your own advisors that will provide the precise
information about servers that you need. A sample custom advisor,
ADV_sample.java, is provided with the Load Balancer product.

After installing Load Balancer, you may find the sample code in:
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/samples/
CustomAdvisors
v For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples\
CustomAdvisors

Note: If you add a custom advisor to Dispatcher, or any other applicable Load
Balancer component, you must stop and then restart dsserver (or the service
for Windows systems) to enable the Java process to read the new custom
advisor class files. The custom advisor class files are loaded only at startup.
It is not necessary to stop the executor. The executor continues to run even
when dsserver, or the service, has been stopped.

If the custom advisor references additional Java classes, the classpath in the
Load Balancer start script file (dsserver, cbrserver, ssserver) should be
updated to include the location.

154 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

WAS advisor
Sample custom advisor files specifically for the WebSphere Application Server
(WAS) advisor are provided in the Load Balancer installation directory.
v ADV_was.java is the file to be compiled and run on the Load Balancer machine
v LBAdvisor.java.servlet (to be renamed LBAdvisor.java) is the file to be compiled
and run on the WebSphere Application Server machine.
The WebSphere Application Server advisor sample files reside in the same samples
directory as the ADV_sample.java file.

Naming Convention
Your custom advisor file name must be in the form “ADV_myadvisor.java.” It must
start with the prefix “ ADV_” in uppercase. All subsequent characters must be in
lowercase letters.

As per Java conventions, the name of the class defined within the file must match
the name of the file. If you copy the sample code, be sure to change all instances of
“ADV_sample” inside the file to your new class name.

Compilation
Custom advisors are written in Java language. Use the Java compiler that is
installed with Load Balancer. These files are referenced during compilation:
v the custom advisor file
v the base classes file, ibmlb.jar, found in the following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
lib
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib

Your class path must point to both the custom advisor file and the base classes file
during the compile.

For Windows systems, a sample compile command is:

install_dir/java/bin/javac -classpath
install_dir\lb\servers\lib\ibmlb.jar ADV_fred.java

where:
v Your advisor file is named ADV_fred.java
v Your advisor file is stored in the current directory

The output for the compilation is a class file, for example

ADV_fred.class

Before starting the advisor, copy the class file to the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors

Note: If you wish, custom advisors may be compiled on one operating system and
run on another. For example, you may compile your advisor on Windows
systems, copy the class file (in binary) to an AIX machine, and run the
custom advisor there.

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 155
 For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems, the syntax is similar.

Run
To run the custom advisor, you must first copy the class file to the proper
installation directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors/ADV_fred.class
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors\ADV_fred.class

Configure the component, start its manager function, and issue the command to
start your custom advisor:
dscontrol advisor start fred 123

where:
v fred is the name of your advisor, as in ADV_fred.java
v 123 is the port on which your advisor will operate

If the custom advisor references additional Java classes, the classpath in the Load
Balancer start script file (dsserver, cbrserver, ssserver) should be updated to
include the location.

Required routines
Like all advisors, a custom advisor extends the function of the advisor base, called
ADV_Base. It is the advisor base that actually performs most of the advisor's
functions, such as reporting loads back to the manager for use in the manager's
weight algorithm. The advisor base also performs socket connect and close
operations and provides send and receive methods for use by the advisor. The
advisor itself is used only for sending and receiving data to and from the port on
the server being advised. The TCP methods within the advisor base are timed to
calculate the load. A flag within the constructor in the ADV_base overwrites the
existing load with the new load returned from the advisor if desired.

Note: Based on a value set in the constructor, the advisor base supplies the load to
the weight algorithm at specified intervals. If the actual advisor has not
completed so that it can return a valid load, the advisor base uses the
previous load.

These are base class methods:

v A constructor routine. The constructor calls the base class constructor (see the
sample advisor file)
v An ADV_AdvisorInitialize method. This method provides a hook in case
additional steps need to be taken after the base class completes its initialization.
v A getload routine. The base advisor class performs the open socket; therefore
getload needs only to issue the appropriate send and receive requests to
complete the advise cycle.

Search order
Load Balancer first looks at the list of native advisors that it provides. If it does not
find a given advisor there, Load Balancer then looks at the customer's list of
customized advisors.

156 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Naming and path
v The custom advisor class must be located within the subdirectory of the
CustomAdvisors directory. The defaults for this directory vary by operating
system:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/CustomAdvisors/
– Windows systems
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\CustomAdvisors
v Only lowercase, alphabetic characters are permitted. This eliminates case
sensitivity when an operator types in commands on the command line. The
advisor file name must be prefixed with ADV_.

Sample advisor
The program listing for a sample advisor is included in “Sample advisor” on page
419. After installation, this sample advisor can be found in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors

Metric Server
This feature is available for all the Load Balancer components.

Metric Server provides server load information to the Load Balancer in the form of
system-specific metrics, reporting on the health of the servers. The Load Balancer
manager queries the Metric Server agent residing on each of the servers, assigning
weights to the load balancing process using the metrics gathered from the agents.
The results are also placed into the manager report.

Note: When two or more metrics are gathered and normalized for each server into
a single system load value, rounding errors may occur.

For information on operating Metric Server (starting and stopping) and using
Metric Server logs see “Using the Metric Server component” on page 230.

For a configuration example see Figure 5 on page 12.

WLM Restriction
Like the WLM advisor, the Metric Server reports on server systems as a whole,
rather than on individual protocol-specific server daemons. Both WLM and Metric
Server place their results into the system column of the manager report. As a
consequence, running both the WLM advisor and Metric Server at the same time is
not supported.

Prerequisites
The Metric Server agent must be installed and running on all servers that are being
load balanced.

How to Use Metric Server

Below are the steps to configure Metric Server for Dispatcher. Similar steps can be
used for configuring Metric Server for the other components of Load Balancer.

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 157
 v Load Balancer manager (Load Balancer side)
1. Start dsserver.
2. Issue command: dscontrol manager start manager.log port
port is the RMI port chosen for all the Metric Server agents to run on. The
default RMI port that is set in the metricserver.cmd file is 10004.
3. Issue command: dscontrol metric add cluster:systemMetric
systemMetric is the name of the script (residing on the backend server) which
should run on each of the servers in the configuration under the specified
cluster (or site name). Two scripts are provided for the customer - cpuload
and memload. Or, you can create custom system metric scripts. The script
contains a command which should return a numeric value in the range of
0-100 or a value of -1 if the server is down. This numeric value should
represent a load measurement, not an availability value.

Note: For Site Selector, cpuload and memload run automatically.

Limitation: For Windows platform, if the name of your System Metric script
has an extension other than ".exe", you must specify the full name of the file
(for example, "mysystemscript.bat"). This is due to a Java limitation.
4. Add to the configuration only servers that contain a Metric Server agent
running on the port specified in the metricserver.cmd file. The port should
match the port value specified in the manager start command.

Note: Ensure Security —

– On the Load Balancer machine, create a key file (using lbkeys create
command). See “Remote Method Invocation (RMI)” on page 213 for
more information on lbkeys.
– On the backend server machine, copy the resulting key file, for the
component you are using, to the following directory:
- AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys
- Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\
keys
Verify that the key file's permissions enable the file to be readable by
the root.
v Metric Server agent (Server machine side)
1. Install the Metric Server package from the Load Balancer install.
2. Check the metricserver script in the /usr/bin directory to verify that the
desired RMI port is being used. (For Windows 2003, the directory is
C:\WINDOWS\system32.) The default RMI port is 10004.

Note: The RMI port value specified must be the same value as the RMI port
value for the Metric Server on the Load Balancer machine.
3. The following two scripts are already provided for the customer: cpuload
(returns the percentage of cpu in use ranging from 0-100) and memload
(returns the percentage of memory in use ranging from 0-100). These scripts
reside in the following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/
script
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ms\script

158 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Optionally, customers can write their own customized metric script files
which define the command that the Metric Server will issue on the server
machines. Ensure that any custom scripts are executable and located in the
following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/
script
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ms\script
Custom scripts must return a numeric load value in the range of 0-100.

Note: A custom metric script must be a valid program or script with a ".bat"
or ".cmd" extension. Specifically, for AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris
operating systems, scripts must begin with the shell declaration,
otherwise they may not properly run.
4. Start the agent by issuing the metricserver command.
5. To stop the Metric Server agent, issue the metricserver stop command.

To have Metric Server run on an address other than the local host, you need to edit
the metricserver file on the load balanced server machine. After the occurence of
"java" in the metricserver file, insert the following:
-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=OTHER_ADDRESS

In addition, before the "if" statements in the metricserver file, add the following
line: hostname OTHER_ADDRESS.

For Windows platform: You will also need to alias the OTHER_ADDRESS on the
Microsoft stack of the Metric Server machine. For example:
call netsh interface ip add address "Local Area Connection"
addr=9.37.51.28 mask=255.255.240.0

When gathering metrics across different domains, you must explicitly set the
java.rmi.server.hostname in the server script (dsserver, cbrserver, etc) to the fully
qualified domain name (FQDN) of the machine that is requesting the metrics. This
is necessary because, depending on your setup and operating system,
InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostName() might not return the FQDN.

Workload Manager advisor

WLM is code that runs on MVS mainframes. It can be queried to ask about the
load on the MVS machine.

When MVS Workload Management has been configured on your OS/390 system,
Dispatcher can accept capacity information from WLM and use it in the load
balancing process. Using the WLM advisor, Dispatcher will periodically open
connections through the WLM port on each server in the Dispatcher host table and
accept the capacity integers returned. Because these integers represent the amount
of capacity that is still available and Dispatcher expects values representing the
loads on each machine, the capacity integers are inverted by the advisor and
normalized into load values (that is, a large capacity integer but a small load value
both represent a healthier server). The resulting loads are placed into the System
column of the manager report.

There are several important differences between the WLM advisor and other
Dispatcher advisors:

Chapter 20. Manager, Advisors, and Metric Server functions for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 159
 1. Other advisors open connections to the servers using the same port on which
flows normal client traffic. The WLM advisor opens connections to the servers
using a port different from normal traffic. The WLM agent on each server
machine must be configured to listen on the same port on which the Dispatcher
WLM Advisor is started. The default WLM port is 10007.
2. Other advisors only assess those servers defined in the Dispatcher
cluster:port:server configuration for which the server's port matches the
advisor's port. The WLM advisor advises upon every server in the Dispatcher
configuration (regardless of the cluster:port). Therefore you must not define any
non-WLM servers when using the WLM advisor.
3. Other advisors place their load information into the manager report under its
“Port” column. The WLM advisor places its load information into the manager
report under its system column.
4. It is possible to use both protocol-specific advisors along with the WLM
advisor. The protocol-specific advisors will poll the servers on their normal
traffic ports, and the WLM advisor will poll the system load using the WLM
port.

Metric Server Restriction

Like the Metric Server agent, the WLM agent reports on server systems as a whole,
rather than on individual protocol-specific server daemons. Metric Server and
WLM place their results into the system column of the manager report. As a
consequence, running both the WLM advisor and Metric Server at the same time is
not supported.

160 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site
Selector
This chapter explains how to configure the load balancing parameters and how to
set up Load Balancer for advanced functions.

Note: When reading this chapter, if you are not using the Dispatcher component,
then substitute "dscontrol" with the following:
v For CBR, use cbrcontrol
v For Site Selector, use sscontrol (see Chapter 27, “Command reference for
Site Selector,” on page 341)
Table 11. Advanced configuration tasks for the Load Balancer
Task Description Related information
Collocate Load Balancer on a Set up a collocated Load Balancer “Using collocated servers” on page
machine that it is load balancing machine. 162
Configure high availability or Set up a second Dispatcher machine to “High availability” on page 164
mutual high availability provide a backup.
Configure rules-based load Define conditions under which a subset of “Configure rules-based load
balancing your servers are used. balancing” on page 170
Use port affinity override to Allows a server to override the stickytime “port affinity override” on page 176
provide a mechanism for a server setting on its port.
to override the port sticky feature
Use sticky (affinity) feature to Allows client requests to be directed to the “How affinity feature for Load
configure a cluster's port to be same server. Balancer works” on page 178
sticky
Use cross port affinity to expand Allows client requests received from “Cross port affinity” on page 179
the sticky (affinity) feature across different ports to be directed to the same
ports server.
Use affinity address mask to Allows clients requests received from the “Affinity address mask
designate a common IP subnet same subnet to be directed to the same (stickymask)” on page 179
address server.
Use active cookie affinity to load A rule option that allows a session to “Active cookie affinity” on page 181
balance servers for CBR maintain affinity for a particular server.
Use passive cookie affinity to A rule option that allows a session to “Passive cookie affinity” on page
load balance servers for maintain affinity for a particular server 183
Dispatcher's content-based based on the cookie name/cookie value.
routing and the CBR component
Use URI affinity to load-balance A rule option that allows a session to “URI affinity” on page 184
across Caching Proxy servers maintain affinity for a particular server
with unique content to be cached based on the URI.
on each individual server
Configure wide area Dispatcher Set up a remote Dispatcher to load balance “Configure wide area Dispatcher
support across a wide area network. Or, load support” on page 184
balance across a wide area network
(without a remote Dispatcher) using a
server platform that supports GRE.
Use explicit linking Avoid bypassing the Dispatcher in your “Using explicit linking” on page 190
links.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 161

Table 11. Advanced configuration tasks for the Load Balancer (continued)
Task Description Related information
Use a private network Configure the Dispatcher to load balance “Using a private network
servers on a private network. configuration” on page 190
Use wildcard cluster to combine Addresses that are not explicitly “Use wildcard cluster to combine
common server configurations configured will use the wildcard cluster as server configurations” on page 191
a way to load balance traffic.
Use wildcard cluster to load All traffic will be load balanced to “Use wildcard cluster to load
balance firewalls firewalls. balance firewalls” on page 191
Use wildcard cluster with Allows Dispatcher to be used to enable a “Use wildcard cluster with Caching
Caching Proxy for transparent transparent proxy. Proxy for transparent proxy” on
proxy page 192
Use wildcard port to direct Handles traffic that is not configured for “Use wildcard port to direct
unconfigured port traffic any specific port. unconfigured port traffic” on page
192
Use "Denial of Service Attack" Dispatcher analyzes incoming requests for “Denial of service attack detection”
detection to notify administrators a conspicuous amount of half-open TCP on page 193
(via an alert) of potential attacks connections on servers.
Use binary logging to analyze Allows server information to be stored in “Using binary logging to analyze
server statistics and retrieved from binary files. server statistics” on page 194
Use a collocated client Allow Load Balancer to reside on the same “Using a collocated client” on page
configuration machine as a client 196

Using collocated servers

Load Balancer can reside on the same machine as a server for which it is load
balancing requests. This is commonly referred to as collocating a server. Collocation
applies to the Dispatcher and Site Selector components. Collocation is also
supported for CBR, but only when using bind-specific Web servers and
bind-specific Caching Proxy.

Note: A collocated server competes for resources with Load Balancer during times
of high traffic. However, in the absence of overloaded machines, using a
collocated server offers a reduction in the total number of machines
necessary to set up a load-balanced site.

For the Dispatcher component

Linux: In order to configure both collocation and high availability at the same
time, when running the Dispatcher component using the mac forwarding method,
see “Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when using Load Balancer's mac
forwarding” on page 60.

Solaris: There is a limitation that you cannot configure WAN advisors when the
entry-point Dispatcher is collocated. See “Using remote advisors with Dispatcher's
wide area support” on page 186.

Windows: Collocation is no longer available when you use Dispatcher's MAC

forwarding method.

In earlier releases, it was necessary to specify the collocated server address to be

the same as the nonforwarding address (NFA) in the configuration. That restriction
has been lifted.

162 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 To configure a server to be collocated, the dscontrol server command provides an
option called collocated which can be set to yes or no. The default is no. The
address of the server must be a valid IP address of a network interface card on the
machine. The collocated parameter should not be set for servers which are
collocated using Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding method.

You can configure a collocated server in one of the following ways:

v If you are using the NFA as the collocated server address: Set the NFA using the
dscontrol executor set nfa IP_address command. And, add the server using the
NFA address with the dscontrol server add cluster:port:server command.
v If you are using an address other than the NFA: Add the server with the desired
IP address with the collocated parameter set to yes as follows: dscontrol server
add cluster:port:server collocated yes.

For Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding, you must configure (alias) an unused
adapter address on the NFA. The server should be configured to listen on this
address. Configure the server using the following command syntax:
dscontrol server add cluster:port:new_alias address new_alias router router_ip
returnaddress return_address

Failure to configure for this can lead to system errors, no response from the server,
or both.

Configuring server collocation with Dispatcher's nat forwarding

When configuring a collocated server using Dispatcher's nat forwarding method,
the router specified in the dscontrol server add command must be a real router
address and not the server IP address.

Support for collocation when configuring Dispatcher's nat forwarding method can
now be done on the following operating systems if the following steps are
performed on the Dispatcher machine:
v AIX, Linux, and Windows: the collocated server is configured the same as any
server. No changes are necessary to the configuration.
v Solaris and HP-UX: the cluster is aliased using ifconfig as normal; however, the
return address must be arp published instead of aliased. To do this, run the
following command:
arp -s hostname ether_addr pub

using the local MAC address for ether_addr. This enables the local application to
send traffic to the return address in the kernel.

For the CBR component

CBR supports collocation on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris platforms with no
additional configurations required. However, the Web servers and Caching Proxy
that you use must be bind-specific.

For the Site Selector component

Site Selector supports collocation on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris platforms
with no additional configurations required.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 163
High availability
The high availability function (configurable using dscontrol highavailability
command) is available for the Dispatcher component (but not for the CBR or Site
Selector component).

To improve Dispatcher availability, the Dispatcher high availability function uses

the following mechanisms:
v Two Dispatchers with connectivity to the same clients, and the same cluster of
servers, as well as connectivity between the Dispatchers. Both Dispatchers must
run on the same type of operating system and platform.
v A “heartbeat” mechanism between the two Dispatchers to detect Dispatcher
failure. At least one heartbeat pair must have the NFAs of the pair as the source
and destination address.
If possible, at least one of the heartbeat pairs should be across a separate subnet
than the regular cluster traffic. Keeping the heartbeat traffic distinct will help
prevent false takeovers during very heavy network loads and also improve
complete recovery times after a failover.
v A list of reach targets, addresses that both Dispatcher machines must be able to
contact in order to load balance traffic normally. For more information, see
“Failure detection capability using heartbeat and reach target” on page 166.
v Synchronization of the Dispatcher information (that is, the connection tables,
reachability tables, and other information).
v Logic to elect the active Dispatcher which is in charge of a given cluster of
servers, and the standby Dispatcher which continuously gets synchronized for
that cluster of servers.
v A mechanism to perform IP takeover, when the logic or an operator decides to
switch active and standby.

Note: For an illustration and description of a mutual high availability configuration,

where two Dispatcher machines sharing two cluster sets provide backup for
each other, see “Mutual high availability” on page 46. Mutual high
availability is similar to high availability but is based specifically on cluster
address rather than on a Dispatcher machine as a whole. Both machines
must configure their shared cluster sets the same.

Configure high availability

Complete syntax for dscontrol highavailability is in “dscontrol highavailability —
control high availability” on page 307.

For a more complete discussion of many of the tasks below, see “Setting up the
Dispatcher machine” on page 50.
1. Create alias script files on each of the 2 Dispatcher machines. See “Using
scripts” on page 167.
2. Start the server on both Dispatcher server machines.
3. Start the executor on both machines.
4. Ensure that the nonforwarding address (NFA) of each Dispatcher machine is
configured, and is a valid IP address for the subnet of the Dispatcher
machines.
5. Add the heartbeat information on both machines:
dscontrol highavailability heartbeat add sourceaddress destinationaddress

164 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Note: Sourceaddress and destinationaddress are the IP addresses (either
DNSnames or IP addresses) of the Dispatcher machines. The values will
be reversed on each machine. For example:
Primary - highavailability heartbeat add 9.67.111.3 9.67.186.8
Backup - highavailability heartbeat add 9.67.186.8 9.67.111.3

At least one heartbeat pair must have the NFAs of the pair as the
source and destination address.

If possible, at least one of the heartbeat pairs should be across a

separate subnet than the regular cluster traffic. Keeping the heartbeat
traffic distinct will help prevent false takeovers during very heavy
network loads and also improve complete recovery times after a
failover.
Set the number of seconds that the executor uses to timeout high availability
heartbeats. For example:
dscontrol executor set hatimeout 3
The default is 2 seconds.
6. On both machines, configure the list of IP addresses that the Dispatcher must
be able to reach in order to ensure full service, using the reach add command.
For example:
dscontrol highavailability reach add 9.67.125.18

Reach targets are recommended but not required. See “Failure detection
capability using heartbeat and reach target” on page 166 for more information.
7. Add the backup information to each machine:
v For the primary machine:
dscontrol highavailability backup add primary [auto | manual] port
v For the backup machine:
dscontrol highavailability backup add backup [auto | manual] port
v For mutual high availability each Dispatcher machine has both primary and
backup roles:
dscontrol highavailability backup add both [auto | manual] port

Note: Select an unused port on your machines as the port. The port number
entered will be used as a key to ensure the correct host is receiving the
packet.
8. Check the high availability status on each machine:
dscontrol highavailability status

The machines should each have the correct role (backup, primary, or both),
states, and substates. The primary should be active and synchronized; the
backup should be in standby mode and should be synchronized within a
short time. The strategies must be the same.
9. Set up the cluster, port, and server information on both machines.

Note: For mutual high availability configuration (Figure 14 on page 46), for
example, configure the cluster sets shared between the 2 Dispatchers as
follows:
v For Dispatcher 1 issue:
dscontrol cluster set clusterA primaryhost NFAdispatcher1
dscontrol cluster set clusterB primaryhost NFAdispatcher2

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 165
 v For Dispatcher 2 issue:
dscontrol cluster set clusterB primaryhost NFAdispatcher2
dscontrol cluster set clusterA primaryhost NFAdispatcher1
10. Start the manager and advisors on both machines.
Notes:
1. To configure a single Dispatcher machine to route packets without a backup, do
not issue any of the high availability commands at startup.
2. To convert two Dispatcher machines configured for high availability to one
machine running alone, stop the executor on one of the machines, then delete
the high availability features (the heartbeats, reach, and backup) on the other.
3. In both of the two cases above, you must alias the network interface card with
cluster addresses, as required.
4. When two Dispatcher machines are run in high availability configuration and
are synchronized, enter all dscontrol commands (to update the configuration)
on the standby machine first, and then on the active machine.
5. When running two Dispatcher machines in a high availability configuration,
unexpected results may occur if you set any of the parameters for the executor,
cluster, port, or server (for example, port stickytime) to different values on the
two machines.
6. For mutual high availability, consider the case where one of the Dispatchers
must actively route packets for its primary cluster as well as take over routing
packets for the backup cluster. Ensure this will not exceed your capacity for
throughput on this machine.
7. For Linux systems, when configuring high availability and collocation together
when using the Dispatcher component's MAC port forwarding method, see
“Linux loopback aliasing alternatives when using Load Balancer's mac
forwarding” on page 60.
8. For tips to help alleviate problems that might arise from high availability
configuration problems such as:
v Connections dropped after takeover
v Partner machines unable to synchronize
v Requests erroneously directed to the backup partner machine
See “Problem: Tips on configuring high availability” on page 263.

Failure detection capability using heartbeat and reach target

Besides the basic criteria of failure detection (the loss of connectivity between
active and standby Dispatchers, detected through the heartbeat messages), there is
another failure detection mechanism named reachability criteria. When you
configure the Dispatcher you can provide a list of hosts that each of the
Dispatchers should be able to reach in order to work correctly. The two high
availability partners continually communicate with each other through heartbeats,
and they update one another on how many reach targets either one of them can
ping. If the standby pings more reach targets than the active, a failover occurs.

Heartbeats are sent by the active Dispatcher and are expected to be received by the
standby Dispatcher every half second. If the standby Dispatcher fails to receive a
heartbeat within 2 seconds, a failover begins. All heartbeats must break for a
takeover from the standby Dispatcher to occur. In other words, when two
heartbeat pairs are configured, both heartbeats must break. To stabilize a high
availability environment and to avoid failover, add more than one heartbeat pair.

166 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 For reach targets, you should choose at least one host for each subnet your
Dispatcher machine uses. The hosts could be routers, IP servers or other types of
hosts. Host reachability is obtained by the reach advisor, which pings the host.
Failover takes place either if the heartbeat messages cannot go through, or if the
reachability criteria are met better by the standby Dispatcher than by the primary
Dispatcher. To make the decision based on all available information, the active
Dispatcher regularly sends the standby Dispatcher its reachability capabilities. The
standby Dispatcher then compares those capabilities with its own and decides
whether to switch.

Note: When you configure the reach target, the reach advisor must also be started.
The reach advisor starts automatically when you start the manager function.
For more information on the reach advisor, see page 151.

Recovery Strategy
Two Dispatcher machines are configured: the primary machine, and a second
machine called the backup. At startup, the primary machine sends all the
connection data to the backup machine until that machine is synchronized. The
primary machine becomes active, that is, it begins load balancing. The backup
machine, meanwhile, monitors the status of the primary machine, and is said to be
in standby state.

If the backup machine at any point detects that the primary machine has failed, it
performs a takeover of the primary machine’s load balancing functions and becomes
the active machine. After the primary machine has once again become operational,
the machines respond according to how the recovery strategy has been configured
by the user. There are two kinds of strategy:
Automatic
The primary machine resumes routing packets as soon as it becomes
operational again.
Manual
The backup machine continues routing packets even after the primary
becomes operational. Manual intervention is required to return the primary
machine to active state and reset the backup machine to standby.

The strategy parameter must be set the same for both machines.

The manual recovery strategy allows you to force the routing of packets to a
particular machine, using the takeover command. Manual recovery is useful when
maintenance is being performed on the other machine. The automatic recovery
strategy is designed for normal unattended operation.

For a mutual high availability configuration, there is no per cluster failure. If any
problem occurs with one machine, even if it affects just one cluster, then the other
machine will take over for both clusters.

Note: During takeover situations, some connection updates may be lost. This may
cause existing long-running connections (such as telnet) that are being
accessed at the time of the takeover to end.

Using scripts
For Dispatcher to route packets, each cluster address must be aliased to a network
interface device.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 167
 v In a stand-alone Dispatcher configuration, each cluster address must be aliased
to a network interface card (for example, en0, tr0).
v In a high availability configuration:
– On the active machine, each cluster address must be aliased to a network
interface card (for example, en0, tr0).
– On the standby machine, each cluster address must be aliased to a loopback
device (for example, lo0) only if you are using a MAC forwarding method
with collocated servers.
v In any machine in which the executor has been stopped, all aliases should be
removed to prevent conflicts with another machine that may be started.

For information on aliasing the network interface card, see “Step 5. Alias the
network interface card” on page 53.

Because the Dispatcher machines will change states when a failure is detected, the
commands above must be issued automatically. Dispatcher will run user-created
scripts to do that. Sample scripts can be found in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples
These scripts must be moved to the following directory in order to run:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/bin
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin
The scripts will run automatically only if dsserver is running.
Notes:
1. For a mutual high availability configuration, each “go" script is called by the
Dispatcher with a parameter identifying the primary Dispatcher address. The
script must query this parameter and perform the executor configure
commands for those cluster addresses associated with that primary Dispatcher.
2. In order to configure high availability for Dispatcher's nat forwarding method,
you must add the return addresses to the script files.

The following sample scripts may be used:

goActive
The goActive script runs when a Dispatcher goes into active state and
begins routing packets.
v If you run Dispatcher in a high availability configuration, you must
create this script. This script deletes loopback aliases and adds device
aliases.
v If you run Dispatcher in a stand-alone configuration, you do not need
this script.
goStandby
The goStandby script runs when a Dispatcher goes into standby state
monitoring the health of the active machine, but not routing any packets.
v If you run Dispatcher in a high availability configuration, you must
create this script. This script should delete device aliases and add
loopback aliases.
v If you run Dispatcher in a stand-alone configuration, you do not need
this script.

168 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

goInOp
The goInOp script runs when a Dispatcher executor is stopped.
v If you normally run Dispatcher in a high availability configuration, you
may create this script. This script deletes all devices and loopback
aliases.
v If you normally run Dispatcher in a stand-alone configuration, this script
is optional. You may create it and have it delete device aliases, or you
may choose to delete them manually.
goIdle The goIdle script runs when a Dispatcher goes into idle state and begins
routing packets. This occurs when the high availability features have not
been added, as in a stand-alone configuration. It also occurs in a high
availability configuration before the high availability features have been
added or after they have been removed.
v If you normally run Dispatcher in a high availability configuration, you
should not create this script.
v If you normally run Dispatcher in a stand-alone configuration, this script
is optional. You may create it and have it add device aliases, or you may
choose to add them manually. If you do not create this script for your
stand-alone configuration, you will have to use the dscontrol executor
configure command or manually configure the aliases each time the
executor is started.
highavailChange
The highavailChange script runs whenever the high availability state
changes within the Dispatcher, such that one of the "go" scripts is called.
The single parameter passed to this script is the name of the "go" script
just run by Dispatcher. You can create this script to use state change
information, for instance, to alert an Administrator or simply record the
event.

On Windows systems: In your configuration setup, if you have Site Selector load
balancing two Dispatcher machines that are operating in a high availability
environment, you will need to add an alias on the Microsoft stack for the metric
servers. This alias should be added to the goActive script. For example:
call netsh interface ip add address "Local Area Connection"
addr=9.37.51.28 mask=255.255.240.0

In the goStandby and goInOp, the alias will need to be removed. For example:
call netsh interface ip delete address "Local Area Connection"
addr=9.37.51.28

If there are multiple NIC's on the machine, then first check which interface you
should use by issuing the following command on the command prompt: netsh
interface ip show address. This command will return a list of currently
configured interfaces and will number the "Local Area Connection" (for example,
"Local Area Connection 2") so you can determine which one you should use.

On Linux for S/390®: Dispatcher issues a gratuitous ARP to move IP addresses

from one Dispatcher to another. This mechanism is therefore tied to the underlying
network type. When running Linux for S/390, Dispatcher can natively do high
availability takeovers (complete with IP address moves) only on those interfaces
which can issue a gratuitous ARP and configure the address on the local interface.
This mechanism will not work properly on point-to-point interfaces such as IUCV
and CTC and will not work properly in certain configurations of qeth/QDIO.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 169
 For those interfaces and configurations where Dispatcher's native IP takeover
function will not work properly, the customer may place appropriate commands in
the go scripts to manually move the addresses. This will ensure that those network
topologies can also benefit from high availability.

Configure rules-based load balancing

You can use rules-based load balancing to fine tune when and why packets are
sent to which servers. Load Balancer reviews any rules you add from first priority
to last priority, stopping on the first rule that it finds to be true, then load
balancing the content between any servers associated with the rule. It already
balances the load based on destination and port, but using rules expands your
ability to distribute connections.

In most cases when configuring rules, you should configure a default always true
rule in order to catch any request that is passed by other higher priority rules. This
default can be a "Sorry, the site is currently down, try again later" response when
all other servers fail for the client request.

You should use rules-based load balancing with Dispatcher and Site Selector when
you want to use a subset of your servers for some reason. You must always use
rules for the CBR component.

You can choose from the following types of rules:

v For Dispatcher:
– Client IP address
– Client port
– Time of day
– Type of service (TOS)
– Connections per second
– Active connections total
– Reserved bandwidth
– Shared bandwidth
– Always true
– Content of a request
v For CBR:
– Client IP address
– Time of day
– Connections per second
– Active connections total
– Always true
– Content of a request
v For Site Selector:
– Client IP address
– Time of day
– Metric all
– Metric average
– Always true

170 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Make a plan of the logic that you want the rules to follow before you start adding
rules to your configuration.

How are rules evaluated?

All rules have a name, type, priority, and may have a begin range and end range,
along with a set of servers. In addition, the content type rule for the CBR
component has a matching regular expression pattern associated with it. ( For
examples and scenarios on how to use the content rule and valid pattern syntax
for the content rule, see Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern) syntax,” on page 409.)

Rules are evaluated in priority order. In other words, a rule with a priority of 1
(lower number) is evaluated before a rule with a priority of 2 (higher number). The
first rule that is satisfied will be used. When a rule has been satisfied, no further
rules are evaluated.

For a rule to be satisfied, it must meet two conditions:

1. The predicate of the rule must be true. That is, the value it is evaluating must
be between the begin and end ranges, or the content must match the regular
expression specified in the content rule's pattern. For rules of type “true," the
predicate is always satisfied, regardless of the begin and end ranges.
2. If there are servers associated with the rule, at least one server must have a
weight greater than 0 to forward packets to.

If a rule has no servers associated with it, the rule only needs to meet condition
one to be satisfied. In this case, Dispatcher will drop the connection request, Site
Selector will return the name server request with an error, and CBR will cause
Caching Proxy to return an error page.

If no rules are satisfied, Dispatcher will select a server from the full set of servers
available on the port, Site Selector will select a server from the full set of servers
available on the site name, and CBR will cause Caching Proxy to return an error
page.

Using rules based on the client IP address

This rule type is available in the Dispatcher, CBR, or Site Selector component.

You may want to use rules based on the client IP address if you want to screen the
customers and allocate resources based on where they are coming from.

For example, you notice that your network is getting a lot of unpaid and therefore
unwanted traffic from clients coming from a specific set of IP addresses. You create
a rule using the dscontrol rule command, for example:
dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:ni type ip
beginrange 9.0.0.0 endrange 9.255.255.255

This "ni" rule screens out any connection from unwanted clients. You would then
add to the rule the servers that you want accessible, or if you do not add any
servers to the rule, requests coming from 9.x.x.x addresses are not served by any of
your servers.

Using rules based on the client port

This rule type is only available in the Dispatcher component.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 171
 You may want to use rules based on the client port if your clients are using some
kind of software that asks for a specific port from TCP/IP when making requests.

For example, you could create a rule that says that any request with a client port
of 10002 will get to use a set of special fast servers because you know that any
client request with that port is coming from an elite group of customers.

Using rules based on the time of day

This rule type is available in the Dispatcher, CBR, or Site Selector component.

You may want to use rules based on the time of day for capacity planning reasons.
For example, if your Web site gets hit most during the same group of hours every
day, you might want to dedicate five additional servers during the peak time
period.

Another reason you might use a rule based on the time of day is when you want
to take some of the servers down for maintenance every night at midnight, so you
can set up a rule that excludes those servers during the necessary maintenance
period.

Using rules based on type of service (TOS)

This rule type is only available in the Dispatcher component.

You may want to use rules based on the content of the “type of service” (TOS)
field in the IP header. For example, if a client request comes in with one TOS value
that indicates normal service, it can be routed to one set of servers. If a different
client request comes in with a different TOS value that indicates a higher priority
of service, it can be routed to a different set of servers.

The TOS rule allows you to fully configure each bit in the TOS byte using the
dscontrol rule command. For significant bits that you want matched in the TOS
byte, use 0 or 1. Otherwise, the value x is used. The following is an example for
adding a TOS rule:
dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:tsr type service tos 0xx1010x

Using rules based on the connections per second

This rule type is available in the Dispatcher and CBR components.

Note: The manager must be running for the following to work.

You may want to use rules based on connections per second if you need to share
some of your servers with other applications. For example, you can set two rules:
1. If connections per second on port 80 is between 0 and 2000, then use these 2
servers
2. If connections per second on port 80 is greater than 2000, then use these 10
servers

Or you might be using Telnet and want to reserve two of your five servers for
Telnet, except when the connections per second increases above a certain level.
This way, Dispatcher would balance the load across all five servers at peak times.

Setting rule evaluate option "upserversonrule" in conjunction with the

"connection" type rule: When using the connections type rule and setting the
upserversonrule option, if some of the servers in the server set are down, then you

172 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 can ensure that the remaining servers will not be overloaded. See “Server
evaluation option for rules” on page 177 for more information.

Using rules based on the total active connections

This rule type is available in the Dispatcher or CBR component.

Note: The manager must be running for the following to work.

You may want to use rules based on active connections total on a port if your
servers get overloaded and start throwing packets away. Certain Web servers will
continue to accept connections even though they do not have enough threads to
respond to the request. As a result, the client requests time out and the customer
coming to your Web site is not served. You can use rules based on active
connections to balance capacity within a pool of servers.

For example, you know from experience that your servers will stop serving after
they have accepted 250 connections. You can create a rule using the dscontrol rule
command or the cbrcontrol rule command, for example:
dscontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:pool2 type active
beginrange 250 endrange 500

or

cbrcontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:pool2 type active

beginrange 250 endrange 500

You would then add to the rule your current servers plus some additional servers,
which will otherwise be used for other processing.

Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and shared

bandwidth
Reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth rules are only available in the
Dispatcher component.

For bandwidth rules, Dispatcher calculates bandwidth as the rate at which data is
delivered to clients by a specific set of servers. Dispatcher tracks capacity at the
server, rule, port, cluster, and executor levels. For each of these levels, there is a
byte counter field: kilobytes transferred per second. Dispatcher calculates these
rates over a 60 second interval. You can view these rate values from the GUI or
from the output of a command line report.

Reserved bandwidth rule

The reserved bandwidth rule allows you to control the number of kilobytes per
second being delivered by a set of servers. By setting a threshold (allocating a
specified bandwidth range) for each set of servers throughout the configuration,
you can control and guarantee the amount of bandwidth being used by each
cluster-port combination.

The following is an example for adding a reservedbandwidth rule:

dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:rbw type reservedbandwidth
beginrange 0 endrange 300

The begin range and end range are specified in kilobytes per second.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 173
 Shared bandwidth rule
Prior to configuring the shared bandwidth rule, you must specify the maximum
amount of bandwidth (kilobytes per second) that can be shared at the executor or
cluster level using dscontrol executor or dscontrol cluster command with the
sharedbandwidth option. The sharebandwidth value should not exceed the total
bandwidth (total network capacity) available. Using the dscontrol command to set
shared bandwidth only provides an upper limit for the rule.

The following are examples of the command syntax:

dscontrol executor set sharedbandwidth size
dscontrol cluster [add | set] 9.12.32.9 sharedbandwidth size

The size for sharedbandwidth is an integer value (kilobytes per second). The
default is zero. If the value is zero, then bandwidth cannot be shared.

Sharing bandwidth at the cluster level allows a maximum specified bandwidth to

be used by the cluster. As long as the bandwidth used by the cluster is below the
specified amount, then this rule will evaluate as true. If the total bandwidth used
is greater than the specified amount, then this rule will evaluate as false.

Sharing bandwidth at the executor level allows the entire Dispatcher configuration
to share a maximum amount of bandwidth. As long as the bandwidth used at the
executor level is below the specified amount, then this rule will evaluate as true. If
the total bandwidth used is greater than that defined, then this rule will evaluate
as false.

The following are examples of adding or setting a sharedbandwidth rule:

dscontrol rule add 9.20.30.4:80:shbw type sharedbandwidth sharelevel value
dscontrol rule set 9.20.34.11:80:shrule sharelevel value

The value for sharelevel is either executor or cluster. Sharelevel is a required

parameter on the sharebandwidth rule.

Using reserved and shared bandwidth rules

Dispatcher allows you to allocate a specified bandwidth to sets of servers within
you configuration using the reserved bandwidth rule. By specifying a begin and end
range, you can control the range of kilobytes delivered by a set of servers to the
clients. When the rule no longer evaluates as true (the end range is exeeded), the
next lower priority rule is evaluated. If the next lower priority rule is an "always
true" rule, a server could be selected to respond to the client with a "site busy"
response.

For example: Consider a group of three servers on port 2222. If the reserved
bandwidth is set to 300, then the maximum kbytes per second is 300, over a period
of 60 seconds. When this rate is exceeded, then the rule no longer evaluates as
true. If this were the only rule, then one of the three servers would be selected by
Dispatcher to handle the request. If there were a lower priority "always true" rule,
then the request could be redirected to another server and answered with "site
busy".

The shared bandwidth rule can provide additional server access to clients.
Specifically, when used as a lower priority rule following a reserved bandwidth
rule, a client can still access a server even though the reserved bandwidth has been
exceeded.

174 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 For example: By using a shared bandwidth rule following a reserved bandwidth
rule you can allow clients to gain access to the three servers in a controlled
manner. As long as there is shared bandwidth available to be used, the rule will
evaluate as true and access is granted. If there is no shared bandwidth available,
then the rule is not true and the next rule is evaluated. If an "always true" rule
follows, the request can be redirected as needed.

By using both reserved and shared bandwidth as described in the preceding

example, greater flexibility and control can be exercised in granting (or denying)
access to the servers. Servers on a specific port can be limited in bandwidth usage,
while others can use additional bandwidth as long as it is available.

Note: Dispatcher tracks bandwidth by measuring client traffic, such as data "acks",
that flow to a server. If for any reason this traffic is not "seen" by Dispatcher,
results are unpredictable when using the bandwidth rules.

Metric all rule

This rule type is only available in the Site Selector component.

For the metric all rule, you choose a system metric (cpuload, memload, or your
own customized system metric script), and Site Selector compares the system
metric value (returned by the Metric Server agent residing in each load-balanced
server) with the begin and end range that you specify in the rule. The current
system metric value for all the servers in the server set must be within the range
for the rule to run.

Note: The system metric script you choose must reside on each of the
load-balanced servers.

The following is an example of adding a metric all rule to your configuration:

sscontrol rule add dnsload.com:allrule1 type metricall
metricname cpuload beginrange 0 endrange 100

Metric average rule

This rule type is only available in the Site Selector component.

For the metric average rule, you choose a system metric (cpuload, memload, or
your own customized system metric script), and Site Selector compares the system
metric value (returned by the Metric Server agent residing in each load-balanced
server) with the begin and end range that you specify in the rule. The average of
the current system metric values for all the servers in the server set must be within
the range for the rule to run.

Note: The system metric script you choose must reside on each of the
load-balanced servers.

The following is an example of adding a metric average rule to your configuration:

sscontrol rule add dnsload.com:avgrule1 type metricavg
metricname cpuload beginrange 0 endrange 100

Using rules that are always true

This rule type is available in the Dispatcher, CBR, or Site Selector component.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 175
 A rule may be created that is “always true.” Such a rule will always be selected,
unless all the servers associated with it are down. For this reason, it should
ordinarily be at a lower priority than other rules.

You can even have multiple “always true” rules, each with a set of servers
associated with it. The first true rule with an available server is chosen. For
example, assume you have six servers. You want two of them to handle your
traffic under all circumstances, unless they are both down. If the first two servers
are down, you want a second set of servers to handle the traffic. If all four of these
servers are down, then you will use the final two servers to handle the traffic. You
could set up three “always true” rules. Then the first set of servers will always be
chosen as long as at least one is up. If they are both down, one from the second set
is chosen, and so forth.

As another example, you may want an “always true” rule to ensure that if
incoming clients do not match any of the rules you have set, they will not be
served. You would create a rule using the dscontrol rule command like:
dscontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:jamais type true priority 100

Then you would not add any servers to the rule, causing the clients packets to be
dropped with no response.

Note: You do not need to set a beginrange or endrange when creating an always
true rule.

You can define more than one “always true” rule, and thereafter adjust which one
gets run by changing their priority levels.

Using rules based on the request content

This rule type is available in the CBR component or Dispatcher component (when
using Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method).

You will want to use content type rules to send requests to sets of servers
specifically set up to handle some subset of your site's traffic. For example, you
may want to use one set of servers to handle all cgi-bin requests, another set to
handle all streaming audio requests, and a third set to handle all other requests.
You would add one rule with a pattern that matches the path to your cgi-bin
directory, another that matches the file type of your streaming audio files, and a
third always true rule to handle the rest of the traffic. You would then add the
appropriate servers to each of the rules.

Important: For examples and scenarios on how to use the content rule and valid
pattern syntax for the content rule, see Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern)
syntax,” on page 409.

port affinity override

With port affinity override, you can override the stickiness of a port for a specific
server. For example, you are using a rule to limit the amount of connections to
each application server, and you have an overflow server with an always true rule
that says “please try again later" for that application. The port has a stickytime
value of 25 minutes, so you do not want the client to be sticky to that server. With
port affinity override, you can change the overflow server to override the affinity
normally associated with that port. The next time the client requests the cluster, it
is load balanced to the best available application server, not the overflow server.

176 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 See “dscontrol server — configure servers” on page 330, for detailed information
on command syntax for the port affinity override, using the server sticky option.

Adding rules to your configuration

You can add rules using the dscontrol rule add command, by editing the sample
configuration file, or with the graphical user interface (GUI). You can add one or
more rules to every port you have defined.

It is a two–step process: add the rule, then define which servers to serve to if the
rule is true. For example, our system administrator wanted to track how much use
the proxy servers were getting from each division on site. IP addresses are given to
each division. Create the first set of rules based on client IP address to separate
each division's load:
dscontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:div1 type ip b 9.1.0.0 e 9.1.255.255
dscontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:div2 type ip b 9.2.0.0 e 9.2.255.255
dscontrol rule add 130.40.52.153:80:div3 type ip b 9.3.0.0 e 9.3.255.255

Next, add a different server to each rule, then measure the load on each of the
servers in order to bill the division properly to the services they are using. For
example:
dscontrol rule useserver 130.40.52.153:80:div1 207.72.33.45
dscontrol rule useserver 130.40.52.153:80:div2 207.72.33.63
dscontrol rule useserver 130.40.52.153:80:div3 207.72.33.47

Server evaluation option for rules

The server evaluation option is only available in the Dispatcher component.

On the dscontrol rule command there is a server evaluation option for rules. Use
the evaluate option to choose to evaluate the rule's condition across all the servers
on the port or to evaluate the rule's condition across just the servers within the
rule. (In earlier versions of Load Balancer, you could only measure each rule's
condition across all servers on the port.)
Notes:
1. The server evaluation option is only valid for rules that make their decisions
based upon the characteristics of the servers: total connections (per second)
rule, active connections rule, and reserved bandwidth rule.
2. The "connection" type rule has an additional evaluate option to choose —
upserversonrule. See “Using rules based on the connections per second” on
page 172 for more information.

The following are examples of adding or setting the evaluate option on a reserved
bandwidth rule:
dscontrol rule add 9.22.21.3:80:rbweval type reservedbandwidth evaluate level
dscontrol rule set 9.22.21.3:80:rbweval evaluate level

The evaluate level can be set to either port, rule, or upserversonrule. The default is
port.

Evaluate servers within the rule

The option to measure the rule's condition across the servers within the rule allows
you to configure two rules with the following characteristics:
v The first rule that gets evaluated contains all the servers maintaining the Web
site content, and the evaluate option is set to rule (evaluate the rule's condition
across the servers within the rule).

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 177
 v The second rule is an always true rule that contains a single server that responds
with a “site busy" type response.
The result is that when traffic exceeds the threshold of the servers within the first
rule, traffic is sent to the “site busy" server within the second rule. When traffic
falls below the threshold of the servers within the first rule, new traffic continues
once again to the servers in the first rule.

Evaluate servers on the port

Using the two rules described in the previous example, if you set the evaluate
option to port for the first rule (evaluate rule's condition across all the servers on
the port), when traffic exceeds the threshold of that rule, traffic is sent to the “site
busy" server associated to the second rule.

The first rule measures all server traffic (including the “site busy" server) on the
port to determine whether the traffic exceeds the threshold. As congestion
decreases for the servers associated to the first rule, an unintentional result may
occur where traffic continues to the “site busy" server because traffic on the port
still exceeds the threshold of the first rule.

How affinity feature for Load Balancer works

For the Dispatcher and CBR components: You enable the affinity feature when
you configure a cluster's port to be sticky. Configuring a cluster's port to be sticky
allows subsequent client requests to be directed to the same server. This is done by
setting stickytime at the executor, cluster, or port level to some number of seconds.
The feature is disabled by setting stickytime to zero.

If you are enabling cross port affinity, stickytime values of the shared ports must
be the same (nonzero) value. See “Cross port affinity” on page 179 for more
information.

For the Site Selector component: You enable the affinity feature when you
configure a sitename to be sticky. Configuring a sitename to be sticky allows the
client to use the same server for multiple name service requests. This is done by
setting stickytime on the sitename to some number of seconds. The feature is
disabled by setting stickytime to zero.

A sticky time value for a server is the interval between the closing of one
connection and the opening of a new connection during which time a client is sent
back to the same server used during the first connection. After the sticky time
expires, the client can be sent to a server different from the first. The sticky time
value for a server is configured using the dscontrol executor, port, or cluster
commands.

Behavior when affinity is disabled

With the affinity feature disabled, whenever a new TCP connection is received
from a client, Load Balancer picks the right server at that moment in time and
forwards the packets to it. If a subsequent connection comes in from the same
client, Load Balancer treats it as an unrelated new connection, and again picks the
right server at that moment in time.

Behavior when affinity is enabled

With the affinity feature enabled, if a subsequent request is received from the same
client, the request is directed to the same server.

178 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Over time, the client will finish sending transactions, and the affinity record will
go away. Hence the meaning of the sticky "time." Each affinity record lives for the
"stickytime" in seconds. When subsequent connections are received within the
stickytime, the affinity record is still valid and the request will go to the same
server. If a subsequent connection is not received within stickytime, the record is
purged; a connection that is received after that time will have a new server
selected for it.

The server down command (dscontrol server down) is used to bring a server
offline The server is not taken down until after the stickytime value expires.

Cross port affinity

Cross port affinity only applies to the Dispatcher component's MAC and
NAT/NATP forwarding methods.

Cross port affinity is the sticky feature that has been expanded to cover multiple
ports. For example, if a client request is first received on one port and the next
request is received on another port, cross port affinity allows the dispatcher to
send the client request to the same server. In order to use this feature, the ports
must:
v share the same cluster address
v share the same servers
v have the same (nonzero) stickytime value
v have the same stickymask value

More than one port can link to the same crossport. When subsequent connections
come in from the same client on the same port or a shared port, the same server
will be accessed. The following is an example of configuring multiple ports with a
cross port affinity to port 10:
dscontrol port set cluster:20 crossport 10
dscontrol port set cluster:30 crossport 10
dscontrol port set cluster:40 crossport 10

After cross port affinity has been established, you have the flexibility to modify the
stickytime value for the port. However, it is recommended that you change the
stickytime values for all shared ports to the same value, otherwise unexpected
results may occur.

To remove the cross port affinity, set the crossport value back to its own port
number. See “dscontrol port — configure ports” on page 319, for detailed
information on command syntax for the crossport option.

Affinity address mask (stickymask)

Affinity address mask only applies to the Dispatcher component.

Affinity address mask is a sticky feature enhancement to group clients based upon
common subnet addresses. Specifying stickymask on the dscontrol port command
allows you to mask the common high-order bits of the 32-bit IP address. If this
feature is configured, when a client request first makes a connection to the port, all
subsequent requests from clients with the same subnet address (represented by
that part of the address which is being masked) will be directed to the same server.

Note: In order to enable stickymask, port stickytime must be a nonzero value.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 179
 For example, if you want all incoming client requests with the same network Class
A address to be directed to the same server, you set the stickymask value to 8
(bits) for the port. To group client requests with the same network Class B address,
set the stickymask value to 16 (bits). To group client requests with the same
network Class C address, set the stickymask value to 24 (bits).

For best results, set the stickymask value when first starting the Load Balancer. If
you change the stickymask value dynamically, results will be unpredictable.

Interaction with cross port affinity: If you are enabling cross port affinity,
stickymask values of the shared ports must be the same. See “Cross port affinity”
on page 179 for more information.

To enable affinity address mask, issue an dscontrol port command similar to the
following:
dscontrol port set cluster:port stickytime 10 stickymask 8

Possible stickymask values are 8, 16, 24 and 32. A value of 8 specifies the first 8
high-order bits of the IP address (network Class A address) will be masked. A
value of 16 specifies the first 16 high-order bits of the IP address (network Class B
address) will be masked. A value of 24 specifies the first 24 high-order bits of the
IP address (network Class C address) will be masked. If you specify a value of 32,
you are masking the entire IP address which effectively disables the affinity
address mask feature. The default value of stickymask is 32.

See “dscontrol port — configure ports” on page 319, for detailed information on
command syntax for stickymask (affinity address mask feature).

Quiesce server connection handling

Quiesce handling applies to the Dispatcher and CBR components.

To remove a server from the Load Balancer configuration for any reason (updates,
upgrades, service, and so forth), you can use the dscontrol manager quiesce
command. The quiesce subcommand allows existing connections to complete
(without being severed) and forwards only subsequent new connections from the
client to the quiesced server if the connection is designated as sticky and
stickytime has not expired. The quiesce subcommand disallows any other new
connections to the server.

Quiesce handling for sticky connections

Use the quiesce “now" option if you have stickytime set, and you want new
connections sent to another server (instead of the quiesced server) before
stickytime expires. The following is an example of using the now option to quiesce
server 9.40.25.67:
dscontrol manager quiesce 9.40.25.67 now

The now option determines how sticky connections will be handled as follows:
v If you do not specify “now," you allow existing connections to complete and
forward subsequent new connections to the quiesced server from those clients
with existing connections that are designated as sticky, as long as the quiesced
server receives the new request before stickytime expires. (However, if you have
not enabled the sticky (affinity) feature, the quiesced server cannot receive any
new connections.)

180 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 This is the more graceful, less abrupt, way to quiesce servers. For instance, you
can gracefully quiesce a server and then wait for the time where there is the
least amount of traffic (perhaps early morning) to completely remove the server
from the configuration.
v By specifying “now," you quiesce the server so it allows existing connections to
complete but disallows all new connections including subsequent new
connections from those clients with existing connections that are designated as
sticky. This is the more abrupt way to quiesce servers, which was the only way
it was handled in earlier versions of the Load Balancer.

Affinity option on the rule based on the content of the client request
You can specify the following types of affinity on the dscontrol rule command:
v Active cookie — enables load-balancing Web traffic with affinity to the same
server based upon cookies generated by Load Balancer.
Active cookie affinity only applies to the CBR component.
v Passive cookie — enables load-balancing Web traffic with affinity to the same
server based upon self-identifying cookies generated by the servers. In
conjunction with passive cookie affinity, you must also specify the cookiename
parameter on the rule command.
Passive cookie applies to the CBR component and to Dispatcher component's cbr
forwarding method.
v URI — enables load-balancing Web traffic to caching-proxy servers in a manner
that effectively increases the capacity of the cache.
URI affinity applies to the CBR component and to Dispatcher component's cbr
forwarding method.

The default for the affinity option is "none." The stickytime option on the port
command must be zero (not enabled) in order to set the affinity option on the rule
command to active cookie, passive cookie, or URI. When affinity is set on the rule,
you cannot enable stickytime on the port.

Active cookie affinity

The active cookie affinity feature applies only to the CBR component.

It provides a way to make clients “sticky” to a particular server. This function is

enabled by setting the stickytime of a rule to a positive number, and setting the
affinity to “activecookie.” This can be done when the rule is added, or using the
rule set command. See “dscontrol rule — configure rules” on page 324, for detailed
information on command syntax.

When a rule has been enabled for active cookie affinity, new client requests are
load-balanced using standard CBR algorithms, while succeeding requests from the
same client are sent to the initially chosen server. The chosen server is stored as a
cookie in the response to the client. As long as the client's future requests contains
the cookie, and each request arrives within the stickytime interval, the client will
maintain affinity with the initial server.

Active cookie affinity is used to ensure that a client continues to be load balanced
to the same server for some period of time. This is accomplished by sending a
cookie to be stored by the clients browser. The cookie contains the cluster:port:rule
that was used to make the decision, the server that was load balanced to, and a
timeout timestamp for when the affinity is no longer valid. The cookie is in the

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 181
 following format: IBMCBR=cluster:port:rule+server-time! The cluster:port:rule and
server information are encoded so the CBR configuration is not revealed.

How active cookie affinity works

Whenever a rule fires that has active cookie affinity turned on, the cookie sent by
the client is examined.
v If a cookie is found that contains the identifier for the cluster:port:rule that fired,
then the server load balanced to, and the expires timestamp are extracted from
the cookie.
v If the server is still in the set used by the rule, and its weight is positive or it is a
quiesced server, and the expires timestamp is greater than now, then the server
in the cookie is chosen to load balance to.
v If any of the conditions in the previous bullet are not met, a server is chosen
using the normal algorithm.
v When a server has been chosen (using either of the two methods) a new cookie
is constructed containing IBMCBR, cluster:port:rule, server_chosen information,
and a timestamp. The timestamp is the time that affinity expires. The
“cluster:port:rule and server_chosen” are encoded so that no information about
the CBR configuration is revealed.
v An “expires” parameter is also inserted in the cookie. This parameter is in a
format the browser can understand, and causes the cookie to become invalid
seven days after the expires timestamp. This is so the client's cookie database
does not become cluttered.

This new cookie is then inserted in the headers that go back to the client, and if
the client's browser is configured to accept cookies, it will send back subsequent
requests.

Each affinity instance in the cookie is 65 bytes in length and end at the exclamation
mark. As a result, a 4096 byte cookie can hold approximately 60 individual active
cookie rules per domain. If the cookie fills up completely, then all expired affinity
instances are purged. If all instances are still valid, then the oldest one is dropped,
and the new instances for the current rule is added.

Note: CBR will replace any occurrences of old format IBMCBR cookies as they
appear in the proxy.

The active cookie affinity option, for the rule command, can only be set to
activecookie if port stickytime is zero (not enabled). When active cookie affinity is
active on a rule then you cannot enable stickytime on the port.

How to enable active cookie affinity

To enable active cookie affinity for a particular rule, use the rule set command:
rule set cluster:port:rule stickytime 60
rule set cluster:port:rule affinity activecookie

Why use active cookie affinity

Making a rule sticky would normally be used for CGI or servlets that store client
state on the server. The state is identified by a cookie ID (these are server cookies).
Client state is only on the selected server, so the client needs the cookie from that
server to maintain that state between requests.

Active cookie affinity expiration time override

Active cookie affinity has a default expiration of the current server time, plus the
stickytime interval, plus twenty-four hours. If your clients (those sending requests

182 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 to your CBR machine) have inaccurate times on their system (for example, they are
more than one day ahead of the server time), then those clients' systems will
ignore the cookies from CBR because the system will assume that the cookies have
already expired. To set a longer expiration time, modify the cbrserver script. In the
script file, edit the javaw line, adding the following parameter after
LB_SERVER_KEYS: -DCOOKIEEXPIREINTERVAL=X where X is the number of days to
add to the expiration time.

On AIX, Solaris and Linux systems, the cbrserver file is located in /usr/bin
directory.

On Windows systems, the cbrserver file is located in \winnt\system32 directory.

Passive cookie affinity

Passive cookie affinity applies to the Dispatcher component's content-based routing
(cbr) forwarding method and to the CBR component. See “Dispatcher's
content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for information on
how to configure Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method.

Passive cookie affinity provides a way to make clients sticky to a particular server.
When you enable the affinity of a rule to "passivecookie", passive cookie affinity
allows you to load-balance Web traffic with affinity to the same server, based on
self-identifying cookies generated by the servers. You configure passive cookie
affinity at the rule level.

When the rule fires, if passive cookie affinity is enabled, Load Balancer will choose
the server based on the cookie name in the HTTP header of the client request.
Load Balancer begins to compare the cookie name from the client's HTTP header
to the configured cookie value for each server.

The first time Load Balancer finds a server whose cookie value contains the client's
cookie name, Load Balancer chooses that server for the request.

Note: Load Balancer provides this flexibility in order to handle cases where the
server might generate a cookie value that has a static part appended with a
variable part. For example, the server's cookie value might be the server
name (a static value) appended with a timestamp (a variable value).

If the cookie name in the client request is not found or does not match any of the
content within the servers' cookie values, the server is chosen using existing server
selection or the weighted round-robin technique.

To configure passive cookie affinity:

v For Dispatcher, first configure Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method. (See
“Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41.) This
step is omitted for the CBR component.
v Set the affinity parameter to "passivecookie" on the dscontrol rule [add|set]
command. Also, the cookiename parameter must be set to the name of the
cookie that Load Balancer should look for in the client HTTP header request.
v Set the cookievalue parameter, for each server in the rule's server set, on the
dscontrol server [add|set] command.
The passive cookie affinity option, for the rule command, can only be set to
passivecookie if port stickytime is zero (not enabled). When passive cookie affinity
is active on a rule then you cannot enable stickytime on the port.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 183
 URI affinity
URI affinity applies to Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method and the CBR
component. See “Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on
page 41 for information on how to configure the cbr forwarding method.

URI affinity allows you to load-balance Web traffic to Caching Proxy servers which
allow unique content to be cached on each individual server. As a result, you will
effectively increase the capacity of your site's cache by eliminating redundant
caching of content on multiple machines. Configure URI affinity at the rule level.
After the rule fires, if URI affinity is enabled and the same set of servers are up
and responding, then Load Balancer will forward new incoming client requests
with the same URI to the same server.

Typically, Load Balancer can distribute requests to multiple servers that serve
identical content. When using Load Balancer with a group of caching servers,
frequently accessed content eventually becomes cached on all the servers. This
supports a very high client load by replicating identical cached content on multiple
machines. This is particularly useful for high volume Web sites.

However, if your Web site supports a moderate volume of client traffic to very
diverse content, and you prefer to have a larger cache spread across multiple
servers, your site would perform better if each caching server contained unique
content and Load Balancer distributed the request only to the caching server with
that content.

With URI affinity, Load Balancer allows you to distribute the cached content to
individual servers, eliminating redundant caching of content on multiple machines.
Performance for diverse-content server sites using Caching Proxy servers is
improved with this enhancement. It will send identical requests to the same server,
thereby caching content on single servers only. And, the effective size of the cache
will grow larger with each new server machine added to the pool.

To configure URI affinity:

v For Dispatcher, first configure Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method. (See
“Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41.) This
step is omitted for the CBR component.
v Set the affinity parameter to "uri" on the dscontrol rule [add|set] or cbrcontrol
rule [add|set] command.
The URI affinity option, for the rule command, can only be set to URI if port
stickytime is zero (not enabled). When URI affinity is active on a rule then you
cannot enable stickytime on the port.

Configure wide area Dispatcher support

This feature is only available for the Dispatcher component.

If you are not using the Dispatcher's wide area support and not using Dispatcher's
nat forwarding method, a Dispatcher configuration requires that the Dispatcher
machine and its servers all be attached to the same LAN segment (see Figure 32 on
page 185). A client's request comes into the Dispatcher machine and is sent to the
server. From the server, the response is sent directly back to the client.

184 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Dispatcher

Client Router

Server 1 Server 2 Server 3

Figure 32. Example of a configuration consisting of a single LAN segment

The wide area Dispatcher feature adds support for offsite servers, known as remote
servers (see Figure 33). If GRE is not supported at the remote site and if
Dispatcher's nat forwarding method is not being used, then the remote site must
consist of a remote Dispatcher machine (Dispatcher 2) and its locally attached
servers (ServerG, ServerH, and ServerI). A client's packet will go from the Internet
to the initial Dispatcher machine. From the initial Dispatcher machine, the packet
will then go to a geographically remote Dispatcher machine and one of its locally
attached servers.

All the Dispatcher machines (local and remote) must be on the same type of
operating system and platform in order to run wide area configurations.

Figure 33. Example of configuration using local and remote servers

This allows one cluster address to support all worldwide client requests while
distributing the load to servers around the world.

The Dispatcher machine initially receiving the packet can still have local servers
attached to it, and it can distribute the load between its local servers and the
remote servers.

Command Syntax
To configure wide area support :
1. Add the servers. When you add a server to a Dispatcher, you must define
whether the server is local or remote (see above). To add a server and define it
as local, issue the dscontrol server add command without specifying a router.
This is the default. To define the server as remote, you must specify the router
through which Dispatcher must send the packet in order to reach the remote
server. The server must be another Dispatcher and the server's address must be

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 185
 the nonforwarding address of the Dispatcher. For example, in Figure 34 on page
187, if you are adding LB 2 as a remote server under LB 1, you must define
router 1 as the router address. General syntax:
dscontrol server add cluster:port:server router address
For more information on the router keyword, see “dscontrol server — configure
servers” on page 330.
2. Configure aliases. On the first Dispatcher machine (where the client request
arrives from the Internet), the cluster address must be aliased using the
executor configure command. (For Linux or UNIX systems, you can use the
executor configure or ifconfig command.) On the remote Dispatcher machines,
however, the cluster address is not aliased to a network interface card.

Using remote advisors with Dispatcher's wide area support

On entry-point Dispatchers:

An entry-point dispatcher will treat the second-level Dispatcher as a server, and it

will monitor the health of it as a server and tie results to the real IP of the
dispatcher.

On remote Dispatchers: Perform the following configuration steps for each remote
cluster address. For a high-availability configuration at the remote Dispatcher
location, you must perform these steps on both machines.

AIX systems
v Dispatcher must have each cluster configured on the interface with a netmask
255.255.255.255 in order for the advisors to work properly. Use one of the
following syntax formats for configuring a cluster:
– ifconfig interface_name alias cluster_address netmask 255.255.255.255.
For example,
ifconfig en0 alias 10.10.10.99 netmask 255.255.255.255
– dscontrol executor configure interface_address interface_name netmask.
For example,
dscontrol executor configure 204.67.172.72 en0 255.255.255.255

Note: Advisors running on both the local and remote Dispatcher machines are
necessary.

HP-UX systems, Linux, Solaris, and Windows systems

v No additional configuration steps are required.

186 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Configuration example

Figure 34. Wide area example configuration with remote Load Balancers

This example applies to the configuration illustrated in Figure 34.

Here is how to configure the Dispatcher machines to support cluster address xebec
on port 80. LB1 is defined as the “entry-point” Load Balancer. An Ethernet
connection is assumed. Note that LB1 has five servers defined: three local
(ServerA, ServerB, ServerC) and two remote (LB2 and LB3). Remotes LB2 and LB3
each have three local servers defined.

At the console of the first Dispatcher (LB1), do the following:

1. Start the executor.
dscontrol executor start
2. Set the nonforwarding address of the Dispatcher machine.
dscontrol executor set nfa LB1
3. Define the cluster.
dscontrol cluster add xebec
4. Define the port.
dscontrol port add xebec:80
5. Define the servers.
a. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerA
b. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerB
c. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerC
d. dscontrol server add xebec:80:LB2 router Router1
e. dscontrol server add xebec:80:LB3 router Router1
6. Configure the cluster address.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 187
 dscontrol executor configure xebec

At the console of the second Dispatcher (LB2):

1. Start the executor.
dscontrol executor start
2. Set the nonforwarding address of the Dispatcher machine.
dscontrol executor set nfa LB2
3. Define the cluster.
dscontrol cluster add xebec
4. Define the port.
dscontrol port add xebec:80
5. Define the servers.
a. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerD
b. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerE
c. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerF

At the console of the third Dispatcher (LB3):

1. Start the executor.
dscontrol executor start
2. Set the nonforwarding address of the Dispatcher machine.
dscontrol executor set nfa LB3
3. Define the cluster.
dscontrol cluster add xebec
4. Define the port.
dscontrol port add xebec:80
5. Define the servers.
a. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerG
b. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerH
c. dscontrol server add xebec:80:ServerI

Notes
1. On all servers (A-I), alias the cluster address to the loopback.
2. Clusters and ports are added with dscontrol on all participating Dispatcher
machines: the entry-point Dispatcher and all remotes.
3. See “Using remote advisors with Dispatcher's wide area support” on page 186
for help with using remote advisors with wide area support.
4. Wide area support prohibits infinite routing loops. (If a Dispatcher machine
receives a packet from another Dispatcher, it will not forward it to a third
Dispatcher.) Wide area supports only one level of remotes.
5. Wide area supports UDP and TCP.
6. Wide area works along with high availability: Each Dispatcher may be backed
up by an adjacent standby machine (on the same LAN segment).
7. The Manager and Advisors work with wide area, and, if used, should be
started on all participating Dispatcher machines.
8. Load Balancer supports WAN only on like operating systems.

188 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) support
Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) is an Internet Protocol specified in RFC 1701
and RFC 1702. Using GRE, the Load Balancer can encapsulate client IP packets
inside IP/GRE packets and forward them to server platforms such as OS/390 that
support GRE. GRE support allows the Dispatcher component to load balance
packets to multiple server addresses associated with one MAC address.

Load Balancer implements GRE as part of its WAN feature. This allows Load
Balancer to provide wide area load balancing directly to any server systems that
can unwrap the GRE packets. Load Balancer does not need to be installed at the
remote site if the remote servers support the encapsulated GRE packets. Load
Balancer encapsulates WAN packets with the GRE key field set to decimal value
3735928559.

Figure 35. Wide area example configuration with server platform that supports GRE

For this example (Figure 35), to add remote ServerD, which supports GRE, define it
within your Load Balancer configuration as if you are defining a WAN server in
the cluster:port:server hierarchy:

dscontrol server add cluster:port:ServerD router Router1

For Linux systems, configuring GRE excapsulation for WAN

Linux systems have the native ability to excapsulate GRE which allows Load
Balancer to load balance to Linux for S/390 server images, where many server
images share a MAC address. This permits the entry-point Load Balancer to load
balance directly to Linux WAN servers, without passing through a Load Balancer
at the remote site. This also allows the entry-point Load Balancer's advisors to
operate directly with each remote server.

On the entry point Load Balancer, configure as described for WAN.

To configure each Linux backend server, issue the following commands as root.
(These commands may be added to the system's startup facility so that changes are
preserved across reboots.)
# modprobe ip_gre
# ip tunnel add gre-nd mode gre ikey 3735928559
# ip link set gre-nd up
# ip addr add cluster address dev gre-nd

Note: The Linux server configured using these instructions must not be on the
same physical segment as the entry-point Load Balancer. This is because the

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 189
 Linux server will respond to "ARP who-has" requests for the cluster address,
causing a race condition leading to a possible "short-circuit" in which all
traffic to the cluster address is directed only to the winner of the ARP-race.

Using explicit linking

In general, the load-balancing functions of the Dispatcher work independently of
the content of the sites on which the product is used. There is one area, however,
where site content can be important, and where decisions made regarding content
can have a significant impact upon the Dispatcher’s efficiency. This is in the area of
link addressing.

If your pages specify links that point to individual servers for your site, you are in
effect forcing a client to go to a specific machine, thus bypassing any load
balancing function that might otherwise be in effect. For this reason, always use
the address of Dispatcher in any links contained in your pages. Note that the kind
of addressing used may not always be apparent, if your site uses automated
programming that dynamically creates HTML. To maximize your load-balancing,
you should be aware of any explicit addressing and avoid it where possible.

Using a private network configuration

You can set up Dispatcher and the TCP server machines using a private network.
This configuration can reduce the contention on the public or external network that
can affect performance.

For AIX systems, this configuration can also take advantage of the fast speeds of
the SP High Performance Switch if you are running Dispatcher and the TCP server
machines on nodes in an SP Frame.

To create a private network, each machine must have at least two LAN cards, with
one of the cards connected to the private network. You must also configure the
second LAN card on a different subnet. The Dispatcher machine will then send the
client requests to the TCP server machines through the private network.

Windows systems: Configure the nonforwarding address using the executor

configure command.

The servers added using the dscontrol server add command must be added using
the private network addresses; for example, referring to the Apple server example
in Figure 36 on page 191, the command should be coded as:

dscontrol server add cluster_address:80:10.0.0.1

not

dscontrol server add cluster_address:80:9.67.131.18

If you are using Site Selector to provide load information to Dispatcher, you must
configure Site Selector to report loads on the private addresses.

190 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Figure 36. Example of a private network using Dispatcher

Using a private network configuration only applies to the Dispatcher component.

Use wildcard cluster to combine server configurations

Using wildcard cluster to combine server configurations only applies to the
Dispatcher component.

The “wildcard” refers to the cluster's ability to match multiple IP addresses (that is,
acts as a wildcard). Cluster address 0.0.0.0 is used to specify a wildcard cluster.

If you have many cluster addresses to load-balance, and the port/server

configurations are identical for all your clusters, you can combine all the clusters
into one wildcard cluster configuration.

You must still explicitly configure each cluster address on one of the network
adapters of your Dispatcher workstation. You should not add any of the cluster
addresses to the Dispatcher configuration using the dscontrol cluster add
command however.

Add only the wildcard cluster (address 0.0.0.0), and configure the ports and
servers as required for load balancing. Any traffic to any of the adapter configured
addresses is load balanced using the wildcard cluster configuration.

An advantage of this approach is that traffic to all the cluster addresses is taken
into account when determining the best server to go to. If one cluster is getting a
lot of traffic, and it has created many active connections on one of the servers,
traffic to other cluster addresses is load balanced using this information.

You can combine the wildcard cluster with actual clusters if you have some cluster
addresses with unique port/server configurations, and some with common
configurations. The unique configurations must each be assigned to an actual
cluster address. All common configurations can be assigned to the wildcard cluster.

Use wildcard cluster to load balance firewalls

Using wildcard cluster to load balance firewalls only applies to the Dispatcher
component. Cluster address 0.0.0.0 is used to specify a wildcard cluster.

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 191
 The wildcard cluster can be used to load balance traffic to addresses that are not
explicitly configured on any network adapter of the Dispatcher workstation. In
order for this to work, the Dispatcher must at least be able to see all the traffic it is
to load balance. The dispatcher workstation will not see traffic to addresses that
have not been explicitly configured on one of its network adapters unless it is set
up as the default route for some set of traffic.

After Dispatcher has been configured as a default route, any TCP or UDP traffic
through the Dispatcher machine is load balanced using the wildcard cluster
configuration.

One application of this is to load balance firewalls. Because firewalls can process
packets for any destination address and any destination port, you need to be able
to load balance traffic independent of the destination address and port.

Firewalls are used to handle traffic from non-secure clients to secure servers, and
the responses from the secure servers, as well as traffic from clients on the secure
side to servers on the non-secure side, and the responses.

You must set up two Dispatcher machines, one to load balance non-secure traffic to
the non-secure firewall addresses and one to load balance secure traffic to the
secure firewall addresses. Because both of these Dispatchers must use the wildcard
cluster and wildcard port with different sets of server addresses, the two
Dispatchers must be on two separate workstations.

Use wildcard cluster with Caching Proxy for transparent proxy

Using wildcard cluster with Caching Proxy for transparent proxy only applies to
the Dispatcher component. Cluster address 0.0.0.0 is used to specify a wildcard
cluster.

The wildcard cluster function also allows Dispatcher to be used to enable a

transparent proxy function for a Caching Proxy server residing on the same
machine as Dispatcher. This is an AIX feature only, as there must be
communication from the dispatcher component to the TCP component of the
operating system.

To enable this feature, you must start Caching Proxy listening for client requests on
port 80. You then configure a wildcard cluster (0.0.0.0). In the wildcard cluster, you
configure port 80. In port 80, you configure the NFA of the Dispatcher machine as
the only server. Now any client traffic to any address on port 80 is delivered to the
Caching Proxy server running on the Dispatcher workstation. The client request
will then be proxied as usual, and the response is sent back from Caching Proxy to
the client. In this mode, the Dispatcher component is not performing any load
balancing.

Use wildcard port to direct unconfigured port traffic

The wildcard port can be used to handle traffic that is not for any explicitly
configured port. One use of this is for load balancing firewalls. A second use is to
ensure that traffic to an unconfigured port is handled appropriately. By defining a
wildcard port with no servers, you will guarantee that any request to a port that
has not been configured is discarded rather than delivered back to the operating
system. Port number 0 (zero) is used to specify a wildcard port, for example:
dscontrol port add cluster:0

192 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Wildcard port to handle FTP traffic
When configuring a cluster to handle passive FTP and the wildcard port, passive
FTP by default utilizes the entire non-privileged TCP port range for data
connections. This means a client, with an existing connection through a
load-balancing cluster to an FTP control port, will have subsequent control
connections and high port connections (port >1023) to the same cluster
automatically routed by Load Balancer to the same server as the FTP control
connection.

If the wildcard port and the FTP port on the same cluster do not have the same
server set, then high port applications (port >1023) may fail when a client has an
existing FTP control connection. Therefore, configuring different server sets for the
FTP and wildcard ports on the same cluster is not recommended. If this scenario is
desired, the FTP daemon passive port range must be configured in the Load
Balancer configuration.

Denial of service attack detection

This feature is only available for the Dispatcher component.

Dispatcher provides the ability to detect potential "denial of service" attacks and
notify administrators by an alert. Dispatcher does this by analyzing incoming
requests for a conspicuous amount of half-open TCP connections on servers, a
common trait of simple denial of service attacks. In a denial of service attack, a site
receives a large quantity of fabricated SYN packets from a large number of source
IP addresses and source port numbers, but the site receives no subsequent packets
for those TCP connections. This results in a large number of half-opened TCP
connections on the servers, and over time the servers can become very slow,
accepting no new incoming connections.

Note: There must be incoming traffic through the cluster and port that are under
attack for Dispatcher to determine the end of a denial of service attack.
Dispatcher is unable to detect that the attack stops until traffic begins to
flow again.

Load Balancer provides user exits that trigger scripts which you can customize that
alert the Administrator to a possible denial of service attack. Dispatcher provides
sample script files in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples
The following scripts are available:
v halfOpenAlert — a probable denial of service (DoS) attack has been detected
v halfOpenAlertDone — the DoS attack has finished

In order to run the files, you must move them to the following directory and
remove the ".sample" file extension:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/bin
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin

To implement the DoS attack detection, set the maxhalfopen parameter on the
dscontrol port command as follows:
dscontrol port set 127.40.56.1:80 maxhalfopen 1000

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 193
 In the above example, Dispatcher will compare the current total number of
half-open connections (for all servers residing on cluster 127.40.56.1 on port 80)
with the threshold value of 1000 (specified by the maxhalfopen parameter). If the
current half-open connections exceeds the threshold, then a call to an alert script
(halfOpenAlert) is made. When the number of half-open connections drops below
the threshold, a call to another alert script (halfOpenAlertDone) is made to indicate
that the attack is over.

To determine how to set the maxhalfopen value: Periodically (perhaps every 10

minutes) run a half-open connection report (dscontrol port halfopenaddressreport
cluster:port) when your site is experiencing normal to heavy traffic. The half-open
connection report will return the current "total half-open connections received."
You should set maxhalfopen to a value that is anywhere from 50 to 200% greater
than the largest number of half-open connnections that your site experiences.

In addition to statistical data reported, the halfopenaddressreport will also generate

entries in the log (..ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/dispatcher/halfOpen.log) for all the
client addresses (up to approximately 8000 address pairs) that have accessed
servers that resulted in half open connnections.

Note: There is an SNMP trap corresponding to the halfOpenAlert and

halfOpenAlertDone scripts. If the SNMP subagent is configured and
running, the corresponding traps are sent under the same conditions which
trigger the scripts. For more information on the SNMP subagent, see “Using
Simple Network Management Protocol with the Dispatcher component” on
page 221.

To provide additional protection from denial of service attacks for backend servers,
you can configure wildcard clusters and ports. Specifically, under each configured
cluster add a wildcard port with no servers. Also add a wildcard cluster with a
wildcard port and no servers. This will have the effect of discarding all packets
which are not addressed to a non-wildcard cluster and port. For information on
wildcard clusters and wildcard ports, see “Use wildcard cluster to combine server
configurations” on page 191 and “Use wildcard port to direct unconfigured port
traffic” on page 192.

Using binary logging to analyze server statistics

Note: The binary logging feature applies to the Dispatcher and CBR component.

The binary logging feature allows server information to be stored in binary files.
These files can then be processed to analyze the server information that has been
gathered over time.

The following information is stored in the binary log for each server defined in the
configuration.
v cluster address
v port number
v serverID
v server address
v server weight
v server total connections
v server active connections

194 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

v server port load
v server system load

Some of this information is retrieved from the executor as part of the manager
cycle. Therefore the manager must be running in order for the information to be
logged to the binary logs.

Use dscontrol binlog command set to configure binary logging.

v binlog start
v binlog stop
v binlog set interval <second>
v binlog set retention <hours>
v binlog status

The start option starts logging server information to binary logs in the logs
directory. One log is created at the start of every hour with the date and time as
the name of the file.

The stop option stops logging server information to the binary logs. The log
service is stopped by default.

The set interval option controls how often information is written to the logs. The
manager will send server information to the log server every manager interval.
The information is written to the logs only if the specified log interval seconds
have elapsed since the last record was written to the log. By default, the log
interval is set to 60 seconds. There is some interaction between the settings of the
manger interval and the log interval. Since the log server is provided with
information no faster than manager interval seconds setting the log interval less
than the manager interval effectively sets it to the same as the manager interval.
This logging technique allows you to capture server information at any granularity.
You can capture all changes to server information that are seen by the manager for
calculating server weights. However, this amount of information is probably not
required to analyze server usage and trends. Logging server information every 60
seconds gives you snapshots of server information over time. Setting the log
interval very low can generate huge amounts of data.

The set retention option controls how long log files are kept. Log files older than
the retention hours specified are deleted by the log server. This will only occur if
the log server is being called by the manager, so stopping the manager will cause
old log files not to be deleted.

The status option returns the current settings of the log service. These settings are
whether the service is started, what the interval is, and what the retention hours
are.

A sample Java program and command file have been provided in the following
directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/samples/
BinaryLog
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\samples\BinaryLog

Chapter 21. Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector 195
 This sample shows how to retrieve all the information from the log files and print
it to the screen. It can be customized to do any type of analysis you want with the
data. An example using the supplied script and program for the dispatcher would
be:
dslogreport 2001/05/01 8:00 2001/05/01 17:00

to get a report of the Dispatcher component's server information from 8:00 AM to

5:00 PM on May 1, 2001. (For CBR, use cbrlogreport.)

Using a collocated client

Only Linux systems support configurations where the client is located on the same
machine as Load Balancer.

Collocated client configurations might not function correctly on other platforms

because Load Balancer uses different techniques to examine the incoming packets
on the various operating systems that it supports. In most cases, on systems other
than Linux, Load Balancer does not receive packets from the local machine. It
receives packets coming from the network only. Because of this, requests made to
the cluster address from the local machine are not received by Load Balancer and
cannot be serviced.

196 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and
Nortel Alteon Controller
This chapter includes the following sections:
v “Collocation”
v “High availability”
v “Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer” on page 200
v “Advisors” on page 201
v “Metric Server” on page 206
v “Using binary logging to analyze server statistics” on page 209
v “Using scripts to generate an alert or record server failure” on page 210

Note: In this chapter xxxcontrol denotes ccocontrol for Cisco CSS Controller and
nalcontrol for Nortel Alteon Controller.

Collocation
Cisco CSS Controller or Nortel Alteon Controller can reside on the same machine
as a server for which you are load balancing requests. This is commonly referred
to as collocating a server. No additional configuration steps are required.

Note: A collocated server competes for resources with Load Balancer during times
of high traffic. However, in the absence of overloaded machines, using a
collocated server offers a reduction in the total number of machines
necessary to set up a load-balanced site.

High availability
The high availability feature is now available for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel
Alteon Controller.

To improve controller fault tolerance, the high availability function contains these
features:
v Heartbeat mechanism to determine availability of partner controllers. Heartbeats
are exchanged between addresses configured on the xxxcontrol highavailability
add command. You can configure the interval during which beats are exchanged
and the interval during which a controller takes over from its partner.
v A list of reach targets that each controller must be able to reach to calculate
weights and update the switch. See “Failure detection” on page 199 for more
information.
v Logic to elect the active controller based on availability and reach information.
v Configurable takeover strategy used in determining how a controller takes over
from its partner.
v Manual takeover mechanism for maintenance on active controllers.
v Reports that display current controller role, state, synchronization, and so forth.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 197

 Configuration
See “ccocontrol highavailability — control high availability” on page 375 and
“nalcontrol highavailability — control high availability” on page 393 for the
complete syntax for xxxcontrol highavailability.

To configure controller high availability:

1. Start the controller server on both controller machines.
2. Configure each controller with identical configurations.
3. Configure the local high availability role, address, and partner address as
follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability add address 10.10.10.10
partneraddress 10.10.10.20 port 143 role primary
4. Configure the partner high availability role, address, and partner address as
follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability add address 10.10.10.20
partneraddress 10.10.10.10 port 143 role secondary

The address and partneraddress parameters are reversed on the primary and
secondary machines.
5. Optionally, configure high availability parameters on the local and partner
controllers; for example:
xxxcontrol highavailability set beatinterval 1000
6. Optionally, configure reach targets on local and partner controllers as follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability usereach 10.20.20.20

The same number of reach targets must be configured on the local and partner
controllers.
7. Start the high availability component and define recovery strategy on local and
partner controllers as follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability start auto
8. Optionally, display high availability information on local and partner
controllers as follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability report
9. Optionally, specify takeover on standby controller to take over from active
controller as follows:
xxxcontrol highavailability takeover

This is necessary only for maintenance.

Notes:
1. To configure a single controller without high availability, do not issue any high
availability commands.
2. To convert two controllers in a high availability configuration to a single
controller, stop high availability on the standby controller first; optionally, then
stop high availability on the active controller.
3. When you run two controllers in a high availability configuration, unexpected
results can occur if any of the controller properties differ between the switches;
for example, switchconsultantid, switch address, and so forth. You can also get
unexpected results if the controller high availability properties do not match;
for example, port, role, reach targets, beatinterval, takeoverinterval, and
recovery strategy.

198 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Failure detection
In addition to the loss of connectivity between active and standby controllers,
which is detected through the heartbeat messages, reachability is another failure
detection mechanism.

When you configure controller high availability, you can provide a list of hosts that
each of the controllers must reach to work correctly. There must be at least one
host for each subnet that your controller machine uses. These hosts can be routers,
IP servers, or other host types.

Host reachability is obtained by the reach advisor, which pings the host.
Switchover takes place if the heartbeat messages cannot go through, or if the
reachability criteria are better met by the standby controller than by the active
controller. To make this decision based on all available information, the active
controller regularly sends the standby controller its reachability capabilities and
vice versa. The controllers then compare their reachability information with their
partner's information and decide who should be active.

Recovery strategy
The roles of the two controller machines are configured as primary and secondary.
At startup the controllers exchange information until each machine is
synchronized. At this point, the primary controller moves to the active state and
begins calculating weights and updating the switch, while the secondary machine
moves to standby state and monitors the availability of the primary machine.

At any point if the standby machine detects that the active machine has failed, the
standby machine performs a takeover of the active (failed) machine's
load-balancing functions and becomes the active machine. When the primary
machine is again operational, the two machines determine which controller will be
active according to how recovery strategy is configured.

There are two kinds of recovery strategy:

Automatic recovery
The primary controller moves to the active state, calculating and updating weights,
as soon as it becomes operational again. The secondary machine moves to standby
after the primary is active.

Manual recovery
The active secondary controller remains in active state, even after the primary
controller is operational.

The primary controller moves to standby state and requires manual intervention to
move to the active state.

The strategy parameter must be set the same for both machines.

Examples
For Cisco CSS Controller high availability configuration examples, see “Examples”
on page 377.

For Nortel Alteon Controller high availability configuration examples, see

“Examples” on page 395.

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 199
Optimizing the load balancing provided by Load Balancer
The controller function of Load Balancer performs load balancing based on the
following settings:
v “Importance given to metric information”
v “Weights”
v “Weight calculation sleeptimes” on page 201
v “Advisor sleeptimes” on page 202
v “Sensitivity threshold” on page 201
You can change these settings to optimize load balancing for your network.

Importance given to metric information

The controller can use some or all of the following metric collectors in its
weighting decisions:
v Active connections: The number of active connections on each load balanced
server machine, retrieved from the switch.
v Connection rate: The number of new connections since the last query on each
load balanced server machine retrieved from the switch.
v CPU: The percentage of CPU in use on each load balanced server machine
(input from Metric Server agent).
v Memory: The percentage of memory in use (input from Metric Server agent) on
each load balanced server.
v System metric: The input from the system monitoring tools, such as Metric Server
or WLM.
v Application-specific: The input from advisors listening on the port.

The default metrics are activeconn and connrate.

You can change the relative proportion of importance of the metric values. Think
of the proportions as percentages; the sum of the relative proportions must equal
100%. By default, the active connections and new connections metrics are used and
their proportions are set to 50/50. In your environment, you might need to try
different metric proportion combinations to find the combination that gives the
best performance.

To set the proportion values:

For Cisco CSS Controller
ccocontrol ownercontent metrics metricName1 proportion1 metricName2
proportion2
For Nortel Alteon Controller
nalcontrol service metrics metricName1 proportion1 metricName2 proportion2

Weights
Weights are set based upon application response time and availability, feedback
from the advisors, and feedback from a system-monitoring program, such as
Metric Server. If you want to set weights manually, specify the fixedweight option
for the server. For a description of the fixedweight option, see “Controller fixed
weights” on page 201.

Weights are applied to all servers providing a service. For any particular service,
the requests are distributed between servers based on their weights relative to each

200 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 other. For example, if one server is set to a weight of 10, and the other to 5, the
server set to 10 should get twice as many requests as the server set to 5.

If an advisor finds that a server has gone down, the weight for the server is set to
-1. For Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller the switch is informed
that the server is not available and the switch stops assigning connections to the
server.

Controller fixed weights

Without the controller, advisors cannot run and cannot detect if a server is down.
If you choose to run the advisors, but do not want the controller to update the
weight you have set for a particular server, use the fixedweight option on the
ccocontrol service command for Cisco CSS Controller or the nalcontrol server
command for Nortel Alteon Controller.

Use the fixedweight command to set the weight to the value you desire. The
server weight value remains fixed while the controller is running until you issue
another command with fixedweight set to no.

Weight calculation sleeptimes

To optimize overall performance, you can restrict how often metrics are collected.

The consultant sleeptime specifies how often the consultant updates the server
weights. If the consultant sleeptime is too low, it can mean poor performance as a
result of the consultant constantly interrupting the switch. If the consultant
sleeptime is too high, it can mean that the switch's load balancing is not based on
accurate, up-to-date information.

For example, to set the consultant sleeptime to 1 second:

xxxcontrol consultant set consultantID sleeptime interval

Sensitivity threshold
Other methods are available for you to optimize load balancing for your servers.
To work at top speed, updates to the weights for the servers are only made if the
weights have changed significantly. Constantly updating the weights when there is
little or no change in the server status would create an unnecessary overhead.
When the percentage weight change for the total weight for all servers providing a
service is greater than the sensitivity threshold, the weights used by the load
balancer to distribute connections are updated. Consider, for example, that the total
weight changes from 100 to 105. The change is 5%. With the default sensitivity
threshold of 5, the weights used by the load balancer are not updated, because the
percentage change is not above the threshold. If, however, the total weight changes
from 100 to 106, the weights are updated. To set the consultant's sensitivity
threshold to a value other than the default, enter the following command:
xxxcontrol consultant set consultantID sensitivity percentageChange

In most cases, you will not need to change this value.

Advisors
Advisors are agents within Load Balancer. Their purpose is to assess the health
and load of server machines. They do this with a proactive client-like exchange
with the servers. Consider advisors as lightweight clients of the application
servers.

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 201
 Note: For a detailed list of advisors, see “List of advisors” on page 149.

How advisors work

Advisors periodically open a TCP connection with each server and send a request
message to the server. The content of the message is specific to the protocol
running on the server. For example, the HTTP advisor sends an HTTP “HEAD”
request to the server.

Advisors then listen for a response from the server. After getting the response, the
advisor makes an assessment of the server. To calculate this load value, most
advisors measure the time for the server to respond, then use this value (in
milliseconds) as the load.

Advisors then report the load value to the consultant function, where it appears in
the consultant report. The consultant then calculates aggregate weight values from
all its sources, per its proportions, and sends these weight values to the switch.
The switch uses these weights for load balancing new incoming client connections.

If the advisor determines that a server is alive and well, it reports a positive,
non-zero load number to the consultant. If the advisor determines that a server is
not active, it returns a special load value of negative one (-1) to inform the switch
that the server is down. Subsequently, the switch does not forward any further
connections to that server until the server has come back up.

Advisor sleeptimes
Note: The advisor defaults work efficiently for the great majority of possible
scenarios. Use caution when entering values other than the defaults.

The advisor sleeptime sets how often an advisor asks for status from the servers
on the port it is monitoring and then reports the results to the consultant. If the
advisor sleeptime is too low, it can result in poor performance because the advisor
constantly interrupts the servers. If the advisor sleeptime is too high, it can mean
that the consultant's weighting decisions are not based on accurate, up-to-date
information.

For example, to set the interval to 3 seconds for the HTTP advisor, type the
following command:
xxxcontrol metriccollector set consultantID:HTTP sleeptime 3

Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout for servers

You can set the amount of time an advisor takes to detect that a particular port on
the server or service has failed. The failed-server timeout values, connecttimeout
and receivetimeout, determine how long an advisor waits before reporting that
either a connect or receive has failed.

To obtain the fastest failed-server detection, set the advisor connect and receive
timeouts to the smallest value (one second), and set the advisor and consultant
sleeptime to the smallest value (one second).

Note: If your environment experiences a moderate-to-high volume of traffic and

server response time increases, do not set the timeoutconnect and
timeoutreceive values too small. If these values are too small, the advisor
might prematurely mark a busy server as failed.

202 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 To set the timeoutconnect to 9 seconds for the HTTP advisor, type the following
command:
xxxcontrol metriccollector set consultantID:HTTP timeoutconnect 9

The default for connect and receive timeout is 3 times the value specified for the
advisor sleeptime.

Advisor retry
Advisors have the ability to retry a connection before marking a server down. The
advisor will not mark a server down until the server query has failed the number
of retries plus 1. If not set the retry value defaults to zero.

For the Cisco CSS Controller, set the retry value using ccocontrol ownercontent set
command. For more information, see “ccocontrol ownercontent — control the
owner name and content rule” on page 380.

For the Nortel Alteon Controller, set the retry value using nalcontrol service set
command. For more information, see “nalcontrol service — configure a service” on
page 400.

Create custom (customizable) advisors

Note: In this section server is used as a generic term to refer to a service for Cisco
CSS Controller or to a server for Nortel Alteon Controller.

The custom (customizable) advisor is a small piece of Java code that you provide
as a class file, and is called by the base code. The base code provides all
administrative services, such as:
v Starting and stopping an instance of the custom advisor
v Providing status and reports
v Recording history information in a log file

It also reports results to the consultant. Periodically the base code performs an
advisor cycle, where it individually evaluates all servers in its configuration. It
starts by opening a connection with a server machine. If the socket opens, the base
code calls the getLoad method (function) in the custom advisor. The custom
advisor then performs the necessary steps to evaluate the health of the server.
Typically, it sends a user-defined message to the server and then waits for a
response. (Access to the open socket is provided to the custom advisor.) The base
code then closes the socket with the server and reports the load information to the
consultant.

The base code and custom advisor can operate in either normal or replace mode.
Choice of the mode of operation is specified in the custom advisor file as a
parameter in the constructor method.

In normal mode, the custom advisor exchanges data with the server, and the base
advisor code times the exchange and calculates the load value. The base code then
reports this load value to the consultant. The custom advisor needs only return a
zero (on success) or negative one (on error). To specify normal mode, the replace
flag in the constructor is set to false.

In replace mode, the base code does not perform any timing measurements. The
custom advisor code performs whatever operations are desired for its unique

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 203
 requirements, and then returns an actual load number. The base code will accept
the number and report it to the consultant. For best results, normalize your load
number between 10 and 1000, with 10 representing a fast server, and 1000
representing a slow server. To specify replace mode, the replace flag in the
constructor is set to true.

With this feature, you can write your own advisors to provide the precise
information about servers that you need. A sample custom advisor,
ADV_ctlrsample.java, is provided for the controllers. After installing Load
Balancer, you can find the sample code in:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples/CustomAdvisors
v Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples\CustomAdvisors

Note: If you add a custom advisor to Cisco CSS Controller or Nortel Alteon
Controller, you must stop and then restart ccoserver or nalserver (for
Windows systems, use Services) to enable the Java process to read the new
custom advisor class files. The custom advisor class files are loaded only at
startup.

Naming Convention
Your custom advisor file name must be in the form ADV_myadvisor.java. It must
start with the prefix ADV_ in uppercase. All subsequent characters must be
lowercase letters.

As per Java conventions, the name of the class defined within the file must match
the name of the file. If you copy the sample code, be sure to change all instances of
ADV_ctrlsample inside the file to your new class name.

Compilation
Custom advisors are written in Java language. Use the Java compiler that is
installed with Load Balancer. The following files are referenced during compilation:
v The custom advisor file
v The base classes file, ibmlb.jar, found in the following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
lib
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib

Your classpath must point to both the custom advisor file and the base classes file
during the compile.

For Windows platform, a compile command might look like this:

install_dir/java/bin/javac -classpath
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\ibmlb.jar ADV_pam.java

where:
v Your advisor file is named ADV_pam.java
v Your advisor file is stored in the current directory

The output for the compilation is a class file; for example:

ADV_pam.class

Before starting the advisor, copy the class file to the following directory:

204 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors

Note: If you want, custom advisors can be compiled on one operating system and
run on another. For example, you can compile your advisor on Windows
systems, copy the class file (in binary) to an AIX machine, and run the
custom advisor there.

For AIX, HP-UX, Linux , and Solaris systems, the syntax is similar.

Run
To run the custom advisor, you must first copy the class file to the proper
installation directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors/ADV_pam.class
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors\ADV_pam.class

Start the consultant, then issue this command to start your custom advisor:
For Cisco CSS Controller
ccocontrol ownercontent metrics consultantID:ownerContentID pam 100
For Nortel Alteon Controller
nalcontrol service metrics consultantID:serviceID pam 100

where:
v pam is the name of your advisor, as in ADV_pam.java
v 100 is the proportion of weight given to this advisor

Required routines
Like all advisors, a custom advisor extends the function of the advisor base, called
ADV_Base. It is the advisor base that actually performs most of the advisor's
functions, such as reporting loads back to the consultant for use in the consultant's
weight algorithm. The advisor base also performs socket connect and close
operations and provides send and receive methods for use by the advisor. The
advisor itself is used only for sending and receiving data to and from the port on
the server being advised. The TCP methods within the advisor base are timed to
calculate the load. A flag within the constructor in the ADV_base overwrites the
existing load with the new load returned from the advisor if desired.

Note: Based on a value set in the constructor, the advisor base supplies the load to
the weight algorithm at specified intervals. If the actual advisor has not
completed so that it can return a valid load, the advisor base uses the
previous load.

These are base class methods:

v A constructor routine. The constructor calls the base class constructor (see the
sample advisor file)
v An ADV_AdvisorInitialize method. This method provides a hook in case
additional steps need to be taken after the base class completes its initialization.

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 205
 v A getLoad routine. The base advisor class performs the open socket; therefore
getLoad needs only to issue the appropriate send and receive requests to
complete the advise cycle.

Search order
The controllers first look at the provided list of native advisors; if they do not find
a given advisor there, they look at the list of custom advisors.

Naming and path

v The custom advisor class must be located within the subdirectory of the
CustomAdvisors directory in the Load Balancer base directory. The defaults for
this directory vary by operating system:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
lib/CustomAdvisors
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors
v Only lowercase, alphabetic characters are permitted. This eliminates case
sensitivity when an operator types in commands on the command line. The
advisor file name must be prefixed with ADV_.

Sample advisor
The program listing for a controller sample advisor is included in “Sample
advisor” on page 419. After installation, this sample advisor can be found in the
following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/lib/
CustomAdvisors
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\lib\
CustomAdvisors

Metric Server
Metric Server provides server load information to the Load Balancer in the form of
system-specific metrics, reporting on the health of the servers. The Load Balancer
consultant queries the Metric Server agent residing on each of the servers,
assigning weights to the load balancing process using the metrics gathered from
the agents. The results are also placed into the service report for Cisco CSS
Controller or the server report for Nortel Alteon Controller.

Prerequisites
The Metric Server agent must be installed and running on all servers that are being
load balanced.

How to Use Metric Server

Below are the steps to configure Metric Server for the controllers.
v Controller side
1. Start ccoserver or nalserver.
2. For Cisco CSS Controller, add a switch consultant, then add ownercontent.
For Nortel Alteon Controller, add a switch consultant, then add a service.
3. Specify the port on which the metric server agent listens. This must match
the information specified in the metricserver.cmd file. The default port is
10004. Use the following command:

206 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 For Cisco CSS Controller
ccocontrol service set consultantID:ownerContentID:serverID
metricserverport portNumber
For Nortel Alteon Controller
nalcontrol server set consultantID:serviceID:serverID metricserverport
portNumber
4. Issue the system metric command:
For Cisco CSS Controller
ccocontrol ownercontent metrics consultantID:ownerContentID
metricName importance
For Nortel Alteon Controller
nalcontrol service metrics consultantID:serviceID metricName
importance
where metricName is the name of the metric server script.
The system metric script resides on the backend server and runs on each of
the servers in the configuration under the specified ownercontent or service.
Two scripts, cpuload and memload are provided, or you can create custom
system metric scripts. The script contains a command that must return a
numeric value. This numeric value represents a load measurement, not an
availability value.
Limitation: For Windows systems, if the name of your system metric script
has an extension other than .exe, you must specify the full name of the file;
for example, mySystemScript.bat. This is a Java code limitation.
5. Issue the command for your controller as follows:
For Cisco CSS Controller
ccocontrol consultant start
For Nortel Alteon Controller
nalcontrol consultant start

Note: Ensure Security —

– On the controller machine, create key files using the lbkeys create
command. See “Remote Method Invocation (RMI)” on page 213 for
more information on lbkeys.
– On the server machine, copy the resulting key file to the following
directory:
- AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/key
- Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\key
Verify that the key file's permissions enable the file to be readable by
the root.
v Metric Server agent (server machine side)
1. Install the Metric Server package from the Load Balancer install.
2. Check the metricserver script in the appropriate directory to verify that you
are using the desired RMI port. The default RMI port is 10004, and the
location for the script is:
– For UNIX and Linux based operating systems, the directory is /usr/bin.
– For Windows systems, the directory is <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin.

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 207
 Note: The RMI port value specified must be the same value as the RMI port
value for the Metric Server on the controller machine.
3. The following two scripts are provided: cpuload (returns the percentage of
cpu in use ranging from 0-100) and memload (returns the percentage of
memory in use ranging from 0-100). These scripts reside in the following
directory:
– For UNIX and Linux based operating systems, the directory is
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script.
– For Windows systems, the directory is <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ms\
script.
Optionally, you can write your own customized metric script files that define
the command that the Metric Server will issue on the server machines.
Ensure that any custom scripts are executable and located in the following
directory:
– For UNIX and Linux based operating systems, the directory is
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script.
– For Windows systems, the directory is <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\ms\
script.
Custom scripts must return a numeric load value.

Note: A custom metric script must be a valid program or script with a .bat
or .cmd extension. Specifically, for AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris
operating systems, scripts must begin with the shell declaration;
otherwise, they might not properly run.
4. Start the agent by issuing the metricserver command.
5. To stop the Metric Server agent, type metricserver stop.

To have Metric Server run on an address other than the local host, edit the
metricserver file on the load-balanced server machine. After java in the
metricserver file, insert the following:
-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=OTHER_ADDRESS

In addition, before the "if" statements in the metricserver file, add this: hostname
OTHER_ADDRESS.

For Windows systems: Alias the OTHER_ADDRESS on the Microsoft stack. To alias
an address on the Microsoft stack, see the section on aliasing an address on the
Microsoft stack for a metric server.

Workload manager advisor

WLM is code that runs on MVS mainframes. It can be queried to ask about the
load on the MVS machine.

When MVS Workload Management has been configured on your OS/390 system,
the controllers can accept capacity information from WLM and use it in the load
balancing process. Using the WLM advisor, the controllers periodically open
connections through the WLM port on each server in the consultant host table and
accept the capacity integers returned. Because these integers represent the amount
of capacity that is still available and the consultants expects values representing the
loads on each machine, the capacity integers are inverted by the advisor and
normalized into load values (for example, a large capacity integer but a small load

208 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 value both represent a healthier server). There are several important differences
between the WLM advisor and other controller advisors:
1. Other advisors open connections to the servers using the same port on which
flows normal client traffic. The WLM advisor opens connections to the servers
using a port different from normal traffic. The WLM agent on each server
machine must be configured to listen on the same port on which the controller
WLM Advisor is started. The default WLM port is 10007.
2. It is possible to use both protocol-specific advisors along with the WLM
advisor. The protocol-specific advisors will poll the servers on their normal
traffic ports, and the WLM advisor will poll the system load using the WLM
port.

Using binary logging to analyze server statistics

The binary logging feature allows server information to be stored in binary files.
These files can then be processed to analyze the server information that has been
gathered over time.

The following information is stored in the binary log for each server defined in the
configuration.
v parent (ownercontentID for Cisco CSS Controller; serviceID for Nortel Alteon
Controller)
v server ID
v server address
v server port
v server weight
v number of metrics configured for this server
v list of metric values

The consultant must be running to log information in the binary logs.

Use the xxxcontrol consultant binarylog command set to configure binary logging.
v binarylog start
v binarylog stop
v binarylog report
v binarylog set interval <seconds>
v binarylog set retention <hours>

The start option starts logging server information to binary logs in the logs
directory. One log is created at the start of every hour with the date and time as
the name of the file.

The stop option stops logging server information to the binary logs. The log
service is stopped by default.

The set interval option controls how often information is written to the logs. The
consultant sends server information to the log server every consultant interval. The
information is written to the logs only if the specified log interval seconds have
elapsed since the last record was written to the log. By default, the log interval is
set to 60 seconds.

Chapter 22. Advanced features for Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller 209
 There is some interaction between the settings of the consultant interval and the
log interval. Because the log server is provided with information no faster than the
consultant interval seconds, setting the log interval less than the consultant interval
effectively sets it to the same as the consultant interval.

This logging technique allows you to capture server information at any granularity.
You can capture all changes to server information that are seen by the consultant
for calculating server weights; however, this amount of information is probably not
required to analyze server usage and trends. Logging server information every 60
seconds gives you snapshots of server information over time. Setting the log
interval very low can generate huge amounts of data.

The set retention option controls how long log files are kept. Log files older than
the retention hours specified are deleted by the log server. This occurs only if the
log server is being called by the consultant, so if you stop the consultant, old log
files are not deleted.

A sample Java program and command file are provided in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples/BinaryLog
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples\
BinaryLog
This sample shows how to retrieve all the information from the log files and print
it to the screen. It can be customized to do any type of analysis you want with the
data.

Following is an example using the supplied script and program:

xxxlogreport 2002/05/01 8:00 2002/05/01 17:00

This produces a report of the controller's server information from 8:00 AM to 5:00
PM on May 1, 2002.

Using scripts to generate an alert or record server failure

Load Balancer provides user exits that trigger scripts that you can customize. You
can create the scripts to perform automated actions, such as alerting an
Administrator when servers are marked down or simply record the event of the
failure. Sample scripts, which you can customize, are in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples
To run the files, copy them to the following directory, and rename each file
according to the directions contained in the script:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/bin
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin

The following sample scripts are provided, where xxx is cco for Cisco CSS
Controller, and nal for Nortel Alteon Controller:
v xxxserverdown — a server is marked down by the controller.
v xxxserverUp — a server is marked back up by the controller.
v xxxallserversdown — all servers are marked down for a particular service.

210 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Part 8. Administering and troubleshooting Load Balancer
This part provides information on administering and troubleshooting Load
Balancer. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 23, “Operating and managing Load Balancer,” on page 213
v Chapter 24, “Troubleshooting,” on page 231

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 211

212 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer
Note: When reading this chapter, in the general sections that are not specific to
one component, if you are not using the Dispatcher component, then
substitute "dscontrol" and "dsserver" with the following:
v For CBR, use cbrcontrol and cbrserver
v For Site Selector, use sscontrol and ssserver
v For Cisco CSS Controller, use ccocontrol and ccoserver
v For Nortel Alteon Controller, use nalcontrol and nalserver

This chapter explains how to operate and manage Load Balancer and includes the
following sections:
v “Remote administration of Load Balancer”
– “Remote Method Invocation (RMI)”
– “Web-based administration” on page 215
v “Using Load Balancer logs” on page 217
– “For Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector” on page 217
– “For Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller” on page 218
v “Using the Dispatcher component” on page 219
– “Using Simple Network Management Protocol with the Dispatcher
component” on page 221
v “Using the Content Based Routing component” on page 228
v “Using the Site Selector component” on page 228
v “Using the Cisco CSS Controller component” on page 229
v “Using the Nortel Alteon Controller component” on page 229

Remote administration of Load Balancer

Load Balancer provides two different ways to run its configuration programs on a
separate machine from the one on which the Load Balancer resides.
Communication between the configuration programs (dscontrol, cbrcontrol,
sscontrol, ccocontrol, nalcontrol) and the server (dsserver, cbrserver, and so on) can
be performed by using either one of the following methods:
v Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI)
v Web-based administration

The advantage to remote administration using RMI is that performance is faster

than Web-based administration.

The advantages to using Web-based administration is that it provides secure,

authenticated, remote administration, and it can communicate to the Load Balancer
machine even when a firewall is present. Also, this administration method does not
require installation and use of authentication keys (lbkeys) on the remote client
machine that is communicating with the Load Balancer machine.

Remote Method Invocation (RMI)

For RMI, the command to connect to a Load Balancer machine for remote
administration is dscontrol host:remote_host.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 213

 If the RMI call comes from a machine other than the local machine, a public
key/private key authentication sequence must occur before the configuration
command is accepted.

Communication between the control programs running on the same machine as

the component servers are not authenticated.

Use the following command to generate public and private keys to be used for
remote authentication:

lbkeys [create|delete]

This command runs only on the same machine as the Load Balancer.

Using the create option creates a private key in the servers key directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/key
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\key
The script also creates public keys in the administration keys directory for each of
the Load Balancer components:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys
The file name for the public key is: component-ServerAddress-RMIport. These public
keys must then be transported to the remote clients and placed in the
administration keys directory.

For a Load Balancer machine with hostname address 10.0.0.25 using the default
RMI port for each component, the lbkeys create command generates the following
files:
v The private key:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
key/authorization.key
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\key\
authorization.key
v The public keys:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
- /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys/dispatcher-10.0.0.25-10099.key
- /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys/cbr-10.0.0.25-11099.key
- /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys/ss-10.0.0.25-12099.key
- /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys/cco-10.0.0.25-13099.key
- /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys/nal-10.0.0.25-14099.key
– Windows operating systems:
- <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys\dispatcher-10.0.0.25-10099.key
- <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys\cbr-10.0.0.25-11099.key
- <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys\ss-10.0.0.25-12099.key
- <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys\cco-10.0.0.25-13099.key
- <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys\nal-10.0.0.25-14099.key

The administration fileset has been installed on another machine. The public key
files must be placed in the following directory on the remote client machine:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/keys

214 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\admin\keys

The remote client will now be authorized to configure Load Balancer on 10.0.0.25.

These same keys must be used on all remote clients that you want to authorize to
configure Load Balancer on 10.0.0.25.

If you were to run the lbkeys create command again, a new set of public/private
keys would be generated. This would mean that all remote clients who tried to
connect using the previous keys would not be authorized. The new key would
have to be placed in the correct directory on those clients you want to reauthorize.

The lbkeys delete command deletes the private and public keys on the server
machine. If these keys are deleted, no remote clients will be authorized to connect
to the servers.

For both lbkeys create and lbkeys delete there is a force option. The force option
suppresses the command prompts that ask if you wish to overwrite or delete the
existing keys.

After you establish the RMI connection, you can communicate between the
configuration programs using dscontrol, cbrcontrol, sscontrol, ccocontrol,
nalcontrol, dswizard, cbrwizard, and sswizard commands from a command
prompt. You can also configure Load Balancer using the GUI by typing lbadmin
from a command prompt.

Note: Due to changes to security packages in the Java version, Load Balancer keys
generated for releases prior to v5.1.1 may not be compatible with the keys
for the current release, so you must regenerate your keys when you install a
new release.

Web-based administration
Requirements
To use Web-based administration, the following is required on the client machine
that performs remote administration:
v JRE 1.3.0 (or higher)
v For information on supported browsers, refer to the following Web page:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921

Note: If you are using Netscape, do not resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore
Down, and so on) the Netscape browser window in which the Load
Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a page every time
browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from the host
to occur. You will need to reconnect to the host each time you resize the
window.

The following is required on the host machine that you are accessing in order to
perform remote Web-based administration:
v Caching Proxy V6
v Perl 5.5 (or higher)

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 215

 Configuring Caching Proxy
v For Caching Proxy, IBM Key Management utility (iKeyman) or other utility is
required to create SSL server certificates. (See Caching Proxy Administration Guide
for information on how to create the certificates.)
v In the "Load Balancer Web-based Administration" section of the Caching Proxy
configuration file (ibmproxy.conf), add the following directives after protection
domains are defined, but before the mapping rules:
For Windows systems —
Protect /lb-admin/lbwebaccess PROT-ADMIN
Exec /lb-admin/lbwebaccess C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\admin\lbwebaccess.pl
Pass /lb-admin/help/* C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\admin\help\*
Pass /lb-admin/*.jar C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\admin\lib\*.jar
Pass /lb-admin/* C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\admin\*
Pass /documentation/lang/* C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\documentation\lang\*

where lang is your language subdirectory (for example, en_US)

For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems —
Protect /lb-admin/lbwebaccess PROT-ADMIN
Exec /lb-admin/lbwebaccess /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/lbwebaccess.pl
Pass /lb-admin/help/* /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/help/*
Pass /lb-admin/*.jar /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/lib/*.jar
Pass /lb-admin/* /opt/ibm/edge/lb/admin/*
Pass /documentation/lang/* /opt/ibm/edge/lb/documentation/lang/*

Note: On HP-UX systems, the lbwebaccess.pl script assumes the Perl binary is
located in the /usr/bin/ directory. (The first line of the script contains
#!/usr/bin/perl.) Update this directory path to wherever the Perl
application is located. Another option is to create a symbolic link. For
example, if Perl is installed at /opt/perl/bin/perl, run the command:
ln -s /opt/perl/bin/perl /usr/bin/perl

Running and accessing Web-based administration

In order to run Web-based administration, it must be started on the Load Balancer
host machine: Issue lbwebaccess from the command prompt of the host machine.

The userID and password to the host machine that you are accessing remotely is
also required. The userID and password are the same as the Caching Proxy
administration userID and password.

To bring up Load Balancer's Web-based administration, access the following URL

on the Web browser from the remote location:
http://host_name/lb-admin/lbadmin.html

Where host_name is the name of the machine you are accessing in order to
communicate with Load Balancer.

When the Web page is loaded, the Load Balancer GUI will appear in the browser
window for you to perform remote Web-based administration.

From the Load Balancer GUI, you can also issue configuration control commands.
In order to issue a command from the GUI:
1. highlight the Host node from the GUI tree
2. select Send command... from the Host pop-up menu

216 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 3. in the command entry field, type the command that you want to run. For
example: executor report. The results and history of the commands run in the
current session appear in the window provided.

Refreshing configuration remotely

With remote Web-based administration, if there are multiple administrators

updating the Load Balancer configuration from other locations, you will need to
refresh the configuration in order to view (for example) the cluster, port or server
that has been added (or deleted) by another administrator. Remote Web-based
administration GUI provides a Refresh Configuration and Refresh all
Configurations function.

From the Web-based GUI, to refresh the configuration

v for one Host: right-click a Host node in the GUI tree structure and select
Refresh Configuration
v for all Hosts: select File from the menu and then select Refresh All
Configurations

Using Load Balancer logs

For Dispatcher, CBR, and Site Selector

Load Balancer posts entries to a server log, a manager log, a metric monitor log
(logging communications with Metric Server agents), and a log for each advisor
you use.

Note: Additionally, for the Dispatcher component only, entries can be made to a
subagent (SNMP) log.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

You can set the logging level to define the expansiveness of the messages written
to the log. At level 0, errors are logged and Load Balancer also logs headers and
records of events that happen only once (for example, a message about an advisor
starting to be written to the manager log). Level 1 includes ongoing information,
and so on, with level 5 including every message produced to aid in debugging a
problem if necessary. The default for the manager, advisor, server, or subagent logs
is 1.

You can customize the following logging features:

v Setting the logging level to define the expansiveness of the messages written to
the log. At level 0, errors are logged and Load Balancer also logs headers and
records of events that happen only once (for example, a message about an
advisor starting to be written to the manager log). Level 1 includes ongoing
information, and so on, with level 5 including every message produced to aid in
debugging a problem if necessary. The default for the manager, advisor, server,
or subagent logs is 1.
v Setting the maximum size of a log. When the log file reaches the specified size,
it is saved as <component>.log.full, and subsequent logs are written in the

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 217

 currently running file. In next cycle, the existing <component>.log.full is deleted
and Load Balancer will create a new one.<note>You cannot set the log size to a
value that is smaller than the current one. The higher you set the log level, the
more carefully you should choose the log size. At level 0, it is probably safe to
leave the log size to the default of 1MB; however, when logging at level 3 and
above, you should limit the size without making it too small to be useful.

Configure logging with the following commands:

v To configure the logging level or maximum log size for a server log, use the
dscontrol set command. (To display the server log settings, use the dscontrol
logstatus command.)
v To configure the logging level or maximum log size for a manager log, use the
dscontrol manager command.
v To configure the logging level or maximum log size for the metric monitor log
that logs communication with Metric Server agents, use the dscontrol manager
metric set command.
v To configure the logging level or maximum log size for an advisor log, use the
dscontrol advisor command.
v To configure the logging level or maximum log size for a subagent log, use the
dscontrol subagent command. (Only the Dispatcher component uses the SNMP
subagent.)

Changing the log file paths

By default, the logs generated by Load Balancer are stored in the logs directory of
the Load Balancer installation. To change this path, set the lb_logdir variable in the
dsserver script.

AIX, HP-UX, Linux , and Solaris systems: The dsserver script is found in /usr/bin
directory. In this script, the variable lb_logdir is set to the default directory. You can
modify this variable to specify your log directory. Example:

LB_LOGDIR=/path/to/my/logs/

Windows systems: The dsserver file is found in the <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin

directory. In the dsserver file, the variable lb_logdir is set to the default directory.
You can modify this variable to specify your log directory. Example:

set LB_LOGDIR=c:\path\to\my\logs\

For all operating systems, make sure that there are no spaces on either side of the
equal sign and that the path ends in a slash ("/" or "\" as appropriate).

Binary logging

Note: Binary logging does not apply to the Site Selector component.

The binary logging feature of Load Balancer uses the same log directory as the
other log files. See “Using binary logging to analyze server statistics” on page 194.

For Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller

You can set the logging level to define the expansiveness of the messages written
to the log. At level 0, errors are logged and Load Balancer also logs headers and
records of events that happen only once (for example, a message about an advisor
starting to be written to the consultant log). Level 1 includes ongoing information,

218 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 and so on, with level 5 including every message produced to aid in debugging a
problem if necessary. The default for the logs is 1.

You can also set the maximum size of a log. When you set a maximum size for the
log file, the file will wrap; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent
entries will be written at the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries.
You cannot set the log size to a value that is smaller than the current one. Log
entries are timestamped so you can tell the order in which they were written.

The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you should choose the log size.
At level 0, it is probably safe to leave the log size to the default of 1MB; however,
when logging at level 3 and above, you should limit the size without making it too
small to be useful.

Controller logs
Cisco CSS Controller and Nortel Alteon Controller have logs as follows:
v controller log (controller set command)
v consultant log (consultant set command)
v highavailability log (highavailability set command)
v metriccollector log (metriccollector set command)
v binary log (consultant binarylog command)

The following is an example of configuring the logging level and maximum log
size for the metric monitor log that logs communication with Metric Server agents:
xxxcontrol metriccollector set consultantID:serviceID:metricName
loglevel x logsize y

Changing the log file paths

By default, the logs generated by the controllers are stored in the logs directory of
the controller installation. To change this path, set the xxx_logdir variable in the
xxxserver script.

AIX, HP-UX, Linux , and Solaris systems: The xxxserver script is found in
/usr/bin directory. In this script, the variable xxx_logdir is set to the default
directory. You can modify this variable to specify your log directory. Example:

xxx_LOGDIR=/path/to/my/logs/

Windows systems: The xxxserver file is found in the <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\

bin directory. In the xxxserver file, the variable xxx_logdir is set to the default
directory. You can modify this variable to specify your log directory. Example:

set xxx_LOGDIR=c:\path\to\my\logs\

For all operating systems, make sure that there are no spaces on either side of the
equal sign and that the path ends in a slash ("/" or "\" as appropriate).

Binary logging

The binary logging feature of Load Balancer uses the same log directory as the
other log files. See “Using binary logging to analyze server statistics” on page 194.

Using the Dispatcher component

This section explains how to operate and manage the Dispatcher component.

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 219

 Starting and Stopping Dispatcher
v Type dsserver on a command line to start Dispatcher.
v Type dsserver stop on a command line to stop Dispatcher.

Using stale timeout value

For Load Balancer, connections are considered stale when there has been no
activity on that connection for the number of seconds specified in stale timeout.
When the number of seconds has been exceeded with no activity, Load Balancer
will remove that connection record from its tables, and subsequent traffic for that
connection is discarded.

At the port level, for example, you can specify the stale timeout value on the
dscontrol port set staletimeout command.

Stale timeout can be set at the executor, cluster, and port levels. At the executor
and cluster levels, the default is 300 seconds and it filters down to the port. At the
port level, the default depends on the port. Some well defined ports have different
default stale timeout values. For example, the telnet port 23 has a default of
259,200 seconds.

Some services may also have staletimeout values of their own. For example, LDAP
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) has a configuration parameter called
idletimeout. When idletimeout seconds have been exceeded, an idle client
connection will be forcibly closed. Idletimeout may also be set to 0, which means
that the connection will never be forcibly closed.

Connectivity problems can occur when Load Balancer's stale timeout value is
smaller than the service's timeout value. In the case of LDAP, the Load Balancer
staletimeout value defaults to 300 seconds. If there is no activity on the connection
for 300 seconds, Load Balancer will remove the connection record from its tables. If
the idletimeout value is larger than 300 seconds (or set to 0), the client may still
believe that it has a connection to the server. When the client sends packets, the
packets will be discarded by Load Balancer. This causes LDAP to hang when a
request is made to the server. To avoid this problem, set the LDAP idletimeout to a
nonzero value that is the same or smaller than the Load Balancer staletimeout
value.

Using fintimeout and staletimeout to control cleanup of

connection records
A client sends a FIN packet after it has sent all its packets so that the server will
know that the transaction is finished. When Dispatcher receives the FIN packet, it
marks the transaction from active state to FIN state. When a transaction is marked
FIN, the memory reserved for the connection can be cleared.

To improve the performance of connection record allocation and reuse, use the
executor set fintimeout command to control the period during which Dispatcher
should keep connections in the FIN state, active in the Dispatcher tables and
accepting traffic. When a connection in the FIN state exceeds fintimeout, it is
removed from the Dispatcher tables and ready for reuse. You can change the FIN
timeout using the dscontrol executor set fincount command.

220 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Use the dscontrol executor set staletimeout command to control the period during
which Dispatcher should keep connections in the Established state when no traffic
has been seen active in the Dispatcher tables and accepting traffic. See “Using stale
timeout value” on page 220 for more information.

Reporting GUI — the Monitor menu option

Various charts can be displayed based on information from the executor and
relayed to the manager. (The GUI Monitor menu option requires that the manager
function is running):
v Connections per second per server (multiple servers could be shown on the
same graph)
v Relative weighting values per server on a particular port
v Average connection duration per server on a particular port

Using Simple Network Management Protocol with the

Dispatcher component
A network management system is a program that runs continuously and is used to
monitor, reflect status of, and control a network. Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP), a popular protocol for communicating with devices in a network,
is the current network management standard. The network devices typically have
an SNMP agent and one or more subagents. The SNMP agent talks to the network
management station or responds to command line SNMP requests. The SNMP
subagent retrieves and updates data and gives that data to the SNMP agent to
communicate back to the requester.

Dispatcher provides an SNMP Management Information Base

(ibmNetDispatcherMIB) and an SNMP subagent. This allows you to use any
network management system, such as — Tivoli® NetView®, Tivoli Distributed
Monitoring, or HP OpenView — to monitor the Dispatcher's health, throughput,
and activity. The MIB data describes the Dispatcher being managed and reflects
current Dispatcher status. The MIB gets installed in the ..lb/admin/MIB
subdirectory.

Note: The MIB, ibmNetDispatcherMIB.02, will not load using Tivoli NetView
xnmloadmib2 program. To fix this problem, comment out the
NOTIFICATION-GROUP section of the MIB. That is, insert "- -" in front of
the line "indMibNotifications Group NOTIFICATION-GROUP", and the 6
lines which follow.

The network management system uses SNMP GET commands to look at MIB
values on other machines. It then can notify you if specified threshold values are
exceeded. You can then affect Dispatcher performance, by modifying configuration
data for Dispatcher, to proactively tune or fix Dispatcher problems before they
become Dispatcher or Web server outages.

SNMP commands and protocol

The system usually provides an SNMP agent for each network management
station. The user sends a GET command to the SNMP agent. In turn, this SNMP
agent sends a GET command to retrieve the specified MIB variable values from a
subagent responsible for those MIB variables.

Dispatcher provides a subagent that updates and retrieves MIB data. The subagent
responds with the appropriate MIB data when the SNMP agent sends a GET

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 221

 command. The SNMP agent communicates the data to the network management
station. The network management station can notify you if specified threshold
values are exceeded.

The Dispatcher SNMP support includes an SNMP subagent that uses Distributed
Program Interface (DPI) capability. DPI is an interface between an SNMP agent and
its subagents. Windows operating system uses the Windows extension agent as an
interface between an SNMP agent and its subagents.

Enabling SNMP on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems

Load Balancer (AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris)

SNMP GET Dispatcher

command
dpld 2
dpl
SNMP agent ( translator
sub data
SMUX-dpl)
SNMP response agent
to GET command

Figure 37. SNMP commands for AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems

AIX systems provides an SNMP agent that uses SNMP Multiplexer protocol
(SMUX) and provides DPID2, which is an additional executable that works as a
translator between DPI and SMUX.

For HP-UX systems, you must obtain an SNMP agent that is SMUX-enabled
because HP-UX does not provide one. Load Balancer provides DPID2 for HP-UX
systems.

Linux systems provides an SNMP agent that uses SMUX. Most of the Linux
versions (for example, Red Hat) come with a UCD SNMP package. UCD SNMP
version 4.1 or later has SMUX enabled agents. Load Balancer provides DPID2 for
Linux systems.

Note: For SuSE Linux systems, you must obtain an SNMP agent that is
SMUX-enabled because SuSE does not provide one.

For Solaris systems, you must obtain an SNMP agent that is SMUX-enabled
because Solaris does not provide one. Load Balancer provides DPID2 for Solaris
systems in the /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/samples/SNMP directory.

The DPI agent must run as a root user. Before you run the DPID2 daemon, update
the /etc/snmpd.peers file and the /etc/snmpd.conf file as follows:

For AIX and Solaris systems:

v In the /etc/snmpd.peers file, add the following entry for dpid:
"dpid2" 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 "dpid_password"

222 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

v In the /etc/snmpd.conf, add the following entry for dpid:
smux 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 dpid_password #dpid

For Linux systems:

v In the /etc/snmpd.peers file (if it does not exist in the system then create one),
add the following entry for dpid:
"dpid2" 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 "dpid_password"
v In the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf, add the following entry for dpid:
smuxpeer .1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 dpid_password

Also, you must comment all lines in the snmpd.conf file that begin with the
following words: com2sec, group, view or access.

Enable SNMP on HP-UX systems

To install HP-UX SNMP support:
1. If you do not have a version of GNU SED installed, obtain it from the HP Web
site, http://www.hp.com.
2. Obtain ucd-snmp-4.2.4.tar.gz from the following Web page,
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=12694.
3. Ensure that you have "gcc" and "gmake or make" installed on your machine. If
not, you must install them.
4. Unzip the ucd-snmp-4.2.4.tar.gz file and then untar all of the source files in the
directory.
5. Go to the directory where the source files are kept and then do the following:
a. run ./configure --with-mib-modules=smux
b. make
c. Run the next two commands as root:
1) umask 022
2) make install
d. export SNMPCONFPATH=/etc/snmp
e. start /usr/local/sbin/snmpd -s (This starts the SNMP agent)
f. start dpid2 (This starts the DPI translator)
g. dscontrol subagent start (This starts the Dispatcher subagent)

Enable SNMP on SuSE Linux systems

In order to use Load Balancer SNMP with SuSE Linux sysems, you must do the
following:
1. Remove the installed ucd-snmp rpm from the SuSE machine.
2. Get ucd-snmp-4.2.4.tar.gz from http://sourceforge.net/project/
showfiles.php?group_id=12694.
3. Make sure you have "gcc" and "gmake or make" installed on your SuSE
machine (you must install them if they are not there).
4. Unzip the ucd-snmp-4.2.4.tar.gz file and then untar all of the source files in the
directory.
5. Go to the directory where the source files are kept and then do the following:
a. run ./configure ––with–mib–modules=smux
b. make
c. Run the next two commands as root:
1) umask 022 #

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 223

 2) make install
d. export SNMPCONFPATH=/etc/snmp
e. start /usr/local/sbin/snmpd –s
f. start dpid2

Refresh snmpd (if it is already running) so that it will reread the snmpd.conf file:
refresh -s snmpd

Start the DPID SMUX peer:

dpid2

The daemons must be started in the following order:

1. SNMP agent
2. DPI translator
3. Dispatcher subagent

Enabling SNMP on Solaris systems

To install Solaris SNMP support:
1. Kill the running Solaris SNMP daemon (snmpdx and snmpXdmid).
2. Rename files as follows:
/etc/rc3.d/S76snmpdx to /etc/rc3.d/K76snmpdx
/etc/rc3.d/S77dmi to /etc/rc3.d/K77dmi
3. Download the following packages from http://www.sunfreeware.com/:
v libgcc-3.0.3-sol8-sparc-local (SMClibgcc)
v openssl-0.9.6c-sol8-sparc-local (SMCosslc)
v popt-1.6.3-sol8-sparc-local (SMCpopt)
4. Install the downloaded packages using pkgadd.
5. Download ucd-snmp-4.2.3-solaris8.tar.gz from http://sourceforge.net/project/
showfiles.php?group_id=12694
6. Gunzip and untar the ucd-snmp-4.2.3-solaris8.tar.gz at root directory (/)
7. Issue the following commands:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /usr/local/lib:/usr/
local/ssl/lib:/usr/lib
export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
export SNMPCONFPATH =/etc/snmp
export MIBDIRS=/usr/local/share/snmp/mibs
cp /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/samples/SNMP/dpid2
/usr/local/sbin/dpid2
8. It it does not already exist, create /etc/snmpd.peers. Insert the following into
snmpd.peers:
"dpid2" 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 "dpid_password"
9. If it does not already exist, create /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf. Insert the following
into snmpd.conf:
smuxpeer 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.3.1.2.2.1.1.2 dpid_password
10. Start /usr/local/sbin/snmpd.
11. Start /usr/local/sbin/dpid2.

224 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Notes:
1. The following packages are in package format.
v libgcc-3.0.3-sol8-sparc-local (SMClibgcc)
v openssl-0.9.6c-sol8-sparc-local (SMCosslc)
v popt-1.6.3-sol8-sparc-local (SMCpopt)
On the http://sunfreeware.com/ Web site, the names have an extension of .gz,
so do not try to gunzip/untar them. Instead, use pkgadd packageName.
2. When you are adding the smuxpeer entry in /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf, make
sure no space is added to the dpid_password string.
3. The Load Balancer SNMP feature is tested with smux-enabled ucd-snmp
version 4.2.3. Future releases of ucd-snmp with smux should work with similar
setup.

Enabling SNMP on Windows operating system

To install the Windows SNMP support:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. In the Windows Component Wizard, click Management and Monitoring Tools
(but do not select or clear its check box), then click Details
4. Select the Simple Network Management Protocol checkbox, click OK.
5. Click Next.

Providing a community name for SNMP

With the executor running, use the dscontrol subagent start [communityname]
command to define the community name used between the Windows OS
Extension agent and the SNMP agent.

IMPORTANT: On Windows 2003, by default SNMP does not respond to any

community names presented. In such case, the SNMP subagent will not respond to
any SNMP requests. To ensure that the SNMP subagent will respond to the
community name, you must set SNMP Service Properties with the appropriate
community name and destination host(s). Configure SNMP security properties as
follows:
1. Open Computer Management
2. In the console tree, click Services
3. In the details pane, click SNMP Service
4. On the action menu, click Properties
5. On the Security tab, under Accepted community names, click Add
6. Under Community Rights, select a permission level for this host to process
SNMP requests from the selected community (at least Read Only permission)
7. In Community Name, type a case-sensitive community name, the same as you
provided to the Load Balancer Subagent (default community name: public), and
then click Add
8. Specify whether or not to accept SNMP packets from a host. Choose one of the
following options:
v To accept SNMP requests from any host on the network, regardless of
identity: click Accept SNMP packets from any host. (With this option, a
person or entity must be verified by means of authentication, based on
criteria such as a password or a certificate.)

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 225

 v To limit acceptance of SNMP packets: click To limit acceptance of SNMP
packets, click Accept SNMP packets from these hosts, then click Add. Type
the appropriate host name, IP or IPX address, and then click Add, after each
entry.
9. Restart the SNMP Service in order for the change to take effect

Traps
SNMP communicates by sending and receiving traps, messages sent by managed
devices to report exception conditions or the occurrence of significant events, such
as a threshold having been reached.

The subagent uses the following traps:

v indHighAvailStatus
v indSrvrGoneDown
v indDOSAttack
v indDOSAttackDone

The indHighAvailStatus trap announces that the value of the high-availability

status state variable (hasState) has changed. The possible values of hasState are:
-idle This machine is load balancing and is not trying to establish contact with
its partner Dispatcher.
-listen High availability has just started and the Dispatcher is listening for its
partner.
-active This machine is load balancing.
-standby
This machine is monitoring the active machine.
-preempt
This machine is in a transitory state during the switch from primary to
backup.
-elect The Dispatcher is negotiating with its partner regarding who will be the
primary or backup.
-no_exec
The executor is not running

The indSrvrGoneDown trap announces that the weight for the server specified by
the csID (cluster ID), psNum (port number), and ssID (server ID) portion of the
Object Identifier has gone to zero. The last known number of active connections for
the server is sent in the trap. This trap indicates that, as far as the Dispatcher can
determine, the specified server has gone down.

The indDOSAttack trap indicates that numhalfopen, the number of half-open

connections consisting only of SYN packets, has exceeded the maxhhalfopen
threshold for the port specified by the csID (cluster ID) and psNum (port number)
portion of the Object Identifier. The number of servers configured on the port is
sent in the trap. This trap indicates that Load Balancer may be experiencing a
Denial Of Service Attack.

The indDOSAttackDone trap indicates that numhalfopen, the number of half-open

connections consisting only of SYN packets, has fallen below the maxhalfopen
threshold for the port specified by the csID and psNum portion of the Object
Identifier. The number of servers configured on the port is sent in the trap. When

226 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Load Balancer determines that the possible Denial of Service attack is over, this
trap is sent after an indDOSAttack trap is sent.

For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems, due to a limitation in the
SMUX API, the enterprise identifier reported in traps from the ibmNetDispatcher
subagent may be the enterprise identifier of dpid2, instead of the enterprise
identifier of ibmNetDispatcher, 1.3.6.1.4.1.2.6.144. However, the SNMP management
utilities are able to determine the source of the trap because the data will contain
an object identifier from within the ibmNetDispatcher MIB.

Turning the SNMP support on and off from the dscontrol

command
The dscontrol subagent start command turns the SNMP support on. The dscontrol
subagent stop command turns the SNMP support off.

For more information about the dscontrol command, see “dscontrol subagent —
configure SNMP subagent” on page 338.

Using ipchains or iptables to reject all traffic to harden the

Load Balancer machine (Linux systems)
Built into the Linux kernel is a firewall facility called ipchains. When Load
Balancer and ipchains run concurrently, Load Balancer sees packets first, followed
by ipchains. This allows the use of ipchains to harden a Linux Load Balancer
machine, which could be, for example, a Load Balancer machine that is used to
load balance firewalls.

When ipchains or iptables are configured as completely restricted (no inbound or

outbound traffic permitted), the packet-forwarding portion of Load Balancer
continues to function normally.

Note that ipchains and iptables cannot be used to filter incoming traffic before it is
load balanced.

Some additional traffic must be permitted for all of Load Balancer to function
properly. Some examples of this communication are:
v Advisors communicate between the Load Balancer machine and the backend
servers.
v Load Balancer pings backend servers, reach targets, and high availability partner
Load Balancer machines.
v User interfaces (graphical user interface, command line, and wizards) use RMI.
v backend servers must respond to pings from the Load Balancer machine.

In general, an appropriate ipchains strategy for the Load Balancer machines is to

disallow all traffic, except that which is to or from the backend servers, the partner
high availability Load Balancer, any reach targets, or any configuration hosts.

It is not recommended to activate iptables when running Load Balancer on Linux

kernel version 2.4.10.x. Activation on this Linux kernel version can result in
performance degradation over time.

To deactivate iptables, list the modules (lsmod) to see which modules are using
ip_tables and ip_conntrack, then remove them by issuing rmmod ip_tables and
rmmod ip_conntrack. When you reboot the machine these modules will be added
again, so you need to repeat these step each time you reboot.

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 227

 For more information, see “Problem: Linux iptables can interfere with the routing
of packets” on page 268.

Using the Content Based Routing component

This section explains how to operate and manage the CBR component of Load
Balancer.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

Starting and Stopping CBR

v Type cbrserver on a command line to start CBR.
v Type cbrserver stop on a command line to stop CBR.

CBR and Caching Proxy collaborate using the Caching Proxy plug-in API to handle
HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) request. Caching Proxy must be running on the same
machine in order for CBR to begin load balancing servers. Set up CBR and
Caching Proxy as described in “CBR configuration example” on page 83.

Controlling CBR
After starting CBR, you can control it using either of the following methods:
v Configure CBR through the cbrcontrol command. The complete syntax of this
command is described in Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and
CBR,” on page 287. Some example uses are listed here.
v Configure CBR using the graphical user interface (GUI). Type lbadmin on the
command line to open the GUI. See “GUI” on page 77 for more information on
how to configure CBR using the GUI.

Using CBR logs

The logs used by CBR are similar to those used in Dispatcher. For more
information, see “Using Load Balancer logs” on page 217.

Note:
In previous releases, for CBR you could change the log directory path in the
Caching Proxy configuration file. Now you can change the directory path where
the log gets stored in the cbrserver file. See “Changing the log file paths” on page
219.

Using the Site Selector component

Starting and stopping Site Selector

v Type ssserver on a command line to start Site Selector.
v Type ssserver stop on a command line to stop Site Selector.

Controlling Site Selector

After starting Site Selector, you can control it using either of the following
methods:
228 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 v Configure Site Selector through the sscontrol command. The complete syntax of
this command is described in Chapter 27, “Command reference for Site
Selector,” on page 341. Some example uses are listed here.
v Configure Site Selector using the graphical user interface (GUI). Type lbadmin
on the command line to open the GUI. See “GUI” on page 96 for more
information on how to configure Site Selector using the GUI.

Using Site Selector logs

The logs used by Site Selector are similar to those used in Dispatcher. For more
description, see “Using Load Balancer logs” on page 217.

Using the Cisco CSS Controller component

Starting and stopping Cisco CSS Controller

1. Type ccoserver on a command line to start Cisco CSS Controller.
2. Type ccoserver stop on a command line to stop Cisco CSS Controller.

Controlling Cisco CSS Controller

After starting Cisco CSS Controller, you can control it using either of the following
methods:
v Configure Cisco CSS Controller through the ccocontrol command. The complete
syntax of this command is described in Chapter 28, “Command reference for
Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 367. Some example uses are listed here.
v Configure Cisco CSS Controller using the graphical user interface (GUI). Type
lbadmin on the command line to open the GUI. See “GUI” on page 115 for more
information on how to configure Cisco CSS Controller using the GUI.

Using Cisco CSS Controller logs

The logs used by Cisco CSS Controller are similar to those used in Dispatcher. For
more description, see “Using Load Balancer logs” on page 217.

Using the Nortel Alteon Controller component

Starting and stopping Nortel Alteon Controller

1. Type nalserver on a command line to start Nortel Alteon Controller.
2. Type nalserver stop on a command line to stop Nortel Alteon Controller.

Controlling Nortel Alteon Controller

After starting Nortel Alteon Controller, you can control it using either of the
following methods:
v Configure Nortel Alteon Controller through the nalcontrol command. The
complete syntax of this command is described in Chapter 29, “Command
reference for Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 385. Some example uses are
listed here.
v Configure Nortel Alteon Controller using the graphical user interface (GUI).
Type lbadmin on the command line to open the GUI. See “GUI” on page 134 for
more information on how to configure Nortel Alteon Controller using the GUI.

Chapter 23. Operating and managing Load Balancer 229

 Using Nortel Alteon Controller logs
The logs used by Nortel Alteon Controller are similar to those used in Dispatcher.
For more description, see “Using Load Balancer logs” on page 217.

Using the Metric Server component

Starting and stopping Metric Server

Metric Server provides server load information to the Load Balancer. Metric Server
resides on each of the servers that are being load balanced.

Linux and UNIX systems:

v On each server machine where Metric Server resides, type metricserver start on
a command line to start Metric Server.
v On each server machine where Metric Server resides, type metricserver stop on
a command line to stop Metric Server.

Windows systems:

Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Right-click IBM
Metric Server and select Start. To stop the service, follow the same steps and select
Stop.

Using Metric Server logs

Change the log level in the Metric Server startup script. You can specify a log level
range of 0 through 5, similar to the log level range in Load Balancer logs. This will
generate an agent log in the ...ms/logs directory.

230 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting
This chapter helps you detect and resolve problems associated with Load Balancer.
v Before you call IBM service, see “Gathering troubleshooting information.”
v Find the symptom you are experiencing in “Troubleshooting tables” on page
235.

Gathering troubleshooting information

Use the information in this section to gather the data that IBM service requires.
The information is divided into the following subjects.
v “General information (always required)”
v “High availability (HA) problems” on page 232
v “Advisor problems” on page 232
v “Content Based Routing problems” on page 233
v “Not able to hit the cluster” on page 233
v “All else fails” on page 234
v “Upgrades” on page 234
v “Helpful links” on page 235

General information (always required)

For the Dispatcher component only, there is a problem determination tool that
automatically gathers operating system-specific data and component-specified
configuration files. To run this tool, type lbpd from the appropriate directory:
For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/
servers/bin
For Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin

This problem determination tool packages the data into files as follows:
For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/
lbpmr.tar
For Windows systems: lbpmr.jar, which is created in the directory from which
you run the lbpd tool.

Before you call IBM service, have the following information available.
v For Dispatcher only, the lbpmr file that is generated by the problem
determination tool discussed above.
v In a high availability environment, configuration files from both Load Balancer
machines. On all operating systems, use the script you use to load the
configuration, or issue this command:
dscontrol file save primary.cfg
This command places the configuration file in the following directory:
– AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/
servers/configuration/component
– Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configuration\component

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 231

 v The operating system you are running and the version of that operating system.
To determine the version of Load Balancer that you are running, refer to the
product information in IBM Installation Manager.
v Issue the following command to obtain the current level of Java:
java -fullversion
v Are you using Ethernet?
v Issue one of these commands to get protocol statistics and TCP/IP connection
information:
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
netstat -ni
On Windows systems:
ipconfig /all
This is required from all servers and Load Balancer.
v Issue one of these command to get information on the route tables:
On AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems:
netstat -nr
On Windows systems:
route print
This is required from all servers and Load Balancer.

High availability (HA) problems

Gather the following required information for problems in an HA environment.
v Set hamon.log at loglevel 5: dscontrol set loglevel 5.
v Set reach.log at loglevel 5: dscontrol manager reach set loglevel 5.
v Obtain the scripts, located as follows:
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/bin
Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\bin
The script names are:
goActive
goStandby
goIdle (if present)
goInOp (if present)
Also include the configuration files. See “General information (always required)”
on page 231.

Advisor problems
Gather the following required information for advisor problems; for example,
when advisors are mistakenly marking servers as down.
v Set the advisor log at loglevel 5:
dscontrol advisor loglevel http 80 5
or
dscontrol advisor loglevel advisorName port loglevel
or
dscontrol advisor loglevel advisorName cluster:port loglevel
or
nalcontrol metriccollector set consultantID:serviceID:metricName
loglevel value

232 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 This creates a log named ADV_advisorName log; for example, ADV_http.log. This
log is located as follows:
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris platforms: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/logs/
component
Windows platforms: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\logs\component
Where component is:
dispatcher = Dispatcher
cbr = Content Based Routing
cco = Cisco CSS Controller
nal = Nortel Alteon Controller
ss = Site Selector

Note: When writing custom advisors, it is helpful to use the

ADVLOG(loglevel,message) to verify the advisor is working correctly.

The ADVLOG call prints statements to the advisors log file when the level is
less than the logging level associated with the advisors. A logging level of 0
will cause the statement to always be written. You cannot use ADVLOG
from the constructor. The log file is not created until immediately after the
custom advisor's constructor has completed because the log file name
depends on information that is set in the constructor.

There is another way to debug your custom advisor that will avoid this
limitation. You can use System.out.println(message) statements to print
messages to a window. Edit the dsserver script and change javaw to java for
the print statements to appear in the window. The window used to start
dsserver must be kept open for the prints to appear. If you are using
Windows platforms, you must stop the Dispatcher from running as a service
and manually start it from a window to see the messages.

Refer to Programming Guide for Edge Components for more information on

ADVLOG.

Content Based Routing problems

Gather the following required information for Content Based Routing problems.
v Issue this command to obtain the version: cbrcontrol executor status.
v Obtain the following files:
– ibmproxy.conf, located as follows:
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris: /etc/
Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\cachingproxy\etc\en_US\
– CBR configuration file, located as follows:
AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/
servers/configurations/cbr
Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\configurations\cbr
– Ensure that the correct entries are made in ibmproxy.conf. See “Step 1.
Configure Caching Proxy to use CBR” on page 79.

Not able to hit the cluster

If you are not able to hit the cluster, it is possible that neither or both of the Load
Balancer machines have the cluster aliased. To determine which machine owns the
cluster:

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 233

 1. On the same subnet and not on a Load Balancer machine or server:
ping cluster
arp -a

If you are using Dispatcher's nat or cbr forwarding methods, ping the return
address also.
2. Look through the arp output and match the MAC (16–digit hexadecimal
address) to one of the netstat -ni outputs to determine which machine
physically owns the cluster.
3. Use the following commands to interpret the output from both machines to see
if they both have the cluster address.
On AIX and HP-UX systems: netstat -ni
On Linux and Solaris systems: ifconfig -a
On Windows systems: ipconfig /all

If you do not get a response from the ping, and you are not using ULB, it is
possible that neither machine has the cluster IP address aliased to its interface; for
example, en0, tr0, and so forth.

All else fails

If you are unable to solve routing problems and all else has failed, issue the
following command to run a trace on the network traffic:
v On AIX systems, from the Load Balancer machine:
iptrace -a -s failingClientIPAddress -d clusterIPAddress -b iptrace.trc

Run the trace, recreate the problem, then kill the process.
v On HP-UX systems:
tcpdump -i lan0 host cluster and host client

You may need to download tcpdump from one of the HP-UX GNU software
archive sites.
v On Linux systems:
tcpdump -i eth0 host cluster and host client

Run the trace, recreate the problem, then kill the process.
v On Solaris:
snoop -v clientIPAddress destinationIPAddress > snooptrace.out
v On Windows systems, a sniffer is required. Use the same inputs as for a filter.

You can also increase different log levels (for example, manager log, advisor log
and so forth.) and investigate their output.

Upgrades
To identify a problem that is already fixed in a service release fix or patch, check
for upgrades. To obtain a list of Edge Components defects fixed, refer to the
WebSphere Application Server Web site Support page: http://www.ibm.com/
software/webservers/appserv/was/support/. From the Support page, follow the
link to the corrective service download site.

Java code
The correct version of Java code is installed as part the Load Balancer installation.

234 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Helpful links
See “Reference Information” on page xv for links to support and library Web
pages. The Web support page contains a link to Self-help information in the form
of Technotes.

Troubleshooting tables
Refer to the following for:
v Dispatcher troubleshooting information — Table 12
v CBR troubleshooting information — Table 13 on page 240
v Site Selector troubleshooting information — Table 14 on page 241
v Cisco CSS Controller troubleshooting information — Table 15 on page 243
v Nortel Alteon Controller troubleshooting information — Table 16 on page 244
v Metric Server troubleshooting information — Table 17 on page 245
Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Dispatcher not running Conflicting port numbers “Checking Dispatcher port
correctly numbers” on page 246
Configured a collocated Wrong or conflicting address “Problem: Dispatcher and
server and it will not server will not respond” on
respond to load balanced page 249
requests
Connections from client v Wrong routing “Problem: Dispatcher
machines not being served or configuration requests are not being
connections timing out balanced” on page 249
v NIC not aliased to the
cluster address
v Server does not have
loopback device aliased to
the cluster address
v Extra route not deleted
v Port not defined for each
cluster
Client machines are not High availability not “Problem: Dispatcher
being served or are timing working high-availability function is
out not working” on page 250
Unable to add heartbeat Source address is not “Problem: Unable to add
(Windows platform) configured on an adapter heartbeat (Windows
platform)” on page 250
Advisors not working Advisors are not running on “Problem: Advisors not
correctly with wide area remote machines working correctly” on page
250
On a backend server running The Windows Server 2008 “Problem: On a Windows
Windows Server 2008, registry might not be Server 2008 backend server,
memload.exe crashes populated with the memload.exe crashes” on
performance keys that these page 250
tools require. This
application crash would be
reported from the cpuload
application.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 235

 Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and Unable to send encrypted “Problem: Dispatcher,
SSL are not working or will data across protocols Microsoft IIS, and SSL do not
not continue work (Windows platform)”
on page 251
Connection to remote Older version of the keys is “Problem: Dispatcher
machine refused still being used connection to a remote
machine” on page 251
The dscontrol or lbadmin 1. Commands fail due to “Problem: dscontrol or
command fails with ‘Server socksified stack. Or lbadmin command fails” on
not responding' or ‘unable to commands fail due to not page 251
access RMI server' message starting dsserver
2. RMI ports are not set
correctly
3. Host file has incorrect
local host
“Cannot Find the File..." Incorrect setting for HTML “Problem: “Cannot find the
error message, when running file association file..." error message when
Netscape as default browser trying to view online Help
to view online help (Windows platform)” on
(Windows platform) page 252
Graphical user interface does Insufficient paging space “Problem: Graphical user
not start correctly interface (GUI) does not start
correctly” on page 252
Error running Dispatcher Caching Proxy file “Problem: Error running
with Caching Proxy installed dependency Dispatcher with Caching
Proxy installed” on page 252
Graphical user interface does Resolution is incorrect. “Problem: Graphical user
not display correctly. interface (GUI) does not
display correctly” on page
252
Help panels sometimes Java limitation “Problem: On Windows
disappear behind other platform, help windows
windows sometimes disappear behind
other open windows” on
page 252
Load Balancer cannot process Need a unique MAC address “Problem: Load Balancer
and forward a frame for each NIC cannot process and forward
a frame” on page 252
Blue screen appears No installed and configured “Problem: A blue screen
network card displays when you start the
Load Balancer executor” on
page 253
Path to Discovery prevents The cluster is aliased on the “Problem: Path to Discovery
return traffic loopback prevents return traffic with
Load Balancer” on page 253
High availability in the Wide Remote Dispatcher must be “Problem: High availability
Area mode of Load Balancer defined as a server in a in the Wide Area mode of
does not work. cluster on local Dispatcher Load Balancer does not
work” on page 254

236 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
GUI hangs (or unexpected Java does not have access to “Problem: GUI hangs (or
behavior) when trying to enough memory to handle unexpected behavior) when
load a large configuration such a large change to the trying to load a large
file. GUI configuration file” on page
254
IP addresses not resolving When using a remote client “Problem: IP addresses not
correctly over the remote over a secure socks resolving correctly over the
connection implementation, fully remote connection” on page
qualified domain names or 255
host names might not resolve
to the correct IP address
Korean Load Balancer Default fonts must be “Problem: Korean Load
interface displays changed Balancer interface displays
overlapping or undesirable overlapping or undesirable
fonts on AIX and Linux fonts on AIX and Linux
systems systems” on page 255
On Windows systems, after In the network connections “Problem: On Windows
aliasing the MS Loopback list, the newly added alias systems, alias address is
adapter, when issuing certain must not be listed above the returned instead of local
commands such as local address address when issuing
hostname, the OS will commands such as
incorrectly respond with the hostname” on page 256
alias address
Unexpected GUI behavior Problem occurs when using “Problem: On Windows
when using Windows Matrox AGP video cards platform, unexpected GUI
platform paired with Matrox while running the Load behavior when using Matrox
AGP video card Balancer GUI AGP video cards” on page
256
Unexpected behavior, such as Problem occurs when “Problem: Unexpected
system hang, when executing manually removing the Load behavior when executing
"rmmod ibmlb" on Linux Balancer kernel module "rmmod ibmlb" (Linux
systems (ibmlb). systems)” on page 256
Slow response time when Slow response time can be “Problem: Slow response
running commands on the due to machine overloading time running commands on
Dispatcher machine from a high volume of client Dispatcher machine” on page
traffic 256
For Dispatcher's mac Problem occurs because the “Problem: SSL or HTTPS
forwarding method, SSL or SSL server application not advisor not registering server
HTTPS advisor not configured with the cluster loads (when using
registering server loads IP address mac-forwarding)” on page
257
Disconnect from host when Disconnect from host will “Problem: Disconnect from
using remote Web occur when resize the host occurs when resize
administration through browser window Netscape browser window
Netscape while using Web
administration” on page 257
On Windows platform, Change font properties of “Problem: On Windows
corrupted Latin-1 national command prompt window systems, corrupted Latin-1
characters appear in national characters appear in
command prompt command prompt window”
on page 257

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 237

 Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
On HP-UX platform, the Some HP-UX installations by “Problem: On HP-UX, Java
following message occurs: default allow 64 threads per out of memory or thread
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError process. This is insufficient. error occurs” on page 257
unable to create new native
thread
On Windows platform, Task offloading is not “Problem: On Windows
advisors and reach targets disabled or may need to systems, advisors and reach
mark all servers down enable ICMP. targets mark all servers
down” on page 258
On Windows platform, The IP address you want as “Problem: On Windows
problem resolving IP address your hostname must appear platform, resolving IP
to hostname when more than first in the registry. address to host name when
one address is configured to more than one address is
an adapter configured to an adapter” on
page 258
On Windows platform, When the system detects a “Problem: On Windows
advisors not working in a network outage, it clears its systems, after network
high availability setup after a Address Resolution Protocol outage, advisors not working
network outage (ARP) cache in a high availability setup”
on page 259
On Linux systems, "IP When aliasing more than one “Problem: On Linux systems,
address add" command and address on the loopback do not use "IP address add"
multiple cluster loopback device, should use ifconfig command when aliasing
aliases are incompatible command, not ip address multiple clusters on the
add loopback device” on page
260
Error message: "Router Checklist of information to “Problem: "Router address
address not specified or not determine the problem that not specified or not valid for
valid for port method" when has occurred when adding a port method" error message”
trying to add a server server on page 260
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261
Slow down occurs when The delay might be due to “Problem: Delay occurs
loading Load Balancer Domain Name System (DNS) while loading a Load
configurations calls that are made to resolve Balancer configuration” on
and verify the server page 261
address.
On Windows systems, the If high availability is “Problem: On Windows
following error message configured, cluster addresses systems, an IP address
appears: There is an IP may be configured on both conflict error message
address conflict with another machines for a brief period appears” on page 261
system on the network which causes this error
message to appear.
Both primary and backup This problem may occur “Problem: Both primary and
machines are active in a high when the go scripts do not backup machines are active
availability configuration run on either primary or in a high availability
backup machine. configuration” on page 261

238 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Client requests fail when Client requests that result in “Problem: Client requests fail
Dispatcher attempts to return large page responses timeout when attempting the return
large page responses if the maximum transmit of large page responses” on
unit (MTU) is not set page 262
properly on the Dispatcher
machine when using nat or
cbr forwarding.
On Windows systems, When more than one IP “Problem: On Windows
"Server not responding" error address exists on a Windows systems, "Server not
occurs when issuing a system and the host file does responding" error occurs
dscontrol or lbadmin not specify the address to when issuing dscontrol or
command associate with the hostname. lbadmin” on page 262
High availability Dispatcher When using high availability “Problem: High availability
machines may fail to on Linux for S/390 with the Dispatcher machines may fail
synchronize on Linux for qeth network driver, the to synchronize on Linux for
S/390 on qeth devices active and standby S/390 systems on qeth
Dispatchers may fail to drivers” on page 262
synchronize.
Tips on configuring the high The tips will help alleviate “Problem: Tips on
availability feature for Load high availability problems configuring high availability”
Balancer such as: on page 263
v Connections dropped after
takeover
v Partner machines unable
to synchronize
v Requests erroneously
directed to the backup
partner machine
Dispatcher MAC forwarding On Linux, there are “Problem: On Linux,
configuration limitations limitations when using Dispatcher configuration
with zSeries and S/390 zSeries or S/390 servers that limitations when using
platforms have Open System Adapter zSeries or S/390 servers that
(OSA) cards. Possible have Open System Adapter
workarounds are provided. (OSA) cards” on page 264
On some Red Hat Linux The IBM Java SDK versions “Problem: On some Linux
versions, a memory leak of the JVM and the Native versions, a memory leak
occurs when running Load POSIX Thread Library occurs when running
Balancer configured with the (NPTL) shipped with some Dispatcher configured with
manager and advisors Linux distributions, such as the manager and advisors”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux on page 266
3.0, can cause the memory
leak to occur.
On SUSE Linux Enterprise The iptables NAT module is “Problem: On SUSE Linux
Server 9, Dispatcher report loaded. There is a possible, Enterprise Server 9,
indicates that packets are but unconfirmed, error in Dispatcher forwards packets,
forwarded (packet-count this version of iptables that but the packets do not reach
increases), however packets causes strange behavior the backend server” on page
never actually reach the when interacting with 266
backend server Dispatcher.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 239

 Table 12. Dispatcher troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
On Windows systems, when If the goScript that “Problem: On Windows
using Dispatcher's high configures the cluster IP system, IP address conflict
availability feature, problems address on the active message appears during high
might occur during takeover machine runs before the availability takeover” on
goScript to unconfigure the page 267
IP cluster address on the
backup machine, problems
might occur.
On Linux systems, iptables Linux iptables can interfere “Problem: Linux iptables can
can interfere with the routing with load balancing of traffic interfere with the routing of
of packets and must be disabled on the packets” on page 268
Load Balancer machine.
A Java fileset warning The product installation
message appears when consists of several packages
installing service fixes or which are not required to be
installing natively, using installed on the same
system packaging tools machine, so each of these
packages installs a Java
fileset. When installed on the
same machine a warning
messages stating that the
Java fileset is also owned by
another fileset.
Upgrading the Java fileset If a problem is found with “Upgrading the Java file set
provided with the Load the Java file set, you should provided with the Load
Balancer installations report the problem to IBM Balancer installation” on
Service so that you can page 268
receive an upgrade for the
Java file set that was
provided with the Load
Balancer installation.
Persistent connections might On Microsoft Windows “Problem: Persistent
drop during high availability operating systems, persistent connections might drop
takeover on a Windows connections might drop during high availability
platform during a high availability takeover” on page 268
takeover. This problem exists
only when you have a
collocated server that uses
the MAC forwarding
method.

Table 13. CBR Troubleshooting table

Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
CBR not running correctly Conflicting port numbers “Checking CBR port
numbers” on page 246
The cbrcontrol or lbadmin Commands fail due to “Problem: cbrcontrol or
command fails with ‘Server socksified stack. Or lbadmin command fails” on
not responding' or ‘unable to commands fail due to not page 269
access RMI server' message starting cbrserver
Requests are not being load Caching Proxy was started “Problem: Requests not being
balanced before the executor was load balanced” on page 269
started

240 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 13. CBR Troubleshooting table (continued)
On Solaris, the cbrcontrol Command fails because the “Problem: On Solaris
executor start command fails system IPC defaults may systems, cbrcontrol executor
with ‘Error: Executor was not need to be modified, or link start command fails” on page
started.' message to library is incorrect. 269
URL rule does not work Syntactical or configuration “Problem: Syntactical or
error configuration error” on page
270
Unexpected GUI behavior Problem occurs when using “Problem: On Windows
when using Windows Matrox AGP video cards platform, unexpected GUI
systems paired with Matrox while running the Load behavior when using Matrox
AGP video card Balancer GUI AGP video cards” on page
270
GUI hangs (or unexpected Java does not have access to “Problem: GUI hangs (or
behavior) when trying to enough memory to handle unexpected behavior) when
load a large configuration such a large change to the trying to load a large
file. GUI configuration file” on page
254
Disconnect from host when Disconnect from host will “Problem: Disconnect from
using remote Web occur when resize the host occurs when resize
administration through browser window Netscape browser window
Netscape while using Web
administration” on page 270
On Windows platform, Change font properties of “Problem: On Windows
corrupted Latin-1 national command prompt window platform, corrupted Latin-1
characters appear in national characters appear in
command prompt command prompt window”
on page 270
On HP-UX platform, the Some HP-UX installations by “Problem: On HP-UX, Java
following message occurs: default allow 64 threads per out of memory/ thread error
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError process. This is insufficient. occurs” on page 270
unable to create new native
thread
On Windows platform, Task offloading is not “Problem: On Windows
advisors and reach targets disabled or may need to systems, advisors and reach
mark all servers down enable icmp. targets mark all servers
down” on page 271
On Windows platform, The IP address you want as “Problem: On Windows
problem resolving IP address your hostname must appear systems, resolving IP address
to host name when more first in the registry. to host name when more
than one address is than one address is
configured to an adapter configured to an adapter” on
page 271
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261

Table 14. Site Selector troubleshooting table

Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Site Selector not running Conflicting port number “Checking Site Selector port
correctly numbers” on page 247

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 241

 Table 14. Site Selector troubleshooting table (continued)
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Site Selector does not Solaris systems run a "name “Problem: Site Selector does
round-robin incoming service cache daemon" not round-robin traffic from
requests from Solaris client Solaris clients” on page 271
The sscontrol or lbadmin Commands fail due to “Problem: sscontrol or
command fails with ‘Server socksified stack. Or lbadmin command fails” on
not responding' or ‘unable to commands fail due to not page 272
access RMI server' message starting ssserver.
ssserver fails to start on Windows systems do not “Problem: The ssserver is
Windows platform require the host name to be failing to start on Windows
in the DNS. platform” on page 272
Machine with duplicate Site Selector machine with “Problem: Site Selector with
routes not load balancing multiple adapters attached to duplicate routes not load
correctly — name resolution the same subnet balancing correctly” on page
appears to fail 272
Unexpected GUI behavior Problem occurs when using “Problem: On Windows
when using Windows Matrox AGP video cards platform, unexpected GUI
platform paired with Matrox while running the Load behavior when using Matrox
AGP video card Balancer GUI AGP video cards” on page
273
GUI hangs (or unexpected Java does not have access to “Problem: GUI hangs (or
behavior) when trying to enough memory to handle unexpected behavior) when
load a large configuration such a large change to the trying to load a large
file. GUI configuration file” on page
254
Disconnect from host when Disconnect from host will “Problem: Disconnect from
using remote Web occur when resize the host occurs when resize
administration through browser window Netscape browser window
Netscape while using Web
administration” on page 273
On Windows platform, Change font properties of “Problem: On Windows
corrupted Latin-1 national command prompt window platform, corrupted Latin-1
characters appear in national characters appear in
command prompt command prompt window”
on page 273
On HP-UX platform, the Some HP-UX installations by “Problem: On HP-UX, Java
following message occurs: default allow 64 threads per out of memory/thread error
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError process. This is insufficient. occurs” on page 273
unable to create new native
thread
On Windows platform, Task offloading is not “Problem: On Windows
advisors and reach targets disabled or may need to systems, advisors and reach
mark all servers down enable icmp. targets mark all servers
down” on page 273
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261

242 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 15. Controller for Cisco CSS Switches troubleshooting table
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
ccoserver will not start Conflicting port numbers “Checking Cisco CSS
Controller port numbers” on
page 248
The ccocontrol or lbadmin Commands fail due to “Problem: ccocontrol or
command fails with ‘Server socksified stack. Or lbadmin command fails” on
not responding' or ‘unable to commands fail due to not page 274
access RMI server' message starting ccoserver.
receive error: Cannot create Expired product license “Problem: Cannot create
registry on port 13099 registry on port 13099” on
page 274
Unexpected GUI behavior Problem occurs when using “Problem: On Windows
when using Windows Matrox AGP video cards platform, unexpected GUI
platform paired with Matrox while running the Load behavior when using Matrox
AGP video card Balancer GUI AGP video cards” on page
275
Received a connection error Configuration settings are “Problem: Received a
when adding a consultant incorrect on the switch or the connection error when
controller adding a consultant” on page
275
Weights are not being Communication between the “Problem: Weights are not
updated on the switch controller or the switch is being updated on the
unavailable or interrupted switch” on page 275
Refresh command did not Communication between the “Problem: Refresh command
update the consultant switch and the controller is did not update the
configuration unavailable or interrupted consultant configuration” on
page 275
GUI hangs (or unexpected Java does not have access to “Problem: GUI hangs (or
behavior) when trying to enough memory to handle unexpected behavior) when
load a large configuration such a large change to the trying to load a large
file. GUI configuration file” on page
254
Disconnect from host when Disconnect from host will “Problem: Disconnect from
using remote Web occur when resize the host occurs when resize
administration through browser window Netscape browser window
Netscape while using Web
administration” on page 275
On Windows platform, Change font properties of “Problem: On Windows
corrupted Latin-1 national command prompt window platform, corrupted Latin-1
characters appear in national characters appear in
command prompt command prompt window”
on page 275
On HP-UX platform, the Some HP-UX installations by “Problem: On HP-UX, Java
following message occurs: default allow 64 threads per out of memory/ thread error
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError process. This is insufficient. occurs” on page 276
unable to create new native
thread
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 243

 Table 16. Nortel Alteon Controller troubleshooting table
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
nalserver will not start Conflicting port numbers “Checking Nortel Alteon
Controller port numbers” on
page 248
The nalcontrol or lbadmin Commands fail due to “Problem: nalcontrol or
command fails with ‘Server socksified stack. Or lbadmin command fails” on
not responding' or ‘unable to commands fail due to not page 276
access RMI server' message starting nalserver.
receive error: Cannot create Expired product license “Problem: Cannot create
registry on port 14099 registry on port 14099” on
page 277
Unexpected GUI behavior Problem occurs when using “Problem: On Windows
when using Windows Matrox AGP video cards platform, unexpected GUI
platform paired with Matrox while running the Load behavior when using Matrox
AGP video card Balancer GUI AGP video cards” on page
277
GUI hangs (or unexpected Java does not have access to “Problem: GUI hangs (or
behavior) when trying to enough memory to handle unexpected behavior) when
load a large configuration such a large change to the trying to load a large
file. GUI configuration file” on page
254
Disconnect from host when Disconnect from host will “Problem: Disconnect from
using remote Web occur when resize the host occurs when resize
administration through browser window Netscape browser window
Netscape while using Web
administration” on page 277
Received a connection error Configuration settings are “Problem: Received a
when adding a consultant incorrect on the switch or the connection error when
controller adding a consultant” on page
277
Weights are not being Communication between the “Problem: Weights are not
updated on the switch controller or the switch is being updated on the
unavailable or interrupted switch” on page 277
Refresh command did not Communication between the “Problem: Refresh command
update the consultant switch and the controller is did not update the
configuration unavailable or interrupted consultant configuration” on
page 278
On Windows platform, Change font properties of “Problem: On Windows
corrupted Latin-1 national command prompt window systems, corrupted Latin-1
characters appear in national characters appear in
command prompt command prompt window”
on page 278
On HP-UX platform, the Some HP-UX installations by “Problem: On HP-UX, Java
following message occurs: default allow 64 threads per out of memory/ thread error
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError process. This is insufficient. occurs” on page 278
unable to create new native
thread
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261

244 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Table 17. Metric Server troubleshooting table
Symptom Possible Cause Go to...
Metric Server IOException on Full metric name is required “Problem: Metric Server
Windows platform running IOException on Windows
.bat or .cmd user metric files platform running .bat or
.cmd user metric files” on
page 278
Metric Server not reporting Possible causes include: “Problem: Metric Server not
the load information to the v no key files on Metric reporting loads to Load
Load Balancer machine Server machine Balancer machine” on page
278
v host name of Metric Server
machine not registered
with local nameserver
v the /etc/hosts file has the
local hostname resolving
to the loopback address
127.0.0.1
Metric Server log reports Key file fails authorization “Problem: Metric Server log
"Signature is necessary for due to corruption. reports "Signature is
access to agent" when key necessary for access to
files transferred to server agent"” on page 279
On AIX systems, when APAR IY33804 corrects this “Problem: On AIX systems,
running Metric Server under known AIX problem while running Metric Server
heavy stress on a under heavy stress, ps –vg
multi-processor system (AIX command output may
5.1), ps -vg command output become corrupted” on page
may become corrupted 279
Configuring Metric Server in Metric Server (residing in the “Problem: Configuring
a two-tier configuration with second-tier) is not configured Metric Server in a two-tier
Site Selector load-balancing to listen on a new IP configuration with Site
across high-availability address. Selector load-balancing
Dispatchers across high-availability
Dispatchers” on page 279
Scripts (metricserver, This behavior is due to the “Problem: Scripts, running
cpuload, memload) running use of the VMSTAT system on multi-CPU Solaris
on multi-CPU Solaris command to gather CPU and machines, produce unwanted
machines produce unwanted memory statistics from the console messages” on page
console messages kernel. 280
On Solaris systems, Load Use the nohup command to “Problem: On Solaris
Balancer processes end when prevent the processes that systems, Load Balancer
you exit the terminal session you started from receiving a processes end when you exit
window from which they hangup signal when you exit the terminal window from
started the terminal session. which they started” on page
261
Metric value returns -1 after This problem may be caused “Problem: After starting
starting Metric Server due to the key files losing Metric Server, metric value
their integrity during the returns -1” on page 281
transfer of the key files to the
client.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 245

Checking Dispatcher port numbers
If you are experiencing problems running Dispatcher, it may be that one of your
applications is using a port number that the Dispatcher normally uses. Be aware
that the Dispatcher server uses the following port numbers:
v 10099 to receive commands from dscontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 10199 for the RMI server port

If another application is using one of the Dispatcher's port numbers, you can either
change the Dispatcher's port numbers or change the application's port number.

Change the Dispatcher’s port numbers by doing the following:

v To change the port used to receive commands
– Modify the LB_RMIPORT variable at the top of the dsserver file to the port
that you want Dispatcher to receive commands.
v To change the port used to receive metric reports from Metric Server
– Modify the RMI_PORT variable in the metricserver file to the port that you
want Dispatcher to communicate with Metric Server.
– Provide the metric_port argument when the manager is started. See the
description of the dscontrol manager start command syntax “dscontrol
manager — control the manager” on page 313

Change the application's RMI port number by doing the following:

v To change the port used by the application
– Modify the LB_RMISERVERPORT variable in the dsserver file to the port that
you want the application to use. (The default value of the RMI port used by
the application is 10199.)

Note: For Windows platform, dsserver and metricserver files are in the
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin directory. For other platforms, these file are
in the /usr/bin/ directory.

Checking CBR port numbers

If you are experiencing problems running CBR, it may be that one of your
applications is using a port number that CBR normally uses. Be aware that CBR
uses the following port number:
v 11099 to receive commands from cbrcontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 11199 for the RMI server port

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

If another application is using one of the CBR's port numbers, you can either
change the CBR's port numbers or change the application's port number.

Change the CBR’s port numbers by doing the following:

246 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 v To change the port used to receive commands
– Modify the LB_RMIPORT variable at the top of the cbrserver file to the port
that you want CBR to receive commands.
v To change the port used to receive metric reports from Metric Server
– Modify the RMI_PORT variable in the metricserver file to the port that you
want CBR to communicate with Metric Server.
– Provide the metric_port argument when the manager is started. See the
description of the manager start command syntax “dscontrol manager —
control the manager” on page 313

Change the application's RMI port number by doing the following:

v To change the port used by the application
– Modify the LB_RMISERVERPORT variable at the top of the cbrserver file to
the port that you want the application to use. (The default value of the RMI
port used by the application is 11199.)

Note: For Windows platform, cbrserver and metricserver files are in the
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin directory. For other platforms, these file are
in the /usr/bin/ directory.

Checking Site Selector port numbers

If you are experiencing problems running the Site Selector component, it may be
that one of your applications is using a port number that Site Selector normally
uses. Be aware that Site Selector uses the following port numbers:
v 12099 to receive commands from sscontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 12199 for the RMI server port

If another application is using one of the Site Selector's port numbers, you can
either change the Site Selector’s port numbers or change the application's port
number.

Change the Site Selector's port numbers by doing the following:

v To change the port used to receive commands,
– Modify the LB_RMIPORT variable at the top of the ssserver file to the port
that you want Site Selector to receive commands.
v To change the port used to receive metric reports from Metric Server
– Modify the RMI_PORT variable in the metricserver file to the port that you
want Site Selector to communicate with Metric Server.
– Provide the metric_port argument when the manager is started. See the
description of the manager start command syntax “sscontrol manager —
control the manager” on page 350

Change the application's RMI port number by doing the following:

v To change the port used by the application
– Modify the LB_RMISERVERPORT variable at the top of the ssserver file to
the port that you want the application to use. (The default value of the RMI
port used by the application is 12199.)

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 247

 Note: For Windows platform, ssserver and metricserver files are in the
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin directory. For other platforms, these file are
in the /usr/bin/ directory.

Checking Cisco CSS Controller port numbers

If you are experiencing problems running the Cisco CSS Controller component, it
may be that another application is using one of the port numbers used by Cisco
CSS Controller's ccoserver. Be aware that Cisco CSS Controller uses the following
port numbers:
13099 to receive commands from ccocontrol
10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
13199 for the RMI server port

If another application is using one of the Cisco CSS Controller's port numbers, you
can either change the port numbers for Cisco CSS Controller or change the
application's port number.

Change the Cisco CSS Controller's port numbers by doing the following:
v To change the port used to receive commands from ccocontrol, modify the
CCO_RMIPORT variable in the ccoserver file. Change from 13099 to the port on
which you want Cisco CSS Controller to receive ccocontrol commands.
v To change the port used to receive metric reports from Metric Server:
1. Modify the RMI_PORT variable in the metricserver file. Change 10004 to the
port on which you want Cisco CSS Controller to communicate with Metric
Server.
2. Provide the metric_port argument when you start the consultant.

Change the application's RMI port number by doing the following:

v To change the port used by the application
– Modify the CCO_RMISERVERPORT variable at the top of the ccoserver file to
the port that you want the application to use. (The default value of the RMI
port used by the application is 13199.)

Note: For Windows platform, ccoserver and metricserver files are in the
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin directory. For other platforms, these file are
in the /usr/bin directory.

Checking Nortel Alteon Controller port numbers

If you are experiencing problems running the Nortel Alteon Controller component,
it may be that another application is using one of the port numbers used by Nortel
Alteon Controller's nalserver. Be aware that Nortel Alteon Controller uses the
following port numbers:
14099 to receive commands from nalcontrol
10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
14199 for the RMI server port

If another application is using one of the Nortel Alteon Controller's port numbers,
you can either change the port numbers for Nortel Alteon Controller or change the
port numbers for the applicaton.

Change the port numbers for Nortel Alteon Controller by doing the following:

248 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v To change the port used to receive commands from nalcontrol, modify the
NAL_RMIPORT variable in the nalserver file. Change from 14099 to the port on
which you want Nortel Alteon Controller to receive nalcontrol commands.
v To change the port used to receive metric reports from Metric Server:
1. Modify the RMI_PORT variable in the metricserver file. Change 10004 to the
port on which you want Nortel Alteon Controller to communicate with
Metric Server.
2. Provide the metric_port argument when you start the consultant.

Change the application's RMI port number by doing the following:

v To change the port used by the application
– Modify the NAL_RMISERVERPORT variable at the top of the nalserver file to
the port that you want the application to use. (The default value of the RMI
port used by the application is 14199.)

Note: For Windows platform, nalserver and metricserver files are in the
<install_root>ibm\edge\lb\bin directory. For other platforms, these file are
in the /usr/bin directory.

Solving common problems—Dispatcher

Problem: Dispatcher will not run

This problem can occur when another application is using one of the ports used by
the Dispatcher. For more information, go to “Checking Dispatcher port numbers”
on page 246.

Problem: Dispatcher and server will not respond

This problem occurs when another address is being used other than the address
specified. When collocating the Dispatcher and server, be sure that the server
address used in the configuration is the NFA address or is configured as
collocated. Also, check the host file for the correct address.

Problem: Dispatcher requests are not being balanced

This problem has symptoms such as connections from client machines not being
served or connections timing out. Check the following to diagnose this problem:
1. Have you configured the nonforwarding address, clusters, ports, and servers
for routing? Check the configuration file.
2. Is the network interface card aliased to the cluster address? For AIX, HP-UX,
Linux, and Solaris operating systems, use netstat -ni to check.
3. Does the loopback device on each server have the alias set to the cluster
address? For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems, use netstat
-ni to check.
4. Is the extra route deleted? For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating
systems, use netstat -nr to check.
5. Use the dscontrol cluster status command to check the information for each
cluster you have defined. Make sure you have a port defined for each cluster.
6. Use the dscontrol server report :: command to make sure that your servers are
neither down nor set to a weight of zero.
For Windows and other platforms, see also “Setting up server machines for load
balancing” on page 55.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 249

 Problem: Dispatcher high-availability function is not working
This problem appears when a Dispatcher high-availability environment is
configured and connections from the client machines are not being served or are
timing out. Check the following to correct or diagnose the problem:
v Make sure you have created the goActive, goStandby, and goInOp scripts, and
place them in the bin directory where Dispatcher is installed. For more
information on these scripts, see “Using scripts” on page 167
v For AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems, make sure the goActive,
goStandby, and goInOp scripts have execute permission set.
v For Windows systems, be sure to configure the nonforwarding address using the
executor configure command.

The following steps are an effective way to test that high availability scripts are
functioning properly:
1. gather a report by issuing netstat -an and ifconfig -a from the machine
2. run the goActive script
3. run the goStandby script
4. once again, gather a report by issuing netstat -an and ifconfig -a commands
The two reports are identical if the scripts are properly configured.

Problem: Unable to add heartbeat (Windows platform)

This Windows platform error occurs when the source address is not configured on
an adapter. Check the following to correct or diagnose the problem.
v Be sure to configure the nonforwarding address using the Ethernet interface
issuing the following command:
dscontrol executor configure <ip address>

Problem: Advisors not working correctly

If you are using wide area support, and your advisors do not seem to work
correctly, make sure that they are started on both the local and the remote
Dispatchers.

An ICMP ping is issued to the servers before the advisor request. If a firewall
exists between Load Balancer and the servers, ensure that pings are supported
across the firewall. If this setup poses a security risk to your network, modify the
java statement in dsserver to turn off all pings to the servers by adding the java
property:
LB_ADV_NO_PING="true"
java -DLB_ADV_NO_PING="true"

See “Using remote advisors with Dispatcher's wide area support” on page 186.

Problem: On a Windows Server 2008 backend server,

memload.exe crashes
When Load Balancer is connecting to a backend server that runs Windows Server
2008, the metric collection features might cause the memload.exe application to
stop running unexpectedly.

The crash occurs because the Windows Server 2008 registry might not be
populated with the performance keys that these tools require. This application
crash would be reported from the cpuload application.

250 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Refer to the following Knowledge Base topic from Microsoft for steps on how to
address this problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300956

Problem: Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and SSL do not work

(Windows platform)
When using Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and SSL, if they do not work together, there
may be a problem with enabling SSL security. For more information about
generating a key pair, acquiring a certificate, installing a certificate with a key pair,
and configuring a directory to require SSL, see the Microsoft Information and Peer
Web Services documentation.

Problem: Dispatcher connection to a remote machine

Dispatcher uses keys to allow you to connect to a remote machine and configure it.
The keys specify an RMI port for the connection. It is possible to change the RMI
port for security reasons or conflicts. When you change the RMI ports, the filename
of the key is different. If you have more than one key in your keys directory for
the same remote machine, and they specify different RMI ports, the command line
will only try the first one it finds. If it is the incorrect one, the connection will be
refused. The connection will not occur unless you delete the incorrect key.

Problem: dscontrol or lbadmin command fails

1. The dscontrol command returns: Error: Server not responding. Or, the lbadmin
command returns: Error: unable to access RMI server. These errors can result
when your machine has a socksified stack. To correct this problem, edit the
socks.cnf file to contain the following lines:
EXCLUDE-MODULE java
EXCLUDE-MODULE javaw
2. The administration consoles for Load Balancer interfaces (command line,
graphical user interface, and wizards) communicate with dsserver using remote
method invocation (RMI). The default communication uses three ports; each
port is set in the dsserver start script:
v 10099 to receive commands from dscontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 10199 for the RMI server port
This can cause problems when one of the administration consoles runs on the
same machine as a firewall or through a firewall. For example, when Load
Balancer runs on the same machine as a firewall, and you issue dscontrol
commands, you might see errors such as Error: Server not responding.
To avoid this problem, edit the dsserver script file to set the port used by RMI
for the firewall (or other application). Change the line:
LB_RMISERVERPORT=10199 to LB_RMISERVERPORT=yourPort. Where
yourPort is a different port.
When complete, restart dsserver and open traffic for ports 10099, 10004, 10199,
and 10100, or for the chosen port for the host address from which the
administration console will be run.
3. These errors can also occur if you have not already started dsserver.
4. If there are multiple adapters on the machine, you must designate which
adapter that dsserver is to use by adding the following in the dsserver
script:java.rmi.server.hostname=<host_name or IPaddress>
For example: java -Djava.rmi.server.hostname="10.1.1.1"

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 251

 Problem: “Cannot find the file..." error message when trying
to view online Help (Windows platform)
For Windows platforms, when using Netscape as your default browser, the
following error message may result: “Cannot find the file '<filename>.html' (or one
of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all
required libraries are available."

The problem is due to an incorrect setting for HTML file association. The solution
is the following:
1. Click My Computer, click Tools, select Folder Options, and click File Types
tab
2. Select “Netscape Hypertext Document"
3. Click Advanced button, select open, click Edit button
4. Enter NSShell in the Application: field (not the Application Used to Perform
Action: field), and click OK

Problem: Graphical user interface (GUI) does not start

correctly
The graphical user interface (GUI), which is lbadmin, requires a sufficient amount
of paging space to function correctly. If insufficient paging space is available, the
GUI might not start up completely. If this occurs, check your paging space and
increase it if necessary.

Problem: Error running Dispatcher with Caching Proxy

installed
If you uninstall Load Balancer to reinstall another version and get an error when
you attempt to start the Dispatcher component, check to see if Caching Proxy is
installed. Caching Proxy has a dependency on one of the Dispatcher files; this file
will uninstall only when Caching Proxy is uninstalled.

To avoid this problem:

1. Uninstall Caching Proxy.
2. Uninstall Load Balancer.
3. Reinstall both Load Balancer and Caching Proxy.

Problem: Graphical user interface (GUI) does not display

correctly
If you experience a problem with the appearance of the Load Balancer GUI, check
the setting for the operating system's desktop resolution. The GUI is best viewed at
a resolution of 1024x768 pixels.

Problem: On Windows platform, help windows sometimes

disappear behind other open windows
On Windows platform, when you first open help windows, they sometimes
disappear into the background behind existing windows. If this occurs, click on the
window to bring it forward again.

Problem: Load Balancer cannot process and forward a frame

On Solaris each network adapter has the same MAC address by default. This
works properly when each adapter is on a different IP subnet; however, in a
252 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 switched environment, when multiple NICs with the same MAC and the same IP
subnet address communicate with the same switch, the switch sends all traffic
bound for the single MAC (and both IPs) down the same wire. Only the adapter
that last put a frame on the wire sees the IP packets bound for both adapters.
Solaris might discard packets for a valid IP address that arrived on the "wrong"
interface.

If all network interfaces are not designated for Load Balancer as configured in
ibmlb.conf, and if the NIC that is not defined in ibmlb.conf receives a frame, Load
Balancer does not have the ability to process and forward the frame.

To avoid this problem, you must override the default and set a unique MAC
address for each interface. Use this command:
ifconfig interface ether macAddr

For example:
ifconfig eri0 ether 01:02:03:04:05:06

Problem: A blue screen displays when you start the Load

Balancer executor
On Windows platform, you must have a network card installed and configured
before starting the executor.

Problem: Path to Discovery prevents return traffic with Load

Balancer
The AIX operating system contains a networking parameter called path MTU
discovery. During a transaction with a client, if the operating system determines
that it must use a smaller maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the outgoing
packets, path MTU discovery has AIX create a route to remember that data. The
new route is for that specific client IP and records the necessary MTU to reach it.

When the route is being created, a problem might occur on the servers resulting
from the cluster being aliased on the loopback. If the gateway address for the route
falls in the subnet of the cluster/netmask, AIX systems create the route on the
loopback. This happens because that was the last interface aliased with that subnet.

For example, if the cluster is 9.37.54.69 and a 255.255.255.0 netmask is used, and
the intended gateway is 9.37.54.1, AIX systems use the loopback for the route. This
causes the server's responses to never leave the machine, and the client times out
waiting. The client typically sees one response from the cluster, then the route is
created and the client receives nothing more.

To address this problem, enter the following command:

/usr/sbin/no -p -o udp_pmtu_discover=0
/usr/sbin/no -p -o tcp_pmtu_discover=0

This command will make the values persistent, and the values will apply to both
current and future reboot values.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 253

 Problem: High availability in the Wide Area mode of Load
Balancer does not work
When you set up a Wide Area Load Balancer, you must define the remote
Dispatcher as a server in a cluster on your local Dispatcher. Typically, you use the
non-forwarding address (NFA) of the remote Dispatcher as the destination address
of the remote server. If you do this, and then set up high availability on the remote
Dispatcher, it will fail. This happens because the local Dispatcher always points to
the primary on the remote side when you use its NFA to access it.

To get around this problem:

1. Define an additional cluster on the remote Dispatcher. It is not necessary to
define ports or servers for this cluster.
2. Add this cluster address to your goActive and goStandy scripts.
3. On your local Dispatcher, define this cluster address as a server, instead of the
NFA of the remote primary Dispatcher.
When the remote primary Dispatcher comes up, it will alias this address on its
adapter, allowing it to accept traffic. If a failure occurs, the address moves to the
backup machine and the backup continues to accept traffic for that address.

Problem: GUI hangs (or unexpected behavior) when trying to

load a large configuration file
When using lbadmin or Web administration (lbwebaccess) to load a large
configuration file (roughly 200 or more add commands), the GUI may hang or
display unexpected behavior, such as responding to screen changes at an extremely
slow rate of speed.

This occurs because Java does not have access to enough memory to handle such a
large configuration.

There is an option on the runtime environment that can be specified to increase the
memory allocation pool available to Java.

The option is -Xmxn where n is the maximum size, in bytes, for the memory
allocation pool. n must be a multiple of 1024 and must be greater than 2MB. The
value n may be followed by k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate
megabytes. For example, -Xmx128M and -Xmx81920k are both valid. The default
value is 64M.

For example, to add this option, edit the lbadmin script file, modifying "javaw" to
"javaw -Xmxn" as follows. (For AIX systems, modify "java" to "java -Xmxn"):
v AIX systems
javaw -Xmx256m -cp $LB_CLASSPATH $LB_INSTALL_PATH $LB_CLIENT_KEYS
com.ibm.internet.nd.framework.FWK_Main 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
v HP-UX systems
java -Xmx256m -cp $LB_CLASSPATH $LB_INSTALL_PATH $LB_CLIENT_KEYS
com.ibm.internet.nd.framework.FWK_Main 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
v Linux systems
javaw -Xmx256m -cp $LB_CLASSPATH $LB_INSTALL_PATH $LB_CLIENT_KEYS
com.ibm.internet.nd.framework.FWK_Main 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &
v Solaris systems
java -Xmx256m -cp $LB_CLASSPATH $LB_INSTALL_PATH $LB_CLIENT_KEYS
com.ibm.internet.nd.framework.FWK_Main 1>/dev/null 2>&1 &

254 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v Windows systems
START javaw -Xmx256m -cp %LB_CLASSPATH% %LB_INSTALL_PATH%
%LB_CLIENT_KEYS% com.ibm.internet.nd.framework.FWK_Main

There is no recommended value for n , but it should be greater than the default
option. A good place to start would be with twice the default value.

Problem: lbadmin disconnects from server after updating

configuration
If Load Balancer administration (lbadmin) disconnects from the server after you
update the configuration, check the version of dsserver on the server that you are
attempting to configure, and ensure that it is the same as your version of lbadmin
or dscontrol.

Problem: IP addresses not resolving correctly over the remote

connection
When using a remote client over a secure socks implementation, fully qualified
domain names or host names might not resolve to the correct IP address in IP
address format notation The socks implementation might add specific,
socks-related data to the DNS resolution.

If the IP addresses are not resolving correctly over the remote connection, specify
the IP address in the IP address notation format.

Problem: Korean Load Balancer interface displays

overlapping or undesirable fonts on AIX and Linux systems
To correct overlapping or undesirable fonts in the Korean Load Balancer interface:
On AIX systems
1. Stop all Java processes on the AIX system.
2. Open the font.properties.ko file in an editor. This file is located in
home/jre/lib where home is the Java home.
3. Search for this string:
-Monotype-TimesNewRomanWT-medium-r-normal
--*-%d-75-75-*-*-ksc5601.1987-0
4. Replace all instances of the string with:
-Monotype-SansMonoWT-medium-r-normal
--*-%d-75-75-*-*-ksc5601.1987-0
5. Save the file.
On Linux systems
1. Stop all Java processes on the system.
2. Open the font.properties.ko file in an editor. This file is located in
home/jre/lib where home is the Java home.
3. Search for this string (with no spaces):
-monotype-
timesnewromanwt-medium-r-normal--*-%d-75-75-p-*-microsoft-symbol
4. Replace all instances of the string with:
-monotype-sansmonowt-medium-r-normal--*-%d-75-75-p-*-microsoft-symbol
5. Save the file.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 255

 Problem: On Windows systems, alias address is returned
instead of local address when issuing commands such as
hostname
On Windows systems, after aliasing the MS Loopback adapter, when issuing
certain commands such as hostname, the OS will incorrectly respond with the alias
address instead of the local address. To correct this problem, in the network
connections list, the newly added alias must be listed below the local address. This
will ensure that the local address is accessed prior to the loopback alias.

To check the network connections list:

1. Click Start > Settings > Network and Dial-up Connections
2. From the Advanced menu option, select Advanced Settings...
3. Ensure the Local Area Connection is listed first in the Connections box
4. If necessary, use the ordering buttons on the right to move entries up or down
in the list

Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected GUI behavior

when using Matrox AGP video cards
On Windows platform when using a Matrox AGP card, unexpected behavior can
occur in the Load Balancer GUI. When clicking the mouse, a block of space slightly
larger than the mouse pointer can become corrupted causing possible highlighting
reversal or images to shift out of place on the screen. Older Matrox cards have not
shown this behavior. There is no known fix when using Matrox AGP cards.

Problem: Unexpected behavior when executing "rmmod

ibmlb" (Linux systems)
On Linux systems, if dsserver is still running during the manual removal of the
Load Balancer kernel module, unexpected behavior, such as system hang or
javacores, can occur. When manually removing the Load Balancer kernel module,
you must first stop dsserver.

If "dsserver stop" does not work, stop the java process with
SRV_KNDConfigServer. Stop the process by finding its process identifier using ps
-ef | grep SRV_KNDConfigServer command and then ending the process using
kill process_id command.

You can safely run the "rmmod ibmlb" command to remove the Load Balancer
module from the kernel.

Problem: Slow response time running commands on

Dispatcher machine
If you are running the Dispatcher component for load balancing, it is possible to
overload the computer with client traffic. The Load Balancer kernel module has the
highest priority, and if it is constantly handling client packets, the rest of the
system may become unresponsive. Running commands in user space may take a
very long time to complete, or may never complete.

If this happens, you should begin to restructure your setup to avoid overloading
the Load Balancer machine with traffic. Alternatives include spreading the load
across several Load Balancer machines, or replacing the machine with a stronger
and faster computer.

256 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 When trying to decide if the slow response time on the machine is due to high
client traffic, consider whether this occurs during client peak traffic times.
Misconfigured systems that cause routing loops can also cause the same
symptoms. But before changing the Load Balancer setup, determine whether the
symptoms may be due to high client load.

Problem: SSL or HTTPS advisor not registering server loads

(when using mac-forwarding)
When using mac-based forwarding method, Load Balancer will send packets to the
servers using the cluster address which is aliased on the loopback. Some server
applications (such as SSL) require that configuration information (such as
certificates) are based on the IP address. The IP address must be the cluster
address which is configured on the loopback in order to match the contents of the
incoming packets. If the IP address of the cluster is not used when configuring the
server application, then the client request will not get properly forwarded to the
server.

Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when resize Netscape

browser window while using Web administration
If you are using remote Web administration to configure Load Balancer, do not
resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore Down, and so on) the Netscape browser
window in which the Load Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a
page every time browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from
host. You will need to reconnect to host each time you resize the window. If you
are performing remote Web administration on a Windows platform, use Internet
Explorer.

Problem: On Windows systems, corrupted Latin-1 national

characters appear in command prompt window
In a command prompt window on the Windows operating system, some national
characters of the Latin-1 family might appear corrupted. For example, the letter "a"
with a tilde may display as a pi symbol. To fix this, you must change the font
properties of the command prompt window. To change the font, do the following:
1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of the command prompt window
2. Select Properties, then click the Font tab
3. The default font is Raster fonts; change this to Lucida Console and click OK

Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory or thread error

occurs
Some HP-UX 11i installations are pre-configured to allow only 64 threads per
process. However, some Load Balancer configurations require more than this
amount. For HP-UX systems, set the threads per process to at least 256. To increase
this value, use the "sam" utility to set the max_thread_proc kernel parameter. If
heavy use is expected, you might need to increase max_thread_proc beyond 256.

To increase the max_thread_proc parameter, do the following:

1. From the command line, type: sam
2. Select Kernel Configuration > Configurable Parameters
3. From the scroll bar, select max_thread_proc
4. Press Spacebar to highlight max_thread_proc
5. Press Tab one time, then press the right-arrow key until you select Actions

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 257

 6. Press Enter to display the Actions menu, then press M to select Modify
Configurable Parameter. (If you do not see this option, highlight
max_thread_proc)
7. Press Tab until you select the Formula/Value field
8. Type a value of 256 or greater.
9. Click OK
10. Press Tab one time, then select Actions
11. Press K for Process New Kernel..
12. Select Yes
13. Reboot your system

Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and reach targets

mark all servers down
When configuring your adapter on a Load Balancer machine, you must ensure that
the following two settings are correct for the advisor to work:
v Disable Task Offloading, which is most commonly used on 3Com adapter cards.
– To disable Task offloading: Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network
and Dial-up Connections, then select the adapter.
– In the pop-up window, click Properties.
– Click Configure, then select the Advanced tab.
– In the property pane, select the Task Offload property, then select disable in
the value field.
v Enable Protocol 1 (ICMP) for IP protocols if you are enabling TCP/IP filtering. If
ICMP is not enabled, the ping test to the backend server will not succeed. To
check whether ICMP is enabled:
– Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network and Dial-up Connections,
then select the adapter.
– In the pop-up window, click Properties.
– From the components pane, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click
Properties.
– Click Advanced, then select the Options tab.
– Select TCP/IP filtering in the options pane, then click Properties.
– If you have selected Enable TCP/IP Filtering and permit only for IP
protocols, you must add IP Protocol 1. This must be added in addition to the
existing TCP and UDP ports that you enabled.

Problem: On Windows platform, resolving IP address to host

name when more than one address is configured to an
adapter
On Windows platform, when configuring an adapter with more than one IP
address, configure the IP address that you want affiliated to the host name first in
the registry.

Because Load Balancer is dependent on InetAddress.getLocalHost() in many

instances (for example, lbkeys create), multiple IP addresses aliased to a single
adapter might cause problems. To avoid this problem, list the IP address to which
you want your host name to resolve first in the registry. For example:
1. Start Regedit
2. Modify the following value names as follows:

258 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet001 -> Services ->
YourInterfaceAddress} -> Parameters -> Tcpip-> IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet001 -> Services ->
Tcpip -> Parameters -> Interfaces -> YourInterfaceAddress -> IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet002 -> Services ->
YourInterfaceAddress -> Parameters -> Tcpip -> IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet002 -> Services -> Tcpip
-> Parameters -> Interfaces -> YourInterfaceAddress -> IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Services->
YourInterfaceAddress -> Parameters -> Tcpip- > IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
v HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Services->
Tcpip -> Parameters -> Interfaces -> YourInterfaceAddress -> IPAddress
– Place the IP address to which you want the host name to resolve first.
3. Reboot
4. Check that your host name resolves to the correct IP address. For example,
ping yourhostname.

Problem: On Windows systems, after network outage,

advisors not working in a high availability setup
By default, when the Windows operating system detects a network outage, it clears
its address resolution protocol (ARP) cache, including all static entries. After the
network is available, the ARP cache is repopulated by ARP requests sent on the
network.

With a high availability configuration, both servers take over primary operations
when a loss of network connectivity affects one or both. When the ARP request is
sent to repopulate the ARP cache, both servers respond, which causes the ARP
cache to mark the entry as not valid. Therefore, the advisors are not able to create
a socket to the backup servers.

Preventing the Windows operating system from clearing the ARP cache when there
is a loss of connectivity solves this problem. Microsoft has published an article that
explains how to accomplish this task. This article is on the Microsoft Web site,
located in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, article number 239924:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;239924.

The following is a summary of the steps, described in the Microsoft article, to

prevent the system from clearing the ARP cache:
1. Use the Registry editor (regedit or regedit32) to open the registry.
2. View the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
3. Add the following registry value: Value Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense Value
Type: REG_DWORD.
4. After the key is added, edit the value and set it to 1.
5. Reboot the machine for the change to take effect.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 259

 Note: This affects the ARP cache regardless of the DHCP setting.

Problem: On Linux systems, do not use "IP address add"

command when aliasing multiple clusters on the loopback
device
Certain considerations must be taken when using Linux kernel 2.4.x servers and
Dispatcher's MAC forwarding method. If the server has a cluster address
configured on the loopback device using the ip address add command, only one
cluster address can be aliased.

When aliasing multiple clusters to the loopback device use the ifconfig command,
for example:
ifconfig lo:num clusterAddress netmask 255.255.255.255 up

Additionally, there are incompatibilities between the ifconfig method of configuring

interfaces and the ip method of configuring interfaces. Best practice suggests that a
site choose one method and use that method exclusively.

Problem: "Router address not specified or not valid for port

method" error message
When adding servers to your Dispatcher configuration, the following error
message can result: "Error: Router address not specified or not valid for port
method".

Use this checklist to determine the problem:

v Ensure you have applied the latest maintenance level.
v Ensure you are using an IBM distribution of Java (except on the Solaris
platforms).
v Ensure you are not configured to use DHCP on Windows systems.
v If the forwarding method is mac (default), then the server, cluster and at least
one supported NIC must be on the same subnet. For example, you cannot define
a cluster of 10.1.1.1 and a server of 130.2.3.4 because they are not on the same
subnet.

Note: If the forwarding method is nat or cbr, the servers do not need to be on
the same subnet as the cluster.
v If all are on the same subnet, and you have aliased the cluster, ensure you alias
the cluster on a NIC that routes to this subnet. For example, if en0 is defined for
13.2.3.4 and en1 is defined for 9.1.2.3 and the cluster definition is 9.5.7.3, you
must configure the cluster on en1. The default interface is en0.
v On Linux platforms, ensure you have loaded the correct kernel by looking in the
/usr/lpp/ibm/internet/nd/logs/dispatcher directory for the loadoutput.log file.
Check this file for any reported errors.

The default for the router parameter is 0, which indicates the server is local. When
you set the server's router address to something other than 0, this indicates that it
is a remote server, on a different subnet. For more information on the router
parameter on the server add command, see “dscontrol server — configure servers”
on page 330.

260 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 If the server that you are adding is located on a different subnet, the router
parameter should be the address of the router to be used on the local subnet to
communicate with the remote server.

Problem: On Solaris systems, Load Balancer processes end

when you exit the terminal window from which they started
On Solaris systems, after starting Load Balancer scripts (such as dsserver or
lbadmin) from a terminal window, if you exit from that window, the Load Balancer
process also exits.

To resolve this problem, start the Load Balancer scripts with the nohup command.
For example: nohup dsserver. This command prevents the processes started from
the terminal session from receiving a hangup signal from the terminal when it
exits, allowing the processes to continue even after the terminal session has ended.
Use the nohup command in front of any Load Balancer scripts that you want to
continue to process beyond the end of a terminal session.

Problem: Delay occurs while loading a Load Balancer

configuration
Loading a Load Balancer configuration might take a long time due to Domain
Name System (DNS) calls that are made to resolve and verify the server address.

If the DNS of the Load Balancer machine is configured incorrectly, or if DNS in

general takes a long time, this will cause a slow down in loading the configuration
due to the Java processes that are sending DNS requests on the network.

A workaround for this is to add your server addresses and hostnames to your local
/etc/hosts file.

Problem: On Windows systems, an IP address conflict error

message appears
If high availability is configured, the cluster addresses may be configured on both
machines for a brief period and cause the following error message to occur: There
is an IP address conflict with another system on the network. In this case, you can
safely ignore the message. It is possible for a cluster address to be briefly
configured on both high availability machines at the same time, especially during
startup of either machine, or when a takeover has been initiated.

Check the go* scripts to ensure they are correctly configuring and unconfiguring
cluster addresses. If you have invoked a configuration file and have go* scripts
installed, ensure you do not have any "executor configure" command statements
for your cluster addresses in your configuration file, as this will conflict with the
configure and unconfigure commands in the go* scripts.

For more information on go* scripts when configuring high availability, see “Using
scripts” on page 167.

Problem: Both primary and backup machines are active in a

high availability configuration
This problem may occur when the go scripts do not run on either primary or
backup machine. The go scripts cannot run if dsserver is not started on both
machines. Check both machines and make sure dsserver is running.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 261

 Problem: Client requests fail when attempting the return of
large page responses
Client requests that result in large page responses time out if the maximum
transmit unit (MTU) is not set properly on the Dispatcher machine. For Dispatcher
component's cbr and nat forwarding methods, this can occur because Dispatcher
defaults the MTU value, rather than negotiate the value.

The MTU is set on each operating system based on the type of communication
media (for example, Ethernet). Routers from the local segment might have a
smaller MTU set if they connect to a different type of communication media.
Under normal TCP traffic, an MTU negotiation occurs during the connection setup,
and the smallest MTU is used to send data between the machines.

Dispatcher does not support MTU negotiation for Dispatcher's cbr or nat
forwarding method because it is actively involved as an endpoint for TCP
connections. For cbr and nat forwarding, Dispatcher defaults the MTU value to
1500. This value is the typical MTU size for standard Ethernet, so most customers
do not need to adjust this setting.

When using Dispatcher's cbr or nat forwarding method, if you have a router to the
local segment that has a lower MTU, you must set the MTU on the Dispatcher
machine to match the lower MTU.

To resolve this problem, use the following command to set the maximum segment
size (mss) value: dscontrol executor set mss new_value

For example:
dscontrol executor set mss 1400

The default for mss is 1460.

The mss setting does not apply for Dispatcher’s mac forwarding method or any
non-Dispatcher component of Load Balancer.

Problem: On Windows systems, "Server not responding" error

occurs when issuing dscontrol or lbadmin
When more than one IP address is on a Windows system and the hosts file does
not specify the address to associate with the host name, the operating system
chooses the smallest address to associate with the host name.

To resolve this problem, update the c:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file

with your machine host name and the IP address that you want to associate with
the host name.

IMPORTANT: The IP address cannot be a cluster address.

Problem: High availability Dispatcher machines may fail to

synchronize on Linux for S/390 systems on qeth drivers
When using high availability on Linux for S/390 machines with the qeth network
driver, the active and standby Dispatchers may fail to synchronize. This problem
might be limited to Linux Kernel 2.6.

If this problem occurs, use the following workaround:

262 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Define a channel-to-channel (CTC) network device between the active and standby
Dispatcher images and add a heartbeat between the two CTC endpoint IP
addresses.

Problem: Tips on configuring high availability

With the high availability function for Load Balancer, a partner machine can
takeover load balancing if the primary partner fails or is shut down. To maintain
connections between the high availability partners, connection records are passed
between the two machines. When the backup partner takes over the load balancing
function, the cluster IP address is removed from the backup machine and added to
the new primary machine. There are numerous timing and configuration
considerations that can affect this takeover operation.

The tips listed in this section can help alleviate problems that arise from high
availability configuration problems such as:
v Connections dropped after takeover
v Partner machines unable to synchronize
v Requests erroneously directed to the backup partner machine

The following tips are helpful for successful configuration of high availability on
your Load Balancer machines.
v The positioning of the high availability commands in your script files can make
a significant difference.
Examples of high availability commands are:
dscontrol highavailability heartbeat add ...
dscontrol highavailability backup add ...
dscontrol highavailability reach add ...
In most cases, you must position the high availability definitions at the end of
the file. The cluster, port, and server statements must be placed before the high
availability statements. This is because when high availability synchronizes, it
looks for the cluster, port, and server definitions when a connection record is
received.
If the cluster, port, and server do not exist, the connection record is dropped. If a
takeover occurs and the connection record has not been replicated on the partner
machine, the connection fails.
The exception to this rule is when using collocated servers that are configured
with the MAC-forwarding method. In this case, the high availability statements
must come before the collocated server statements. If the high availability
statements are not before the collocated server statements, Load Balancer
receives a request for the collocated server, but it appears the same as an
incoming request for the cluster and is load balanced. This can lead to a looping
of the packets on the network and lead to excess traffic. When the high
availability statements are placed before the collocated server, Load Balancer
knows that it should not forward incoming traffic unless it is in the ACTIVE
state.
v On z/OS or OS/390 operating systems, the hypervisor controls the interface and
multiplexes the real interface among the guest operating systems. The
hypervisor permits only one guest at a time to register itself for an IP address,
and there is an update window. This means that when the cluster IP is removed
from the backup machine, you might have to add a delay before trying to add
the cluster IP to the primary machine; otherwise, it fails and incoming
connections are not processed.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 263

 To correct this behavior, add a sleep delay in the goActive script. The amount of
time needed to sleep is deployment dependent. It is recommended that you start
with a sleep delay time of 10.
v High availability partners must be able to ping each other and must be on the
same subnet.
By default, the machines attempt to communicate with each other every one half
second and will detect a failure after four failed attempts. If you have a busy
machine, this might cause failovers to occur when the system is still functioning
properly. You can increase the number of times until failure by issuing:
dscontrol executor set hatimeout <value>
v When the partners synchronize, all the connection records are sent from the
active machine to the backup machine. The synchronization must complete
within the default limit of 50 seconds.
To accomplish this, old connections must not remain in memory for an extended
amount of time. In particular, there have been issues with LDAP ports and large
staletimeout periods (in excess of one day). Setting a large staletimeout period
causes old connections to remain in memory, which causes more connection
records to be passed at synchronization, and also more memory usage on both
machines.
If the synchronization fails with a reasonable staletimeout period, you can
increase the synchronization timeout by issuing:
e xm 33 5 new_timeout

This command is not stored in the configuration file when it is saved, so you
must manually add it to the configuration file if you want this setting to persist
between shutdowns.
The timeout value is stored in one half seconds; therefore, the default value for
new_timeout is 100 (50 seconds).
v When a partner machine takes over the workload, it issues a gratuitous ARP
response to tell machines on the same subnet of the new hardware address
associated with the cluster IP address. You must ensure that your routers honor
gratuitous ARPs and update their cache, or the requests will be sent to the
inactive partner.

Note: For information on configuring the high availability feature see “High
availability” on page 164.

Problem: On Linux, Dispatcher configuration limitations when

using zSeries or S/390 servers that have Open System
Adapter (OSA) cards
In general, when using the MAC forwarding method, servers in the Load Balancer
configuration must all be on the same network segment regardless of the platform.
Active network devices such as router, bridges, and firewalls interfere with Load
Balancer. This is because Load Balancer functions as a specialized router,
modifying only the link-layer headers to its next and final hop. Any network
topology in which the next hop is not the final hop is not valid for Load Balancer.

Note: Tunnels, such as channel-to-channel (CTC) or inter-user communication

vehicle (IUCV), are often supported. However, Load Balancer must forward
across the tunnel directly to the final destination, it cannot be a
network-to-network tunnel.

264 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

There is a limitation for zSeries and S/390 servers that share the OSA card, because
this adapter operates differently than most network cards. The OSA card has its
own virtual link layer implementation, which has nothing to do with ethernet, that
is presented to the Linux and z/OS hosts behind it. Effectively, each OSA card
looks just like ethernet-to-ethernet hosts (and not to the OSA hosts), and hosts that
use it will respond to it as if it is ethernet.

The OSA card also performs some functions that relate to the IP layer directly.
Responding to ARP (address resolution protocol) requests is one example of a
function that it performs. Another is that shared OSA routes IP packets based on
destination IP address, instead of on ethernet address as a layer 2 switch.
Effectively, the OSA card is a bridged network segment unto itself.

Load Balancer that runs on an S/390 Linux or zSeries Linux host can forward to
hosts on the same OSA or to hosts on the ethernet. All the hosts on the same
shared OSA are effectively on the same segment.

Load Balancer can forward out of a shared OSA because of the nature of the OSA
bridge. The bridge knows the OSA port that owns the cluster IP. The bridge knows
the MAC address of hosts directly connected to the ethernet segment. Therefore,
Load Balancer can MAC-forward across one OSA bridge.

However, Load Balancer cannot forward into a shared OSA. This includes the Load
Balancer on an S/390 Linux when the backend server is on a different OSA card
than the Load Balancer. The OSA for the backend server advertises the OSA MAC
address for the server IP, but when a packet arrives with the ethernet destination
address of the server's OSA and the IP of the cluster, the server's OSA card does
not know which of its hosts, if any, should receive that packet. The same principles
that permit OSA-to-ethernet MAC-forwarding to work out of one shared OSA do
not hold when trying to forward into a shared OSA.

Workaround:

In Load Balancer configurations that use zSeries or S/390 servers that have OSA
cards, there are two approaches you can take to work around the problem that has
been described.
1. Using platform features
If the servers in the Load Balancer configuration are on the same zSeries or
S/390 platform type, you can define point-to-point (CTC or IUCV) connections
between Load Balancer and each server. Set up the endpoints with private IP
addresses. The point-to-point connection is used for Load Balancer-to-server
traffic only. Then add the servers with the IP address of the server endpoint of
the tunnel. With this configuration, the cluster traffic comes through the Load
Balancer OSA card and is forwarded across the point-to-point connection where
the server responds through its own default route. The response uses the
server's OSA card to leave, which might or might not be the same card.
2. Using Load Balancer's GRE feature
If the servers in the Load Balancer configuration are not on the same zSeries or
S/390 platform type, or if it is not possible to define a point-to-point connection
between Load Balancer and each server, it is recommended that you use Load
Balancer's Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) feature, which is a protocol
that permits Load Balancer to forward across routers.
When using GRE, the client->cluster IP packet is received by Load Balancer,
encapsulated, and sent to the server. At the server, the original client->cluster IP
packet is excapsulated, and the server responds directly to the client. The

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 265

 advantage with using GRE is that Load Balancer sees only the client-to-server
traffic, not the server-to-client traffic. The disadvantage is that it lowers the
maximum segment size (MSS) of the TCP connection due to encapsulation
overhead.
To configure Load Balancer to forward with GRE encapsulation, add the
servers using the following command:
dscontrol server add cluster_add:port:backend_server router
backend_server

Where router backend_server is valid if Load Balancer and the backend server
are on the same IP subnet. Otherwise, specify the valid next-hop IP address as
the router.
To configure Linux systems to perform native GRE excapsulation, for each
backend server, issue the following commands:
modprobe ip_gre
ip tunnel add grelb0 mode gre ikey 3735928559
ip link set grelb0 up
ip addr add cluster_addr dev grelb0

Note: Do not define the cluster address on the loopback of the backend
servers. When using z/OS backend servers, you must use z/OS-specific
commands to configure the servers to perform GRE excapsulation.

Problem: On some Linux versions, a memory leak occurs

when running Dispatcher configured with the manager and
advisors
When running Load Balancer configured with the manager and advisor features,
large memory leaks can occur on some Red Hat Linux versions. The Java memory
leak increases if you configure a small time-interval setting for the advisor.

The IBM Java SDK versions of the JVM and the Native POSIX Thread Library
(NPTL) shipped with some Linux distributions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3.0, can cause the memory leak to occur. The enhanced threading library NPTL is
shipped with some distributions of Linux systems, such as Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 3.0, that support NPTL.

Refer to http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/linux/tested.html for the

latest information on Linux systems and the IBM Java SDK shipped with these
systems.

As a problem determination tool, use the vmstat or ps command to detect memory

leaks.

To fix the memory leak, issue the following command before running the Load
Balancer machine to disable the NPTL library:
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.10

Problem: On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, Dispatcher

forwards packets, but the packets do not reach the backend
server
On Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9, when using the MAC forwarding method, the
Dispatcher report might indicate that the packet was forwarded (packet count
increases); however, the packet never reaches the backend server.

266 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 You might observe one or both of the following when this problem occurs:
v On the Dispatcher machine-side, the following message displays:
ip_finish_output2: No header cache and no neighbour!
v On the client-side, the following message displays:
ICMP Destination unreachable: Fragmentation Needed

This problem might occur due to the iptables NAT module that is loaded. On SLES
9, there is a possible, but unconfirmed, error in this version of iptables that causes
strange behavior when interacting with Dispatcher.

Solution:

Unload the iptables NAT module and Connection Tracking module.

For example:
# lsmod | grep ip
iptable_filter 3072 0
iptable_nat 22060 0
ip_conntrack 32560 1 iptable_nat
ip_tables 17280 2
iptable_filter,iptable_nat
ipv6 236800 19
# rmmod iptable_nat
# rmmod ip_conntrack

Remove the modules in the order of their usage. Specifically, you can remove a
module only if the reference count (last column in lsmod output) is zero. If you
have configured any rules in iptables, you must remove them. For example:
iptables -t nat -F.

The iptable_nat module uses ip_conntrack, so you must first remove iptable_nat
module, and then remove ip_conntrack module.

Note: Just trying to list rules configured on a table loads up the corresponding
module; for example: iptables -t nat -L. Make sure that you do not run
this after the modules are removed.

Problem: On Windows system, IP address conflict message

appears during high availability takeover
On Windows systems, if you are running Load Balancer's high availability feature,
goScripts are used to configure the cluster IP on the active Load Balancer and to
unconfigure the cluster IP on the backup system when a takeover occurs. If the
goScript that configures the cluster IP address on the active machine runs before
the goScript to unconfigure the IP cluster address on the backup machine,
problems might occur. You might see a popup window that tells you that the
system has detected an IP address conflict. If you run the ipconfig \all
command, you might also see that there is a 0.0.0.0 IP address on the machine.

Solution:

Issue the following command to manually unconfigure the cluster IP address from
the primary machine:
dscontrol executor unconfigure clusterIP

This removes the 0.0.0.0 address from the Windows IP stack.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 267

 After the high availability partner releases the cluster IP address, issue the
following command to manually add the cluster IP back:
dscontrol executor configure clusterIP

After this command is issued, look for the cluster IP address on the Windows IP
stack again by issuing the following command:
ipconfig /all

Problem: Linux iptables can interfere with the routing of

packets
Linux iptables can interfere with load balancing of traffic and must be disabled on
the Dispatcher machine.

Issue the following command to determine if iptables are loaded:

lsmod | grep ip_tables

The output from the preceding command might be similar to this:

ip_tables 22400 3
iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter

Issue the following command for each iptable listed in the output to display the
rules for the tables:
iptables -t <short_name> -L

For example:
iptables -t mangle -L
iptables -t nat -L
iptables -t filter -L

If iptable_nat is loaded, it must be unloaded. Because iptable_nat has a

dependency on iptable_conntrack, iptable_conntrack also must be removed. Issue
the following command to unload these two iptables:
rmmod iptable_nat iptable_conntrack

Upgrading the Java file set provided with the Load Balancer
installation
During the Load Balancer installation process, a Java file set also gets installed.
Load Balancer will be the only application that uses the Java version which installs
with the product. You should not upgrade this version of the Java file set on your
own. If there are problem which requires an upgrade for the Java file set, you
should report the problem to IBM Service so the Java file set which is shipped
within Load Balancer will be upgraded with an official fix level.

Problem: Persistent connections might drop during high

availability takeover
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, persistent connections might drop
during a high availability takeover. This problem exists only when you have a
collocated server that uses the MAC forwarding method.

When the cluster IP address is deleted, either from the ethernet interface or the
loopback interface, any connections on that IP address are released. When the
operating system receives a packet on a connection that has been released, it sends
a RST response back to the client and the connection is terminated.

268 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 If you cannot tolerate connections being dropped during a high availability
takeover, you must not use a collocated server on Windows operating systems
when you use the MAC forwarding method.

Solving common problems—CBR

Problem: CBR will not run

This problem can occur when another application is using one of the ports used by
CBR. For more information, go to “Checking CBR port numbers” on page 246.

Problem: cbrcontrol or lbadmin command fails

1. The cbrcontrol command returns: Error: Server not responding. Or, the
lbadmin command returns: Error: unable to access RMI server. These errors
can result when your machine has a socksified stack. To correct this problem,
edit the socks.cnf file to contain the following lines:
EXCLUDE-MODULE java
EXCLUDE-MODULE javaw
2. The administration consoles for Load Balancer interfaces (command line,
graphical user interface, and wizards) communicate with cbrserver using
remote method invocation (RMI). The default communication uses three ports;
each port is set in the cbrserver start script:
v 11099 to receive commands from cbrcontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 11199 for the RMI server port
This can cause problems when one of the administration consoles runs on the
same machine as a firewall or through a firewall. For example, when Load
Balancer runs on the same machine as a firewall, and you issue cbrcontrol
commands, you might see errors such as Error: Server not responding.
To avoid this problem, edit the cbrserver script file to set the port used by RMI
for the firewall (or other application). Change the line:
LB_RMISERVERPORT=11199 to LB_RMISERVERPORT=yourPort. Where
yourPort is a different port.
When complete, restart cbrserver and open traffic for ports 11099, 10004, 11199,
and 11100, or for the chosen port for the host address from which the
administration console will be run.
3. These errors can also occur if you have not already started cbrserver.

Problem: Requests not being load balanced

Caching Proxy and CBR have been started, but requests are not being load
balanced. This error can occur if you start Caching Proxy before starting the
executor. If this happens, the stderr log for Caching Proxy will contain the
following error message: "ndServerInit: Could not attach to executor." To avoid this
problem, start the executor before starting Caching Proxy.

Problem: On Solaris systems, cbrcontrol executor start

command fails
On Solaris systems, the cbrcontrol executor start command returns: “Error:
Executor was not started." This error occurs if you do not configure the IPC
(Inter-process Communication) for the system so that the maximum size of a
shared memory segment and semaphore IDs are bigger than the operating system's
default. In order to increase the size of the shared memory segment and

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 269

 semaphore IDs, you must edit the /etc/system file. For more information on how to
configure this file, see the section on modifying the system defaults for IPCs
(Inter-process Communication).

Problem: Syntactical or configuration error

If the URL rule does not work, this can be a result of either a syntactical or
configuration error. For this problem check the following:
v Verify the rule is configured correctly. See Appendix B, “Content rule (pattern)
syntax,” on page 409, for details.
v Issue a cbrcontrol rule report for this rule, and check the ‘Times Fired' column
to see if it has incremented according to the number of requests made. If it has
incremented correctly, recheck the server configuration.
v If the rule is not being fired, add an ‘always true' rule. Issue a cbrcontrol rule
report on the ‘always true' rule to verify that it is getting fired.

Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected GUI behavior

when using Matrox AGP video cards
On Windows platform when using a Matrox AGP card, unexpected behavior can
occur in the Load Balancer GUI. When clicking the mouse, a block of space slightly
larger than the mouse pointer can become corrupted causing possible highlighting
reversal or images to shift out of place on the screen. Older Matrox cards have not
shown this behavior. There is no known fix when using Matrox AGP cards.

Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when resize Netscape

browser window while using Web administration
If you are using remote Web administration to configure Load Balancer, do not
resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore Down, and so on) the Netscape browser
window in which the Load Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a
page every time browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from
host. You will need to reconnect to host each time you resize the window. If you
are performing remote Web administration on a Windows platform, use Internet
Explorer.

Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted Latin-1 national

characters appear in command prompt window
In a command prompt window on the Windows operating system, some national
charactes of the Latin-1 family might appear corrupted. For example, the letter "a"
with a tilde may display as a pi symbol. To fix this, you must change the font
properties of the command prompt window. To change the font, do the following:
1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of the command prompt window
2. Select Properties, then click the Font tab
3. The default font is Raster fonts; change this to Lucida Console and click OK

Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/ thread error occurs

Some HP-UX 11i installations are pre-configured to allow only 64 threads per
process. However, some Load Balancer configurations require more than this
amount. For HP-UX systems, set the threads per process to at least 256. To increase
this value, use the "sam" utility to set the max_thread_proc kernel parameter. If
heavy use is expected, you might need to increase max_thread_proc beyond 256.

270 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 To increase max_thread_proc, refer to the steps to increase the max_thread_proc
parameter.

Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and reach targets

mark all servers down
When configuring your adapter on a Load Balancer machine, you must ensure that
the following two settings are correct for the advisor to work:
v Disable Task Offloading, which is most commonly used on 3Com adapter cards.
v Enable Protocol 1 (ICMP) for IP protocols if you are enabling TCP/IP filtering. If
ICMP is not enabled, the ping test to the backend server will not succeed.

Refer to the section on disabling task offloading for instructions on configuring this
setting.

Problem: On Windows systems, resolving IP address to host

name when more than one address is configured to an
adapter
On Windows platform, when configuring an adapter with more than one IP
address, configure the IP address that you want affiliated to the host name first in
the registry.

Because Load Balancer is dependent on InetAddress.getLocalHost() in many

instances (for example, lbkeys create), multiple IP addresses aliased to a single
adapter might cause problems. To avoid this problem, list the IP address to which
you want your host name to resolve first in the registry.

To address this issue, reorder the adapters in the Advanced Settings for the Control
Panel's Network Connections option. For example:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open the Network Connections option.
3. From the menu bar, select Advanced > Advanced Settings...
4. Reorder the adapters that are listed in the Advanced Settings panel.

Solving common problems—Site Selector

Problem: Site Selector will not run

This problem can occur when another application is using one of the ports used by
Site Selector. For more information, go to “Checking Site Selector port numbers” on
page 247.

Problem: Site Selector does not round-robin traffic from

Solaris clients
Symptom: Site Selector component does not round-robin incoming requests from
Solaris clients.

Possible cause: Solaris systems run a name service cache daemon. If this daemon is
running, the subsequent resolver request is answered from this cache instead of
querying Site Selector.

Solution: Turn off the name service cache daemon on the Solaris machine.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 271

 Problem: sscontrol or lbadmin command fails
1. The sscontrol command returns: Error: Server not responding. Or, the lbadmin
command returns: Error: unable to access RMI server. These errors can result
when your machine has a socksified stack. To correct this problem, edit the
socks.cnf file to contain the following lines:
EXCLUDE-MODULE java
EXCLUDE-MODULE javaw
2. The administration consoles for Load Balancer interfaces (command line,
graphical user interface, and wizards) communicate with ssserver using remote
method invocation (RMI). The default communication uses three ports; each
port is set in the ssserver start script:
v 12099 to receive commands from sscontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 12199 for the RMI server port
v 53 for sending and receiving DNS traffic
This can cause problems when one of the administration consoles runs on the
same machine as a firewall or through a firewall. For example, when Load
Balancer runs on the same machine as a firewall, and you issue sscontrol
commands, you might see errors such as Error: Server not responding.
To avoid this problem, edit the ssserver script file to set the port used by RMI
for the firewall (or other application). Change the line:
LB_RMISERVERPORT=10199 to LB_RMISERVERPORT=yourPort. Where
yourPort is a different port.
When complete, restart ssserver and open traffic for ports 12099, 10004, 12199,
and 12100, or for the chosen port for the host address from which the
administration console will be run.
3. These errors can also occur if you have not already started ssserver.

Problem: The ssserver is failing to start on Windows platform

Site Selector must be able to participate in a DNS. All the machines involved in the
configuration should also be participants of this system. Windows systems do not
always require the configured host name to be in the DNS. Site Selector requires
that its host name be define in the DNS to start properly.

Verify this host is defined in the DNS. Edit the ssserver.cmd file and remove the
"w" from "javaw". This should provide more information about errors.

Problem: Site Selector with duplicate routes not load

balancing correctly
Site Selector's name server does not bind to any one address on the machine. It
will respond to requests destined for any valid IP on the machine. Site Selector
relies on the operating system to route the response back to the client. If the Site
Selector machine has multiple adapters and any number of them are attached to
the same subnet, it is possible the O/S will send the response to the client from a
different address than it was received. Some client applications will not accept a
response received from an address other than where it was sent. As a result, the
name resolution will appear to fail.

272 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected GUI behavior
when using Matrox AGP video cards
On Windows platform when using a Matrox AGP card, unexpected behavior can
occur in the Load Balancer GUI. When clicking the mouse, a block of space slightly
larger than the mouse pointer can become corrupted causing possible highlighting
reversal or images to shift out of place on the screen. Older Matrox cards have not
shown this behavior. There is no known fix when using Matrox AGP cards.

Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when resize Netscape

browser window while using Web administration
If you are using remote Web administration to configure Load Balancer, do not
resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore Down, and so on) the Netscape browser
window in which the Load Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a
page every time browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from
host. You will need to reconnect to host each time you resize the window. If you
are performing remote Web administration on a Windows platform, use Internet
Explorer.

Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted Latin-1 national

characters appear in command prompt window
In a command prompt window on the Windows operating system, some national
charactes of the Latin-1 family might appear corrupted. For example, the letter "a"
with a tilde may display as a pi symbol. To fix this, you must change the font
properties of the command prompt window. To change the font, do the following:
1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of the command prompt window
2. Select Properties, then click the Font tab
3. The default font is Raster fonts; change this to Lucida Console and click OK

Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/thread error occurs

Some HP-UX 11i installations are pre-configured to allow only 64 threads per
process. However, some Load Balancer configurations require more than this
amount. For HP-UX systems, set the threads per process to at least 256. To increase
this value, use the "sam" utility to set the max_thread_proc kernel parameter. If
heavy use is expected, you might need to increase max_thread_proc beyond 256.

To increase max_thread_proc, refer to the steps to increase the max_thread_proc

parameter.

Problem: On Windows systems, advisors and reach targets

mark all servers down
When configuring your adapter on a Load Balancer machine, you must ensure that
the following two settings are correct for the advisor to work:
v Disable Task Offloading, which is most commonly used on 3Com adapter cards.
v Enable Protocol 1 (ICMP) for IP protocols if you are enabling TCP/IP filtering. If
ICMP is not enabled, the ping test to the backend server will not succeed.

Refer to the section on disabling task offloading for instructions.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 273

Solving common problems—Cisco CSS Controller

Problem: ccoserver will not start

This problem can occur when another application is using one of the ports used by
the Cisco CSS Controller's ccoserver. For more information, see “Checking Cisco
CSS Controller port numbers” on page 248.

Problem: ccocontrol or lbadmin command fails

1. The ccocontrol command returns: Error: Server not responding. Or, the
lbadmin command returns: Error: unable to access RMI server. These errors
can result when your machine has a socksified stack. To correct this problem,
edit the socks.cnf file to contain the following lines:
EXCLUDE-MODULE java
EXCLUDE-MODULE javaw
2. The administration consoles for Load Balancer interfaces (command line and
graphical user interface) communicate with ccoserver using remote method
invocation (RMI). The default communication uses three ports; each port is set
in the ccoserver start script:
v 13099 to receive commands from ccocontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 13199 for the RMI server port
This can cause problems when one of the administration consoles runs on the
same machine as a firewall or through a firewall. For example, when Load
Balancer runs on the same machine as a firewall, and you issue ccocontrol
commands, you might see errors such as Error: Server not responding.
To avoid this problem, edit the ccoserver script file to set the port used by RMI
for the firewall (or other application). Change the line:
CCO_RMISERVERPORT=14199 to CCO_RMISERVERPORT=yourPort. Where
yourPort is a different port.
When complete, restart ccoserver and open traffic for ports 13099, 10004, 13199,
and 13100, or for the chosen port for the host address from which the
administration console will be run.
3. These errors can also occur if you have not already started ccoserver.

Problem: Cannot create registry on port 13099

This problem can occur when a valid product license is missing. When you
attempt to start ccoserver, you receive the following message:
Your license has expired. Contact your local IBM
representative or authorized IBM reseller.

To correct this problem:

1. If you have already attempted to start ccoserver, type ccoserver stop.
2. Copy your valid license to the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
conf
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\conf
3. Type ccoserver to start the server.

274 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected GUI behavior
when using Matrox AGP video cards
On Windows platform when using a Matrox AGP card, unexpected behavior can
occur in the Load Balancer GUI. When clicking the mouse, a block of space slightly
larger than the mouse pointer can become corrupted causing possible highlighting
reversal or images to shift out of place on the screen. Older Matrox cards have not
shown this behavior. There is no known fix when using Matrox AGP cards.

Problem: Received a connection error when adding a

consultant
You might experience a connection error, due to incorrect configuration settings,
when adding a consultant. To fix this problem:
v Ensure that the Address or community specified exactly match the values
configured on the switch.
v Ensure that connectivity between the controller and the switch is available.
v Ensure that the community has read-write permission on the switch. The
controller will attempt to enable the ApSvcLoadEnable (SNMP) variable when
testing the connection to verify write access.

Problem: Weights are not being updated on the switch

To fix this problem
v If you are using the Active connections or Connection rate metrics, issue
ccocontrol service SWID:OCID:serviceIO report. Verify the metric values are
changing according to throughput traffic on the switch.
v Increase the loglevel of the consultant log and look for SNMP TimeOut
occurrences. If timeouts are occurring, possible solutions include:
– Reducing the load on the switch.
– Decreasing the network delay between the switch and the controller.
v Stop and restart the consultant.

Problem: Refresh command did not update the consultant

configuration
Increase the consultant loglevel and retry the command. If it fails again, search the
log for SNMP timeout or other SNMP communication errors.

Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when resize Netscape

browser window while using Web administration
If you are using remote Web administration to configure Load Balancer, do not
resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore Down, and so on) the Netscape browser
window in which the Load Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a
page every time browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from
host. You will need to reconnect to host each time you resize the window. If you
are performing remote Web administration on a Windows platform, use Internet
Explorer.

Problem: On Windows platform, corrupted Latin-1 national

characters appear in command prompt window
In a command prompt window on the Windows operating system, some national
charactes of the Latin-1 family might appear corrupted. For example, the letter "a"

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 275

 with a tilde may display as a pi symbol. To fix this, you must change the font
properties of the command prompt window. To change the font, do the following:
1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of the command prompt window
2. Select Properties, then click the Font tab
3. The default font is Raster fonts; change this to Lucida Console and click OK

Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/ thread error occurs

Some HP-UX 11i installations are pre-configured to allow only 64 threads per
process. However, some Load Balancer configurations require more than this
amount. For HP-UX systems, set the threads per process to at least 256. To increase
this value, use the "sam" utility to set the max_thread_proc kernel parameter. If
heavy use is expected, you might need to increase max_thread_proc beyond 256.

To increase max_thread_proc, refer to the steps to increase the max_thread_proc

parameter.

Solving common problems—Nortel Alteon Controller

Problem: nalserver will not start

This problem can occur when another application is using one of the ports used by
the Nortel Alteon Controller's nalserver. For more information, see “Checking
Nortel Alteon Controller port numbers” on page 248.

Problem: nalcontrol or lbadmin command fails

1. The nalcontrol command returns: Error: Server not responding. Or, the
lbadmin command returns: Error: unable to access RMI server. These errors
can result when your machine has a socksified stack. To correct this problem,
edit the socks.cnf file to contain the following lines:
EXCLUDE-MODULE java
EXCLUDE-MODULE javaw
2. The administration consoles for Load Balancer interfaces (command line and
graphical user interface) communicate with nalserver using remote method
invocation (RMI). The default communication uses three ports; each port is set
in the nalserver start script:
v 14099 to receive commands from nalcontrol
v 10004 to send metric queries to Metric Server
v 14199 for the RMI server port
This can cause problems when one of the administration consoles runs on the
same machine as a firewall or through a firewall. For example, when Load
Balancer runs on the same machine as a firewall, and you issue nalcontrol
commands, you might see errors such as Error: Server not responding.
To avoid this problem, edit the nalserver script file to set the port used by RMI
for the firewall (or other application). Change the line:
NAL_RMISERVERPORT=14199 to NAL_RMISERVERPORT=yourPort. Where
yourPort is a different port.
When complete, restart nalserver and open traffic for ports 14099, 10004, 14199,
and 14100, or for the chosen port for the host address from which the
administration console will be run.
3. These errors can also occur if you have not already started nalserver.

276 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Problem: Cannot create registry on port 14099
This problem can occur when a valid product license is missing. When you
attempt to start nalserver, you receive the following message:
Your license has expired. Contact your local IBM
representative or authorized IBM reseller.

To correct this problem:

1. If you have already attempted to start nalserver, type nalserver stop.
2. Copy your valid license to the
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
conf
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\conf
3. Type nalserver to start the server.

Problem: On Windows platform, unexpected GUI behavior

when using Matrox AGP video cards
On Windows platform when using a Matrox AGP card, unexpected behavior can
occur in the Load Balancer GUI. When clicking the mouse, a block of space slightly
larger than the mouse pointer can become corrupted causing possible highlighting
reversal or images to shift out of place on the screen. Older Matrox cards have not
shown this behavior. There is no known fix when using Matrox AGP cards.

Problem: Disconnect from host occurs when resize Netscape

browser window while using Web administration
If you are using remote Web administration to configure Load Balancer, do not
resize (Minimize, Maximize, Restore Down, and so on) the Netscape browser
window in which the Load Balancer GUI appears. Because Netscape reloads a
page every time browser windows are resized, this will cause a disconnect from
host. You will need to reconnect to host each time you resize the window. If you
are performing remote Web administration on a Windows platform, use Internet
Explorer.

Problem: Received a connection error when adding a

consultant
You might experience a connection error, due to incorrect configuration settings,
when adding a consultant. To fix this problem:
v Ensure that the Address or community specified exactly match the values
configured on the switch.
v Ensure that connectivity between the controller and the switch is available.
v Ensure that the community has read-write permission on the switch. The
controller will attempt to enable the ApSvcLoadEnable (SNMP) variable when
testing the connection to verify write access.

Problem: Weights are not being updated on the switch

To fix this problem
v If you are using the Active connections or Connection rate metrics, issue
ccocontrol service SWID:OCID:serviceIO report. Verify the metric values are
changing according to throughput traffic on the switch.
v Increase the loglevel of the consultant log and look for SNMP TimeOut
occurrences. If timeouts are occurring, possible solutions include:

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 277

 – Reducing the load on the switch.
– Decreasing the network delay between the switch and the controller.
v Stop and restart the consultant.

Problem: Refresh command did not update the consultant

configuration
Increase the consultant loglevel and retry the command. If it fails again, search the
log for SNMP timeout or other SNMP communication errors.

Problem: On Windows systems, corrupted Latin-1 national

characters appear in command prompt window
In a command prompt window on the Windows platform operating system, some
national charactes of the Latin-1 family might appear corrupted. For example, the
letter "a" with a tilde may display as a pi symbol. To fix this, you must change the
font properties of the command prompt window. To change the font, do the
following:
1. Click the icon in the upper left corner of the command prompt window
2. Select Properties, then click the Font tab
3. The default font is Raster fonts; change this to Lucida Console and click OK

Problem: On HP-UX, Java out of memory/ thread error occurs

Some HP-UX 11i installations are pre-configured to allow only 64 threads per
process. However, some Load Balancer configurations require more than this
amount. For HP-UX systems, set the threads per process to at least 256. To increase
this value, use the "sam" utility to set the max_thread_proc kernel parameter. If
heavy use is expected, you might need to increase max_thread_proc beyond 256.

To increase max_thread_proc, refer to the steps to increase the max_thread_proc

parameter.

Solving common problems—Metric Server

Problem: Metric Server IOException on Windows platform

running .bat or .cmd user metric files
You must use the full metric name for user-written metrics on Metric Servers
running on Windows platform. For example, you must specify usermetric.bat
instead of usermetric. The name usermetric is valid on the command line, but will
not work when run from within the runtime environment. If you do not use the
full metric name, you will receive a Metric Server IOException. Set the
LOG_LEVEL variable to a value of 3 in the metricserver command file, then check
the log output. In this example, the exception appears as:
... java.io.IOException: CreateProcess: usermetric error=2

Problem: Metric Server not reporting loads to Load Balancer

machine
There can be several reasons why Metric Server is not reporting load information
to Load Balancer. To determine the cause, perform the following checks:
v Ensure that the key files have been transferred to Metric Server.
v Verify the host name of the Metric Server machine is registered with the local
nameserver.
278 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
 You can also resolve this problem by specifying the host name in the Java
property java.rmi.server.hostname in the metricserver script.
v Restart with a higher loglevel and look for errors.
v On the Load Balancer machine, increase the logging level for the Metric Monitor
log using the dscontrol manager metric set command. Search for errors in the
MetricMonitor.log file.

Problem: Metric Server log reports "Signature is necessary for

access to agent"
The Metric Server log reports this error message after key files have been
transferred to the server.

This error is logged when the key file fails authorization with the paired key due
to corruption in the pair. To correct this problem try the following:
v FTP the key file again using the binary transfer method.
v Create new key and redistribute it.

Problem: On AIX systems, while running Metric Server under

heavy stress, ps –vg command output may become corrupted
While running Metric Server under heavy stress on a multi-processor AIX platform
(4.3.3, 32-bit 5.1, or 64-bit 5.1), output from ps -vg command may be corrupt. For
example:
55742 - A 88:19 42 18014398509449680 6396 32768 22 36 2.8 1.0 java -Xms

The SIZE and/or RSS field of the ps command may show an excessive amount of
memory being used.

This is a known AIX kernel problem. Apar IY33804 will correct this problem.
Obtain the fix from AIX support at http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/
fixes, or contact your local AIX support representative.

Problem: Configuring Metric Server in a two-tier configuration

with Site Selector load-balancing across high-availability
Dispatchers
In a two-tier Load Balancer configuration, if Site Selector (first-tier) is load
balancing across a pair of Dispatcher high-availability partners (second-tier), there
are steps you must complete to configure the metric server component. You must
configure metric server to listen on a new IP address that is specifically for metric
server's use. On the two high-availability Dispatcher machines, metric server is
active only on the active Dispatcher.

To correctly configure this setup, complete the following steps:

v Configure the metric server to listen on the new local IP. It should not be left to
respond on the local NFA address. Refer to “Metric Server” on page 157 for
configuration information.
v Because Site Selector should only be communicating with the active Dispatcher,
you must start and stop metric server in the high-availability go scripts. To start
or stop metric server correctly, alias the new metric server specific IP on the
machine. Modify the go scripts to move the metric server IP address (similar to
moving cluster addresses) so that the goActive script moves the metric server IP
from the loopback to a physical adapter, and the goStandby script does the

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 279

 reverse. After moving the IP address, the goActive script must run the
metricserver command to start metric server. The goStandby script must run
metricserver stop to prevent metric server from talking to Site Selector while in
standby mode.
v On Windows platform, refer to “Using scripts” on page 167 for moving the
metric server specific IP address.
v The goStandby script changes include operating specific instructions as follows:
– HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: In the section within the goStandby
script where the cluster address is moved to the loopback, insert commands
to move the metric server specific IP to the loopback. Next, insert the
metricserver stop command to stop metric server from responding to Site
Selector.
– AIX systems: In the section within the goStandby script where the cluster
address is moved to the loopback, insert commands to move the metric server
specific IP address to the loopback. Next, add a route so you can
communicate with the loopback alias. Run the command route add
metricserverIP 127.0.0.1. Then insert the metricserver stop command to prevent
metric server from further responding to Site Selector. After Metric Server
stops, the final step is to remove the loopback route. To prevent any future
confusion, insert route delete metricserverIP.
For example:
ifconfig en0 delete 9.27.23.61
ifconfig lo0 alias 9.27.23.61 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add 9.27.23.61 127.0.0.1
metricserver stop
# Sleep either max 60 seconds or until the metricserver stops
let loopcount=0
while [[ "$loopcount" -lt "60" && ’ps -ef | grep AgentStop|
grep -c -v gr ep’ -eq "1"]]
do
sleep 1
let loopcount=$loopcount+1
done
route delete 9.27.23.61
– Windows systems: First have the metric server loopback adapter (which is
called the Local Area Connection 2 in the following example) installed on
your machine with an IP address. Add an unused private network type of
address to it, such as 10.1.1.1. After configuring the loopback, make changes
to the go scripts. The goStandby script will include the netsh command to
move the metric server IP to the metric server loopback adapter. Then run the
metricserver stop command.
For example:
call netsh interface ip delete address "Local Area Connection" addr=9.27.23.61
call netsh interface ip add address "Local Area Connection 2" addr=9.27.2.3.61
mask = 255.255.255.0
sleep 3
metricserver stop

Problem: Scripts, running on multi-CPU Solaris machines,

produce unwanted console messages
When running on multi-CPU Solaris machines, metricserver, cpuload, and
memload scripts can produce unwanted console messages. This behavior is due to
the use of the VMSTAT system command to gather CPU and memory statistics
from the kernel. Some messages that VMSTAT returns indicate that the state of the
kernel has changed. The scripts are unable to handle these messages, resulting in
unnecessary console messages from the shell.

280 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Examples of these console messages are:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script/memload[29]: TOTAL=: syntax error
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script/memload[31]: LOAD=4*100/0: divide by zero
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/ms/script/memload[29]: TOTAL=659664+: more tokens expected

These messages can be ignored.

Problem: After starting Metric Server, metric value returns -1

This problem might be the result of the key files losing their integrity during
transfer to client.

If you are using FTP to transfer your key files from the Load Balancer machine to
the backend server ensure that you are using binary mode to put or get key files
to or from the FTP server.

Chapter 24. Troubleshooting 281

282 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Part 9. Command Reference
This part provides command reference information for all the Load Balancer
components. It contains the following chapters:
v Chapter 25, “How to read a syntax diagram,” on page 285
v Chapter 26, “Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR,” on page 287
v Chapter 27, “Command reference for Site Selector,” on page 341
v Chapter 28, “Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller,” on page 367
v Chapter 29, “Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller,” on page 385

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 283

284 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 25. How to read a syntax diagram
The syntax diagram shows you how to specify a command so that the operating
system can correctly interpret what you type. Read the syntax diagram from left to
right and from top to bottom, following the horizontal line (the main path).

Symbols and punctuation

The following symbols are used in syntax diagrams:
Symbol
Description


Marks the beginning of the command syntax.

 Marks the end of the command syntax.

You must include all punctuation such as colons, quotation marks, and minus
signs that are shown in the syntax diagram.

Parameters
The following types of parameters are used in syntax diagrams.
Parameter
Description
Required
Required parameters are displayed on the main path.
Optional
Optional parameters are displayed below the main path.

Parameters are classified as keywords or variables. Keywords are displayed in

lowercase letters and can be entered in lowercase. For example, a command name
is a keyword. Variables are italicized and represent names or values you supply.

Syntax examples
In the following example, the user command is a keyword. The required variable is
user_id, and the optional variable is password. Replace the variables with your own
values.

user user_id

password

Required keywords: required keywords and variables appear on the main path
line.

required_keyword


You must code required keywords and values.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 285

 Choose one required item from a stack: If there is more than one mutually
exclusive required keyword or variable to choose from, they are stacked vertically
in alphanumeric order.

required_parameter_1

required_parameter_2

Optional values: Optional keywords and variables appear below the main path
line.


keyword

You can choose not to code optional keywords and variables.

Choose one optional keyword from a stack: If there is more than one mutually
exclusive optional keyword or variable to choose from, they are stacked vertically
in alphanumeric order below the main path line.


parameter_1
parameter_2

Variables: A word in all italics is a variable. Where you see a variable in the syntax,
you must replace it with one of its allowable names or values, as defined in the
text.

variable


Nonalphanumeric characters: If a diagram shows a character that is not

alphanumeric (such as colons, quotes, or minus signs), you must code the character
as part of the syntax. In this example, you must code cluster:port.

cluster:port


286 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR
This chapter describes how to use the Dispatcher dscontrol commands. It is also a
command reference for CBR.

For previous versions, when the product was known as Network Dispatcher, the
Dispatcher control command name was ndcontrol. The Dispatcher control
command name is now dscontrol. Ensure you update all previous script files to
use dscontrol (not ndcontrol) for configuring Dispatcher.

CBR uses a subset of the Dispatcher commands listed in this command reference.
When using these syntax diagrams for CBR, substitute cbrcontrol for dscontrol.
For information, see “Configuration differences between CBR and Dispatcher” on
page 288.

The following list contains the commands noted in this chapter:

v “dscontrol advisor — control the advisor” on page 289
v “dscontrol binlog — control the binary log file” on page 294
v “dscontrol cluster — configure clusters” on page 295
v “dscontrol executor — control the executor” on page 299
v “dscontrol file — manage configuration files” on page 304
v “dscontrol help — display or print help for this command” on page 306
v “dscontrol highavailability — control high availability” on page 307
v “dscontrol host — configure a remote machine” on page 311
v “dscontrol logstatus — display server log settings” on page 312
v “dscontrol manager — control the manager” on page 313
v “dscontrol metric — configure system metrics” on page 318
v “dscontrol port — configure ports” on page 319
v “dscontrol rule — configure rules” on page 324
v “dscontrol server — configure servers” on page 330
v “dscontrol set — configure server log” on page 336
v “dscontrol status — display whether the manager and advisors are running” on
page 337
v “dscontrol subagent — configure SNMP subagent” on page 338

You can enter a minimized version of the dscontrol command parameters. You
only need to enter the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on
the file save command, you can type dscontrol he f instead of dscontrol help file.

To start up the command-line interface: issue dscontrol to receive a dscontrol

command prompt.

To end the command line interface: issue exit or quit.

The command parameter values must be entered in English characters. The only
exceptions are host names (used in cluster, server, and highavailability commands)
and file names (used in file commands).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 287

Configuration differences between CBR and Dispatcher
The CBR command line interface is a subset of the command line interface of
Dispatcher. For CBR, substitute the cbrcontrol command instead of dscontrol to
configure the component.

Note: The Content Based Routing (CBR) component is not available on platforms
that run a 64-bit JVM, except for HP-UX ia64. On HP-UX ia64, the CBR
component runs as a 32-bit application. You can use the CBR forwarding
method of Load Balancer's Dispatcher component to provide content-based
routing without the use of Caching Proxy. See “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more information.

Some of the commands that are omitted in CBR are listed below.
1. highavailability
2. subagent
3. executor
v report
v set nfa <value>
v set fintimeout <value>
v set hatimeout <value>
v set hasynctimeout <value>
v set porttype <value>
4. cluster
v report {c}
v set {c} porttype
5. port
v add {c:p} porttype
v add {c:p} protocol
v set {c:p} porttype
6. rule add {c:p:r} type port
7. server
v add {c:p:s} router
v set {c:p:s} router

288 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol advisor — control the advisor


dscontrol advisor connecttimeout name port timeoutseconds

cluster:port
interval name port seconds
cluster:port
list
loglevel name port level
cluster:port
logsize name port unlimited
cluster:port number of records
receivetimeout name port timeoutseconds
cluster:port
report name port
cluster:port
retries name port numretries
cluster:port
start name port
cluster:port log file
status name port
cluster:port
stop name port
cluster:port
timeout name port unlimited
cluster:port seconds
version name port
cluster:port

connecttimeout
Set how long an advisor waits before reporting that a connect to a server for a
particular port on a server (a service) fails. For more information, see “Advisor
connect timeout and receive timeout for servers” on page 149.
name
The name of the advisor. Possible values include connect, db2, dns, ftp, http,
https, cachingproxy, imap, ldap, ldaps, nntp, ping, pop3, self, sip, smtp, ssl,
ssl2http, telnet, and wlm.
See “List of advisors” on page 149 for more information on the advisors that
Load Balancer provides.
Names of customized advisors are of the format xxxx, where ADV_xxxx is the
name of the class that implements the custom advisor. See “Create custom
(customizable) advisors” on page 154 for more information.
port
The number of the port that the advisor is monitoring.
cluster:port
The cluster value is optional on the advisor commands, but the port value is
required. If the cluster value is not specified, then the advisor will start
running on the port for all clusters. If you specify a cluster, then the advisor
will start running on the port, but only for the cluster you have specified. See
“Starting and stopping an advisor” on page 147 for more information.
The cluster is the address in IP address format or symbolic name. The port is
the number of the port that the advisor is monitoring.
timeoutseconds
A positive integer representing the timeout in seconds at which the advisor
waits before reporting that a connect to a server fails. The default is 3 times the
value specified for the advisor interval.
interval
Set how often the advisor will query the servers for information.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 289

 seconds
A positive integer representing the number of seconds between requests to the
servers about their current status. The default is 7.
list
Show list of advisors that are currently providing information to the manager.
loglevel
Set the logging level for an advisor log.
level
The number of the level (0 to 5). The default is 1. The higher the number, the
more information that is written to the advisor log. The following are the
possible values: 0 is None, 1 is Minimal, 2 is Basic, 3 is Moderate, 4 is
Advanced, 5 is Verbose.
logsize
Set the maximum size of an advisor log. When you set a maximum size for the
log file, the file will wrap; when the file reaches the specified size, the
subsequent entries are written from the top of the file, overwriting the
previous log entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than the current size of the
log. Log entries are time–stamped so you can tell the order in which they were
written. The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you should choose
the log size, because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the
higher levels.
number of records
The maximum size in bytes for the advisor log file. You can specify either a
positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file may not
reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log entries
themselves vary in size. The default value is 1 MB.
receivetimeout
Set how long an advisor waits before reporting that a receive from a particular
port on a server (a service) fails. For more information, see “Advisor connect
timeout and receive timeout for servers” on page 149.
timeoutseconds
A positive integer representing the timeout in seconds at which the advisor
waits before reporting that a receive from a server fails. The default is 3 times
the value specified for the advisor interval.
report
Display a report on the state of the advisor.
retry
Retry sets the number of retries that an advisor can make before marking a
server down.
numretries
An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should be no larger than 3.
If retries keyword is not configured, the number of retries defaults to zero.
start
Start the advisor. There are advisors for each protocol. The default ports are as
follows:

Advisor Name Protocol Port

cachingproxy HTTP (via Caching Proxy) 80
connect ICMP 12345

290 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Advisor Name Protocol Port
db2 private 50000
dns DNS 53
ftp FTP 21
http HTTP 80
https SSL 443
imap IMAP 143
ldap LDAP 389
ldaps SSL 443
nntp NNTP 119
ping PING 0
pop3 POP3 110
self private 12345
sip SIP 5060
smtp SMTP 25
ssl SSL 443
ssl2http SSL 443
telnet Telnet 23
WLM private 10,007

Note: The FTP advisor should advise only on the FTP control port (21). Do not
start an FTP advisor on the FTP data port (20).
log file
File name to which the management data is logged. Each record in the log is
time–stamped.
The default file is advisorname_port.log, for example, http_80.log. To change the
directory where the log files are kept, see “Changing the log file paths” on
page 219. The default log files for cluster (or site) specific advisors are created
with the cluster address, for example, http_127.40.50.1_80.log.
status
Display the current status of all the values in an advisor that can be set
globally and their defaults.
stop
Stop the advisor.
timeout
Set the number of seconds for which the manager will consider information
from the advisor as valid. If the manager finds that the advisor information is
older than this timeout period, the manager will not use that information in
determining weights for the servers on the port the advisor is monitoring. An
exception to this timeout is when the advisor has informed the manager that a
specific server is down. The manager will use that information about the
server even after the advisor information has timed out.
seconds
A positive number representing the number of seconds or the word unlimited.
The default value is unlimited.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 291

 version
Display the current version of the advisor.

Examples
v To start the http advisor on port 80 for cluster 127.40.50.1:
dscontrol advisor start http 127.40.50.1:80
v To start the http advisor on port 88 for all clusters:
dscontrol advisor start http 88
v To stop the http advisor at port 80 for cluster 127.40.50.1:
dscontrol advisor stop http 127.40.50.1:80
v To set the time (30 seconds) an HTTP advisor for port 80 waits before reporting
that a connect to a server fails:
dscontrol advisor connecttimeout http 80 30
v To set the time (20 seconds) an HTTP advisor for port 80 on cluster 127.40.50.1
waits before reporting that a connect to a server fails:
dscontrol advisor connecttimeout http 127.40.50.1:80 20
v To set the interval for the FTP advisor (for port 21) to 6 seconds:
dscontrol advisor interval ftp 21 6
v To display the list of advisors currently providing information to the manager:
dscontrol advisor list

This command produces output similar to:

---------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | CLUSTER:PORT | TIMEOUT |
---------------------------------------
| http |127.40.50.1:80 | unlimited |
| ftp | 21 | unlimited |
---------------------------------------
v To change the log level of the advisor log to 0 for better performance:
dscontrol advisor loglevel http 80 0
v To change the ftp advisor log size for port 21 to 5000 bytes:
dscontrol advisor logsize ftp 21 5000
v To set the time (60 seconds) an HTTP advisor (for port 80) waits before reporting
that a receive from a server fails:
dscontrol advisor receivetimeout http 80 60
v To display a report on the state of the ftp advisor (for port 21):
dscontrol advisor report ftp 21

This command produces output similar to:

Advisor Report:
---------------
Advisor name ............. Ftp
Port number .............. 21

Cluster address .......... 9.67.131.18

Server address ........... 9.67.129.230
Load ..................... 8

Cluster address .......... 9.67.131.18

Server address ........... 9.67.131.215
Load ..................... -1
v To display the current status of values associated with the http advisor for port
80:

292 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 dscontrol advisor status http 80

This command produces output similar to the following:

Advisor Status:
---------------
Interval (seconds) ............ 7
Timeout (seconds) ............. Unlimited
Connect timeout (seconds).......21
Receive timeout (seconds).......21
Advisor log filename .......... Http_80.log
Log level ..................... 1
Maximum log size (bytes) ...... Unlimited
Number of retries ............. 0
v To set the timeout value for the ftp advisor information on port 21 to 5 seconds:
dscontrol advisor timeout ftp 21 5
v To display the current version number of the ssl advisor for port 443:
dscontrol advisor version ssl 443

This command produces output similar to the following:

Version: 04.00.00.00 - 07/12/2001-10:09:56-EDT

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 293

dscontrol binlog — control the binary log file


dscontrol binlog start

stop
set retention hours
interval seconds
status

start
Starts the binary log.
stop
Stops the binary log.
set
Sets fields for binary logging. For more information on setting fields for binary
logging, see “Using binary logging to analyze server statistics” on page 194.
retention
The number of hours that binary log files are kept. The default value for
retention is 24.
hours
The number of hours.
interval
The number of seconds between log entries. The default value for interval is
60.
seconds
The number of seconds.
status
Shows the retention and intervals of the binary log.

294 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol cluster — configure clusters


dscontrol cluster add cluster+c2+...

address address
proportions active new port system
maxports size
maxservers size
stickytime time
weightbound weight
porttype type
primaryhost address
staletimeout staletimeout
sharedbandwidth size
set cluster+c2+... proportions active new port system
maxports size
maxservers size
stickytime time
weightbound weight
porttype type
primaryhost address
staletimeout staletimeout
sharedbandwidth size
remove cluster
report cluster
status cluster

add
Add this cluster. You must define at least one cluster.
cluster
The cluster name or address to which clients connect. The cluster value is
either a symbolic name or in IP address format. A cluster value of 0.0.0.0 can
be used to specify a wildcard cluster. See “Use wildcard cluster to combine
server configurations” on page 191 for more information.
With the exception of the dscontrol cluster add command, you can use a colon
(:) to act as a wild card. For example, the following command, dscontrol
cluster set : weightbound 80, will result in setting a weightbound of 80 to all
clusters.

Note: Additional clusters are separated by a plus sign (+).

address
The unique IP address of the TCP machine as either a host name or in IP
address format. If the cluster value is unresolvable, you must provide this IP
address of the physical machine.

Note: Address only applies to the Dispatcher component.

address
Value of the address of the cluster.
proportions
At the cluster level, set the proportion of importance for active connections
(active), new connections (new), information from any advisors (port), and
information from a system monitoring program such as Metric Server (system)
that are used by the manager to set server weights. Each of these values,
described below, is expressed as a percentage of the total and they therefore
always total 100. For more information see, “Proportion of importance given to
status information” on page 142.
active
A number from 0–100 representing the proportion of weight to be given to the
active connections. The default is 50.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 295

 new
A number from 0–100 representing the proportion of weight to be given to the
new connections. The default is 50.
port
A number from 0–100 representing the proportion of weight to be given to the
information from advisors. The default is 0.

Note: When an advisor is started and if the port proportion is 0, Load

Balancer automatically sets this value to 1 in order for the manager to
use the advisor information as input for calculating server weight.
system
A number from 0–100 representing the proportion of weight to be given to the
information from the system metrics, such as from Metric Server. The default is
0.
maxports
The maximum number of ports. The default value of maxports is 8.
size
The number of ports allowed.
maxservers
The default maximum number of servers per ports. This may be overridden
for individual ports using port maxservers . The default value of maxservers is
32.
size
The number of servers allowed on a port.
stickytime
The default stickytime for ports to be created. This may be overridden for
individual ports using port stickytime. The default value of stickytime is 0.

Note: For the Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method, if you set stickytime (to a
nonzero value), then port stickytime is enabled if the port is SSL (not
HTTP). If stickytime for ports to be created is non-zero and the new port
added is SSL, SSL ID affinity is enabled for the port. To disable SSL ID
affinity on the port, you will need to explicitly set the port stickytime to
0.
time
The value of stickytime in seconds.
weightbound
The default port weight bound. This may be overridden for individual ports
using port weightbound. The default value of weightbound is 20.
weight
The value of weightbound.
porttype
The default port type. This may be overridden for individual ports using port
porttype.
type
Possible values are tcp, udp, and both.
primaryhost
The NFA address of this Dispatcher machine or the NFA address of the backup

296 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Dispatcher machine. In a mutual high availability configuration, a cluster is
associated with either the primary or the backup machine.
If you change the primaryhost of a cluster after the primary and backups are
already started and running mutual high availability, you also must force the
new primary host to takeover. And, you need to update the scripts and
manually unconfigure and configure the cluster correctly. See “Mutual high
availability” on page 46 for more information.
address
The address value of the primaryhost. The default is the NFA address of this
machine.
staletimeout
The number of seconds during which there can be no activity on a connection
before that connection is removed. The default for FTP is 900; the default for
Telnet is 259,200. The default for all other protocols is 300. This may be
overridden for individual ports using port staletimeout. See “Using stale
timeout value” on page 220 for more information.
staletimout
The staletimeout value.
sharedbandwidth
The maximum amount of bandwidth (in kilobytes per second) that can be
shared at the cluster level. For more information on shared bandwidth, see
“Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth” on page
173 and “Shared bandwidth rule” on page 174.

Note: Shared bandwidth applies to the Dispatcher component.

size
The size of sharedbandwidth is an integer value. The default is zero. If the
value is zero, then bandwidth cannot be shared at the cluster level.
set
Set the properties of the cluster.
remove
Remove this cluster.
report
Show the internal fields of the cluster.

Note: Report applies to the Dispatcher component.

status
Show current status of a specific cluster.

Examples
v To add cluster address 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol cluster add 130.40.52.153
v To remove cluster address 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol cluster remove 130.40.52.153
v To set the relative importance placed on input (active, new, port, system)
received by the manager for servers residing on cluster 9.6.54.12:
dscontrol cluster set 9.6.54.12 proportions 60 35 5 0
v To add a wildcard cluster:
dscontrol cluster add 0.0.0.0

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 297

 v For a mutual high availability configuration, set cluster address 9.6.54.12 with
the NFA of the backup machine (9.65.70.19) as the primary host:
dscontrol cluster set 9.6.54.12 primaryhost 9.65.70.19
v To show the status for cluster address 9.67.131.167:
dscontrol cluster status 9.67.131.167

This command produces output similar to:

Cluster Status:
----------------
Cluster ................................. 9.67.131.167
Address ................................. 9.67.131.167
Number of target ports .................. 3
Default sticky time ..................... 0
Default stale timeout ................... 30
Default port weight bound ............... 20
Maximum number of ports ................. 8
Default port protocol ................... tcp/udp
Default maximum number of servers ....... 32
Proportion given to active connections... 0.5
Proportion given to new connections...... 0.5
Proportion given specific to the port.... 0
Proportion given to system metrics....... 0
Shared bandwidth (KBytes) ............... 0
Primary Host Address .................... 9.67.131.167

298 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol executor — control the executor


dscontrol executor report

set nfa IP address
maxclusters size
maxports size
fintimeout fintimeout
hatimeout time
hasynctimeout time
maxservers size
mss size
staletimeout staletimeout
stickytime time
clientgateway address
weightbound weight
porttype type
wideportnumber port
sharedbandwidth size
configure interface_address+i2+...
interface_name netmask
unconfigure interface_address
start
status
stop

report
Display a statistics snapshot report. For example: total packets received,
packets discarded, packets forwarded with errors, and so on.

Note: Report applies to the Dispatcher component.

set
Set the fields of the executor.
nfa
Set the nonforwarding address. Any packet sent to this address will not be
forwarded by the Dispatcher machine.

Note: NFA applies to the Dispatcher component.

IP address
The Internet Protocol address as either a symbolic name or in dotted decimal
format.
maxclusters
The maximum number of clusters that can be configured. The default value of
maxclusters is 100.
size
The maximum number of clusters that can be configured.
maxports
The default value of maxports for clusters to be created. This may be
overridden by the cluster set or cluster add command. The default value of
maxports is 8.
size
The number of ports.
fintimeout
The number of seconds to keep a connection in memory after the connection
has been put in the FIN state. The default fintimeout value is 30.
fintimeout
The fintimeout value.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 299

 Note: Fintimeout applies to the Dispatcher component.
hatimeout
The number of seconds that the executor uses to timeout high availability
heartbeats. The default value is 2.

Note: The hatimeout value applies to the Dispatcher component.

time
The hatimeout value.
hasynctimeout
The number of seconds that the executor uses to timeout replication of
connection records between the primary and backup machine. The default
value is 50.
The timer is used to ensure that the primary and backup machines attempt to
synchronize. However, if there are too many connections in existence, and the
active machine continues to handle a significant incoming traffic load, then
synchronization might not complete before the timer expires. As a result, Load
Balancer attempts to resynchronize perpetually, and the two machines never
synchronize. If this situation occurs, set hasynctimeout to a larger value than
the default to give the two machines enough time to exchange information
about existing connections. In order to set this timer, the hasynctimeout
command must be issued after the dscontrol executor start command but
before issuing the high availability commands (dscontrol highavailability).

Note: The hasynctimeout value applies to the Dispatcher component.

time
The hasynctimeout value.
maxservers
The default maximum number of servers per port. This may be overridden by
the cluster or port command. The default value of maxservers is 32.
mss
The maximum number of bytes in the data segment of the TCP/UDP
connection. The number of bytes in the data segment and the header must add
up to less than the number of bytes in the maximum transmission unit (MTU).
The default value of mss is 1460.

Note: Maximum segment size only applies to Dispatcher component's nat or

cbr forwarding method.
size
The number of servers.
staletimeout
The number of seconds during which there can be no activity on a connection
before that connection is removed. The default for FTP is 900; the default for
Telnet is 259,200. The default for all other ports is 300. This may be overridden
by the cluster or port command. See “Using stale timeout value” on page 220
for more information.
staletimeout
The staletimeout value.
stickytime
The default port sticky time value for all future clusters. It may be overridden
by the cluster or port command. The default stickytime value is 0.

300 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

time
The stickytime value in seconds.
clientgateway
Clientgateway is an IP address used for NAT/NAPT or Dispatcher's
content-based routing. It is the router address through which traffic in the
return direction is forwarded from Load Balancer to clients. Clientgateway
must be set to a nonzero value before adding a port with a forwarding method
of NAT/NAPT or Dispatcher's content-based routing. See “Dispatcher's
NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39 and “Dispatcher's
content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for more
information.

Note: Clientgateway only applies to the Dispatcher component.

address
The clientgateway address as either a symbolic name or in dotted decimal
format. The default is 0.0.0.0.
weightbound
The default port weightbound value for all future ports. It may be overridden
by the cluster or port command. The default weightbound value is 20.
weight
The weightbound value.
porttype
The default port porttype value for all future ports. It may be overridden by
the cluster or port command.

Note: Porttype applies to the Dispatcher component.

type
Possible values are tcp, udp, and both.
wideportnumber
An unused TCP port on each Dispatcher machine. The wideportnumber must be
the same for all the Dispatcher machines. The default value of
wideportnumber is 0, indicating that wide area support is not in use.

Note: Wideportnumber applies to the Dispatcher component.

port
The value of wideportnumber.
sharedbandwidth
The maximum amount of bandwidth (in kilobytes per second) that can be
shared at the executor level. For more information on shared bandwidth, see
“Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth” on page
173 and “Shared bandwidth rule” on page 174.

Note: Shared bandwidth applies to the Dispatcher component.

size
The size of sharedbandwidth is an integer value. The default is zero. If the
value is zero, then bandwidth cannot be shared at the executor level.
configure
Configure an address (for example a cluster address, return address, or high

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 301

 availability heartbeat address) to the network interface card of the Dispatcher
machine. This is also known as configuring an alias on the Dispatcher
machine.

Note: Configure applies to the Dispatcher component.

interface_address
The address as either a symbolic name or in IP address format.

Note: Additional interface addresses are separated by a plus sign (+).

interface_name netmask
It is only required if the address does not match any subnet for existing
addresses. The interface_name can be a value such as: en0, eth1, eri0. The
netmask is the 32-bit mask used to identify the subnetwork address bits in the
host portion of an IP address.
unconfigure
Deletes the alias address from the network interface card.

Note: Unconfigure applies to the Dispatcher component.

start
Start the executor.
status
Display the current status of the values in the executor that can be set and
their defaults.
stop
Stop the executor.

Note: Stop applies to Dispatcher and CBR.

Examples
v To display the internal counters for Dispatcher:
dscontrol executor status

Executor Status:
----------------
Nonforwarding address ............... 9.67.131.151
Client gateway address .............. 0.0.0.0
Fin timeout ......................... 60
Wide area network port number ....... 0
Shared bandwidth (Kbytes) ........... 0
Default maximum ports per cluster ... 8
Maximum number of clusters .......... 100
Default maximum servers per port .... 32
Default stale timeout ............... 300
Default sticky time ................. 0
Default weight bound ................ 20
Default port type ................... tcp/udp
v To set the nonforwarding address to 130.40.52.167:
dscontrol executor set nfa 130.40.52.167
v To set the maximum number of clusters:
dscontrol executor set maxclusters 4096
v To start the executor:
dscontrol executor start
v To stop the executor:

302 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol executor stop

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 303

dscontrol file — manage configuration files


dscontrol file delete file[.ext]

appendload file[.ext]
report
save file[.ext]
force
newload file[.ext]

delete
Delete the file.
file[.ext]
A configuration file consisting of dscontrol commands.
The file extension (.ext) can be anything you like and can be omitted.
appendload
To update the current configuration, the appendload command runs the
executable commands from your script file.
report
Report on the available file or files.
save
Save the current configuration for Load Balancer to the file.

Note: Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories, where
component is either dispatcher or cbr:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/configurations/component
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\component
force
To save your file to an existing file of the same name, use force to delete the
existing file before saving the new file. If you do not use the force option, the
existing file is not overwritten.
newload
Loads and runs a new configuration file into the Load Balancer. The new
configuration file replaces the current configuration.

Examples
v To delete a file:
dscontrol file delete file3

File (file3) was deleted.

v To load a new configuration file to replace the current configuration:
dscontrol file newload file1.sv

File (file1.sv) was loaded into the Dispatcher.

v To append a configuration file to the current configuration and load:
dscontrol file appendload file2.sv

File (file2.sv) was appended to the current configuration and loaded.

v To view a report of your files (that is, those files that you saved earlier):

304 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 dscontrol file report

FILE REPORT:
file1.save
file2.sv
file3
v To save your configuration into a file named file3:
dscontrol file save file3

The configuration was saved into file (file3).

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 305

dscontrol help — display or print help for this command


dscontrol help advisor

binlog
cluster
executor
file
help
highavailability
host
logstatus
manager
metric
port
rule
server
set
status
subagent

Examples
v To get help on the dscontrol command:
dscontrol help

This command produces output similar to:

HELP COMMAND ARGUMENTS:
---------------------------------
Usage: help <help option>
Example: help cluster

help - print complete help text

advisor - help on advisor command
cluster - help on cluster command
executor - help on executor command
file - help on file command
host - help on host command
binlog - help on binary log command
manager - help on manager command
metric - help on metric command
port - help on port command
rule - help on rule command
server - help on server command
set - help on set command
status - help on status command
logstatus - help on server log status
subagent - help on subagent command
highavailability - help on high availability command

Notice that parameters within <> are variables.

v Sometimes the help will show choices for the variables using | to separate the
options:
fintimeout <cluster address>|all <time>
-Change FIN timeout
(Use ’all’ to change all clusters)

306 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol highavailability — control high availability
Note: The dscontrol high availability syntax diagram only applies to the
Dispatcher component.

dscontrol highavailability status


backup add primary auto p
backup manual
both
delete
reach add address mask
delete
heartbeat add srcaddress dstaddress
delete address
takeover
address

status
Return a report on high availability. Machines are identified as having one of
three status conditions or states:
Active A given machine (either a primary, backup, or both) is routing packets.
Standby
A given machine (either a primary, backup, or both) is not routing
packets; it is monitoring the state of an active Dispatcher.
Idle A given machine is routing packets, and is not trying to establish
contact with its partner Dispatcher.

In addition, the status keyword returns information about various substates:

Synchronized
A given machine has established contact with another Dispatcher.
Other substates
This machine is trying to establish contact with its partner Dispatcher
but has not yet succeeded.
backup
Specify information for either the primary or backup machine.
add
Defines and runs the high availability functions for this machine.
primary
Identifies the Dispatcher machine that has a primary role.
backup
Identifies the Dispatcher machine that has a backup role.
both
Identifies the Dispatcher machine that has both a primary and backup role.
This is the mutual high availability feature in which primary and backup roles
are associated on a per cluster set basis. See “Mutual high availability” on page
46 for more information.
auto
Specifies an automatic recovery strategy, in which the primary machine will
resume routing packets as soon as it comes back into service.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 307

 manual
Specifies a manual recovery strategy, in which the primary machine does not
resume routing packets until the administrator issues a takeover command.
p[ort]
An unused TCP port on both machines, to be used by Dispatcher for its
heartbeat messages. The port must be the same for both the primary and
backup machines.
delete
Removes this machine from high availability, so that it will no longer be used
as a backup or primary machine.
reach
Add or delete target address for the primary and backup Dispatchers, the
reach advisor sends out pings from both the backup and the primary
Dispatchers to determine how reachable their targets are.

Note: When configuring the reach target, you must also start the reach advisor.
The reach advisor starts automatically by the manager function.
add
Adds a target address for the reach advisor.
delete
Removes a target address from the reach advisor.
address
IP address (IP address format or symbolic) of the target node.
mask
A subnet mask.
heartbeat
Defines a communication session between the primary and backup Dispatcher
machines.
add
Tell the source Dispatcher the address of its partner (destination address).
srcaddress
Source address. The address (IP or symbolic) of this Dispatcher machine.
dstaddress
Destination address. The address (IP or symbolic) of the other Dispatcher
machine.

Note: The srcaddress and dstaddress must be the NFAs of the machines for at
least one heartbeat pair.
delete
Removes the address pair from the heartbeat information. You can specify
either the destination or source address of the heartbeat pair.
address
The address (IP or symbolic) of either the destination or source.
takeover
Simple high availability configuration (role of the Dispatcher machines are
either primary or backup):
v Takeover instructs a standby Dispatcher to become active and to begin
routing packets. This will force the currently active Dispatcher to become

308 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 standby. The takeover command must be issued on the standby machine
and works only when the strategy is manual. The substate must be
synchronized.
Mutual high availability configuration (role of each Dispatcher machine is
both):
v The Dispatcher machine with the mutual high availability feature contains
two clusters which match its partner's. One of the clusters is considered the
primary cluster (the partner's backup cluster), and the other is the backup
cluster (the partner's primary cluster). Takeover instructs the Dispatcher
machine to begin routing packets for the other machine's cluster(s). The
takeover command can only be issued when the cluster(s) of the Dispatcher
machine are in standby state and the substate is synchronized. This will force
the partner's currently active cluster(s) to change to standby state. The
takeover command works only when the strategy is manual. See “Mutual
high availability” on page 46 for more information.
Notes:
1. Note that the roles of the machines (primary, backup, both) do not change.
Only their relative status (active or standby) changes.
2. There are three possible takeover scripts: goActive, goStandby, and goInOp.
See “Using scripts” on page 167.
address
The takeover address value is optional. It should only be used when the role of
the machine is both primary and backup (mutual high availability
configuration). The address specified is the NFA of the Dispatcher machine
which normally routes this cluster's traffic. When there is a takeover of both
clusters, specify the Dispatcher's own NFA address.

Examples
v To check the high availability status of a machine:
dscontrol highavailability status
Output:
High Availability Status:
-------------------------
Role ........................primary
Recovery Strategy ........... manual
State ....................... Active
Sub-state.............. Synchronized
Primary host........... 9.67.131.151
Port .........................12345
Preferred Target....... 9.67.134.223

Heartbeat Status:
-----------------
Count ......................... 1
Source/destination ............ 9.67.131.151/9.67.134.223

Reachability Status:
--------------------
Count ................ 1
Address .............. 9.67.131.1 reachable
v To add the backup information to the primary machine using the automatic
recovery strategy and port 80:
dscontrol highavailability backup add primary auto 80
v To add an address that the Dispatcher must be able to reach:
dscontrol highavailability reach add 9.67.125.18

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 309

 v To add heartbeat information for the primary and backup machines.
Primary - highavailability heartbeat add 9.67.111.3 9.67.186.8
Backup - highavailability heartbeat add 9.67.186.8 9.67.111.3
v To tell the standby Dispatcher to become active, forcing the active machine to
become standby:
dscontrol highavailability takeover

310 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol host — configure a remote machine


dscontrol host: remote_host


remote_host
The name of the remote Load Balancer machine being configured. When
typing this command, make sure there is no space between host: and
remote_host, for example:
dscontrol host:remote_host

After this command has been issued on the command prompt, enter any valid
dscontrol command you want issued to the remote Load Balancer machine.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 311

dscontrol logstatus — display server log settings


dscontrol logstatus


logstatus
Displays the server log settings (log file name, logging level, and log size).

Examples
To display the logstatus:
dscontrol logstatus

This command produces output similar to:

Dispatcher Log Status:
------------------------------
Log filename ............... C:\PROGRA~1\IBM\edge\lb\servers\logs\dispatcher
\server.log
Log level .................. 1
Maximum log size (bytes) ... 1048576

312 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol manager — control the manager


dscontrol manager interval seconds

loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
metric set loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
quiesce server
now
reach set interval seconds
loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
refresh refresh cycle
report
cluster+c2+...
restart message
sensitivity weight
smoothing smoothing index
start
log file metric_port
status
stop
unquiesce server
version

interval
Set how often the manager will update the weights of the servers to the
executor, updating the criteria that the executor uses to route client requests.
seconds
A positive number representing in seconds how often the manager will update
weights to the executor. The default is 2.
loglevel
Set the logging level for the manager log.
level
The number of the level (0 to 5). The higher the number, the more information
that is written to the manager log. The default is 1. The following are the
possible values: 0 is None, 1 is Minimal, 2 is Basic, 3 is Moderate, 4 is
Advanced, 5 is Verbose.
logsize
Set the maximum size of the manager log. When you set a maximum size for
the log file, the file will wrap; when the file reaches the specified size, the
subsequent entries are written from the top of the file, overwriting the
previous log entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than the current size of the
log. Log entries are time stamped so you can tell the order in which they were
written. The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you should choose
the log size, because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the
higher levels.
bytes
The maximum size in bytes for the manager log file. You can specify either a
positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file may not

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 313

 reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log entries
themselves vary in size. The default value is 1 MB.
metric set
Sets the loglevel and logsize for the metric monitor log. The loglevel is the
metric monitor logging level (0 - None,1 - Minimal,2 - Basic,3 - Moderate, 4 -
Advanced, or 5 - Verbose). The default loglevel is 1. The logsize is the
maximum number of bytes to be logged in the metric monitor log file. You can
specify either a positive number greater than zero, or unlimited. The default
logsize is 1 MB.
quiesce
Specify no more connections to be sent to a server except subsequent new
connections from the client to the quiesced server if the connection is
designated as sticky and stickytime has not expired. The manager sets the
weight for that server to 0 in every port to which it is defined. Use this
command if you want to do some quick maintenance on a server and then
unquiesce it. If you delete a quiesced server from the configuration and then
add it back, it will not retain its status prior to being quiesced. For more
information, see “Quiesce server connection handling” on page 180.
server
The IP address of the server as either a symbolic name or in dotted decimal
format.
Or, if you used server partitioning, use the logical server's unique name. See
“Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43 for more information.
now
Only use quiesce “now” if you have stickytime set and you want new
connections sent to another server (other than the quiesced server) before
stickytime expires. For more information, see “Quiesce server connection
handling” on page 180.
reach set
Sets the interval, loglevel, and logsize for the reach advisor.
refresh
Set the number of intervals before querying the executor for a refresh of
information about new and active connections.
refresh cycle
A positive number representing the number of intervals. The default is 2.
report
Display a statistics snapshot report.
cluster
The address of the cluster you want displayed in the report. The address can
be either a symbolic name or in IP address format. The default is a manager
report display for all the clusters.

Note: Additional clusters are separated by a plus sign (+).

restart
Restart all servers (that are not down) to normalized weights (1/2 of maximum
weight).
message
A message that you want written to the manager log file.

314 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 sensitivity
Set minimum sensitivity to which weights update. This setting defines when
the manager should change its weighting for the server based on external
information.
weight
A number from 1 to 100 to be used as the weight percentage. The default of 5
creates a minimum sensitivity of 5%.
smoothing
Set an index that smooths the variations in weight when load balancing. A
higher smoothing index will cause server weights to change less drastically as
network conditions change. A lower index will cause server weights to change
more drastically.
index
A positive floating point number. The default is 1.5.
start
Start the manager.
log file
File name to which the manager data is logged. Each record in the log is time
stamped.
The default file is installed in the logs directory. See Appendix C, “Sample
configuration files,” on page 413. To change the directory where the log files
are kept, see “Changing the log file paths” on page 219.
metric_port
Port that Metric Server will use to report system loads. If you specify a metric
port, you must specify a log file name. The default metric port is 10004.
status
Display the current status of all the values in the manager that can be set
globally and their defaults.
stop
Stop the manager.
unquiesce
Specify that the manager can begin to give a weight higher than 0 to a server
that was previously quiesced, in every port to which it is defined.
server
The IP address of the server as either a symbolic name or in dotted decimal
format.
version
Display the current version of the manager.

Examples
v To set the updating interval for the manager to every 5 seconds:
dscontrol manager interval 5
v To set the level of logging to 0 for better performance:
dscontrol manager loglevel 0
v To set the manager log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
dscontrol manager logsize 1000000
v To specify that no more connections be sent to the server at 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol manager quiesce 130.40.52.153

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 315

 v To set the number of updating intervals before the weights are refreshed to 3:
dscontrol manager refresh 3
v To get a statistics snapshot of the manager:
dscontrol manager report

This command produces output similar to:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
| SERVER | IP ADDRESS | STATUS |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| mach14.dmz.com | 10.6.21.14 | ACTIVE |
| mach15.dmz.com | 10.6.21.15 | ACTIVE |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
| MANAGER REPORT LEGEND |
-----------------------------
| ACTV | Active Connections |
| NEWC | New Connections |
| SYS | System Metric |
| NOW | Current Weight |
| NEW | New Weight |
| WT | Weight |
| CONN | Connections |
-----------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| www.dmz.com | | | | | |
| 10.6.21.100 | WEIGHT | ACTV | NEWC | PORT | SYS |
| PORT: 21 |NOW NEW| 49% | 50% | 1% | 0% |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| mach14.dmz.com | 10 10 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| mach15.dmz.com | 10 10 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| www.dmz.com | | | | | |
| 10.6.21.100 | WEIGHT | ACTV | NEWC | PORT | SYS |
| PORT: 80 |NOW NEW| 49% | 50% | 1% | 0% |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| mach14.dmz.com | 10 10 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| mach15.dmz.com | 9 9 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | CLUSTER:PORT | TIMEOUT |
---------------------------------------------------
| http | 80 | unlimited |
| ftp | 21 | unlimited |
---------------------------------------------------

v To restart all the servers to normalized weights and write a message to the
manager log file:
dscontrol manager restart Restarting the manager to update code

This command produces output similar to:

320-14:04:54 Restarting the manager to update code
v To set the sensitivity to weight changes to 10:
dscontrol manager sensitivity 10
v To set the smoothing index to 2.0:
dscontrol manager smoothing 2.0
v To start the manager and specify the log file named ndmgr.log (paths cannot be
set)
dscontrol manager start ndmgr.log

316 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

v To display the current status of the values associated with the manager:
dscontrol manager status

This command produces output similar to the following example.

Manager status:
===============
Metric port................................... 10004
Manager log filename.......................... manager.log
Manager log level............................. 1
Maximum manager log size (bytes).............. unlimited
Sensitivity level............................. 0.05
Smoothing index............................... 1.5
Update interval (seconds)..................... 2
Weights refresh cycle......................... 2
Reach log level............................... 1
Maximum reach log size (bytes)................ unlimited
Reach update interval (seconds)............... 7
Metric monitor log file name.................. MetricMonitor.log
Metric monitor log level...................... 1
Maximum metric monitor log size............... 1048576
v To stop the manager:
dscontrol manager stop
v To specify that no more new connections be sent to a server at 130.40.52.153.
(Note: Only quiesce the server “now" if you have stickytime set and you want
new connections sent to another server before stickytime expires.):
dscontrol manager quiesce 130.40.52.153 now
v To specify that no more new connections be sent to a server at 130.40.52.153.
(Note: If you have stickytime set, subsequent new connections from the client
are sent to this server until stickytime expires.):
dscontrol manager quiesce 130.40.52.153
v To specify that the manager can begin to give a weight higher than 0 to a server
at 130.40.52.153 that was previously quiesced:
dscontrol manager unquiesce 130.40.52.153
v To display the current version number of the manager:
dscontrol manager version

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 317

dscontrol metric — configure system metrics


dscontrol metric add cluster+c2+...+cN:metric+metric1+...+metricN

remove cluster+c2+...+cN:metric+metric1+...+metricN
proportions cluster+c2+...+cN proportion1 prop2 prop3...propN
status cluster+c2+...+cN:metric+metric1+...+metricN

add
Add the specified metric.
cluster
The address to which clients connect. The address can be either the host name
of the machine, or the IP address notation format. Additional clusters are
separated by a plus sign (+).
metric
The system metric name. This must be the name of an executable or script file
in the metric server's script directory.
remove
Remove the specified metric.
proportions
Set the proportions for all the metrics associated with this object.
status
Display the current values of this metric.

Examples
v To add a system metric:
dscontrol metric add site1:metric1
v To set proportions for a sitename with two system metrics:
dscontrol metric proportions site1 0 100
v To display the current status of values associated with the specified metric:
dscontrol metric status site1:metric1

This command produces output similar to the following:

Metric Status:
------------
Cluster ....................... 10.10.10.20
Metric name ................... metric1
Metric proportion ............. 50
Server .................... plm3
Metric data ............... -1

318 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol port — configure ports


dscontrol port add cluster:port

crossport otherport
maxservers size
stickymask value
stickytime time
method type
staletimeout value
weightbound weight
porttype type
protocol type
reset value
set cluster:port crossport otherport
maxservers size
stickymask value
stickytime time
staletimeout value
weightbound weight
porttype type
maxhalfopen value
reset value
remove cluster:port
report cluster:port
status cluster:port
halfopenaddressreport cluster:port

add
Add a port to a cluster. You must add a port to a cluster before you can add
any servers to that port. If there are no ports for a cluster, all client requests are
processed locally. You can add more than one port at one time using this
command.
cluster
The address of the cluster as either a symbolic name or in IP address format.
You can use a colon (:) to act as a wild card. For instance, the following
command, dscontrol port add :80, will result in adding port 80 to all clusters.

Note: Additional clusters are separated by a plus sign (+).

port
The number of the port. A port number value of 0 (zero) can be used to specify
a wildcard port.

Note: Additional ports are separated by a plus sign (+).

crossport
Crossport allows you to expand the sticky/affinity feature across multiple
ports so that client requests received on different ports can still be sent to the
same server for subsequent requests. For crossport value, specify the otherport
number for which you want to share the cross port affinity feature. In order to
use this feature, the ports must:
v share the same cluster address
v share the same servers
v have the same (nonzero) stickytime value
v have the same stickymask value

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 319

 To remove the crossport feature, set the crossport value back to its own port
number. For more information on cross port affinity feature, see “Cross port
affinity” on page 179.

Note: Crossport only applies to the Dispatcher component's MAC and

NAT/NATP forwarding methods.
otherport
The value of crossport. The default value is the same as its own port number.
maxservers
The maximum number of servers. The default value of maxservers is 32.
size
The value of maxservers.
stickymask
The affinity address mask feature groups incoming client requests based on
common subnet addresses. When a client request first makes a connection to
the port, all subsequent requests from clients with the same subnet address
(designated by that part of the IP address which is being masked) are directed
to the same server. In order to enable stickymask, port stickytime must be a
nonzero value. See “Affinity address mask (stickymask)” on page 179 for more
information.

Note: The stickymask keyword only applies to the Dispatcher component.

value
The stickymask value is the number of high-order bits of the 32-bit IP address
you want to mask. Possible values are: 8, 16, 24, and 32. The default value is
32, which disables the affinity address mask feature.
stickytime
The interval between the closing of one connection and the opening of a new
connection during which a client will be sent back to the same server used
during the first connection. After the sticky time, the client may be sent to a
server different from the first.
For the Dispatcher component:
v For Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method
– You can only set stickytime (to a nonzero value) on an SSL (not HTTP)
port because setting stickytime enables SSL ID affinity.
– If you set the port stickytime, then the affinity type on the rule must be
none (default). Rule-based affinity (passive cookie, URI) cannot co-exist
when stickytime is set on the port.
v For Dispatcher's mac and nat forwarding methods
– If you set the port stickytime (to a nonzero value), then you cannot set an
affinity type on the rule. Rule-based affinity cannot co-exist when
stickytime is set on the port.
– Setting a port stickytime value enables IP address affinity.
For the CBR component: If you set the port stickytime to a nonzero value,
then the affinity type on the rule must be none (default). Rule-based affinity
(passive cookie, URI, active cookie) cannot co-exist when stickytime is set on
the port.
time
The port sticky time in number of seconds. Zero signifies that the port is not
sticky.

320 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

method
The forwarding method. Possible forwarding methods are: mac forwarding, nat
forwarding, or content-based routing (cbr) forwarding. You may not add a
forwarding method of nat or cbr unless you first specify a nonzero IP address
in the clientgateway parameter of the dscontrol executor command. See
“Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat forwarding method)” on page 39 and
“Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41 for
more information.
Notes:
1. Method only applies to the Dispatcher component.
2. If the backend server is on the same subnet as the return address, and if
you are using the cbr forwarding method or the nat forwarding method,
you must define the router address to be the backend server address.
3. If you add a mac forwarding method, then you are required to specify the
"protocol" parameter as either HTTP or SSL.
type
The forwarding method type. Possible values are: mac, nat, or cbr. The default
is mac forwarding.
staletimeout
The number of seconds during which there can be no activity on a connection
before that connection is removed. For the Dispatcher component, the default
value is 900 for port 21 (FTP) and 259,200 for port 23 (Telnet). For all other
Dispatcher ports and for all CBR ports, the default is 300. Staletimeout can also
be set at the executor or cluster level. See “Using stale timeout value” on page
220 for more information.
value
The value of staletimeout in number of seconds.
weightbound
Set the maximum weight for servers on this port. This affects how much
difference there can be between the number of requests the executor will give
each server. The default value is 20.
weight
A number from 1–100 representing the maximum weight bound.
porttype
The port type.

Note: Porttype only applies to Dispatcher.

type
Possible values are tcp, udp, and both. The default value is both (tcp/udp).
protocol
The protocol type. For the Dispatcher component, this is a required parameter
when specifying a "cbr" method on the port. If you select a port protocol type
SSL, you should also specify a nonzero stickytime to enable SSL ID affinity. If
you select HTTP protocol, you can establish server affinity using "content"
rules. See “Dispatcher's content-based routing (cbr forwarding method)” on
page 41 for more information.

Note: Protocol only applies to Dispatcher's cbr forwarding method.

type
Possible values are HTTP or SSL.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 321

 maxhalfopen
The threshold for maximum half-open connections. Use this parameter to
detect possible denial of service attacks that result in a large number of
half-opened TCP connections on servers.
A positive value indicates that a check is made to determine if the current
half-open connections exceeds the threshold. If the current value is above the
threshold, a call to an alert script is made. See “Denial of service attack
detection” on page 193 for more information.

Note: maxhalfopen only applies to Dispatcher.

value
The value of maxhalfopen. The default is zero (no checking will be made).
reset
Reset allows you to specify whether Load Balancer will send TCP resets to
down servers on the port. A TCP reset causes the connection to be immediately
closed. See “Sending TCP reset to a down server (Dispatcher component only)”
on page 144 for more information.

Note: Reset only applies to the Dispatcher component. The clientgateway on

the dscontrol executor command must be set to a router address in
order to use the reset keyword.
value
Possible values for reset are yes and no. The default is no (no TCP resets are
made to down servers). When reset is yes, TCP resets are sent to down servers.
set
Set the fields of a port.
remove
Remove this port.
report
Report on this port.
status
Show status of servers on this port. If you want to see the status on all ports,
do not specify a port with this command. Do not forget the colon, however.
numSeconds
The amount of time in seconds before resetting half-open connections.
halfopenaddressreport
Generates entries in the log (halfOpen.log) for all the client addresses (up to
approximately 8000 address pairs) that have accessed servers that have any
half open connnections. Also, statistical data is reported back to the command
line, such as: total, largest, and average number of half-open connections, and
the average half-open connection time (in seconds). See “Denial of service
attack detection” on page 193 for more information.

Examples
v To add port 80 and 23 to a cluster address 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol port add 130.40.52.153:80+23
v To add a wildcard port to a cluster address of 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol port set 130.40.52.153:0
v To set the maximum weight of 10 to port 80 at a cluster address of 130.40.52.153:

322 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 dscontrol port set 130.40.52.153:80 weightbound 10
v To set the stickytime value to 60 seconds for port 80 and port 23 at a cluster
address of 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol port set 130.40.52.153:80+23 stickytime 60
v To set the cross port affinity of port 80 to port 23 at a cluster address of
130.40.52.153:
dscontrol port set 130.40.52.153:80 crossport 23
v To remove port 23 from a cluster address of 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol port remove 130.40.52.153:23
v To get the status of port 80 at a cluster address of 9.67.131.153:
dscontrol port status 9.67.131.153:80

This command produces output similar to:

Port Status:
------------
Port number .................... 80
Cluster ........................ 9.67.131.153
Stale timeout .................. 300
Weight bound ................... 20
Maximum number of servers ...... 32
Sticky time .................... 0
Port type ...................... tcp/udp
Cross Port Affinity ............ 80
Sticky mask bits ............... 32
Max Half Open Connections ...... 0
Send TCP Resets ................ no
v To get the report of port 80 at a cluster address of 9.62.130.157:
dscontrol port report 9.62.130.157:80

This command produces output similar to:

Port Report:
------------
Cluster address ................ 9.62.130.157
Port number .................... 80
Number of servers .............. 5
Maximum server weight .......... 10
Total active connections ....... 55
Connections per second ......... 12
KBytes per second .............. 298
Number half open ............... 0
TCP Resets sent ................ 0
Forwarding method .............. MAC Based Forwarding
v To get the half open address report for port 80 at a cluster address of
9.67.127.121:
dscontrol port halfopenaddressreport 9.67.127.121:80

This command produces output similar to:

Half open connection report successfully created:
------------
Half Open Address Report for cluster:port = 9.67.127.121:80
Total addresses with half open connections reported ... 0
Total number of half open connections reported ........ 0
Largest number of half open connections reported ...... 0
Average number of half open connections reported ...... 0
Average half open connection time (seconds) reported .. 0
Total half open connections received .................. 0

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 323

dscontrol rule — configure rules


dscontrol rule add cluster:port:rule type type opts

dropserver cluster:port:rule server
remove cluster:port:rule
report cluster:port:rule
set cluster:port:rule opts
status cluster:port:rule
useserver cluster:port:rule server+s2+...

opts:

beginrange low endrange high

priority level
pattern pattern
tos value
stickytime time
affinity affinity_type
cookiename value
evaluate level
sharelevel level

add
Add this rule to a port.
cluster
The address of the cluster as either a symbolic name or in IP address format.
You can use a colon (:) to act as a wild card. For instance, the following
command, dscontrol rule add :80:RuleA type type, will result in adding
RuleA to port 80 for all clusters.

Note: Additional clusters are separated by a plus sign (+).

port
The number of the port. You can use a colon (:) to act as a wild card. For
instance, the following command, dscontrol rule add clusterA::RuleA type
type, will result in adding RuleA to all ports for ClusterA.

Note: Additional ports are separated by a plus sign (+).

rule
The name you choose for the rule. This name can contain any alphanumeric
character, underscore, hyphen, or period. It can be from 1 to 20 characters and
cannot contain any blanks.

Note: Additional rules are separated by a plus sign (+).

type
The type of rule.
type
Your choices for type are:
ip The rule is based on the client IP address.
time The rule is based on the time of day.

324 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 connection
The rule is based on the number of connections per second for the
port. This rule will work only if the manager is running.
active The rule is based on the number of active connections total for the
port. This rule will work only if the manager is running.
port The rule is based on the client port.

Note: Port applies to the Dispatcher component.

service
This rule is based on the type of service (TOS) byte field in the IP
header.

Note: Service only applies to the Dispatcher component.

reservedbandwidth
This rule is based on the bandwidth (kilobytes per second) being
delivered by a set of servers. For more information, see “Using rules
based on reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth” on page 173 and
“Reserved bandwidth rule” on page 173.

Note: Reservedbandwidth only applies to the Dispatcher component.

sharedbandwidth
This rule is based on the amount of bandwidth (kilobytes per second)
that is shared at the executor or cluster level. For more information, see
“Using rules based on reserved bandwidth and shared bandwidth” on
page 173 and “Shared bandwidth rule” on page 174.

Note: Sharedbandwidth only applies to the Dispatcher component.

true This rule is always true. Think of it as an else statement in
programming logic.
content
This rule describes a regular expression that will be compared to the
client requested URLs. This is valid for Dispatcher and CBR.
beginrange
The lower value in the range used to determine whether or not the rule is true.
low
Depends on the type of rule. The kind of value and its default are listed here
by the type of rule:
ip The address of the client as either a symbolic name or in IP address
format. The default is 0.0.0.0.
time An integer. The default is 0, representing midnight.
connection
An integer. The default is 0.
active An integer. The default is 0.
port An integer. The default is 0.
reservedbandwidth
An integer (kilobytes per second). The default is 0.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 325

 endrange
The higher value in the range used to determine whether or not the rule is
true.
high
Depends on the type of rule. The kind of value and its default are listed here
by the type of rule:
ip The address of the client as either a symbolic name or in IP address
format. The default is 255.255.255.254.
time An integer. The default is 24, representing midnight.

Note: When defining the beginrange and endrange of time intervals,

note that each value must be an integer representing only the
hour portion of the time; portions of an hour are not specified.
For this reason, to specify a single hour—say, the hour between
3:00 and 4:00 am— you would specify a beginrange of 3 and an
endrange also of 3. This will signify all the minutes beginning
with 3:00 and ending with 3:59. Specifying a beginrange of 3
and an endrange of 4 would cover the two-hour period from
3:00 through 4:59.
connections
An integer. The default is 2 to the 32nd power minus 1.
active An integer. The default is 2 to the 32nd power minus 1.
port An integer. The default is 65535.
reservedbandwidth
An integer (kilobytes per second). The default is 2 to the 32nd power
minus 1.
priority
The order in which the rules are reviewed.
level
An integer. If you do not specify the priority of the first rule you add,
Dispatcher will set it by default to 1. When a subsequent rule is added, by
default its priority is calculated to be 10 + the current lowest priority of any
existing rule. For example, assume you have an existing rule whose priority is
30. You add a new rule and set its priority at 25 (which, remember, is a higher
priority than 30). Then you add a third rule without setting a priority. The
priority of the third rule is calculated to be 40 (30 + 10).
pattern
Specifies the pattern to be used for a content type rule.
pattern
The pattern to be used. For more information on valid values, see Appendix B,
“Content rule (pattern) syntax,” on page 409.
tos
Specifies the “type of service” (TOS) value used for the service type rule.

Note: TOS only applies to the Dispatcher component.

value
The 8 character string to be used for the tos value, where valid characters are:

326 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 0 (binary zero), 1 (binary one), and x (do not care). For example: 0xx1010x. For
more information, see “Using rules based on type of service (TOS)” on page
172.
stickytime
Specifies the stickytime to be used for a rule. When setting the affinity
parameter to "activecookie" on the rule command, stickytime should be set to a
nonzero value to enable this affinity type. Stickytime on the rule does not
apply to "passivecookie" or "uri" affinity rule types.
See “Active cookie affinity” on page 181 for more information.

Note: Rule stickytime only applies to the CBR component.

time
Time in seconds.
affinity
Specifies the affinity type to be used for a rule: active cookie, passive cookie,
URI, or none.
An affinity type of "activecookie" enables load-balancing Web traffic with
affinity to the same server based upon cookies generated by Load Balancer.
An affinity type of "passivecookie" enables load-balancing Web traffic with
affinity to the same server based upon self-identifying cookies generated by the
servers. You must use the cookiename parameter in conjunction with passive
cookie affinity.
An affinity type of "URI" enables load-balancing Web traffic to caching-proxy
servers in a manner which effectively increases the size of the cache.
See “Active cookie affinity” on page 181, “Passive cookie affinity” on page 183,
and “URI affinity” on page 184 for more information.

Note: Affinity applies to rules configured with the Dispatcher component's cbr
forwarding method and to the CBR component.
affinity_type
Possible values for affinity type are: none (default), activecookie, passivecookie,
or uri.
cookiename
An arbitrary name set by the administrator that acts as an identifier to Load
Balancer. It is the name that Load Balancer should look for in the client HTTP
header request. The cookie name, along with the cookie value, acts as an
identifier to Load Balancer allowing Load Balancer to send subsequent requests
of a Web site to the same server machine. Cookie name is only applicable with
"passive cookie" affinity.
See “Passive cookie affinity” on page 183 for more information.

Note: Cookie name applies to rules configured with the Dispatcher

component's cbr forwarding method and to the CBR component.
value
The cookie name value.
evaluate
This option is available only in the Dispatcher component. Specifies whether to
evaluate the rule's condition across all servers within the port or across servers
within the rule. This option is only valid for rules that make their decisions

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 327

 based upon the characteristics of the servers, such as: connection, active, and
reservedbandwidth rules. For more information, see “Server evaluation option
for rules” on page 177.
For the connection type rule, you can also specify an evaluate option —
upserversonrule. By specifying upserversonrule, you can ensure that the
remaining servers within the rule will not be overloaded if some of the servers
in the server-set are down.
level
Possible values are port, rule, or upserversonrule. The default is port.
upserversonrule is only available for the connection type rule.
sharelevel
This parameter is only for the shared bandwidth rule. Specifies whether to
share bandwidth at the cluster level or executor level. Sharing bandwidth at
the cluster level allows a port (or ports) to share a maximum amount of
bandwidth across several ports within the same cluster. Sharing bandwidth at
the executor level allows a cluster (or clusters) within the entire Dispatcher
configuration to share a maximum amount of bandwidth. For more
information see “Shared bandwidth rule” on page 174.
level
Possible values are executor or cluster.
dropserver
Remove a server from a rule set.
server
The IP address of the TCP server machine as either a symbolic name or in IP
address format.
Or, if you used server partitioning, use the logical server's unique name. See
“Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43 for more information.

Note: Additional servers are separated by a plus sign (+).

remove
Remove one or more rules, separated from one another by plus signs.
report
Display the internal values of one or more rules.
set
Set values for this rule.
status
Display the settable values of one or more rules.
useserver
Insert servers into a rule set.

Examples
v To add a rule that will always be true, do not specify the beginning range or end
range:
dscontrol rule add 9.37.67.100:80:trule type true priority 100
v To create a rule forbidding access to a range of IP addresses, in this case those
beginning with “9:”
dscontrol rule add 9.37.131.153:80:ni type ip b 9.0.0.0 e 9.255.255.255

328 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

v To create a rule that will specify the use of a given server from the hour of 11:00
a.m. through the hour of 3:00 p.m.:
dscontrol rule add cluster1:80:timerule type time beginrange 11 endrange 14
dscontrol rule useserver cluster1:80:timerule server05
v To create a rule based on the content of the TOS byte field in the IP header:
dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:tosrule type service tos 0xx1001x
v To create a rule based on reserved bandwidth that will allocate a set of servers
(evaluated within the rule) to deliver data up to a rate of 100 kilobytes per
second:
dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:rbwrule type reservedbandwidth
beginrange 0 endrange 100 evaluate rule
v To create a rule based on shared bandwidth that will recruit unused bandwidth
at the cluster level. (Note: You must first specify the maximum amount of
bandwidth (kilobytes per second) that can be shared at the cluster level using
the dscontrol cluster command):
dscontrol cluster set 9.67.131.153 sharedbandwidth 200

dscontrol rule add 9.67.131.153:80:shbwrule type sharedbandwidth

sharelevel cluster

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 329

dscontrol server — configure servers


dscontrol server add cluster:port:server

address address
collocated value
sticky value
weight value
fixedweight value
cookievalue value
mapport portvalue
protocol value
router addr
returnaddress addr
advisorrequest string
advisorresponse string
set cluster:port:server collocated value
sticky value
weight value
fixedweight value
cookievalue value
protocol value
router addr
advisorrequest string
advisorresponse string
down cluster:port:server
remove cluster:port:server
report cluster:port:server
up cluster:port:server
status cluster:port:server

add
Add this server.
cluster
The address of the cluster as either a symbolic name or in IP address format.
You can use a colon (:) to act as a wild card. For instance, the following
command, dscontrol server add :80:ServerA, will result in adding ServerA to
port 80 on all clusters.

Note: Additional clusters are separated by a plus sign (+).

port
The number of the port. You can use a colon (:) to act as a wild card. For
instance, the following command, dscontrol server add ::ServerA, will result
in adding ServerA to all clusters on all ports.

Note: Additional ports are separated by a plus sign (+).

server
The server is the unique IP address of the TCP server machine as either a
symbolic name or in IP address format.
Or, if you use a unique name that does not resolve to an IP address, you must
provide the server address parameter on the dscontrol server add command.
See “Server Partitioning: logical servers configured to one physical server (IP
address)” on page 43 for more information.

Note: Additional servers are separated by a plus sign (+).

address
The unique IP address of the TCP server machine as either a host name or in
IP address format. If the server is unresolvable, you must provide the address

330 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 of the physical server machine. See “Server Partitioning: logical servers
configured to one physical server (IP address)” on page 43 for more
information.
address
Value of the address of the server.
collocated
Collocated allows you to specify if the Dispatcher is installed on one of the
server machines it is load balancing.

Note: Be aware of the following:

v Collocated parameter is valid when using the Dispatcher's mac, nat,
or cbr forwarding methods. Site Selector and CBR can be collocated
on all platforms but do not require this keyword. For more
information, see “Using collocated servers” on page 162.
v Windows systems: Collocation is not available.
value
Value of collocated: yes or no. Default is no.
sticky
Allows a server to override the stickytime setting on its port. With a default
value of “yes," the server retains the normal affinity as defined at the port.
With a value of “no," the client will not return to that server the next time it
issues a request on that port regardless of the stickytime setting of the port.
This is useful in certain situations when you are using rules. For more
information, see “port affinity override” on page 176.
value
Value of sticky: yes or no. Default is yes.
weight
A number from 0–100 (but not to exceed the specified port's weightbound
value) representing the weight for this server. Setting the weight to zero will
prevent any new requests from being sent to the server, but will not end any
currently active connections to that server. The default is one-half the specified
port’s maximum weightbound value. If the manager is running, this setting
will be quickly overwritten.
value
Value of the server weight.
fixedweight
The fixedweight option allows you to specify whether you want the manager
to modify the server weight or not. If you set the fixedweight value to yes,
when the manager runs it will not be allowed to modify the server weight. For
more information, see “Manager fixed weights” on page 144.
value
Value of fixedweight: yes or no. Default is no.
cookievalue
Cookievalue is an arbitrary value that represents the server side of the cookie
name/ cookie value pair. The cookie value, along with the cookie name, acts as
an identifier allowing Load Balancer to send subsequent client requests to the
same server. See “Passive cookie affinity” on page 183 for more information.

Note: Cookievalue is valid for Dispatcher (using cbr forwarding method) and
CBR.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 331

 value
Value is any arbitrary value. Default is no cookie value.
mapport
Map the client request's destination port number (which is for Dispatcher) to
the server's port number that Dispatcher uses to load balance the client's
request. Allows Load Balancer to receive a client's request on one port and to
transmit it to a different port on the server machine. With mapport you can
load balance a client's requests to a server that may have multiple server
daemons running.

Note: Mapport applies to Dispatcher (using nat or cbr forwarding methods)

and to CBR. For Dispatcher, see “Dispatcher's NAT/NAPT (nat
forwarding method)” on page 39 and “Dispatcher's content-based
routing (cbr forwarding method)” on page 41. For CBR, see “Load
balancing client-to-proxy in SSL and proxy-to-server in HTTP” on page
73.
protocol
The valid values for protocol are HTTP and HTTPS. The default is HTTP.

Note: Protocol only applies to the CBR component.

portvalue
Value of the map port number. The default is the client request's destination
port number.
router
If you are setting up a wide area network, the address of the router to the
remote server. Default is 0, indicating a local server. Note that when a server's
router address is set to something other than zero (indicating a remote server),
it cannot be reset to 0 to make the server local again. Instead, the server must
be removed, then added again without a router address being a specified.
Similarly, a server defined as local (router address = 0) cannot be made remote
by changing the router address. The server must be removed and added again.
See “Configure wide area Dispatcher support” on page 184 for more
information.

Note: Router only applies to Dispatcher. If you are using nat or cbr forwarding
methods, when you add a server to the configuration you must specify
the router address.
addr
Value of the address of the router.
returnaddress
A unique IP address or hostname. It is an address configured on the
Dispatcher machine that Dispatcher uses as its source address when load
balancing the client's request to the server. This ensures that the server will
return the packet to the Dispatcher machine in order to process the content of
the request, rather than sending the packet directly to the client. (Dispatcher
will then forward the IP packet on to the client.) You must specify the return
address value when the server is added. Return address cannot be changed
unless you remove the server and add it again. The return address cannot be
the same as the cluster, server, or NFA address.

Note: Returnaddress only applies to Dispatcher. When you use nat or cbr
forwarding methods, you must define a return address for
communication between Load Balancer and the backend servers. The

332 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 number of connections that Load Balancer can keep active with the
backend server is limited by the number of return addresses that are
defined. Load Balancer uses ports that are based upon the return
address only; not the return address and server combination. When all
the available ports are in use, additional connections fail. In a busy
environment, use multiple return addresses to prevent a shortage of
available ports.
addr
Value of the return address.
advisorrequest
The HTTP or HTTPS advisor uses the advisor request string to query the
health of the servers. It will only be valid for servers which are advised upon
by the HTTP or HTTPS advisor. You must start the HTTP or HTTPS advisor in
order for this value to be enabled. See “Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS
advisor using the request and response (URL) option” on page 152 for more
information.

Note: The advisorrequest applies to Dispatcher and CBR components.

string
Value of the string used by the HTTP or HTTPS advisor. The default is HEAD /
HTTP/1.0.

Note: If a blank is contained within the string —

v When issuing the command from the dscontrol>> shell prompt, you
must place quotes around the string. For example: server set
cluster:port:server advisorrequest "head / http/1.0"
v When issuing the dscontrol command from the operating system
prompt, you must precede the text with "\" and follow the text with
\"". For example: dscontrol server set cluster:port:server
advisorrequest "\"head / http/1.0\""
advisorresponse
The advisor response string that the HTTP or HTTPS advisor scans for in the
HTTP response. It will only be valid for servers that are advised upon by the
HTTP or HTTPS advisor. You must start the HTTP or HTTPS advisor in order
for this value to be enabled. See “Configuring the HTTP or HTTPS advisor
using the request and response (URL) option” on page 152 for more
information.

Note: The advisorresponse applies to Dispatcher and CBR components.

string
Value of the string used by the HTTP or HTTPS advisor. The default is null.

Note: If a blank is contained within the string —

v When issuing the command from the dscontrol>> shell prompt, you
must place quotes around the string.
v When issuing the dscontrol command from the operating system
prompt, you must precede the text with "\" and follow the text with
\"".
down
Mark this server down. This command breaks all active connections to that
server and prevents any other connections or packets from being sent to that
server.

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 333

 When the server down command is used to bring a server offline, if the
stickytime value is nonzero for that server, existing clients continue to be
served by that server until stickytime expires. The server is not taken down
until after the stickytime value expires.
remove
Remove this server.
report
Report on this server. The report contains the following information per server:
current number of connections per second (CPS), kilobytes transferred in a one
second interval (KBPS), total number of connections (Total), number of
connections that are in the active state (Active), number of connections that are
in the FIN state (FINed), and number of completed connections (Comp).
set
Set values for this server.
status
Show status of the servers.
up Mark this server up. Dispatcher will now send new connections to that server.

Examples
v To add the server at 27.65.89.42 to port 80 on a cluster address 130.40.52.153:
dscontrol server add 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42
v To set the server at 27.65.89.42 as nonsticky (port affinity override feature):
dscontrol server set 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42 sticky no
v To mark the server at 27.65.89.42 as down:
dscontrol server down 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42
v To remove the server at 27.65.89.42 on all ports on all clusters:
dscontrol server remove ::27.65.89.42
v To set the server at 27.65.89.42 as collocated (server resides in the same machine
as the Load Balancer):
dscontrol server set 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42 collocated yes
v To set the weight to 10 for server 27.65.89.42 at port 80 on cluster address
130.40.52.153:
dscontrol server set 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42 weight 10
v To mark the server at 27.65.89.42 as up:
dscontrol server up 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42
v To add a remote server:
dscontrol server add 130.40.52.153:80:130.60.70.1 router 130.140.150.0
v To allow the HTTP advisor to query an HTTP URL request HEAD / HTTP/1.0 for
server 27.65.89.42 on HTTP port 80:
dscontrol server set 130.40.52.153:80:27.65.89.42
advisorrequest "\"HEAD / HTTP/1.0\""
v To show the status for server 9.67.143.154 on port 80:
dscontrol server status 9.67.131.167:80:9.67.143.154

This command produces output similar to:

Server Status:
--------------
Server ......................... 9.67.143.154
Port number .................... 80
Cluster ........................ 9.67.131.167

334 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Cluster address ................ 9.67.131.167
Quiesced ....................... N
Server up ...................... Y
Weight ......................... 10
Fixed weight ................... N
Sticky for rule ................ Y
Remote server .................. N
Network Router address ......... 0.0.0.0
Collocated ..................... N
Advisor request................. HEAD / HTTP/1.0
Advisor response................
Cookie value ................... n/a
Clone ID ....................... n/a

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 335

dscontrol set — configure server log


dscontrol set loglevel level

logsize unlimited
size

loglevel
The level at which the dsserver logs its activities.
level
The default value of loglevel is 0. The range is 0–5. The following are the
possible values: 0 is None, 1 is Minimal, 2 is Basic, 3 is Moderate, 4 is
Advanced, 5 is Verbose.
logsize
The maximum number of bytes to be logged in the log file.
size
The default value of logsize is 1 MB.

336 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

dscontrol status — display whether the manager and advisors are
running


dscontrol status


Examples
v To see what is running:
dscontrol status

This command produces output similar to:

Executor has been started.
Manager has been started.

----------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | CLUSTER:PORT | TIMEOUT |
----------------------------------------
| reach | 0 | unlimited |
| http | 80 | unlimited |
| ftp | 21 | unlimited |
----------------------------------------

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 337

dscontrol subagent — configure SNMP subagent
Note: dscontrol subagent command syntax diagrams applies to the Dispatcher
component.

dscontrol subagent loglevel level


logsize bytes
unlimited
report
start
community_name logfile
status
stop
version

loglevel
The level at which the subagent logs its activities to a file.
level
The number of the level (0 to 5). The higher the number, the more information
that is written to the manager log. The default is 1. The following are the
possible values: 0 is None, 1 is Minimal, 2 is Basic, 3 is Moderate, 4 is
Advanced, 5 is Verbose.
logsize
Set the maximum size of the bytes to be logged in the subagent log. The
default is 1 MB. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file will
wrap; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are
written from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size
cannot be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are
time—stamped so you can tell the order in which they were written. The
higher you set the log level, the more carefully you should choose the log size,
because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
bytes
The maximum size in bytes for the subagent log file. You can specify either a
positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file may not
reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log entries
themselves vary in size. The default value is unlimited.
report
Display a statistics snapshot report.
start
Start the subagent.
community_name
The name of the SNMP value of community name that you can use as a
security password. The default is public.
For Windows platform: The community name for the operating system is
used.
log file
File name to which the SNMP subagent data is logged. Each record in the log
is time stamped. The default is subagent.log. The default file is installed in the
logs directory. See Appendix C, “Sample configuration files,” on page 413. To
change the directory where the log files are kept, see “Changing the log file
paths” on page 219.

338 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 status
Display the current status of all the values in the SNMP subagent that can be
set globally and their defaults.
version
Display the current version of the subagent.

Examples
v To start the subagent with a community name of bigguy:
dscontrol subagent start bigguy bigguy.log

Chapter 26. Command reference for Dispatcher and CBR 339

340 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector
This chapter describes how to use the following Site Selector sscontrol commands:
v “sscontrol advisor — control the advisor” on page 342
v “sscontrol file — manage configuration files” on page 346
v “sscontrol help — display or print help for this command” on page 348
v “sscontrol logstatus — display server log settings” on page 349
v “sscontrol manager — control the manager” on page 350
v “sscontrol metric — configure system metrics” on page 354
v “sscontrol nameserver — control the NameServer” on page 355
v “sscontrol rule — configure rules” on page 356
v “sscontrol server — configure servers” on page 359
v “sscontrol set — configure server log” on page 361
v “sscontrol sitename — configure a sitename” on page 362
v “sscontrol status — display whether the manager and advisors are running” on
page 365

You can enter a minimized version of the sscontrol command parameters. You only
need to enter the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the
file save command, you can enter sscontrol he f instead of sscontrol help file.

Note: The command parameter values must be entered in English characters. The
only exceptions are host names (used in cluster and server commands) and
file names (used in file commands).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 341

sscontrol advisor — control the advisor


sscontrol advisor connecttimeout name port seconds

sitename:port
interval name port seconds
sitename:port
list
loglevel name port level
sitename:port
logsize name port size | unlimited
sitename:port bytes
receivetimeout name port seconds
sitename:port
report name port
sitename:port
retries name port numretries
sitename:port
start name port
sitename:port log file
status name port
sitename:port
stop name port
sitename:port
timeout name port
sitename:port
version name port seconds
sitename:port

connecttimeout
Set how long an advisor waits before reporting that a connect to a server fails.
For more information, see “Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout for
servers” on page 149.
name
The name of the advisor. Possible values include http, https, ftp, sip, ssl, smtp,
imap, pop3, ldap, ldaps, nntp, telnet, connect, ping, WLM, and WTE. Names
of customized advisors are of the format xxxx, where ADV_xxxx is the name of
the class that implements the custom advisor.
port
The number of the port that the advisor is monitoring.
seconds
A positive integer representing the time in seconds that the advisor waits
before reporting that a connect to a server has failed. The default is 3 times the
value specified for the advisor interval.
interval
Set how often the advisor queries the servers for information.
seconds
A positive integer representing the number of seconds between status requests
to the servers. The default is 7.
list
Show list of advisors currently providing information to the manager.
loglevel
Set the logging level for an advisor log.
level
The number of the level (0 to 5). The default is 1. The higher the number, the
more information that is written to the advisor log. The possible values are:
v 0 is None

342 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 v 1 is Minimal
v 2 is Basic
v 3 is Moderate
v 4 is Advanced
v 5 is Verbose
.
logsize
Set the maximum size of an advisor log. When you set a maximum size for the
log file, the file wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent
entries overwrite the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than
the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you can tell the
order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level, the more
carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run out of
space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum size in bytes for the advisor log file. You can specify either a
positive number greater than zero, or unlimited. The log file may not reach the
exact maximum size before being overwritten because the log entries vary in
size. The default value is 1 MB.
receivetimeout
Set how long an advisor waits before reporting that a receive from a server
fails. For more information, see “Advisor connect timeout and receive timeout
for servers” on page 149.
seconds
A positive integer representing the time in seconds that the advisor waits
before reporting that a receive from a server has failed. The default is 3 times
the value specified for the advisor interval.
report
Display a report on the state of the advisor.
retries
The number of retries that an advisor can make before marking a server down.
numretries
An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should be no larger than 3.
If retries keyword is not configured, the number of retries defaults to zero.
start
Start the advisor. There are advisors for each protocol. The default ports are:

Advisor Name Protocol Port

Connect n/a user-defined
db2 private 50000
ftp FTP 21
http HTTP 80
https SSL 443
imap IMAP 143
ldap LDAP 389
ldaps SSL 443
nntp NNTP 119

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 343

 Advisor Name Protocol Port
PING PING N/A
pop3 POP3 110
sip SIP 5060
smtp SMTP 25
ssl SSL 443
telnet Telnet 23

name
The advisor name.
sitename:port
The sitename value is optional on the advisor commands; however, the port
value is required. If the sitename value is not specified, the advisor starts
running on all available sitenames configured. If you specify a sitename, the
advisor starts running for only the sitename you specify. Additional sitenames
are separated by a plus sign (+).
log file
File name to which the management data is logged. Each record in the log is
time-stamped.
The default file is advisorname_port.log, for example, http_80.log. To change the
directory where the log files are stored, see “Changing the log file paths” on
page 219.
You can start only one advisor for each sitename.
status
Display the current status and defaults of all the global values in an advisor.
stop
Stop the advisor.
timeout
Set the number of seconds that the manager considers information from the
advisor as valid. If the manager finds that the advisor information is older
than this timeout period, the manager does not use that information in
determining weights for the servers on the port the advisor is monitoring. An
exception to this timeout is when the advisor has informed the manager that a
specific server is down. The manager uses that information about the server,
even after the advisor information times out.
seconds
A positive number representing the number of seconds or unlimited. The
default value is unlimited.
version
Display the current version of the advisor.

Examples
v To set the time (30 seconds) an HTTP advisor (for port 80) waits before reporting
that a connect to a server fails:
sscontrol advisor connecttimeout http 80 30
v To set the interval for the FTP advisor (for port 21) to 6 seconds:
sscontrol advisor interval ftp 21 6

344 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

v To display the list of advisors currently providing information to the manager:
sscontrol advisor list

This command produces output similar to:

---------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | SITENAME:PORT | TIMEOUT |
---------------------------------------
| http | 80 | unlimited |
| ftp | 21 | unlimited |
---------------------------------------
v To change the log level of the http advisor log for the sitename of mysite to 0 for
better performance:
sscontrol advisor loglevel http mysite:80 0
v To change the ftp advisor log size for the sitename of mysite to 5000 bytes:
sscontrol advisor logsize ftp mysite:21 5000
v To set the time (60 seconds) an HTTP advisor (for port 80) waits before reporting
that a receive from a server fails:
sscontrol advisor receivetimeout http 80 60
v To display a report on the state of the ftp advisor (for port 21):
sscontrol advisor report ftp 21

This command produces output similar to:

Advisor Report:
---------------
Advisor name ............. http
Port number .............. 80

sitename ................. mySite

Server address ........... 9.67.129.230
Load ..................... 8
v To start the advisor with the ftpadv.log file:
sscontrol advisor start ftp 21 ftpadv.log
v To display the current status of values associated with the http advisor:
sscontrol advisor status http 80

This command produces output similar to the following:

Advisor Status:
---------------
Interval (seconds) ............ 7
Timeout (seconds) ............. Unlimited
Connect timeout (seconds).......21
Receive timeout (seconds).......21
Advisor log filename .......... Http_80.log
Log level ..................... 1
Maximum log size (bytes) ...... Unlimited
Number of retries ............. 0
v To stop the http advisor at port 80:
sscontrol advisor stop http 80
v To set the timeout value for advisor information to 5 seconds:
sscontrol advisor timeout ftp 21 5
v To find out the current version number of the ssl advisor:
sscontrol advisor version ssl 443

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 345

sscontrol file — manage configuration files


sscontrol file delete filename.ext

appendload filename.ext
report
save filename.ext
force
newload filename.ext

delete
Delete the file.
file.ext
A configuration file.
The file extension (.ext) can be anything you like and is optional.
appendload
Append a configuration file to the current configuration and load into the Site
Selector.
report
Report on the available file or files.
save
Save the current configuration for Site Selector to the file.

Note: Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems:
/opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/configurations/ss
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\component
force
To save your file to an existing file of the same name, use force to delete the
existing file before saving the new file. If you do not use the force option, the
existing file is not overwritten.
newload
Load a new configuration file into Site Selector. The new configuration file will
replace the current configuration.

Examples
v To delete a file:
sscontrol file delete file3

File (file3) was deleted.

v To load a new configuration file to replace the current configuration:
sscontrol file newload file1.sv

File (file1.sv) was loaded into the Dispatcher.

v To append a configuration file to the current configuration and load:
sscontrol file appendload file2.sv

File (file2.sv) was appended to the current configuration and loaded.

v To view a report of your files (that is, those files that you saved earlier):

346 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 sscontrol file report

FILE REPORT:
file1.save
file2.sv
file3
v To save your configuration into a file named file3:
sscontrol file save file3

The configuration was saved into file (file3).

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 347

sscontrol help — display or print help for this command


sscontrol help advisor

file
help
host
logstatus
manager
metric
nameserver
rule
server
set
sitename
status

Examples
v To get help on the sscontrol command:
sscontrol help

This command produces output similar to:

HELP COMMAND ARGUMENTS:
---------------------------------
Usage: help <help option>
Example: help name

help - print complete help text

advisor - help on advisor command
file - help on file command
host - help on host command
manager - help on manager command
metric - help on metric command
sitename - help on sitename command
nameserver - help on nameserver command
rule - help on rule command
server - help on server command
set - help on set command
status - help on status command
logstatus - help on logstatus command

Parameters within < > are variables.

v Sometimes the help shows choices for the variables using | to separate the
options:
logsize <number of bytes | unlimited>
-Set the maximum number of bytes to be logged in the log file

348 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

sscontrol logstatus — display server log settings


sscontrol logstatus


logstatus
Displays the server log settings (log file name, logging level, and log size).

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 349

sscontrol manager — control the manager


sscontrol manager interval seconds

loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
metric set loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
reach set interval seconds
loglevel level
logsize unlimited
bytes
report sitename+sn2+...+snN
restart message
sensitivity weight
smoothing smoothing index
start
logfile metric_port
status
stop
version

interval
Set how often the manager updates the weights of the servers.
seconds
A positive number in seconds that represents how often the manager updates
weights. The default is 2.
loglevel
Set the logging level for the manager log.
level
The number of the level (0 to 5). The higher the number, the more information
that is written to the manager log. The default is 1. The possible values are:
v 0 is None
v 1 is Minimal
v 2 is Basic
v 3 is Moderate
v 4 is Advanced
v 5 is Verbose
logsize
Set the maximum size of the manager log. When you set a maximum size for
the log file, the file wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the
subsequent entries are written from the top of the file, overwriting the
previous log entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than the current size of the
log. Log entries are time-stamped so you can tell the order in which they were
written. The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you must choose
the log size, because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the
higher levels.
bytes
The maximum size in bytes for the manager log file. You can specify either a

350 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 positive number greater than zero, or unlimited. The log file may not reach the
exact maximum size before being overwritten because the log entries vary in
size. The default value is 1 MB.
metric set
Sets the loglevel and logsize for the metric monitor log. The loglevel is the
metric monitor logging level (0 - None,1 - Minimal,2 - Basic,3 - Moderate, 4 -
Advanced, or 5 - Verbose). The default loglevel is 1. The logsize is the
maximum number of bytes to be logged in the metric monitor log file. You can
specify either positive number greater than zero, or unlimited. The default
logsize is 1.
reach set
Sets the interval, loglevel, and logsize for the reach advisor.
report
Display a statistics snapshot report.
sitename
The sitename you want displayed in the report. This is an unresolvable
hostname that the client will request. The sitename must be a fully qualified
domain name.

Note: Additional sitenames are separated by a plus sign (+).

restart
Restart all servers (that are not down) to normalized weights (1/2 of maximum
weight).
message
A message that you want written to the manager log file.
sensitivity
Set minimum sensitivity to which weights update. This setting defines when
the manager should change its weighting for the server based on external
information.
weight
A number from 0 to 100 used as the weight percentage. The default of 5
creates a minimum sensitivity of 5%.
smoothing
Set an index that smooths the variations in weight when load balancing. A
higher smoothing index causes server weights to change less drastically as
network conditions change. A lower index causes server weights to change
more drastically.
index
A positive floating point number. The default is 1.5.
start
Start the manager.
log file
File name to which the manager data is logged. Each record in the log is
time-stamped.
The default file is installed in the logs directory. See Appendix C, “Sample
configuration files,” on page 413. To change the directory where the log files
are kept, see “Changing the log file paths” on page 219.

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 351

 metric_port
Port that Metric Server uses to report system loads. If you specify a metric
port, you must specify a log file name. The default metric port is 10004.
status
Display the current status and defaults of all the global values in the manager.
stop
Stop the manager.
version
Display the current version of the manager.

Examples
v To set the updating interval for the manager to every 5 seconds:
sscontrol manager interval 5
v To set the level of logging to 0 for better performance:
sscontrol manager loglevel 0
v To set the manager log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
sscontrol manager logsize 1000000
v To get a statistics snapshot of the manager:
sscontrol manager report

This command produces output similar to:

----------------------------------
| SERVER | STATUS |
----------------------------------
| 9.67.129.221| ACTIVE|
| 9.67.129.213| ACTIVE|
| 9.67.134.223| ACTIVE|
----------------------------------
--------------------------
| MANAGER REPORT LEGEND |
--------------------------
| CPU | CPU Load |
| MEM | Memory Load |
| SYS | System Metric |
| NOW | Current Weight |
| NEW | New Weight |
| WT | Weight |
--------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| mySite | WEIGHT | CPU 49% | MEM 50% | PORT 1% | SYS 0% |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |NOW NEW | WT LOAD | WT LOAD | WT LOAD | WT LOAD |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 9.37.56.180 | 10 10 |-99 -1|-99 -1|-99 -1| 0 0|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| TOTALS:| 10 10 | -1| -1| -1| 0|
------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | SITENAME:PORT | TIMEOUT |
-----------------------------------------
| http | 80 | unlimited |
-----------------------------------------

v To restart all the servers to normalized weights and write a message to the
manager log file:
sscontrol manager restart Restarting the manager to update code

352 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 This command produces output similar to:
320-14:04:54 Restarting the manager to update code
v To set the sensitivity to weight changes to 10:
sscontrol manager sensitivity 10
v To set the smoothing index to 2.0:
sscontrol manager smoothing 2.0
v To start the manager and specify the log file named ndmgr.log (paths cannot be
set)
sscontrol manager start ndmgr.log
v To display the current status of the values associated with the manager:
sscontrol manager status

This command produces output similar to the following example.

Manager status:
=============
Metric port................................... 10004
Manager log filename.......................... manager.log
Manager log level............................. 1
Maximum manager log size (bytes).............. unlimited
Sensitivity level............................. 5
Smoothing index............................... 1.5
Update interval (seconds)..................... 2
Weights refresh cycle......................... 2
Reach log level............................... 1
Maximum reach log size (bytes)................ unlimited
Reach update interval (seconds)............... 7
v To stop the manager:
sscontrol manager stop
v To display the current version number of the manager:
sscontrol manager version

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 353

sscontrol metric — configure system metrics


sscontrol metric add sitename+sn2+...+snN:metric+metric1+...+metricN

remove sitename+sn2+...+snN:metric+metric1+...+metricN
proportions sitename+sn2+...+snN:proportion1 prop2 prop3...propN
status sitename+sn2+...+snN metric+metric1+...+metricN

add
Add the specified metric.
sitename
The configured sitename. Additional sitenames are separated by a plus sign
(+).
metric
The system metric name. This must be the name of an executable or script file
in the metric server's script directory.
remove
Remove the specified metric.
proportions
Proportions determines the significance of each metric as compared to the
others when they are combined into a single system load for a server.
status
Display the current server values for this metric.

Examples
v To add a system metric:
sscontrol metric add site1:metric1
v To set proportions for a sitename with two system metrics:
sscontrol metric proportions site1 0 100
v To display the current status of values associated with the specified metric:
sscontrol metric status site1:metric1

This command produces output similar to the following:

Metric Status:
------------
sitename ..................... site1
Metric name ................... metric1
Metric proportion ............. 50
Server ......... 9.37.56.100
Metric data .... -1

354 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

sscontrol nameserver — control the NameServer


sscontrol nameserver start

bindaddress address
stop
status

start
Starts the name server.
bindaddress
Starts the nameserver bound to the specified address. The nameserver
responds only to a request destined for this address.
address
An address (IP or symbolic) configured on the Site Selector machine.
stop
Stops the name server.
status
Displays the status of the name server.

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 355

sscontrol rule — configure rules


sscontrol rule add sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN type value value opts

dropserver sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN server+s2+...+snN
remove sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN
set sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN value opts
status sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN
useserver sitename+sn2+...+snN:rule+r2+...+rN server+s2+...+snN

opts:

beginrange low endrange high

priority value
metricname value

add
Add this rule to a sitename.
sitename
An unresolvable hostname that the client will request. The sitename must be a
fully qualified domain name. Additional sitenames are separated by a plus
sign (+).
rule
The name you choose for the rule. This name can contain any alphanumeric
character, underscore, hyphen, or period. It can be from 1 to 20 characters and
cannot contain any blanks.

Note: Additional rules are separated by a plus sign (+).

type
The type of rule.
type
Your choices for type are:
ip The rule is based on the client IP address.
metricall
The rule is based on the current metric value for all the servers in the
server set.
metricavg
The rule is based on the average of the current metric values for all the
servers in the server set.
time The rule is based on the time of day.
true This rule is always true. Think of it as an else statement in
programming logic.
beginrange
The lower value in the range used to determine whether or not the rule is true.
low
Depends on the type of rule. The kind of value and its default are listed here
by the type of rule:
ip The address of the client as either a symbolic name or in IP address
format. The default is 0.0.0.0.
time An integer. The default is 0, representing midnight.

356 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 metricall
An integer. The default is 100.
metricavg
An integer. The default is 100.
endrange
The higher value in the range used to determine whether or not the rule is
true.
high
Depends on the type of rule. The kind of value and its default are listed here
by the type of rule:
ip The address of the client as either a symbolic name or in IP address
format. The default is 255.255.255.254.
time An integer. The default is 24, representing midnight.

Note: When defining the beginrange and endrange of time intervals,

note that each value must be an integer representing only the
hour portion of the time; portions of an hour are not specified.
For this reason, to specify a single hour—say, the hour between
3:00 and 4:00 am— you would specify a beginrange of 3 and an
endrange also of 3. This will signify all the minutes beginning
with 3:00 and ending with 3:59. Specifying a beginrange of 3
and an endrange of 4 would cover the two-hour period from
3:00 through 4:59.
metricall
An integer. The default is 2 to the 32nd power minus 1.
metricavg
An integer. The default is 2 to the 32nd power minus 1.
priority
The order in which the rules are reviewed.
level
An integer. If you do not specify the priority of the first rule you add, Site
Selector sets it by default to 1. When a subsequent rule is added, by default its
priority is calculated to be 10 + the current lowest priority of any existing rule.
For example, assume you have an existing rule whose priority is 30. You add a
new rule and set its priority at 25 (which is a higher priority than 30). Then you
add a third rule without setting a priority. The priority of the third rule is
calculated to be 40 (30 + 10).
metricname
Name of the metric measured for a rule.
dropserver
Remove a server from a rule set.
server
The IP address of the TCP server machine as either a symbolic name or in IP
address format.

Note: Additional sitenames are separated by a plus sign (+).

remove
Remove one or more rules, separated from one another by plus signs.

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 357

 set
Set values for this rule.
status
Display all the values of one or more rules.
useserver
Insert server into a rule set.

Examples
v To add a rule that will always be true, do not specify the beginning range or end
range:
sscontrol rule add sitename:rulename type true priority 100
v To create a rule forbidding access to a range of IP addresses, in this case those
beginning with “9” :
sscontrol rule add sitename:rulename type ip b 9.0.0.0 e 9.255.255.255
v To create a rule that will specify the use of a given server from the hour of 11:00
a.m. through the hour of 3:00 p.m.:
sscontrol rule add sitename:rulename type time beginrange 11 endrange 14
sscontrol rule useserver sitename:rulename server05

358 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

sscontrol server — configure servers


sscontrol server add sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN

metricaddress address
weight value
down sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN
remove sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN
set sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN
metricaddress address
weight value
status sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN
up sitename+sn2+...+snN:server+s2+...+sN

add
Add this server.
sitename
An unresolvable hostname that the client requests. The sitename must be a
fully qualified domain name. Additional sitenames are separated by a plus
sign (+).
server
The IP address of the TCP server machine as either a symbolic name or in IP
address format.

Note: Additional servers are separated by a plus sign (+).

metricaddress
The address of the metric server.
address
The address of the server as either a symbolic name or in IP address format.
weight
A number from 0–100 (not to exceed the specified sitename's maximum
weightbound value) representing the weight for this server. Setting the weight
to zero will prevent any new requests from being sent to the server. The
default is one-half the specified sitename’s maximum weightbound value. If
the manager is running, this setting will be quickly overwritten.
value
The server weight value.
down
Mark this server down. This command prevents any other request from being
resolved to that server.
remove
Remove this server.
set
Set values for this server.
status
Show status of the servers.
up Mark this server up. Site Selector will now resolve new requests to that server.

Examples
v To add the server at 27.65.89.42 to a sitename of site1:
sscontrol server add site1:27.65.89.42
v To mark the server at 27.65.89.42 as down:

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 359

 sscontrol server down site1:27.65.89.42
v To remove the server at 27.65.89.42 for all sitenames:
sscontrol server remove :27.65.89.42
v To mark the server at 27.65.89.42 as up:
sscontrol server up site1:27.65.89.42

360 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

sscontrol set — configure server log


sscontrol set loglevel level

logsize unlimited
size

loglevel
The level at which the ssserver logs its activities.
level
The default value of loglevel is 0. The possible values are:
v 0 is None
v 1 is Minimal
v 2 is Basic
v 3 is Moderate
v 4 is Advanced
v 5 is Verbose
logsize
The maximum number of bytes to be logged in the log file.
size
The default value of logsize is 1 MB.

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 361

sscontrol sitename — configure a sitename


sscontrol sitename add sitename+sn2+...+snN

cachelife value
networkproximity yes | no
proportions cpu memory port metric
proximitypercentage value
stickytime time
ttl time
waitforallresponses yes | no
weightbound weight
remove sitename+sn2+...+snN
set sitename+sn2+...+snN
cachelife value
networkproximity yes | no
proportions cpu memory port metric
proximitypercentage value
stickytime time
ttl time
waitforallresponses yes | no
weightbound weight
status sitename+sn2+...+snN

add
Add a new sitename.
sitename
An irresolvable host name, requested by the client. Additional sitenames are
separated by a plus sign (+).
cachelife
The amount of time a proximity response is valid and saved in the cache. The
default is 1800. See “Using the Network Proximity feature” on page 93 for
more information.
value
A positive number representing the number of seconds a proximity response is
valid and saved in the cache.
networkproximity
Determines each server's network proximity to the requesting client. Use this
proximity response in the load balancing decision. Set the proximity on or off.
See “Using the Network Proximity feature” on page 93 for more information.
value
The choices are yes or no. The default is no, which means network proximity
is turned off.
proportions
Set the proportion of importance for cpu, memory, port (information from any
advisors), and system metrics for the Metric Server that are used by the
manager to set server weights. Each of these values is expressed as a
percentage of the total and the total is always 100.
cpu The percentage of CPU in use on each load balanced server machine
(input from Metric Server agent).
memory
The percentage of memory in use (input from Metric Server agent) on
each load balanced server
port The input from advisors listening on the port.
system The input from the Metric Server.

362 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 proximitypercentage
Sets the importance of the proximity response versus the health of the server
(manager weight). See “Using the Network Proximity feature” on page 93 for
more information.
value
The default is 50.
stickytime
The interval during which a client will receive the same server ID previously
returned for the first request. The default value of stickytime is 0, which
signifies that the sitename is not sticky.
time
A positive, non-zero number representing the number of seconds during which
the client receives the same server ID previously returned for the first request.
ttl
Sets the time to live. This indicates how long another nameserver will cache
the resolved response. The default value is 5.
value
A positive number representing the number of seconds the nameserver will
cache the resolved response.
waitforallresponses
Sets whether to wait for all proximity responses from the servers before
responding to the client request. See “Using the Network Proximity feature” on
page 93 for more information.
value
The choices are yes or no. The default is yes.
weightbound
A number representing the maximum weight that can be set for servers on this
sitename. The weightbound value set for the sitename may be overridden for
individual servers using server weight. The default value of sitename
weightbound is 20.
weight
The value of weightbound.
set
Set the properties of the sitename.
remove
Remove this sitename.
status
Show current status of a specific sitename.

Examples
v To add a sitename:
sscontrol sitename add 130.40.52.153
v To turn on network proximity:
sscontrol sitename set mySite networkproximity yes
v To set a cache life of 1900000 seconds:
sscontrol sitename set mySite cachelife 1900000
v To set a proximity percent of 45:
sscontrol sitename set mySite proximitypercentage 45

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 363

 v To set a sitename to not wait for all responses before responding:
sscontrol sitename set mySite waitforallresponses no
v To set the time to live to 7 seconds:
sscontrol sitename set mySite ttl 7
v To set the proportions of importance for CpuLoad, MemLoad, Port, and System
Metric, respectively:
sscontrol sitename set mySite proportions 50 48 1 1
v To remove a sitename:
sscontrol sitename remove 130.40.52.153
v To show the status for sitename mySite:
sscontrol sitename status mySite

This command produces output similar to:

SiteName Status:
---------------
SiteName ........................... mySite
WeightBound ........................ 20
TTL ................................ 5
StickyTime ......................... 0
Number of Servers .................. 1
Proportion given to CpuLoad ........ 49
Proportion given to MemLoad ........ 50
Proportion given to Port ........... 1
Proportion given to System metric .. 0
Advisor running on port ............ 80
Using Proximity .................... N

364 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

sscontrol status — display whether the manager and advisors are
running


sscontrol status


Examples
v To see what is running, type:
sscontrol status

This command produces output similar to:

NameServer has been started.
Manager has been started.
-----------------------------------------
| ADVISOR | SITENAME:PORT | TIMEOUT |
----------------------------------------
| http | 80 | unlimited |
-----------------------------------------

Chapter 27. Command reference for Site Selector 365

366 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller
This chapter describes how to use the following ccocontrol commands for Cisco
CSS Controller:
v “ccocontrol consultant — configure and control a consultant” on page 368
v “ccocontrol controller — manage the controller” on page 371
v “ccocontrol file — manage configuration files” on page 373
v “ccocontrol help — display or print help for this command” on page 374
v “ccocontrol highavailability — control high availability” on page 375
v “ccocontrol metriccollector — configure metric collector” on page 378
v “ccocontrol ownercontent — control the owner name and content rule” on page
380
v “ccocontrol service — configure a service” on page 383

You can use an abbreviated version of the ccocontrol command parameters by

typing the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the file
save command, you can type ccocontrol he f instead of ccocontrol help file.

To get the ccocontrol command prompt: type ccocontrol.

To end the command line interface: type exit or quit.

Note: You must use English characters for all command parameter values. The
only exceptions are host names (used in server commands) and file names
(used in file commands).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 367

ccocontrol consultant — configure and control a consultant


ccocontrol consultant add scID address swIPAddr community commName

binarylog scID+scID2... report
set interval
retention
start
stop
remove scID+scID2...
report scID+scID2...
set loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
sensitivity weight percentage
sleeptime sec
start scID+scID2...
stop scID+scID2...

add
Adds a switch consultant.
scID (switchConsultantID)
A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
address
The IP address of the Cisco CSS Switch to which the consultant provides
weights.
swIPAddr (switchIPAddress)
The IP address of the switch.
community
The name used in SNMP to get and set communications with the Cisco CSS
Switch.
commName
The read/write community name of the Cisco CSS Switch.
binarylog
Controls binary logging for a consultant.
report
Reports on the characteristics of binary logging.
set
Sets how often, in seconds, information is written to the binary logs. The
binary logging feature allows service information to be stored in binary log
files for each service defined in the configuration. The information is written to
the logs only when the specified log interval seconds elapse after the last
record was written to the log. The default binary logging interval is 60.
interval
Sets the number of seconds between entries in the binary log.
retention
Sets the number of hours that the binary log files are kept.
start
Starts binary logging.
stop
Stops binary logging.
remove
Removes a switch consultant.

368 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

report
Reports on the characteristics of switch consultants.
set
Sets the characteristics of switch consultants.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the switch consultant logs activities. The default value
is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.
sensitivity
Indicates the amount of change that must take place between the old and new
weights for the weight to change. The difference between the new and old
weight must be greater than the sensitivity percentage for the weight to
change. The valid range is 0-through-100; the default is 5.
weight percentage
An integer from 0-to-100, representing the sensitivity value.
sleeptime
Sets the number of seconds to sleep between weight-setting cycles. The default
is 7.
sec
An integer, representing the sleeptime in seconds. Valid range is from 0 to
2,147,460.
start
Starts collecting metrics and setting weights.
stop
Stops collecting metrics and setting weights.

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 369

 Examples
v To add a switch consultant with a switch identifier of sc1, an IP address of
9.37.50.17, and a community name of comm1:
ccocontrol consultant add sc1 address 9.37.50.17 community comm2
v To start binary logging:
ccocontrol consultant binarylog sc1 start
v To see a report on the characteristics of switch consultant sc1:
ccocontrol consultant report sc1
This command produces output similar to:
Consultant sc1 connected to switch at 9.37.50.1:cn1
Consultant has been started
Sleep time = 7
Sensitivity = 5
Log level = 5
Log size = 1,048,576
ownerContent(s):
ownerContent oc1
v To set the sleeptime between weight-setting cycles for the sc1 switch ID to 10
seconds:
ccocontrol consultant set sc1 sleeptime 10
v To start collecting metrics and setting weights for the consultant ID of sc1:
ccocontrol consultant start sc1

370 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

ccocontrol controller — manage the controller


ccocontrol controller report

set
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited

report
Display characteristics of the controller. Version information displays as part of
this report.
set
Set characteristics of the controller.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the controller logs activities. The default value is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.

Examples
v To display a report on the controller:
ccocontrol controller report
This command produces output similar to:
Controller Report:
------------------------
Version . . . . . . . . . Version: 05.00.00.00 - 03/21/2002-09:49:57-EST
Logging level . . . . . . 1
Log size. . . . . . . . . 1048576
Configuration File. . . . config1.xml
Consultants:
Consultant consult1 -Started
v To set the level of logging to zero for better performance:

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 371

 ccocontrol set loglevel 0
v To set the controller log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
ccocontrol controller set logsize 1000000

372 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

ccocontrol file — manage configuration files


ccocontrol file delete filename

load filename
report
save filename
force

delete
Deletes the specified configuration file.
filename
A configuration file. The file extension must be .xml. If this extension is not
specified, it will be assumed.
load
Loads the configuration stored in the specified file.

Note: Loading a file appends the configuration stored in that file to the
running configuration. If you want to load a new configuration, you
must stop and restart the server before you load the file.
report
Lists the configuration files.
save
Saves the current configuration to the specified file.

Note: Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/cco
v Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\cco
force
Saves to an existing file.

Examples
v To delete a file named file1:
ccocontrol file delete file1
v To append the configuration in the file to the current configuration:
ccocontrol file load config2
v To see a report of files that you have previously saved:
ccocontrol file report
This command produces output similar to:
FILE REPORT:
------------
file1.xml
file2.xml
file3.xml
v To save your configuration file in a file named config2.xml:
ccocontrol file save config2

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 373

ccocontrol help — display or print help for this command


ccocontrol help controller

consultant
file
help
highavailability
metriccollector
ownercontent
service

Examples
v To get help on the ccocontrol command, type:
ccocontrol help
This command produces output similar to:
The following commands are available:
controller - operate on the controller
consultant - operate on switch consultants
file - operate on configuration files
help - operate on help
highavailability - operate on high availability
metriccollector - operate on metric collectors
ownerContent - operate on ownerContents
service - operate on services
v The following symbols are used in the online help syntax:
<> Braces enclose parameters or a sequence of characters.
[] Brackets enclose optional items.
| A vertical bar separates alternatives within brackets and braces.
: A colon is a separator between names; for example,
consultant1:ownercontent1.

374 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

ccocontrol highavailability — control high availability


ccocontrol highavailability add address address

partneraddress partneraddress
port port
role primary
secondary
dropreach address
remove
report
set beatinterval time
takeoverinterval time
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
start auto
manual
stop
takeover
usereach address

add
Configures a high-availability node, partner, and reach targets.
address
The address from which to receive heartbeats.
address
The IP address of the high-availability node.
partneraddress
The address to which to send heartbeats. This is the IP address or host name
configured on the partner node. This address is used to communicate with the
partner high-availability machine.
address
The IP address of the partner.
port
The port used to communicate with the partner. The default is 12345.
port
The port number.
role
The high-availability role.
primary | secondary
The primary or secondary role.
dropreach
Remove this reach target from high availability criteria.
address
The IP address of the reach target.
remove
Remove the node, partner and reach target from high availability
configuration. High availability must be stopped before using this command.
report
Displays high availability information.
set
Sets the characteristics of high availability.

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 375

 beatinterval
Sets how often, in milliseconds, heartbeats are sent to the partner. The default
is 500.
time
A positive integer representing the beat interval time, in milliseconds.
takeoverinterval
Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that must lapse (during which no
heartbeats are received) before a takeover occurs. The default is 2000.
time
A positive integer representing the takeover interval time, in milliseconds.
loglevel
Sets the level at which activities are logged. The default value is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log file. The
default value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file
wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are
written from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size
cannot be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are
time-stamped so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher
you set the log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because
you can quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log. You can
specify either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The
log file might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because
the log entries vary in size.
start
Starts using high availability. A high availability node, partner, and reach target
must be configured before using this command.
auto | manual
Determines whether to start high availability with a recovery strategy of
automatic or manual.
stop
Stops using high availability.
takeover
Takes control from the active high availability node.
usereach
The reach target address that will start using high availability. Add a reach
target that can be pinged so that the high availability partners can determine
how reachable their targets are.

376 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 address
The IP address of the reach target.

Examples
v To add a high availability node with an IP address of 9.37.50.17 with a primary
role on port 12345, and a partner address of 9.37.50.14:
ccocontrol highavailability add
address 9.37.50.17 role primary port 12345 partneraddress 9.37.50.14
v To add a reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
ccocontrol highavailability usereach 9.37.50.9
v To remove the reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
ccocontrol highavailability dropreach 9.37.50.9
v To start high availability with a recovery strategy of manual:
ccocontrol highavailability start manual
v To get a statistical snapshot of high availability:
ccocontrol highavailability report
This command produces output similar to:
High Availability Status:
-------------------------
Node . . . . . . . . . . . primary
Node Address . . . . . . . 9.37.50.17
Port . . . . . . . . . . . 12345
Partner Address. . . . . . 9.37.50.14
Recovery Strategy. . . . . manual
Heartbeat Interval . . . . 500
Takeover Interval. . . . . 2000
State. . . . . . . . . . . idle
Sub-state. . . . . . . . . unsynchronized

Reachability Status : Node/Partner

---------------------------------------
No reach targets configured

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 377

ccocontrol metriccollector — configure metric collector


ccocontrol metriccollector report scID+scID2+...:mN+mN2...

set scID+scID2+...:mN+mN2... timeoutconnect sec
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
timeoutreceive sec
sleeptime sec

report
Displays the characteristics of a metric collector.
scID (switch consultant ID)
A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
mN (metric name)
Name that identifies the provided or custom metric.
set
Sets the characteristics of a metric collector.
timeoutconnect
Set how long a metric collector waits before reporting that a connection fails.
sec
A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the metric
collector waits before reporting that a connection to a service has failed.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the specified consultant logs activities. The default is 1.
level
The number of the level. The default is 1. The higher the number, the more
information that is written to the consultant log. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.

378 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 timeoutreceive
Sets how long the consultant waits before reporting that a receive from service
fails.
sec
A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
consultant waits before reporting that a receive from a service has failed.
sleeptime
Sets the amount of time in seconds that the metric collector sleeps between
metric-collecting cycles.
A positive integer representing the number of seconds of sleep time.

Examples
v To see a report on the characteristics of a metric collector:
ccocontrol metriccollector report sc1:http
This command produces output similar to:
MetricCollector sc1:http
collected metric(s).... http
loglevel............... 5
logSize................ 1048576
sleepTimeSeconds....... 7
timeoutConnectSeconds.. 21
timeoutReceiveSeconds.. 21
v To set a timeoutconnect of 15 seconds and a logsize of unlimited for the sc1
switch consultant and the http metric:
ccocontrol metriccollector set sc1:http timeoutconnect 15 logsize unlimited

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 379

ccocontrol ownercontent — control the owner name and content rule


ccocontrol ownerContent add scID:ocN ownername oN contentrule cN

metrics scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2... mN importance mN2 i2
refresh scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2...
remove scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2...
report scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2...
set scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2... metric mN
requeststring string
responsestring string
retry numretries

add
Adds an ownercontent to the specified consultant.
scID (switch consultant ID)
A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
OCName (ownercontent name)
A user-defined string that represents the owner name and the content rule on
the switch.
ownername
The name configured on the switch that identifies the owner configuration.
oN (ownername)
A unique text string with no spaces. The ownername must be the same as
specified on the Cisco switch.
contentrule
The name configured on the switch that identifies the owner's content rule
configuration.
cN (contentname)
A unique text string with no spaces. The contentname must be the same as
specified on the Cisco switch.
metrics
Specifies the set of metrics used in calculating weights and the importance of
each metric. The importance is expressed as a percentage of the total. The sum
of importance values must total 100. The metrics can be any combination of
the connection data metric, application advisor metrics, and metric server
metrics. The defaults are active connection (activeconn) and connection rate
(connrate) metrics with 50/50 importance.
mN (metricname)
Name that identifies the metric collector that will collect measurements to
determine the weight of the server.
Following is a list of valid metric names and their associated ports.

Advisor Name Protocol Port

connect ICMP 12345
db2 private 50000
dns DNS 53
ftp FTP 21
http HTTP 80
https SSL 443
cachingproxy HTTP (via Caching Proxy) 80
imap IMAP 143

380 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Advisor Name Protocol Port
ldap LDAP 389
ldaps SSL 443
nntp NNTP 119
ping PING 0
pop3 POP3 110
sip SIP 5060
smtp SMTP 25
ssl SSL 443
telnet Telnet 23
WLM private 10,007
activeconn n/a n/a
connrate n/a n/a
cpuload n/a n/a
memload n/a n/a

importance
A number from 0-to-100 that represents the importance of this metric in
calculating server weights.
refresh
Refreshes the configured services with the configuration from the Cisco CSS
Switch.
remove
Removes an ownercontent
report
Reports characteristics of ownercontents.
set
Sets characteristics of ownercontents.
metric
Sets the characteristics of a metric.
mN The name of the desired metric.
requeststring
Sets a request string for the specified metric. This represents the request sent
by a metric collector to gather metric information.
string
The request string sent by the metric collector to the server.
responsestring
Sets a response string for the specified metric. The specified response string is
used by the metric collector to compare the responses it receives from servers
and subsequently determine server availability.
string
The response string to which the metric collector compares received server
responses.

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 381

 retry
Retry sets the number of retries that can be made before marking a server
down.
numretries
An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should be no larger than 3.
If the retry keyword is not configured, the number of retries defaults to zero.

Examples
v To add an ownerContent named oc1 (with an owner name of owner1 and a
content name of content1) to the switch consultant ID of sc1:
ccocontrol ownerContent add sc1:oc1 ownername owner1 contentrule content1
v To specify a proportion of 50 each to the activeconn and http metrics:
ccocontrol ownerContent metrics sc1:oc1 activeconn 50 http 50
v To see a report of characteristics of ownercontents:
ccocontrol ownerContent report sc1:oc1
This command produces output similar to:
ownerContent sc1:oc1
Weightbound = 10
Metric activeconn has proportion 25
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Metric http has proportion 50
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Metric connrate has proportion 25
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Contains Service t3
Contains Service t2
Contains Service t1
v To set an http request string:
ccocontrol ownerContent set sc1:oc1 metric http requeststring getCookie

382 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

ccocontrol service — configure a service


ccocontrol service report scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2...:svc+svc2...

set scID+scID2...:ocN+ocN2...:svc+svc2...
fixedweight integer
off
requestsourceip IPAd
metricserveraddress IPAd
metricserverport portN

report
Display characteristics of services.
scID (switch consultant ID)
A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
OCName (ownercontent name)
A user-defined string that represents the owner name and the content rule on
the switch.
svc (service)
A user-defined string on the switch that represents the service.
set
Set characteristics of services
fixedweight
Sets a fixed weight for this service. The default is off.
integer | off
A positive integer in the range of 0-to-10, representing the fixed weight for this
service, or the word off to specify no fixed weight.
requestsourceip
Sets the address from which to contact service for application requests.
IPAd (IP address)
The IP address from which to contact service, as a symbolic name or in IP
address format.
metricserveraddress
Sets the address at which to contact service for metric server requests.
IPAd (IP address)
The IP address of the metric server, as a symbolic name or in IP address
format.
metricserverport
Sets the port to use for contacting the metric server.
portN (port number)
The port number used to contact the metric server.

Examples
v To display a report on service t1 for the sc1 consultant:
ccocontrol service report sc1:oc1:t1
This command produces output similar to:
Service sc1:oc1:ta has weight 10
Fixed weight is off
Request Source Ip..... 9.27.24.156
Application port...... 80
MetricServer address.. 1.0.0.1

Chapter 28. Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller 383

 MetricServer port..... 10004
Metric activeconn has value -99
Metric http has value -99
Metric connrate has value -99
v To set a metric server address for service t2:
ccocontrol service set sc1:oc1:t2 metricserveraddress 9.37.50.17

384 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller
This chapter describes how to use the following nalcontrol commands for Nortel
Alteon Controller:
v “nalcontrol consultant — configure and control a consultant” on page 386
v “nalcontrol controller — manage the controller” on page 389
v “nalcontrol file — manage configuration files” on page 391
v “nalcontrol help — display or print help for this command” on page 392
v “nalcontrol highavailability — control high availability” on page 393
v “nalcontrol metriccollector — configure metric collector” on page 396
v “nalcontrol service — configure a service” on page 400
v “nalcontrol server — configure a server” on page 398

You can use an abbreviated version of the nalcontrol command parameters by

typing the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on the file
save command, you can type nalcontrol he f instead of nalcontrol help file.

To get the nalcontrol command prompt: type nalcontrol.

To end the command line interface: type exit or quit.

Note: You must use English characters for all command parameter values. The
only exceptions are host names (used in server commands) and file names
(used in file commands).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 385

nalcontrol consultant — configure and control a consultant


nalcontrol consultant add scID address swIPAddr

rcommunity readCommName
wcommunity writeCommName
binarylog scID+scID2... report
set interval interval
retention retention
start
stop
remove scID+scID2...
report scID+scID2...
set
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
sensitivity weight percentage
sleeptime sec
start scID+scID2...
stop scID+scID2...

add
Adds a switch consultant.
scID
A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
address
The IP address of the Nortel Alteon Web Switch to which the consultant
provides weights.
swIPAddr
The IP address of the switch.
rcommunity
The read community name used in the SNMP get communications with the
Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The default is public.
readCommName
The string that represents the read community name, as it is configured on the
Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The default is public.
wcommunity
The write community name used in the SNMP set communications
writeCommName
The string that represents the write community name, as it is configured on the
Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The default is private.
binarylog
Controls binary logging for a consultant.
report
Reports on the characteristics of binary logging.
set
Sets how often, in seconds, information is written to the binary logs. The
binary logging feature allows service information to be stored in binary log
files for each service defined in the configuration. The information is written to
the logs only when the specified log interval seconds elapse after the last
record was written to the log. The default binary logging interval is 60.
interval
Sets the number of seconds between entries in the binary log.

386 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

retention
Sets the number of hours that the binary log files are kept.
start
Starts binary logging.
stop
Stops binary logging.
remove
Removes a switch consultant.
report
Reports on the characteristics of switch consultants.
set
Sets the characteristics of switch consultants.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the switch consultant logs activities. The default value
is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.
sensitivity
Indicates the amount of change that must take place between the old and new
weights for the weight to change. The difference between the new and old
weight must be greater than the sensitivity percentage for the weight to
change. The valid range is 0-through-100; the default is 5.
weight percentage
An integer from 0-to-100, representing the sensitivity value.
sleeptime
Sets the number of seconds to sleep between weight-setting cycles. The default
is 7.

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 387

 seconds
An integer, representing the sleeptime in seconds. Valid range is from 0 to
2,147,460.
start
Starts collecting metrics and setting weights.
stop
Stops collecting metrics and setting weights.

Examples
v To add a switch consultant with a switch identifier of sc1, an IP address of
9.37.50.17:
nalcontrol consultant add sc1 address 9.37.50.17
v To start binary logging:
nalcontrol consultant binarylog sc1 start
v To see a report on the characteristics of switch consultant sc1:
nalcontrol consultant report sc1
This command produces output similar to:
Consultant ID: sc1 Switch IP addr: 9.37.50.1
Read Community: public
Write Community: private
Consultant has been started
Sleep time = 7
Sensitivity = 5
Log level = 5
log size = 1,048,576
Service(s):
Service svc1
v To set the sleeptime between weight-setting cycles for the sc1 switch ID to 10
seconds:
nalcontrol consultant set sc1 sleeptime 10
v To start collecting metrics and setting weights for the consultant ID of sc1:
nalcontrol consultant start sc1

388 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

nalcontrol controller — manage the controller


nalcontrol controller report

set
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited

report
Display characteristics of the controller. Version information displays as part of
this report.
set
Set characteristics of the controller.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the controller logs activities. The default value is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.

Examples
v To display a report on the controller:
nalcontrol controller report
This command produces output similar to:
Controller Report:
------------------------
Version . . . . . . . . . Version: 05.00.00.00 - 03/21/2002-09:49:57-EST
Logging level . . . . . . 1
Log size. . . . . . . . . 1048576
Configuration File. . . . config1.xml
Consultants:
Consultant consult1 -Started
v To set the level of logging to zero for better performance:

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 389

 nalcontrol set loglevel 0
v To set the controller log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
nalcontrol controller set logsize 1000000

390 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

nalcontrol file — manage configuration files


nalcontrol file delete filename

load filename
report
save filename

delete
Deletes the specified configuration file.
filename
A configuration file. The file extension must be .xml. If this extension is not
specified, it will be assumed.
load
Loads the configuration stored in the specified file.

Note: Loading a file appends the configuration stored in that file to the
running configuration. If you want to load a new configuration, you
must stop and restart the server before you load the file.
report
Lists the configuration files.
save
Saves the current configuration to the specified file.

Note: Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
configurations/nal
v Windows systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\
configurations\nal

Examples
v To delete a file named file1:
nalcontrol file delete file1
v To load a new configuration file to replace the current configuration:
nalcontrol file load config2
v To see a report of files that you have previously saved:
nalcontrol file report
This command produces output similar to:
FILE R EPORT:
------------
file1.xml
file2.xml
file3.xml
v To save your configuration file in a file named config2:
nalcontrol file save config2

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 391

nalcontrol help — display or print help for this command


nalcontrol help controller

consultant
file
help
highavailability
metrinalllector
ownercontent
service

Examples
v To get help on the nalcontrol command, type:
nalcontrol help
This command produces output similar to:
The following commands are available:
controller - operate on the controller
consultant - operate on switch consultants
file - operate on configuration files
help - operate on help
highavailability - operate on high availability
metriccollector - operate on metric collectors
server - operate on servers
service - operate on services
v The following symbols are used in the online help syntax:
<> Braces enclose parameters or a sequence of characters.
[] Brackets enclose optional items.
| A vertical bar separates alternatives within brackets and braces.
: A colon is a separator between names; for example, consultant1:service1.

392 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

nalcontrol highavailability — control high availability


nalcontrol highavailability add address address

partneraddress partneraddress
port port
role primary
secondary
dropreach address
remove
report
set beatinterval time
takeoverinterval time
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
start auto
manual
stop
takeover
usereach address

add
Configures a high-availability node, partner, and reach targets.
address
The address from which to receive heartbeats.
address
The IP address of the high-availability node.
partneraddress
The address to which to send heartbeats. This is the IP address or host name
configured on the partner node. This address is used to communicate with the
partner high-availability machine.
address
The IP address of the partner.
port
The port used to communicate with the partner. The default is 12345.
port
The port number.
role
The high-availability role.
primary | secondary
The primary or secondary role.
dropreach
Remove this reach target from high availability criteria.
address
The IP address of the reach target.
remove
Remove the node, partner and reach target from high availability
configuration. High availability must be stopped before using this command.
report
Displays high availability information.
set
Sets the characteristics of high availability.

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 393

 beatinterval
Sets how often, in milliseconds, heartbeats are sent to the partner. The default
is 500.
time
A positive integer representing the beat interval time, in milliseconds.
takeoverinterval
Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that must lapse (during which no
heartbeats are received) before a takeover occurs. The default is 2000.
time
A positive integer representing the takeover interval time, in milliseconds.
loglevel
Sets the level at which activities are logged. The default value is 1.
level
The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log file. The
default value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file
wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are
written from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size
cannot be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are
time-stamped so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher
you set the log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because
you can quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log. You can
specify either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The
log file might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because
the log entries vary in size.
start
Starts using high availability. A high availability node, partner, and reach target
must be configured before using this command.
auto | manual
Determines whether to start high availability with a recovery strategy of
automatic or manual.
stop
Stops using high availability.
takeover
Takes control from the active high availability node.
usereach
The reach target address that will start using high availability. Add a reach
target that can be pinged so that the high availability partners can determine
how reachable their targets are.

394 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 address
The IP address of the reach target.

Examples
v To add a high availability node with an IP address of 9.37.50.17 with a primary
role on port 12345, and a partner address of 9.37.50.14:
nalcontrol highavailability add
address 9.37.50.17 role primary port 12345 partneraddress 9.37.50.14
v To add a reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
nalcontrol highavailability usereach 9.37.50.9
v To remove the reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
nalcontrol highavailability dropreach 9.37.50.9
v To start high availability with a recovery strategy of manual:
nalcontrol highavailability start manual
v To get a statistical snapshot of high availability:
nalcontrol highavailability report
This command produces output similar to:
High Availability Status:
-------------------------
Node . . . . . . . . . . . primary
Node Address . . . . . . . 9.37.50.17
Port . . . . . . . . . . . 12345
Partner Address. . . . . . 9.37.50.14
Recovery Strategy. . . . . manual
Heartbeat Interval . . . . 500
Takeover Interval. . . . . 2000
Started. . . . . . . . . . N
State. . . . . . . . . . . idle
Sub-state. . . . . . . . . unsynchronized

Reachability Status : Node/Partner

---------------------------------------

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 395

nalcontrol metriccollector — configure metric collector


nalcontrol metricollector report scID+scID2+...:mN+mN2...

set scID+scID2+...:mN+mN2... connecttimeout sec
loglevel level
logsize size
unlimited
receivetimeout sec
sleeptime sec

report
Displays the characteristics of a metric collector.
scID (switch consultant ID)
A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
mN (metric name)
Name that identifies the provided or custom metric.
set
Sets the characteristics of a metric collector.
connecttimeout
Set how long a metric collector waits before reporting that a connection fails.
sec
A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the metric
collector waits before reporting that a connection to a service has failed.
loglevel
Sets the level at which the specified consultant logs activities. The default is 1.
level
The number of the level. The default is 1. The higher the number, the more
information that is written to the consultant log. The possible values are:
0 = None
1 = Minimal
2 = Basic
3 = Moderate
4 = Advanced
5 = Verbose
logsize
Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default value is
1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps; when
the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written from the
top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot be set
smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped so you
can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the log level,
the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can quickly run
out of space when logging at the higher levels.
size | unlimited
The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file
might not reach the exact maximum size before overwriting because the log
entries vary in size.

396 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 receivetimeout
Sets how long the consultant waits before reporting that a receive from service
fails.
sec
A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
consultant waits before reporting that a receive from a service has failed.
sleeptime
Sets the amount of time in seconds that the metric collector sleeps between
metric-collecting cycles.
sec
A positive integer representing the number of seconds of sleep time.

Examples
v To see a report on the characteristics of a metric collector:
nalcontrol metrinalllector report sc1:http
This command produces output similar to:
Metrinalllector sc1:http
collected metric(s).... http
loglevel............... 5
logSize................ 1048576
sleepTimeSeconds....... 7
timeoutConnectSeconds.. 21
timeoutReceiveSeconds.. 21
v To set a connecttimeout of 15 seconds and a logsize of unlimited for the sc1
switch consultant and the http metric:
nalcontrol metrinalllector set sc1:http connecttimeout 15 logsize unlimited

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 397

nalcontrol server — configure a server

nalcontrol serer report scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2...:serverID+svrID2...


set scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2...:serverID+svrID2
fixedweight integer
off
requestsourceip IPAddress
metricserveraddress IPAddress
metricserverport portNumber

report
Display characteristics of servers.
scID
A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
svcID
A user-defined string that represents the virtual service identifier and the
virtual port number on the switch.
serverID
An integer that represents the server on the switch.
set
Set characteristics of servers
fixedweight
Sets a fixed weight for this server. The default is off. The maximum
fixedweight is 48.
integer | off
A positive integer representing the fixed weight for this server, or the word off
to specify no fixed weight.
requestsourceip
Sets the address from which to contact the server for application requests.
IPAddress
The IP address from which to contact the server, as a symbolic name or in IP
address format.
metricserveraddress
Sets the address from which to contact the server for metric server requests.
IPAddress
The IP address of the metric server, as a symbolic name or in IP address
format.
metricserverport
Sets the port to use for contacting the metric server.
portNumber
The port number used to contact the metric server.

Examples
v To display a report on server 1 for the sc1 consultant:
nalcontrol server report sc1:svc1:1
This command produces output similar to:
Server sc1:svc1:1 has weight -99
Fixed weight is off
Request Source Ip...... 9.27.24.156
Application port....... 99
MetricServer address... 9.99.99.98

398 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 MetricServer port...... 10004
Metric activeconn has value -99
Metric connrate has value -99
v To set a metric server address for service 2:
nalcontrol server set sc1:svc1:2 metricserveraddress 9.37.50.17

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 399

nalcontrol service — configure a service


nalcontrol service add scID+scID2...:serviceID+svcID2... vsid virSvrID vport virPortNum

metrics scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2... mN importance mCN2 i2
refresh scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2...
remove scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2...
report scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2...
set scID+scID2...:svcID+svcID2... metric mN requeststring string
responsestring string
retry numretries

add
Adds a service to the specified consultant.
scID (switchConsultantID)
A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
svcID (serviceID)
A user-defined string that identifies the service.
vsid
The virtual service identifier keyword.
virSvrID (virtualServerID)
The number on the switch that represents the virtual server.
vport
The virtual port keyword.
virPortNum (virtualPortNumber)
The port number for the service that is currently configured on the switch.
metrics
Specifies the set of metrics used in calculating weights and the importance of
each metric. The importance is expressed as a percentage of the total. The sum
of importance values must total 100. The metrics can be any combination of
the connection data metric, application advisor metrics, and metric server
metrics. The defaults are active connection (activeconn) and connection rate
(connrate) metrics with 50/50 importance.
mN (metric name)
Name that identifies the metric collector that will collect measurements to
determine the weight of the server.
Following is a list of valid metric names and their associated ports.

Advisor Name Protocol Port

connect ICMP 12345
db2 private 50000
dns DNS 53
ftp FTP 21
http HTTP 80
https SSL 443
cachingproxy HTTP (via Caching Proxy) 80
imap IMAP 143
ldap LDAP 389
nntp NNTP 119
ping PING 0

400 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Advisor Name Protocol Port
pop3 POP3 110
sip SIP 5060
smtp SMTP 25
ssl SSL 443
telnet Telnet 23
WLM private 10,007
activeconn n/a n/a
connrate n/a n/a
cpuload n/a n/a
memload n/a n/a

importance
A number from 0-to-100 that represents the importance of this metric in
calculating server weights.
refresh
Refreshes a service with information from the Nortel Alteon Web Switch.
remove
Removes a service.
report
Reports characteristics of a service.
set
Sets characteristics of a service.
metric
Sets the characteristics of a configured metric.
mN (metric name)
The name of the desired metric.
requeststring
Sets a request string for the specified metric. This represents the request sent
by a metric collector to gather metric information.
string
The request string sent by the metric collector to the server.
responsestring
Sets a response string for the specified metric. The specified response string is
used by the metric collector to compare the responses it receives from servers
and subsequently determine server availability.
string
The response string to which the metric collector compares received server
responses.
retry
Retry sets the number of retries that can be made before marking a server
down.
numretries
An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should be no larger than 3.
If retries keyword is not configured, the number of retries defaults to zero.

Chapter 29. Command reference for Nortel Alteon Controller 401

 Examples
v To add a service named svc1 (with an virtual server ID of 1 and a virtual port of
80) to the switch consultant ID of sc1:
nalcontrol service add sc1:svc1 vsid 1 vport 80
v To specify a proportion of 50 each to the activeconn and http metrics:
nalcontrol service metrics sc1:svc1 activeconn 50 http 50
v To see a report of characteristics of ownercontents:
nalcontrol service report sc1:svc1
This command produces output similar to:x
Service sc1:svc1
Weightbound = 48
Metric activeconn has proportion 50
Metric connrate has rpoportion 50
Contains Server 4
Contains Server 3
Contains Server 2
Contains Server 1
v To set an http request string:
nalcontrol service set sc1:svc1 metric http requeststring getLastErrorCode

402 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Appendix A. GUI: General instructions
In the Load Balancer graphical user interface (GUI), the left side of the panel
displays a tree structure with Load Balancer at the top level, and Dispatcher,
Content Based Routing (CBR), Site Selector, Cisco CSS Controller, and Nortel
Alteon Controller as components.

Figure 38. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying the GUI tree structure expansion of the Dispatcher component

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 403

Figure 39. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying the GUI tree structure expansion of the CBR component

404 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Figure 40. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying the GUI tree structure expansion of the Site Selector
component

Appendix A. GUI: General instructions 405

Figure 41. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying the GUI tree structure expansion of the Cisco CSS Controller
component

406 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Figure 42. The graphical user interface (GUI) displaying the GUI tree structure expansion of the Nortel Alteon
Controller component

All of the components can be configured from the GUI. You can select elements in
the tree structure by clicking mouse button one (normally the left button) and then
display pop-up menus by clicking mouse button two (normally the right button).
The pop-up menus for the tree elements are also accessible from the menu bar
located at the top of the panel.

Click the plus or minus signs to expand or compact the items in the tree structure.

To run a command from the GUI: highlight the Host node from the GUI tree and
select Send command.... from the Host pop-up menu. In the command entry field,
type the command that you want to run, for example: executor report. The results
and history of the commands run in the current session appear in the window
provided.

The right side of the panel displays status indicator tabs for the element currently
selected.
v The Current Statistics tab presents statistical information about the element.
This tab does not appear for all elements in the tree structure.
v The Refresh Statistics button displays the latest statistical data. If a Refresh
Statistics button does not appear, the statistics are dynamically refreshed and are
always current.

Appendix A. GUI: General instructions 407

 v The Configuration Settings tab presents configuration parameters that can be
set using the procedures outlined in the configuration chapters for each of the
components. This tab does not appear for all elements in the tree structure.
v The Update Configuration button applies the latest changes to the configuration
currently running.
v The Proportions tab presents proportion (or weight) parameters that can be set
using the information from Chapter 21, “Advanced features for Dispatcher, CBR,
and Site Selector,” on page 161. This tab does not appear for all elements in the
tree structure.
v The Lists tab presents additional details about the selected tree element. This tab
does not appear for all elements in the tree structure.
v The Remove button deletes highlighted items from the lists.
v The Report tab presents manager report information about the element. This tab
does not appear for all elements in the tree structure.
v The Refresh Report button displays the latest manager report data.

To access Help, click the question mark (?) in the upper right corner of the Load
Balancer window.
v Help: Field level — describes each field, default values
v Help: How do I — lists tasks that can be done from the current screen
v InfoCenter — provides access to product information including: overview and
highlight of new feature information, link to product Web site, index of online
Help files, glossary of terms

408 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Appendix B. Content rule (pattern) syntax
This appendix describes how to use the content rule (pattern) syntax for the CBR
component and the Dispatcher component's cbr forwarding method, along with
scenarios and examples of their usage.

Content rule (pattern) syntax:

Only applicable if you selected "content" for the rule type.

Enter the pattern syntax you want to use, with the following restrictions
v no spaces can be used within the pattern
v special characters, unless you precede the character with a backward slash (\):
* wildcard (matches 0 to x of any character)
( left parenthesis used for logic grouping
) right parenthesis used for logic grouping
& logical AND
| logical OR
! logical NOT

Reserved keywords
Reserved keywords are always followed by an equal sign “=”.
Method
HTTP method in the request, for example GET, POST, and so forth
URI path of the URL request (case sensitive)
Version
specific version of request, either HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1
Host value from the host: header (not case sensitive)

Note: Optional in HTTP/1.0 protocols

<key> any valid HTTP header name that Dispatcher can search for. Examples of
HTTP headers are User-Agent, Connection, Referer, and so forth

A browser targeting http://www.company.com/path/webpage.htm might result in

values such as:
Method=GET
URI=/path/webpage.htm
Version=HTTP/1.1
Host=www.company.com
Connection=Keep-Alive
Referer=http://www.company.com/path/parentwebpage.htm

Note: The operating system's shell may interpret special characters, such as "&",
and convert them to alternate text before cbrcontrol evaluates them. If you
are entering the command from the dscontrol, cbrcontrol, or a configuration
file, use double quotation marks (" ") around the special characters.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 409

 For example, the following command is valid only when using the
cbrcontrol>> prompt or from a configuration file:
rule add 10.1.203.4:80:cbr_prod_rule_ek type content
pattern "uri=/nipoek/*"

When using special characters, for this same command to work at the
operating system's prompt you must place double quotation marks around
the entire command:
cbrcontrol "rule add 10.1.203.4:80:cbr_prod_rule_ek type content
pattern uri=/nipoek/*"

If the quotation marks are not used, some of the pattern might be truncated
when the rule is saved in CBR.

The following is a collection of possible scenarios and examples for using pattern
syntaxes

Scenario 1:

The setup for one cluster name involves one set of Web servers for standard
HTML content, another set of Web servers with WebSphere Application Server for
servlet requests, another set of Lotus® Notes® servers for NSF files, and so forth.
Access to the client data is required to distinguish between those requested pages.
It is also required to send them to the appropriate servers. The content pattern
matching rules provide the separation needed to accomplish these tasks. A series of
rules are configured so that the necessary separation of requests occurs
automatically. For example, the following commands accomplish the three splits
mentioned:
>>rule add cluster1:80:servlets type content pattern "uri=*/servlet/*" priority 1
>>rule uses cluster1:80:servlets server1+server2
>>rule add cluster1:80:notes type content pattern "uri=*.nsf*" priority 2
>>rule uses cluster1:80:notes server3+server4
>>rule add cluster1:80:regular type true priority 3
>>rule uses cluster1:80:regular server5+server6

If a request for an NSF file arrives at Load Balancer, the servlets rule is checked
first, but does not match. The request is then checked by the notes rule and returns
a match. The client is load-balanced between server3 and server4.

Scenario 2

Another common scenario is when the main Web site controls several distinct
internal groups. For example, www.company.com/software involves a different set
of servers and content from www.company.com/hardware division. Because the
requests are all based off the root www.company.com cluster, content rules are
required to find the URI differences and complete load balancing. The scenario's
rule looks similar to the following:
>>rule add cluster1:80:div1 type content pattern "uri=/software/*" priority 1
>>rule uses cluster1:80:div1 server1+server2
>>rule add cluster1:80:div2 type content pattern "uri=/hardware/*" priority 2
>>rule uses cluster1:80:div2 server3+server4

Scenario 3

Certain combinations are sensitive to the order in which rules are searched. For
example, in Scenario 2, clients were split based on a directory in their request path;

410 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

however, the target directory might appear at multiple levels of the path and mean
different things on placement. For example, www.company.com/pcs/fixes/software
is a different target from www.company.com/mainframe/fixes/software. The rules
must be defined to account for this possibility and not catch too many scenarios at
the same time. For example, the “uri=*/software/*” test is too broad a wildcard
search in this case. Alternative rules could be structured in the following manner:

A combination search can narrow this down:

>>rule add cluster1:80:pcs type content pattern "(uri=/pcs/*)&(uri=*/software/*)"
>>rule uses cluster 1:80:pcs server1

In cases where there are no combinations to use, the order becomes important:
>>rule add cluster1:80:pc1 type content pattern "uri=/pcs/*"
>>rule uses cluster1:80:pc1 server2

The second rule catches when “pcs” appears in later directory spots instead of the
first.
>>rule add cluster1:80:pc2 type content pattern "uri=/*/pcs/*"
>>rule uses cluster1:80:pc2 server3

In almost every case, you want to complete the rules with a default always true
rule to catch anything that falls through the other rules. This can also be a “Sorry,
the site is currently down, please try again later” server for scenarios where all
other servers fail for this client.
>>rule add cluster1:80:sorry type true priority 100
>>rule uses cluster1:80:sorry server5

Appendix B. Content rule (pattern) syntax 411

412 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Appendix C. Sample configuration files
This appendix contains sample configuration files for the Dispatcher component of
Load Balancer.

Sample Load Balancer configuration files

Sample files are located in the following directory:
v AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems: /opt/ibm/edge/lb/servers/
samples
v Windows operating systems: <install_root>ibm\edge\lb\servers\samples

Dispatcher Configuration file — AIX, Linux, and Solaris

systems
#!/bin/bash
#
# configuration.sample - Sample configuration file for the
Dispatcher component
#
#
# Ensure the root user is the one executing this script.
#
# iam=`whoami`

# if [ "$iam" != "root" ]if [ "$iam" != "root" ]

# then
# echo "You must login as root to run this script"
# exit 2
# fi

#
# First start the server
#
# dsserver start
# sleep 5

#
# Then start the executor
#
# dscontrol executor start

#
# The Dispatcher can be removed at any time using the
# "dscontrol executor stop" and "dsserver stop" commands to
# stop the executor and server respectively prior to removing
# the Dispatcher software.
#
# The next step in configuring the Dispatcher is to set the
# NFA (non-forwarding address) and the cluster address(es).
#
# The NFA is used to remotely access the Dispatcher machine
# for administration or configuration purposes. This
# address is required since the Dispatcher will forward packets
# to the cluster address(es).
#
# The CLUSTER address is the hostname (or IP address) to
# which remote clients will connect.
#
# Anywhere in this file, you may use hostnames and IP

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 413

 # addresses interchangeably.
#

# NFA=hostname.domain.name
# CLUSTER=www.yourcompany.com

# echo "Loading the non-forwarding address"

# dscontrol executor set nfa $NFA

#
# The next step in configuring the Dispatcher is to create
# a cluster. The Dispatcher will route requests sent to
# the cluster address to the corresponding server machines
# defined to that cluster. You may configure and server
# multiple cluster address using Dispatcher.

# Use a similar configuration for CLUSTER2, CLUSTER3, etc.

#

# echo "Loading first CLUSTER address "

# dscontrol cluster add $CLUSTER

#
# Now we must define the ports this cluster will use. Any
# requests received by the Dispatcher on a defined port will
# be forwared to the corresponding port of one of the server
# machines.
#

# echo "Creating ports for CLUSTER: $CLUSTER"

# dscontrol port add $CLUSTER:20+21+80

#
# The last step is to add each of the server machines to the
# ports in this cluster.
# Again, you can use either the hostname or the IP address
# of the server machines.
#

# SERVER1=server1name.domain.name
# SERVER2=server2name.domain.name
# SERVER3=server3name.domain.name

# echo "Adding server machines"

# dscontrol server add $CLUSTER:20+21+80:
# $SERVER1+$SERVER2+$SERVER3

#
# We will now start the load balancing components of the
# Dispatcher. The main load balancing component is called
# the manager and the second load balancing components are the
# advisors. If the manager and advisors are not running the
# Dispatcher sends requests in a round-robin format. Once the
# manager is started, weighting decisions based on the number
# of new and active connections is employed and incoming
# requests are sent to the best server. The advisors give the
# manager further insight into a servers ability to service
# requests as well as detecting whether a server is up. If
# an advisor detects that a server is down it will be
# marked down (providing the manager proportions have been
# set to include advisor input) and no further requests will be
# routed to the server.

# The last step in setting up the load balancing components

# is to set the manager proportions. The manager updates the
# weight of each of the servers based on four policies:

414 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

# 1. The number of active connections on each server.
# 2. The number of new connections to each server.
# 3. Input from the advisors.
# 4. Input from the system level advisor.
# These proportions must add up to 100. As an example, setting
# the manager proportions to
# dscontrol manager proportions 48 48 0 0
# will give active and new connections 48% input into the
# weighting decision, the advisors will contribute 4% and
# the system input will not be considered.
#
# NOTE: By default the manager proportions are set to 50 50 0 0
#

# echo "Starting the manager..."

# dscontrol manager start

# echo "Starting the FTP advisor on port 21 ..."

# dscontrol advisor start ftp 21
# echo "Starting the HTTP advisor on port 80 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start http 80
# echo "Starting the Telnet advisor on port 23 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start telnet 23
# echo "Starting the SMTP advisor on port 25 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start smtp 25
# echo "Starting the POP3 advisor on port 110 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start pop3 110
# echo "Starting the NNTP advisor on port 119 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start nntp 119
# echo "Starting the SSL advisor on port 443 ..."
# dscontrol advisor start ssl 443
#

# echo "Setting the manager proportions..."

# dscontrol manager proportions 58 40 2 0

#
# The final step in setting up the Dispatcher machine is to
# alias the Network Interface Card (NIC).
#
# NOTE: Do NOT use this command in a high availability
# environment. The go* scripts will configure the NIC and
# loopback as necessary.
# dscontrol executor configure $CLUSTER

# If your cluster address is on a different NIC or subnet

from the NFA use the following format for the cluster configure
command.
# dscontrol executor configure $CLUSTER en0 0xfffff800
# where en0 is the first ethernet card
# and 0xfffff800 is a valid subnet mask for your site.
#

#
# The following commands are set to the default values.
# Use these commands as a guide to change from the defaults.
# dscontrol manager loglevel 1
# dscontrol manager logsize 1048576
# dscontrol manager sensitivity 5
# dscontrol manager interval 2
# dscontrol manager refresh 2
#
# dscontrol advisor interval ftp 21 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel ftp 21 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize ftp 21 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout ftp 21 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval telnet 23 5

Appendix C. Sample configuration files 415

 # dscontrol advisor loglevel telnet 23 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize telnet 23 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout telnet 23 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval smtp 25 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel smtp 25 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize smtp 25 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout smtp 25 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval http 80 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel http 80 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize http 80 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout http 80 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval pop3 110 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel pop3 110 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize pop3 110 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout pop3 110 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval nntp 119 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel nntp 119 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize nntp 119 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout nntp 119 unlimited
# dscontrol advisor interval ssl 443 5
# dscontrol advisor loglevel ssl 443 1
# dscontrol advisor logsize ssl 443 1048576
# dscontrol advisor timeout ssl 443 unlimited
#

Dispatcher Configuration file — Windows systems

The following is a sample Load Balancer configuration file called
configuration.cmd.sample for use with Window.
@echo off
rem configuration.cmd.sample - Sample configuration file for the
rem Dispatcher component.
rem

rem dsserver must be started by Services

rem

rem
rem Then start the executor
rem
rem call dscontrol executor start

rem

rem The next step in configuring the Dispatcher is to set the

rem NFA (non-forwarding address) and to set the cluster
rem address(es).
rem

rem The NFA is used to remotely access the Dispatcher

rem machine for administration configuration purposes. This
rem address is required since the Dispatcher will forward
rem packets to the cluster address(es).

rem
rem The CLUSTER address is the hostname (or IP address) to which
rem remote clients will connect.
rem

rem Anywhere in this file, you may use hostnames and IP

rem addresses interchangeably.
rem NFA=[non-forwarding address]
rem CLUSTER=[your clustername]
rem

416 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

rem set NFA=hostname.domain.name
rem set CLUSTER=www.yourcompany.com

rem echo "Loading the non-forwarding address"

rem call dscontrol executor set nfa %NFA%

rem
rem The following commands are set to the default values.
rem Use these commands to change the defaults

rem call dscontrol executor set fintimeout 30

rem
rem The next step in configuring the Dispatcher is to create
rem a cluster. The Dispatcher will route requests sent to
rem the cluster address to the corresponding server machines
rem defined to that cluster. You may configure and server
rem multiple cluster addresses using Dispatcher.
rem Use a similar configuration for CLUSTER2, CLUSTER3, etc.
rem

rem echo "Loading first CLUSTER address "

rem call dscontrol cluster add %CLUSTER%

rem
rem Now we must define the ports this cluster will use. Any
rem requests received by the Dispatcher on a defined port
rem will be forwarded to the corresponding
rem port of one of the server machines.
rem

rem echo "Creating ports for CLUSTER: %CLUSTER%"

rem call dscontrol port add %CLUSTER%:20+21+80

rem
rem The last step is to add each of the server machines to
rem the ports in this cluster. Again, you can use either the
rem hostname or the IP address of the server machines.
rem

rem set SERVER1=server1name.domain.name

rem set SERVER2=server2name.domain.name
rem set SERVER3=server3name.domain.name

rem echo "Adding server machines"

rem call dscontrol server add %CLUSTER%:20+21+80:
rem %SERVER1%+%SERVER2%+%SERVER3%

rem
rem We will now start the load balancing components of the
rem Dispatcher. The main load balancing component is called
rem the manager and the second load balancing components are the
rem advisors. If the manager and advisors are not
rem running the Dispatcher sends requests in a round-robin
rem format. Once the manager is started, weighting decisions
rem based on the number of new and active connections is
rem employed and incoming requests are sent to the best
rem server. The advisors give the manager further insight
rem into a servers ability to service requests as well as
rem detecting whether a server is up. If an advisor detects
rem that a server is down it will be marked down (providing the
rem manager proportions have been set to include advisor
rem input) and no further requests will be routed to the server.
rem The last step in setting up the load balancing
rem components is to set the manager proportions. The
rem manager updates the weight of each of the servers based
rem on four policies:

Appendix C. Sample configuration files 417

 rem 1. The number of active connections on each server
rem 2. The number of new connections for each server
rem 3. Input from the advisors.
rem 4. Input from the system level advisor.
rem
rem These proportions must add up to 100. As an example,
rem setting the cluster proportions using
rem dscontrol cluster set <cluster> proportions 48 48 4 0
rem will give active and new connections 48% input into the
rem weighting decision, the advisor will contribute 4% and
rem the system input will not be considered.
rem
rem NOTE: By default the manager proportions are set to
rem 50 50 0 0

rem echo "Starting the manager..."

rem call dscontrol manager start

rem echo "Starting the FTP advisor on port 21 ..."

rem call dscontrol advisor start ftp 21
rem echo "Starting the HTTP advisor on port 80 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start http 80
rem echo "Starting the Telnet advisor on port 23 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start telnet 23
rem echo "Starting the SMTP advisor on port 25 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start smtp 25
rem echo "Starting the POP3 advisor on port 110 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start pop3 110
rem echo "Starting the NNTP advisor on port 119 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start nntp 119
rem echo "Starting the SSL advisor on port 443 ..."
rem call dscontrol advisor start ssl 443
rem

rem echo "Setting the cluster proportions..."

rem call dscontrol cluster set %CLUSTER% proportions 58 40 2 0

rem
rem The final step in setting up the Dispatcher machine is
rem to alias the Network Interface Card (NIC).
rem
rem NOTE: Do NOT use this command in a high availability
rem environment. The go* scripts will configure the NIC and
rem loopback as necessary.
rem
rem dscontrol executor configure %CLUSTER%

rem If your cluster address is on a different NIC or subnet

rem from the NFA use the following format for the cluster
rem configure command.
rem dscontrol executor configure %CLUSTER% en0 0xfffff800
rem where en0 is the first ethernet card, and 0xfffff800 is
rem a valid subnet mask for your site.
rem

rem
rem The following commands are set to the default values.
rem Use these commands to guide to change from the defaults.
rem call dscontrol manager loglevel 1
rem call dscontrol manager logsize 1048576
rem call dscontrol manager sensitivity 5
rem call dscontrol manager interval 2
rem call dscontrol manager refresh 2
rem
rem call dscontrol advisor interval ftp 21 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel ftp 21 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize ftp 21 1048576

418 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 rem call dscontrol advisor timeout ftp 21 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval telnet 23 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel telnet 23 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize telnet 23 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout telnet 23 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval smtp 25 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel smtp 25 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize smtp 25 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout smtp 25 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval http 80 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel http 80 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize http 80 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout http 80 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval pop3 110 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel pop3 110 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize pop3 110 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout pop3 110 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval nntp 119 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel nntp 119 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize nntp 119 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout nntp 119 unlimited
rem call dscontrol advisor interval ssl 443 5
rem call dscontrol advisor loglevel ssl 443 1
rem call dscontrol advisor logsize ssl 443 1048576
rem call dscontrol advisor timeout ssl 443 unlimited
rem

Sample advisor
The following is a sample advisor file called ADV_sample.
/**
* ADV_sample: The Load Balancer HTTP advisor
*
*
* This class defines a sample custom advisor for Load Balancer. Like all
* advisors, this custom advisor extends the function of the advisor base,
* called ADV_Base. It is the advisor base that actually performs most of
* the advisor’s functions, such as reporting loads back to the Load Balancer
* for use in the Load Balancer’s weight algorithm. The advisor base also
* performs socket connect and close operations and provides send and receive
* methods for use by the advisor. The advisor itself is used only for
* sending and receiving data to and from the port on the server being
* advised. The TCP methods within the advisor base are timed to calculate
* the load. A flag within the constructor in the ADV_base overwrites the
* existing load with the new load returned from the advisor if desired.
*
* Note: Based on a value set in the constructor, the advisor base supplies
* the load to the weight algorithm at specified intervals. If the actual
* advisor has not completed so that it can return a valid load, the advisor
* base uses the previous load.
*
* NAMING
*
* The naming convention is as follows:
*
* - The file must be located in the following Load Balancer directory:
*
* lb/servers/lib/CustomAdvisors/ (lb\servers\lib\CustomAdvisors on Windows)
*
* - The Advisor name must be preceded with "ADV_". The advisor can be
* started with only the name, however; for instance, the "ADV_sample"
* advisor can be started with "sample".
*
* - The advisor name must be in lowercase.
*
* With these rules in mind, therefore, this sample is referred to as:

Appendix C. Sample configuration files 419

 *
* <base directory>/lib/CustomAdvisors/ADV_sample.class
*
*
* Advisors, as with the rest of Load Balancer, must be compiled with the
* prereq version of Java. To ensure access to Load Balancer classes, make
* sure that the ibmlb.jar file (located in the lib subdirectory of the base
* directory) is included in the system’s CLASSPATH.
*
* Methods provided by ADV_Base:
*
* - ADV_Base (Constructor):
*
* - Parms
* - String sName = Name of the advisor
* - String sVersion = Version of the advisor
* - int iDefaultPort = Default port number to advise on
* - int iInterval = Interval on which to advise on the servers
* - String sDefaultName = Unused. Must be passed in as "".
* - boolean replace = True - replace the load value being calculated
* by the advisor base
* False - add to the load value being calculated
* by the advisor base
* - Return
* - Constructors do not have return values.
*
* Because the advisor base is thread based, it has several other methods
* available for use by an advisor. These methods can be referenced using
* the CALLER parameter passed in getLoad().
*
* These methods are as follows:
*
* - send - Send a packet of information on the established socket connection
* to the server on the specified port.
* - Parms
* - String sDataString - The data to be sent in the form of a string
* - Return
* - int RC - Whether the data was sucessfully sent or not: zero indicates
* data was sent; a negative integer indicates an error.
*
* - receive - Receive information from the socket connection.
* - Parms
* - StringBuffer sbDataBuffer - The data received during the receive call
* - Return
* - int RC - Whether the data was successfully received or not; zero
* indicates data was sent; a negative integer indicates
* an error.
*
* If the function provided by the advisor base is not sufficient,
* you can create the appropriate function within the advisor and
* the methods provided by the advisor base will then be ignored.
*
* An important question regarding the load returned is whether to apply
* it to the load being generated within the advisor base,
* or to replace it; there are valid instances of both situations.
*
* This sample is essentially the Load Balancer HTTP advisor. It functions
* very simply: a send request--an http head request--is issued. Once a
* response is received, the getLoad method terminates, flagging the advisor
* base to stop timing the request. The method is then complete. The
* information returned is not parsed; the load is based on the time
* required to perform the send and receive operations.
*/

package CustomAdvisors;
import com.ibm.internet.nd.advisors.*;

420 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

public class ADV_sample extends ADV_Base implements ADV_MethodInterface
{
String COPYRIGHT =
"(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1997, All Rights Reserved.\n";

static final String ADV_NAME = "Sample";

static final int ADV_DEF_ADV_ON_PORT = 80;
static final int ADV_DEF_INTERVAL = 7;

// Note: Most server protocols require a carriage return ("\r") and line
// feed ("\n") at the end of messages. If so, include them in
// your string here.
static final String ADV_SEND_REQUEST =
"HEAD / HTTP/1.0\r\nAccept: */*\r\nUser-Agent: " +
"IBM_Load_Balancer_HTTP_Advisor\r\n\r\n";

/**
* Constructor.
*
* Parms: None; but the constructor for ADV_Base has several parameters
* that must be passed to it.
*
*/
public ADV_sample()
{
super( ADV_NAME,
"2.0.0.0-03.27.98",
ADV_DEF_ADV_ON_PORT,
ADV_DEF_INTERVAL,
"", // not used
false);
super.setAdvisor( this );
}

/**
* ADV_AdvisorInitialize
*
* Any Advisor-specific initialization that must take place after the
* advisor base is started. This method is called only once and is
* typically not used.
*/
public void ADV_AdvisorInitialize()
{
return;
}

/**
* getLoad()
*
* This method is called by the advisor base to complete the advisor’s
* operation, based on details specific to the protocol. In this sample
* advisor, only a single send and receive are necessary; if more complex
* logic is necessary, multiple sends and receives can be issued. For
* example, a response might be received and parsed. Based on the
* information learned thereby, another send and receive could be issued.
*
* Parameters:
*
* - iConnectTime - The current load as it refers to the length of time it
* took to complete the connection to the server through
* the specified port.
*
* - caller - A reference to the advisor base class where the Load
* Balancer-supplied methods are to perform simple TCP requests,
* mainly send and receive.

Appendix C. Sample configuration files 421

 *
* Results:
*
* - The load - A value, expressed in milliseconds, that can either be added
* to the existing load, or that can replace the existing load, as
* determined by the constructor’s "replace" flag.
*
* The larger the load, the longer it took the server to respond;
* therefore, the lower the weight will become within the Load Balancer.
*
* If the value is negative, an error is assumed. An error from an
* advisor indicates that the server the advisor is trying to reach is not
* accessible and has been identified as being down. Load Balancer will
* not attempt to load balance to a server that is down. Load Balancer will
* resume load balancing to the server when a positive value is received.
*
*/
public int getLoad(int iConnectTime, ADV_Thread caller)
{
int iRc;
int iLoad = ADV_HOST_INACCESSIBLE; // -1

// Send tcp request

iRc = caller.send(ADV_SEND_REQUEST);
if (iRc >= 0)
{
// Perform a receive
StringBuffer sbReceiveData = new StringBuffer("");
iRc = caller.receive(sbReceiveData);

/**
* In the normal advisor mode ("replace" flag is false), the load
* returned is either 0 or 1 indicating the server is up or down.
* If the receive is successful, a load of zero is returned
* indicating that the load built within the base advisor is to be used.
*
* Otherwise ("replace" flag is true), return the desired load value.
*/

if (iRc >= 0)
{
iLoad = 0;
}
}
return iLoad;
}

} // End - ADV_sample

422 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Appendix D. Sample of a 2-tier high availability configuration
using Dispatcher, CBR, and Caching Proxy
This appendix describes how to set up a 2-tier, high availability configuration
combining the capabilities of two Load Balancer components (the Dispatcher
component and the CBR component) along with Caching Proxy.

Server machine set up

cluster
address CBR
Internet Dispatcher w/Caching
Client (primary)
WebServerA
Proxy

EdgeServer1

CBR
Dispatcher w/Caching
(standby) Proxy
WebServerB
EdgeServer2

CBR
w/Caching WebServerC
Proxy

EdgeServer3

Figure 43. Example of a 2-tier, high availability configuration using Dispatcher, CBR, and Caching Proxy

The server machine set up for Figure 43 is the following:

v EdgeServer1: primary (high availability) Dispatcher machine collocated with
CBR and Caching Proxy that load balances across Web servers
v EdgeServer2: standby (high availability) Dispatcher machine collocated with
CBR and Caching Proxy
v EdgeServer3: CBR and Caching Proxy machine
v WebServerA, WebServerB, WebServerC: backend Web servers

Figure 43 shows a basic representation of multiple servers (EdgeServer1,

EdgeServer2, EdgeServer3) load balancing across multiple backend Web servers.
The CBR component uses Caching Proxy to forward requests based on the content
of the URL to the backend Web servers. The Dispatcher component is used to load
balance the CBR components across the EdgeServers. The high availability feature
of the Dispatcher component is used to ensure that requests to the backend servers
continue even if the primary high availability machine (EdgeServer1) fails at any
time.

Basic Configuration Guidelines:

v Configure Caching Proxy to be the same on all the EdgeServers. To improve the
overall accessibility to the Web pages on the backend servers, set up Caching
Proxy to do memory caching. This will enable the EdgeServers to cache Web
pages that are requested more frequently. For more information on setting up
Caching Proxy, refer to the Caching Proxy Administration Guide.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 423

 v Define the cluster address and ports to be the same in both the CBR and
Dispatcher components of Load Balancer.
v Configure the CBR component to be the same across all EdgeServers. Use Web
Servers A, B, and C as your servers on the ports you wish to define for the
cluster. For more information to configure CBR, see Chapter 10, “Configuring
Content Based Routing,” on page 75.
v Configure the Dispatcher component to be the same on EdgeServer1 and
EdgeServer2. Define all the EdgeServers as your servers on the ports you want
to be defined on the cluster to be load balanced by Dispatcher. For more
information on how to configure Dispatcher, see Chapter 7, “Configuring
Dispatcher,” on page 47.
v Configure EdgeServer1 as the primary high availability machine and
EdgeServer2 as the standby (backup) high availability machine. For more
information, see “High availability” on page 164.

Note:
1. To avoid backend server addresses displayed in the URL on a client, you
will need to set the ReversePass directive for each backend server
address in the Caching Proxy configuration file.
2. To ensure that Web memory caching is being used effectively, set the
"Caching" directive to "ON"' and increase the "CacheMemory" directive
to the size required in the Caching Proxy configuration file.
3. Sample lines referred to in notes 1-2 (above):
Caching ON
CacheMemory 128000 K
ReversePass /* http://websrvA.company.com/* http://www.company.com/*
4. Remember to alias the cluster address on the network interface card for
EdgeServer1 and to alias the cluster address on the loopback device on
the remaining EdgeServers.
5. If using the Linux platform for the EdgeServers, you may need to install
a patch to the Linux kernel or use an alternative to aliasing the loopback
device. For more information, see “Linux loopback aliasing alternatives
when using Load Balancer's mac forwarding” on page 60.
6. For CBR, port affinity (stickytime) must not be used when using content
rules, otherwise the content rules will not fire while processing requests
to the backend Web servers.

Sample Configuration Files:

The following sample configuration files are similar to files that are created when
setting up an Edge Components configuration as shown in Figure 43 on page 423.
The sample configuration files represent the files for the Dispatcher and CBR
components of Load Balancer. In the sample configuration, a single Ethernet
adapter is used for each of the EdgeServer machines and all addresses are
represented within a private subnet. The sample configuration files use the
following IP addresses for the specified machines:
v EdgeServer1 (Primary high availability EdgeServer): 192.168.1.10
v EdgeServer2 (Backup high availability EdgeServer): 192.168.1.20
v EdgeServer3 (Web caching EdgeServer): 192.168.1.30
v Web site cluster address: 192.168.1.11
v WebServersA-C (Backend Web Servers): 192.168.1.71, 192.168.1.72, and
192.168.1.73

424 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 Sample Configuration file for Dispatcher component on Primary high
availability EdgeServer:
dscontrol executor start

dscontrol cluster add 192.168.1.11 primaryhost 192.168.1.10

dscontrol port add 192.168.1.11:80

dscontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:edgeserver1 address 192.168.1.10

dscontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:edgeserver2 address 192.168.1.20

dscontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:edgeserver3 address 192.168.1.30

dscontrol manager start manager.log 10004

dscontrol highavailability heartbeat add 192.168.1.10 192.168.1.20

dscontrol highavailability backup add primary auto 4567

Sample Configuration file for CBR component on the EdgeServers:

cbrcontrol set loglevel 1
cbrcontrol executor start

cbrcontrol cluster add 192.168.1.11

cbrcontrol port add 192.168.1.11:80

cbrcontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:webserverA address 192.168.1.71

cbrcontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:webserverB address 192.168.1.72

cbrcontrol server add 192.168.1.11:80:webserverC address 192.168.1.73

cbrcontrol rule add 192.168.1.11:80:webA_rule type content

pattern (URI=*WSA*)|(URI=*wsA*) priority 21
cbrcontrol rule useserver 192.168.1.11:80:webA_rule webserverA

cbrcontrol rule add 192.168.1.11:80:webB_rule type content

pattern (URI=/WS_B*) priority 22
cbrcontrol rule useserver 192.168.1.11:80:webB_rule webserverB

cbrcontrol rule add 192.168.1.11:80:webC_rule type content

pattern URI=*webC* priority 23
cbrcontrol rule useserver 192.168.1.21:80:webC_rule webserverC

Appendix D. Sample of a 2-tier high availability configuration using Dispatcher, CBR, and Caching Proxy 425
426 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Appendix E. Notices
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product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 427

 IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it
believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose
of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created
programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the
information which has been exchanged, should contact:

IBM Corporation
Attn.: G7IA./503.
P.O. Box 12195
3039 Cornwallis Rd.
Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709-2195
U.S.A.

Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions,

including in some cases, payment of a fee.

The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material
available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM International Program
License Agreement or any equivalent agreement between us.

Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled

environment. Therefore, the results obtained in other operating environments may
vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level
systems and there is not guarantee that these measurements will be the same on
generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been
estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document
should verify the applicable data for their specific environment.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of

those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources.
IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of
performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products.
Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the
suppliers of those products.

All statements regarding IBM's future direction or intent are subject to change or
withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business
operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples may include
the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are
fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business
enterprise is entirely coincidental.

If you are viewing this information softcopy, the photographs and color
illustrations many not appear.

Trademarks
The following terms are registered trademarks or trademarks of IBM Corporation
in the United States, other countries, or both.
AFS
AIX

428 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

 DFS
IBM
iSeries®
NetView
OS/2
Redbooks®
RS/6000®
SecureWay
ViaVoice
WebSphere
zSeries®

Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the
United States, other countries, or both.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Intel, Intel Inside (logos), MMX and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation
in the United States, other countries, or both.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other
countries.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or

both.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of

others.

Appendix E. Notices 429

430 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide
Glossary
A
ACK. A control bit (acknowledge) occupying no sequence space, which indicates that the acknowledgment field of
this segment specifies the next sequence number the sender of this segment is expecting to receive, hence
acknowledging receipt of all previous sequence numbers.

address. The unique code assigned to each device or workstation connected to a network. A standard IPv4 address
is a 32-bit address field containing two parts. The first part is the network address, and the second part is the host
number.

advisor. The advisors are a function of the Load Balancer. Advisors collect and analyze feedback from individual
servers and inform the manager function.

agent. (1) In systems management, a user that, for a particular interaction, has assumed an agent role. (2) An entity
that represents one or more managed objects by (a) emitting notifications regarding the objects and (b) handling
requests from managers for management operations to modify or query the objects.

alias. An additional name assigned to a server. The alias makes the server independent of the name of its host
machine. The alias must be defined in the domain name server.

API. Application programming interface. The interface (calling conventions) by which an application program
accesses operating system and other services. An API is defined at source code level and provides a level of
abstraction between the application and the kernel (or other privileged utilities) to ensure the portability of the code.

B
backup. In high availability for the Dispatcher, the partner of the primary machine. It monitors the status of the
primary machine and takes over if necessary. See also high availability, primary.

bandwidth. The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies of a transmission channel; the amount of
data that can be sent through a given communication circuit per second.

begin range. In rules-based load balancing, a lower value specified on a rule. The default for this value depends on
the type of rule.

binary logging. Allows server information to be stored in binary files, and then be processed to analyze the server
information that is gathered over time.

C
Caching Proxy. A caching proxy server that can help speed up end-user response time through highly-efficient
caching schemes. Flexible PICS filtering helps network administrators control access to Web-based information at one
central location.

CBR. Content Based Routing. A component of Load Balancer. CBR works with Caching Proxy to load balance
incoming requests, based on Web page content using specified rule types, to HTTP or HTTPS servers.

cbrcontrol. Provides the interface to the Content Based Router component of Load Balancer.

cbrserver. In Content Based Router, handles the requests from the command line to the executor, manager and
advisors.

ccocontrol. In Cisco CSS Controller, provides the interface to the Cisco CSS Switch.

ccoserver. In Cisco CSS Controller, handles the requests from the command line to the Consultants.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 431

CGI. Common Gateway Interface. A standard for the exchange of information between a Web server and an
external program. The external program can be written in any language supported by the operating system, and
performs tasks not usually done by the server, such as forms processing.

CGI script. A CGI program written in a scripting language such as Perl or REXX that uses the Common Gateway
Interface to perform tasks not usually done by the server, such as forms processing.

Cisco CSS Controller. A component of IBM Load Balancer. Cisco CSS Controller uses Load Balancer technology to
provide real-time load balancing information to the Cisco Content Services Switch.

Cisco CSS Switch. Any of Cisco's CSS 11000 series switches, used for packet forwarding and content routing.

client. A computer system or process that requests a service of another computer system or process. For example, a
workstation or personal computer requesting HTML documents from a Lotus Domino® Go Webserver is a client of
that server.

cluster. In the Dispatcher, a group of TCP or UDP servers that are used for the same purpose and are identified by a
single hostname. See also cell.

cluster address. In the Dispatcher, the address to which clients connect.

clustered server. A server that the Dispatcher groups with other servers into a single, virtual server. Load Balancer
balances TCP or UDP traffic among these clustered servers.

collocate. When Load Balancer is installed on the same machine it is load balancing.

consultant. Collects server metrics from the servers that are being load balanced, and sends server weight
information to the switch that performs the load balancing.

controller. A collection of one or more consultants.

cross port affinity. Cross port affinity is the affinity (sticky) feature expanded to cover across multiple ports. See
also sticky time.

D
daemon. Disk And Execution Monitor. A program that is not involved explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for some
condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a daemon is lurking
(though often a program will commit an action only because it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon).

default. A value, attribute, or option that is assumed when none is explicitly specified.

destination address. The address of the high availability partner machine to which heartbeats and responses are
sent.

Dispatcher. A component of Load Balancer that efficiently balances TCP or UDP traffic among groups of individual
linked servers. The Dispatcher machine is the server running the Dispatcher code.

domain name server. DNS. A general-purpose distributed, replicated, data query service chiefly used on Internet for
translating hostnames into Internet addresses. Also, the style of hostname used on the Internet, though such a name
is properly called a fully qualified domain name. DNS can be configured to use a sequence of name servers, based on
the domains in the name being looked for, until a match is found.

dotted-decimal notation. The syntactical representation for a 32–bit integer that consists of four 8–bit numbers,
written in base 10 and separated by periods (dots). It is used to represent IPv4 addresses.

dscontrol. Provides the interface to the Dispatcher component of Load Balancer.

dsserver. In Dispatcher, handles the requests from the command line to the executor, manager, and advisors.

432 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

E
end range. In rules-based load balancing, a higher value specified on a rule. The default for this value depends on
the type of rule.

Ethernet. A standard type of local area network (lan). It allows multiple stations to access the transmission medium
at will without prior coordination, avoids contention by using carrier sense and deference, and resolves contention by
using collision detection and transmission. Software protocols used by Ethernet systems vary, but include TCP/IP.

executor. One of several Load Balancer functions. The executor routes requests to the TCP or UDP servers, and also
monitors the number of new, active, and finished connections and does garbage collection of completed or reset
connections. The executor supplies the new and active connections to the manager function.

F
FIN. A control bit (finis) occupying one sequence number, which indicates that the sender will send no more data or
control occupying sequence space.

FIN state. The status of a transaction that has finished. When a transaction is in FIN state, the Load Balancer
garbage collector can clear the memory reserved for the connection.

Firewall. A computer that connects a private network, such as a business, to a public network, such as the Internet.
It contains programs that limit the access between two networks. See also proxy gateway.

FQDN. Fully Qualified Domain Name. The full name of a system, consisting of its local hostname and its domain
name, including a top-level domain (tld). For example, "venera" is a hostname and "venera.isi.edu" is an FQDN. An
FQDN should be sufficient to determine a unique Internet address for any host on the Internet. This process, called
"name resolution", uses the Domain Name System (DNS).

FTP (File Transfer Protocol). An application protocol used for transferring files to and from network computers.
FTP requires a user ID and sometimes a password to allow access to files on a remote host system.

G
gateway. A functional unit that interconnects two computer networks with different architectures.

GRE. Generic Routing Encapsulation. A protocol which allows an arbitrary network protocol A to be transmitted
over any other arbitrary protocol B, by encapsulating the packets of A within GRE packets, which in turn are
contained within packets of B.

H
heartbeat. A simple packet sent between two Load Balancer machines in high availability mode used by the standby
Load Balancer to monitor the health of the active Load Balancer.

high availability. A Load Balancer feature in which one Load Balancer can take over the function of another, should
that part fail.

host. A computer, connected to a network, that provides an access point to that network. A host can be a client, a
server, or both simultaneously.

host name. The symbolic name assigned to a host. Host names are resolved to IP addresses through a domain name
server.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). The language used to create hypertext documents. Hypertext documents
include links to other documents that contain additional information about the highlighted term or subject. HTML
controls the format of text and position of form input areas, for example, as well as the navigable links.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). The protocol used to transfer and display hypertext documents.

Glossary 433
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol, Secure). The protocol used to transfer and display hypertext documents using
SSL.

I
ICMP. Internet Control Message Protocol. A message control and error-reporting protocol between a host server and
a gateway to the Internet.

IMAP. Internet Message Access Protocol. A protocol allowing a client to access and manipulate electronic mail
messages on a server. It permits manipulation of remote message folders (mailboxes), in a way that is functionally
equivalent to local mailboxes.

Internet. The worldwide collection of interconnected networks that use the Internet suite of protocols and permit
public access.

intranet. A secure, private network that integrates Internet standards and applications (such as Web browsers) with
an organization's existing computer networking infrastructure.

IP. Internet Protocol. A connectionless protocol that routes data through a network or interconnected networks. IP
acts as an intermediary between the higher protocol layers and the physical layer.

IP address. Internet Protocol address. The unique address that specifies the actual location of each device or
workstation in a network. It is also known as an Internet address.

IPSEC. Internet Protocol Security. A developing standard for security at the network or packet processing layer of
network communication.

L
LAN. Local Area Network. A computer network of devices connected within a limited geographical area for
communication and which can be connected to a larger network.

loopback alias. An alternative IP address associated with the loopback interface. The alternative address has the
useful side affect of not advertising on a real interface.

loopback interface. An interface that bypasses unnecessary communications functions when the information is
addressed to an entity within the same system.

M
MAC address. Media Access Control address. The hardware address of a device connected to a shared network
medium.

managed node. In Internet communications, a workstation, server, or router that contains a network management
agent. In the Internet Protocol (IP), the managed node usually contains a Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) agent.

manager. One of several Load Balancer functions. The manager sets weights based on internal counters in the
executor and feedback provided by the advisors. The executor then uses the weights to perform load balancing.

mark down. To break all active connections to a server and stop any new connections or packets from being sent to
that server.

mark up. To allow a server to receive new connections.

metric. A process or command that returns a numeric value that can be used in load balancing on the network, for
example, the number of users currently logged on.

metric address. The address where the metric server connects.

metric collector. Resides in the consultant and is responsible for collecting a metric or metrics.

434 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Metric Server. Formerly known as Server Monitor Agent (SMA). Metric server provides system specific metrics to
the Load Balancer manager.

MIB. (1) Management Information Base. A collection of objects that can be accessed by means of a network
management protocol. (2) A definition for management information that specifies the information available from a
host or gateway and the operations allowed.

multiple address collocation. Multiple address collocation allows the customer to specify the address of the
collocated server to be different than the nonforwarding address (NFA) in the configuration. See also collocate.

mutual high availability. Mutual high availability allows two Dispatcher machines to be both primary and backup
for each other. See also backup, high availability, primary.

N
nalcontrol. Provides the interface to the Nortel Alteon Controller component of Load Balancer.

nalserver. In Nortel Alteon Controller, handles the requests from the command line to the Consultants.

netmask. For IPv4, a 32–bit mask used to identify the subnetwork address bits in the host portion of an IP address.

network. Hardware and software data communication system. Networks are often classified according to their
geographical extent, local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN) and
also according to the protocols used.

Network Address Translation. NAT, or Network Address Translator, Virtual LAN. A hardware device currently
being developed and used to extend the Internet addresses already in use. It allows duplicate IP addresses to be used
within a corporation and unique addresses outside.

Network Address Port Translation. NAPT, also known as port mapping. This allows you to configure multiple
server daemons within one physical server to listen on different port numbers.

network management station. In the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), a station that runs
management application programs that monitor and control network elements.

network proximity. The proximity of two networked entities, such as a client and server, which Site Selector
determines by measuring round-trip time.

nfa (nonforwarding address). The primary IP address of the Load Balancer machine, used for administration and
configuration.

NIC. Network Interface Card. An adapter circuit board installed in a computer to provide a physical connection to a
network.

NNTP. Network News Transfer Protocol. A TCP/IP protocol for transferring news items.

Nortel Alteon Controller. A component of IBM Load Balancer. Nortel Alteon Controller uses Load Balancer
technology to provide real-time load balancing information to the Nortel Alteon Web Switch.

Nortel Alteon Web Switch. The Nortel Alteon ACE Director Series Switch and the Nortel Alteon 180 Series Switch
from the Alteon Web Switching portfolio, used for packet forwarding and content routing.

O
owner content. Represents the owner name and the content rule for an owner, which are both defined on the Cisco
CSS Switch.

P
packet. The unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet or any other
packet-switched network.

Glossary 435
PICS. Platform for Internet Content Selection. PICS-enabled clients allow the users to determine which rating
services they want to use and, for each rating service, which ratings are acceptable and which are unacceptable.

ping. A command that sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo-request packets to a host, gateway, or
router with the expectation of receiving a reply.

POP3. Post Office Protocol 3. A protocol used for exchanging network mail and accessing mailboxes.

port. A number that identifies an abstracted communication device. Web servers use port 80 by default.

primary. In high availability for the Dispatcher, the machine that starts out as the machine actively routing packets.
Its partner, the backup machine, monitors the status of the primary machine and takes over if necessary. See also
backup, high availability.

priority. In rules-based load balancing, the level of importance placed upon any given rule. The Dispatcher
evaluates rules from the first priority level to the last priority level.

private network. A separate network on which Dispatcher communicates with clustered servers for performance
reasons.

protocol. The set of rules governing the operation of functional units of a communication system if communication
is to take place. Protocols can determine low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces, such as the order in
which bits from a byte are sent; they can also determine high-level exchanges between application programs, such as
file transfer.

Q
Quality of Service (QoS). The performance properties of a network service, including throughput, transit delay and
priority. Some protocols allow packets or streams to include QoS requirements.

quiesce. To end a process by allowing operations to complete normally.

R
reach. In Dispatcher, an advisor that issues pings to a given target and reports whether that target is responding.

reach address. In high availability for the Dispatcher, the address of the target to which the advisor should issue
pings to see if the target is responding.

return address. A unique IP address or hostname. It is configured on the Dispatcher machine and used by
Dispatcher as its source address when load balancing the client's request to the server.

RMI. Remote Method Invocation. Part of the Java programming language library which enables a Java program
running on one computer to access the objects and methods of another Java program running on a different
computer.

root user. The unrestricted authority to access and modify any part of the AIX, Red Hat Linux, or Solaris operating
system, usually associated with the user who manages the system.

route. The path of network traffic from origin to destination.

router. A device which forwards packets between networks. The forwarding decision is based on network layer
information and routing tables, often constructed by routing products.

RPM. Red Hat Package Manager.

rule. In rules-based load balancing, a mechanism for grouping servers such that a server can be chosen based on
information other than the destination address and port.

rule type. In rules-based load balancing, an indicator of the information that should be evaluated to determine
whether a rule is true.

436 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

S
scalable. Pertaining to the capability of a system to adapt readily to a greater or lesser intensity of use, volume, or
demand. For example, a scalable system can efficiently adapt to work with larger or smaller networks performing
tasks of varying complexity.

server. A computer that provides shared services to other computers over a network; for example, a file server, a
print server, or a mail server.

server address. The unique code assigned to each computer that provides shared services to other computers over a
network; for example, a file server, a print server, or a mail server. The server address can be either the IP address or
the host name.

server machine. A server that the Dispatcher groups with other servers into a single, virtual server. The Dispatcher
balances traffic among the server machines. Synonymous with clustered server.

service. (1) A function provided by one or more nodes; for example, HTTP, FTP, Telnet. (2) For Nortel Alteon
Controller, a service is the function or information requested by an end user from a site. It is identified by a virtual IP
address and a virtual port number on an end user request. On the switch it is identified by a virtual server identifier
which is an integer and a virtual port number or service name. (3) For Cisco CSS Consultant, a service is a
destination location where a piece of content physically resides. For example, a local or remote server and port.

shell. The software that accepts and processes command lines from a user's workstation. The bash shell is one of
several UNIX shells available.

site name. A site name is an unresolvable host name that the client will request. For example, a web site has 3
servers (1.2.3.4, 1.2.3.5, and 1.2.3.6) configured for site name www.dnsload.com. When a client requests this site name,
one of the three server IP addresses will be returned as the resolution. The site name must be a fully qualified
domain name, for example: dnsload.com. An unqualified name, for example, dnsload is invalid for a site name.

Site Selector. A DNS-based load balancing component of Load Balancer. Site Selector balances the load on servers
within a wide area network (WAN) using measurements and weights that are gathered from the Metric Server
component running on those servers.

SMTP. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. In the Internet suite of protocols, an application protocol for transferring mail
among users in the Internet environment. SMTP specifies the mail exchange sequences and message format. It
assumes that the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the underlying protocol.

SNMP. Simple Network Management Protocol. The Internet standard protocol, defined in STD 15, RFC 1157,
developed to manage nodes on an IP network. SNMP is not limited to TCP/IP. It can be used to manage and
monitor all sorts of equipment including computers, routers, wiring hubs, toasters and jukeboxes.

source address. In high availability for the Dispatcher, the address of the high availability partner machine that
sends heartbeats.

SPARC. Scalable processor architecture.

sscontrol. Provides the interface to the Site Selector component of Load Balancer.

SSL. Secure Sockets Layer. A popular security scheme developed by Netscape Communications Corp. along with
RSA Data Security Inc. SSL allows the client to authenticate the server and all data and requests to be encrypted. The
URL of a secure server protected by SSL begins with https (rather than HTTP).

ssserver. In Site Selector, handles the requests from the command line to the site name, manager and advisors.

sticky time. The interval between the closing of one connection and the opening of a new connection during which
a client will be sent back to the same server used during the first connection. After the sticky time, the client may be
sent to a server different from the first.

strategy. In high availability for the Dispatcher, a keyword for specifying how recovery takes place following the
failure of the active machine.

subnet mask. For IPv4, a 32–bit mask used to identify the subnetwork address bits in the host portion of an IP
address.

Glossary 437
SYN. A control bit in the incoming segment, occupying one sequence number, used at the initiation of a connection,
to indicate where the sequence numbering will start.

T
TCP. Transmission Control Protocol. A communications protocol used on the Internet. TCP provides reliable
host-to-host exchange of information. It uses IP as the underlying protocol.

TCP/IP . Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A suite of protocols designed to allow communication
between networks regardless of the communication technologies used in each network.

TCP server machine. A server that Load Balancer links with other servers into a single, virtual server. Load
Balancer balances TCP traffic among the TCP server machines. Synonymous with clustered server.

Telnet. Terminal emulation protocol, a TCP/IP application protocol for remote connection service. Telnet allows a
user at one site to gain access to a remote host as if the user’s workstation were connected directly to that remote
host.

timeout. The time interval allotted for an operation to occur.

TOS. Type of service. A one byte field in the IP header of the SYN packet.

TTL. A DNS TTL (time to live) is the number of seconds a client can cache the name resolution response.

U
UDP. User Datagram Protocol. In the Internet suite of protocols, a protocol that provides unreliable, connectionless
datagram service. It enables an application program on one machine or process to send a datagram to an application
program on another machine or process. UDP uses the Internet Protocol (IP) to deliver datagrams.

URI. Universal Resource Identifier. The encoded address for any resource on the Web, such as HTML document,
image, video clip, program, and so forth.

URL. Uniform Resource Locator. A standard way of specifying the location of an object, typically a web page, on the
Internet. URLs are the form of address used on the World-Wide Web. They are used in HTML documents to specify
the target of a hyperlink which is often another HTML document (possibly stored on another computer).

V
VPN. Virtual Private Network (VPN). A network comprised of one or more secure IP tunnels connecting two or
more networks.

W
WAN. Wide Area Network. A network that provides communication services to a geographic area larger than that
served by a local area network or a metropolitan area network, and that may use or provide public communication
facilities.

WAP. Wireless Application Protocol. An open international standard for applications that use wireless
communication, e.g. Internet access from a mobile phone.

WAS. WebSphere Application Server.

Web. The network of HTTP servers that contain programs and files, many of them hypertext documents that
contain links to other documents on HTTP servers. Also World Wide Web.

wizard. A dialog within an application that uses step-by-step instructions to guide a user through a specific task.

WLM. Workload Manager. An advisor provided with Dispatcher. It is designed to work only in conjunction with
servers on OS/390 mainframes running the MVS Workload Manager (WLM) component.

438 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

Index
A advisors (continued)
Site Selector (continued)
CBR
advisors and reach targets mark all
accessibility xv report timeout 344, 345 servers down (Windows) 271
active cookie affinity 181, 327 server connect timeout 149, 342, alias the NIC 81
add 344 cbrcontrol fails 269
Cisco CSS Controller 368 server receive timeout 149, 343, cbrcontrol fails on Solaris 269
Nortel Alteon Controller 386 345 configuration
adding server retries 343 overview of tasks 75
cluster 297 server retry 149 setting up the CBR machine 79
port to a cluster 54, 322 starting 343, 345 Corrupted Latin-1 national characters
server to a port 54, 334, 359 stopping 344, 345 appear (Windows) 270
address mapping file version of 344, 345 determining which features to use 20
example of 190 sscontrol 342, 348 disconnect from host, using Web
advisors URL option, HTTP advisor 152 administration 270
151 advisors, Load Balancer component ifconfig command 81
CBR component starting 55 Java memory/ thread error
ssl2http advisor 150 affinity (sticky) (HP-UX) 270
cbrcontrol 289 active cookie 181, 327 lbadmin fails 269
controllers 201 affinity address mask 179 load-balancing settings 142
customize 203 cross port affinity 179, 180, 319 advisor server retry 149
fast-failure detection 202 how it works 178 planning 71
server connect timeout 202 passive cookie 181, 183, 327 problem resolving IP address to host
server receive timeout 202 port affinity override 176 name (Windows) 271
server retry 203 quiesce now 180, 314, 317 quick start example 65
sleeptime 202 rule option 181 requests not being load balanced 269
custom sample 419 SSL ID (cbr forwarding) 41 starting and stopping 228
Dispatcher component 146 sticky (port affinity override) 176, syntactical or configuration error 270
Caching Proxy advisor 151 177, 331 troubleshooting table 240
customize 154 stickymask 179, 320 unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox
fast-failure detection 149 stickytime 41, 178, 179, 320, 327 AGP cards 270
interval for 148, 292 URI 181, 184, 327 using Dispatcher component 41
list of 149, 292 affinity address mask 179, 320 will not run 269
name of 289 alerts with Caching Proxy
port for 296 controllers 210 configuring 83
report 293 Dispatcher, CBR, Site Selector 145 mapport keyword 73
report on the state of 292 alias overview 72
report timeout 148, 291 loopback device 56 SSL connections 73
self advisor 151, 153 the NIC 53, 81 ssl2http advisor 74
server connect timeout 149, 289, cbr forwarding method 41, 42
292 stickytime 41
server receive timeout 149, 290,
292 B cbrcontrol command
advisor 289
server retry 144, 149, 290 backup, high availability 45, 307, 375,
binlog 294
starting 55, 292 393
cluster 295
starting/stopping 147 configuring 164
executor 299
stopping 292 binary logging for server statistics 194,
file 304
version of 293 218, 219
help 306
dscontrol 289 controllers 209
host 311
HTTP advisor request/response 152 bind-specific servers 54, 146
logstatus 312
limitation on Solaris 147 binlog
manager 313
list of 290 cbrcontrol 294
metric 318
sample configuration file 419 dscontrol 294
port 319
Site Selector log binary, for server statistics 294
rule 324
fast-failure detection 149 server 330
interval 342 set 336
interval for 344 C status 337
list 342 Caching Proxy 72 cbrserver
list of 343, 345 configure for CBR 79 starting 66
loglevel 342 Caching Proxy advisor 151 ccocontrol command
name of 342 command prompt 367
port for 289, 342 consultant 368, 371
report on the state of 343, 345

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011 439

ccocontrol command (continued) cluster-specific commands (continued)
file 373 proportions 362 dscontrol (continued)
help 374 collocate to define a port 54
host 380 Cisco CSS Controller 197 to define a server 54
metric 378 Nortel Alteon Controller 197 to define the nonforwarding
server 383 collocate with nat 163 address 52, 302
ccoserver collocate, Load Balancer and client 196 ifconfig 54, 186
starting 104 collocate, Load Balancer and server 50, to alias the loopback device 56
will not start 248, 274 54, 162, 331, 334 nalcontrol
checking for collocated (keyword) 163, 334 consultant 386, 389
extra route 59 command line file 391
Cisco CSS Controller configuration example help 392
advisors 201 CBR 66 host 400
alerts 210 Cisco CSS Controller 104 metriccollector 396
binary logging for server Dispatcher 33 prompt 385
statistics 209 Nortel Alteon Controller 122 servers, configure 398
cannot create registry on port Site Selector 88 ndcontrol
13099 274 Send command (GUI) 407 high availability, control 375
ccocontrol fails 274 command references netstat
collocate 197 how to read 285 to check IP addresses and
commands 367 commands aliases 59
configuration cbrcontrol Nortel Alteon Controller 385
example 13 advisor 289 route
overview of tasks 113 binlog 294 to delete an extra route 59
setting up the CSS machine 116 cluster 295 Site Selector 341
consultant connection error 275 executor 299 sscontrol
determining which features to use 23 file 304 advisor 342
disconnect from host, using Web help 306 file 346
administration 275 host 311 help 348
hardware and software logstatus 312 logstatus 349
requirements 107 manager 313 manager 350
high availability 197 metric 318 metric 354
Java memory/ thread error port 319 nameserver 355
(HP-UX) 276 rule 324 rule 356
lbadmin fails 274 server 330 server 359
load-balancing settings 200 set 336 set 361
Metric Server 206 status 337 sitename 362
planning 107 ccocontrol status 365
quick start example 103 consultant 368, 371 configuration
refresh command not updating file 373 cbrwizard 78
configuration 275 help 374 Cisco CSS Controller 113
report host 380 Content Based Routing 75
controller 371 metric 378 define switch consultant 136
starting 229 prompt 367 Dispatcher component 47
starting and stopping 229 servers, configure 383 dswizard 49
troubleshooting table 243 Cisco CSS Controller 367 high availability 117, 137
unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox dscontrol methods
AGP cards 275 advisor 289 command line (CBR) 76
using 229 binlog 294 command line (Cisco CSS
weights not updated by switch 275 cluster 295 Controller) 113
will not start 274 executor 299 command line (Dispatcher) 47
Workload manager advisor 208 file 304 command line (Nortel Alteon
Cisco CSS Controller component help 306 Controller) 133
Corrupted Latin-1 national characters high availability, control 307, 393 command line (Site Selector) 95
appear (Windows) 275 host 311 GUI (CBR) 77
cluster logstatus 312 GUI (Cisco CSS Controller) 115
adding 297 manager 313 GUI (Dispatcher) 48
cbrcontrol 295 metric 318 GUI (Nortel Alteon
configure the address 53 port 319 Controller) 134
defining 52, 297 prompt 287 GUI (Site Selector) 96
displaying rule 324 scripts (CBR) 77
status of this cluster 298 server 330 scripts (Cisco CSS Controller) 114
dscontrol 295 set 336 scripts (Dispatcher) 48
proportions 295 status 337 scripts (Nortel Alteon
removing 297, 363 subagent, configure SNMP 338 Controller) 134
set proportions 55 to control the advisor 55 scripts (Site Selector) 96
wildcard 52 to control the manager 55 wizard (CBR) 78

440 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

configuration (continued)
methods (continued)
D diagnosing problems (continued)
dscontrol or lbadmin command
wizard (Dispatcher) 49 DB2 advisor 151 fails 251
wizard (Site Selector) 97 default.cfg 52, 80, 98 error message when trying to view
metrics 117, 136 defining online Help 252
Nortel Alteon Controller 133 cluster 297 error running Dispatcher with
sample files 413 nonforwarding address 52, 302 Caching Proxy installed 252
service 136 port to a cluster 54, 322 GUI does not display correctly 252
Site Selector 95 server to a port 54, 334, 359 GUI does not start correctly 252
sswizard 97 deleting help panels disappear 252
starting the consultant 117, 137 cluster 297, 363 high availability in the wide area
tasks, advanced 141, 161 extra route 59 mode of Load Balancer does not
testing 117, 137 port from a cluster 323 work 254
verify 60 server from a port 334, 359, 360 High availability, configuration
connections, setting proportion of Denial of service attack detection 193 tips 263
importance 142, 297 halfopenaddressreport 322 IP address conflict when using high
connecttimeout maxhalfopen 322 availability 261
Site Selector 342 diagnosing problems IP address not resolving over remote
consultant advisors and reach targets mark all connection 255
ccocontrol 368, 371 servers down (Windows) 258, 271, Java memory/ thread error
Cisco CSS Controller 273 (HP-UX) 257, 278
add 368 advisors not working 250 Java memory/thread error
binarylog 368 advisors not working in high (HP-UX) 270, 273, 276
report 368 availability setup after network Korean fonts undesirable on AIX and
nalcontrol 386, 389 outage (Windows) 259 Linux 255
Nortel Alteon Controller alias returned instead of local lbadmin disconnects from server after
add 386 address 256 updating configuration 255
binarylog 386 blue screen displays when starting Load Balancer cannot process and
report 386 Load Balancer executor 253 forward a frame 252
starting 117, 137 cannot create registry on port Load Balancer processes end
Content Based Routing 5 13099 274 (Solaris) 261
configuration cannot create registry on port Metric Server IOException on
overview of tasks 75 14099 277 Windows 278
setting up the CBR machine 79 CBR will not run 269 Metric Server log reports "Signature is
load-balancing settings 142 cbrcontrol fails on Solaris 269 necessary for access to agent" 279
planning 71 cbrcontrol or lbadmin command Metric Server not reporting
troubleshooting table 240 fails 269 loads 278
using 228 ccocontrol or lbadmin command Metric value returns -1 after start
using Dispatcher component 41 fails 274 Metric Server 281
content rule 41, 176 ccoserver will not start 274 nalcontrol or lbadmin command
controller Client requests fail when attempting fails 276
Cisco CSS Controller return of large page responses 262 nalserver will not start 276
loglevel 369, 371 common problems and not registering server loads 257
logsize 369, 371 solutions 249, 251, 269, 271, 274, on AIX, ps -vg command output
report 371 276, 278 becomes corrupted 279
set 371 configuring metric server in a two-tier On Linux, Dispatcher forwards
fixed weight 201 configuration 279 packets, but not received by backend
Nortel Alteon Controller consultant connection error 275, 277 server 266
loglevel 387, 389 corrupted Latin-1 national characters On Linux, HA Dispatcher may fail to
logsize 387, 389 appear (Windows) 278 synchronize 262
report 389 Corrupted Latin-1 national characters On Linux, limitations when using
set 389 appear (Windows) 257, 270, 273, zSeries or S/390 servers 264
controllers 275 On Linux, memory leak occurs when
custom (customizable) advisor 203 delay when loading Load Balancer using manager and advisors 266
load-balancing settings configuration 261 on Solaris, scripts produce unwanted
advisor server retry 203 disconnect from host, using Web console messages 280
advisor server timeout 202 administration 257, 270, 273, 275, On Windows system, problem with
advisor sleeptimes 202 277 high availability takeover 267
importance given to metric Dispatcher and server will not On Windows, "server not responding"
information 200 respond 249 error occurs 262
sensitivity threshold 201 Dispatcher high availability not Path to Discovery prevents return
sleeptimes 201 working 250 traffic with Load Balancer 253
weights 200 Dispatcher requests not routed 249 port numbers used by CBR 246
cross port affinity 179, 319 Dispatcher will not run 249 port numbers used by Cisco CSS
custom (customizable) advisor 154, 203 Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and SSL do Controller 248
sample 419 not work 251 port numbers used by Nortel Alteon
do not use IP address add command Controller 248
for aliasing loopback (Linux) 260

Index 441
diagnosing problems (continued) Dispatcher component (continued) Dispatcher component (continued)
port numbers used by Site disconnect from host, using Web reset a down server 144
Selector 247 administration 257 reset down servers 322
port numbers used by the do not use IP address add command router address not specified or not
Dispatcher 246 for aliasing loopback (Linux) 260 valid for port method 260
primary and backup machines active dscontrol fails 251 server will not respond 249
in high availability error when caching proxy is slow response time 256
configuration 261 installed 252 starting 220
problem resolving IP address to host GUI does not display correctly 252 troubleshooting table 235
name (Windows) 258, 271 GUI not starting correctly 252 unable to add heartbeat 250
refresh command not updating help windows disappear 252 unexpected behavior loading large
configuration 275, 278 high availability in the wide area configuration file 254
requests not being load balanced 269 mode of Load Balancer does not unexpected behavior with "rmmod
router address not specified or not work 254 ibmlb" 256
valid for port method 260 high availability is not working 250 unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox
Site Selector does not load-balance High availability, configuration AGP cards 256
correctly 272 tips 263 Upgrading Java provided with the
Site Selector does not round-robin IP address conflict when using high installation 268
(Solaris) 271 availability 261 using 219
Site Selector will not run 271 IP address not resolving over remote will not run 249
slow response time 256 connection 255 displaying
sscontrol or lbadmin command Java memory/ thread error global values and their default
fails 272 (HP-UX) 257 settings
ssserver failing to start on Korean fonts undesirable on AIX and for an advisor 292, 344, 345
Windows 272 Linux 255 for the manager 317, 352, 353
Syntactical or configuration error 270 lbadmin disconnects from server after internal counters 302
Unable to add heartbeat 250 updating configuration 255 list of
unexpected behavior loading large lbadmin fails 251 advisors currently providing
configuration file 254 Load Balancer processes end metrics 292, 345
unexpected behavior with "rmmod (Solaris) 261 report on the state of an advisor 292,
ibmlb" 256 load-balancing settings 142 343, 345
unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox advisor intervals 148 statistics report 316, 351, 352
AGP cards 256, 270, 273, 275, 277 advisor report timeout 148 status of
Upgrading Java provided with the advisor server retry 144, 149 a cluster or all clusters 298
installation 268 advisor server timeout 149 servers on a port 323
weights not updated by switch 275, manager intervals 144 version number
277 proportion of importance given to of advisor 293, 344, 345
Dispatcher status information 142 of manager 317, 352, 353
configuration sensitivity threshold 145 down, marking a server as 334, 359
setting up the backend servers 55 smoothing index 145 DPID2 222
determining which features to use 17 weights 143 dscontrol command
Dispatcher component MAC forwarding 38 advisor 55, 289
advisors and reach targets mark all MS IIS and SSL do not work 251 binlog 294
servers down (Windows) 258 NAT/ NAPT 39 cluster 295
advisors not working 250 not registering server loads 257 command prompt 287
advisors not working in high On Linux, Dispatcher forwards executor 52, 299
availability setup after network packets, but not received by backend file 304
outage (Windows) 259 server 266 help 306
alias returned instead of local On Linux, HA Dispatcher may fail to highavailability 307, 393
address 256 synchronize 262 host 311
blue screen displays when starting On Linux, limitations when using logstatus 312
executor 253 zSeries or S/390 servers 264 manager 55, 313
cannot forward a frame 252 On Linux, memory leak occurs when metric 318
cannot open help window 252 using manager and advisors 266 minimize command parameters 287
Client requests fail when attempting On Windows system, problem with port 54, 319
return of large page responses 262 high availability takeover 267 rule 324
configuration On Windows, "server not responding" server 54, 330
overview of tasks 47 error occurs 262 set 336
setting up a private network 190 Path to Discovery prevents return status 337
setting up the Load Balancer traffic with Load Balancer 253 subagent 338
machine 50 planning 37 dsserver
connection to a remote machine 251 primary and backup machines active starting 33
content-based routing 41 in high availability
Corrupted Latin-1 national characters configuration 261
appear (Windows) 257 problem resolving IP address to host
delay when loading Load Balancer name (Windows) 258
configuration 261 requests not being balanced 249

442 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

E H Load Balancer
benefits 4
Ethernet NIC hardware requirements configuration tasks, advanced 141,
ibmlb.conf Cisco CSS Controller 107 161
configuring for Solaris 50 Nortel Alteon Controller 125 configuring
examples help CBR 75
managing local servers 8, 9, 10, 12, cbrcontrol 306 Cisco CSS Controller 113
13 ccocontrol 374 Dispatcher component 50, 79, 98
quick start 31 dscontrol 306 Nortel Alteon Controller 133
CBR 65 nalcontrol 392 Site Selector 95
Cisco CSS Controller 103 high availability 5, 45, 163 functions 3, 7
Nortel Alteon Controller 121 Cisco CSS Controller 197 installing 27
Site Selector 87 configuration 117, 137 operating and managing 213, 228,
executor configuring 164 229
cbrcontrol 299 dscontrol 307, 393 overview 3, 7
dscontrol 299 Linux for S/390 169 planning considerations 37, 91
starting 302 mutual 46, 165, 297, 298, 309 quick start example 31
stopping 302 nat forwarding 168 CBR 65
explicit linking 190 ndcontrol 375 Cisco CSS Controller 103
extra routes 59 Nortel Alteon Controller 197 Nortel Alteon Controller 121
primaryhost 297, 298 Site Selector 87
scripts 167 troubleshooting 231
F goActive 168
goIdle 169
load-balancing settings (optimizing) 142,
file 200
goInOp 169 log
cbrcontrol 77, 304
goStandby 168 binary, for server statistics 194
ccocontrol 373
highavailChange 169 file, setting the name of
dscontrol 48, 304
highavailChange 169 for the advisor 344
nalcontrol 391
host for the manager 351
sscontrol 96, 346
cbrcontrol 311 level, setting
forwarding method
ccocontrol 380 for the advisor 217, 292, 345
cbr 41, 42
dscontrol 311 for the consultant 218
mac 38, 40
nalcontrol 400 for the manager 217, 350
mac, nat or cbr 41, 321
HP-UX for the server 217, 218
nat 42
arp publish command 54 for the subagent 217
NAT 39
http advisor 289, 342 size, setting
ftp advisor 289, 342
for the advisor 217, 292, 343, 345
for the consultant 219
G I for the manager 217, 315, 350, 352
ibmlb.conf for the server 217, 219
gathering information 231 for the subagent 217, 219
configuring for Solaris 50
goActive 168 using CBR logs 228
ibmproxy 73, 79
goIdle 169 using Cisco CSS Controller logs 229,
ifconfig command 54, 56, 81, 186
goInOp 169 230
information, gathering 231
goStandby 168 using Load Balancer logs 217
installing
graphical user interface (GUI) using Metric Server logs 230
Load Balancer 27
CBR 77 using Site Selector logs 229
interval, setting how often
Cisco CSS Controller 115 logstatus
the advisor queries the servers 292,
Dispatcher 48 cbrcontrol 312
344
general instructions 403 dscontrol 312
the manager queries the
Nortel Alteon Controller 134 sscontrol 349
executor 144, 316
Site Selector 96 loopback
the manager updates the weights to
GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) aliasing alternatives for Linux 60
the executor 144, 315, 350, 352
Linux 189 loopback device
OS/390 189 alias 56
wide area support 189
GUI K
CBR 77 keys
Cisco CSS Controller 115 lbkeys 157, 206, 214 M
Dispatcher 48 mac forwarding method 38
general instructions 403 manager
Nortel Alteon Controller 134
resolution 252
L cbrcontrol 313
dscontrol 313
lbkeys 158, 207, 214 fixed weight 144
Site Selector 96
lbwebaccess 216 proportions 142
Linux sscontrol 350
high availability on S/390 169 starting 55, 316, 351, 353
stopping 317, 352, 353

Index 443
manager (continued) network address translation (NAT) 38, overview (continued)
version of 317, 352, 353 39 configuration of Dispatcher
managing Load Balancer 213 network proximity 93 component 47
marking a server as being new connections, setting proportion of configuration of Nortel Alteon
down 334, 359 importance 142, 296 Controller 133
up 334, 359, 360 NIC configuration of Site Selector 95
maximum weight, setting alias 53
for servers on a specific port 143, 322 ethernet (for Solaris) 50
metric
cbrcontrol 318
mapping (for Windows) 53
nonforwarding address
P
passive cookie affinity 181, 183, 327
ccocontrol 378 defining 52
planning
dscontrol 318 setting 302
CBR 71
sscontrol 354 Nortel Alteon Consultant
Cisco CSS Controller 107
Metric Server determining which features to use 24
Dispatcher component 37
configuring metric server in a two-tier Nortel Alteon Controller
Nortel Alteon Controller 125
configuration 279 advisors 201
Site Selector 91
Metric Server IOException on alerts 210
planning for installation 3, 7, 37, 91
Windows 278 binary logging for server
port
Metric Server log reports "Signature is statistics 209
cbrcontrol 319
necessary for access to agent" 279 cannot create registry on port
dscontrol 319
Metric Server not reporting 14099 277
port affinity override
loads 278 collocate 197
server 176, 331, 334
Metric values returns -1 after start commands 385
ports
Metric Server 281 configuration
adding 322
on AIX, ps -vg command output overview of tasks 133
defining to a cluster 54, 322
becomes corrupted 279 setting up the Nortel Alteon
displaying
on Solaris, scripts produce unwanted Controller machine 135
status of servers on this port 323
console messages 280 consultant connection error 277
for advisors 289, 342
overview 157, 206 corrupted Latin-1 national characters
removing 323
starting and stopping 230 appear (Windows) 278
setting the maximum weight 143,
troubleshooting table 245 disconnect from host, using Web
322
using 230 administration 277
wildcard 54
metriccollector hardware and software
primaryhost 165, 298
nalcontrol 396 requirements 125
private key
metrics high availability 197
for remote authentication 214
configuration 117, 136 Java memory/ thread error
private network, using with
Monitor menu option 221 (HP-UX) 278
Dispatcher 190
multiple address collocation 54 lbadmin fails 276
product components 37
mutual high availability 46, 164, 165 load-balancing settings 200
proportion of importance for load
primaryhost 297, 298 Metric Server 206
balancing, setting 142, 297
scripts 168 nalcontrol fails 276
proximity options 93
takeover 167 planning 125
public key
quick start example 121
for remote authentication 214
refresh command not updating
N configuration 278
report
nalcontrol command
command prompt 385
controller 389 Q
starting and stopping 229 quick start example 31
consultant 386, 389
troubleshooting table 244 CBR 65
file 391
unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox Cisco CSS Controller 103
help 392
AGP cards 277 Nortel Alteon Controller 121
host 400
using 229 Site Selector 87
metric 396
weights not updated by switch 277 quiescing a server 180, 314, 315, 317
server 398
will not start 276
nalserver
Workload manager advisor 208
starting 122
will not start 276
notices 427 R
nameserver refresh configuration remotely 217
sscontrol 355 remote administration
nat forwarding method 42 O RMI 213
NAT forwarding method 39 operating Load Balancer 213 Web-based administration 213, 215
high availability scripts 168 OS/390 remote administration (Web-based)
nat, server collocation with 163 GRE support 189 refresh 217
ndcontrol command overview remove
highavailability 375 configuration of CBR 75 cluster 297, 363
netstat command 59 configuration of Cisco CSS extra route 59
network address port translation Controller 113 port from a cluster 323
(NAPT) 39 server from a port 334, 359, 360

444 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

report server (continued) showing (continued)
Cisco CSS Controller 371 mapport 73, 332 report on the state of an advisor 292,
Nortel Alteon Controller 389 marking as being down 334, 359 343, 345
resolution, GUI 252 marking as being up 334, 359, 360 statistics report 316, 351, 352
restart all servers to normalized nalcontrol 398 status of
weights 316, 351, 352 nonsticky (port affinity a cluster or all clusters 298
RMI (Remote Method Invocation) 213 override) 331, 334 servers on a port 323
route command 59 partitioning 43 version number
routes, delete extra 59 physically 43 of advisor 293, 344, 345
routes, extra 59 protocol 332 of manager 317, 352, 353
rule quiescing 180, 314, 315, 317 Simple Network Management Protocol
cbrcontrol 324 removing 334, 359, 360 (SNMP) 221
dscontrol 324 reset a down server 144 Site Selector
sscontrol 356 restarting all to normalized advisors and reach targets mark all
rules-based load balancing 170 weights 316, 351, 352 servers down (Windows) 273
active connections to port 173, 325 returnaddress 332 commands 341
always true 175, 325, 328, 356, 358 router 332 configuration
choice of rules, by component 170 setting the weight 334, 359 overview of tasks 95
client IP address 171, 324, 328, 356, sscontrol 359 setting up the machine 98
358 unquiescing 317 configuration example 12
client port 171, 325 weight 331 Corrupted Latin-1 national characters
connections per second 172, 325 service appear (Windows) 273
content of request 41, 176, 325 configuration 136 determining which features to use 22
evaluate option 177 set disconnect from host, using Web
metric all 175 cbrcontrol 336 administration 273
metric average 175 dscontrol 336 Java memory/ thread error
metricall 356 sscontrol 361 (HP-UX) 273
metricavg 356 setting lbadmin fails 272
reserved bandwidth 173, 325, 329 cluster address 54 load-balancing HA Dispatchers 169
server evaluate option 177 how often the manager should query load-balancing settings 142
shared bandwidth 173, 174, 325, 329 the executor 144, 316 advisor server retry 149
time of day 172, 324, 329, 356, 358 interval time advisor server timeout 149
type of service (TOS) 172, 325, 329 for the advisor to query the not load balancing correctly with
servers 292, 344 duplicate routes 272
for the manager to update the overview 11
S executor 144, 315, 350, 352
logging level
planning 91
quick start example 87
sample configuration files 413
for the advisor 217, 292, 345 sscontrol fails 272
advisor 419
for the manager 350 ssserver failing to start on
Dispatcher component (AIX) 413
maximum size of the log Windows 272
Dispatcher component
for the advisor 217, 292, 343, 345 starting and stopping 228
(Windows) 416
for the manager 315, 350, 352 troubleshooting table 241
scripts 167
maximum weight unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox
ccoserverdown 210
for servers on a specific port 143, AGP cards 273
goActive 168
322 using 228
goIdle 169
name of log file 344 will not round-robin traffic from
goInOp 169
for the manager 351 Solaris clients 271
goStandby 168
nonforwarding address 50 will not run 271
highavailChange 169
proportion of importance in load sitename
user exit 145, 210
balancing 297 sscontrol 362
Secure Sockets Layer 54
sensitivity to weights update 145, smoothing index, setting 145, 316, 351,
sensitivity threshold 201
316, 351, 353 353
sensitivity to weights update,
smoothing index 145, 316, 351, 353 SNMP 217, 221
setting 145, 316, 351, 353
weight for a server 315, 317, 334, 359 software requirements
server
settings, displaying all global values Cisco CSS Controller 107
adding 334, 359
for an advisor 292, 344, 345 Nortel Alteon Controller 125
address 330
for the manager 317, 352, 353 Solaris
advisorrequest 333
showing arp publish command 54
advisorresponse 333
global values and their default setting up Dispatcher machine 50
cbrcontrol 330
settings sscontrol command
ccocontrol 383
for an advisor 292, 344, 345 advisor 342
collocated 331, 334
for the manager 317, 352, 353 file 346
collocated with nat 163
internal counters 302 help 348
cookievalue 331
list of logstatus 349
defining to a port 54, 334, 359
advisors currently providing manager 350
dscontrol 330
metrics 292, 345 metric 354
fixedweight 331
nameserver 355
logical 43

Index 445
sscontrol command (continued) syntax diagrams (continued) troubleshooting (continued)
rule 356 symbols 285 error message when trying to view
server 359 system metrics online Help 252
set 361 configure 318, 354, 378, 396 error running Dispatcher with
sitename 362 setting proportion of importance 142, Caching Proxy installed 252
status 365 200, 295, 296 GUI does not display correctly 252
SSL 54 GUI does not start correctly 252
SSL connections help panels disappear 252
configuring ibmproxy 73
for CBR 73
T high availability in the wide area
mode of Load Balancer does not
testing
HTTPS advisor 149 work 254
configuration 117, 137
LDAPS advisor 150 High availability, configuration
tls advisor 151
problem with enabling 251 tips 263
trademarks 428
SSL advisor 150 IP address conflict when using high
troubleshooting 231
ssl2http advisor 74, 150 availability 261
advisors and reach targets mark all
ssserver IP address not resolving over remote
servers down (Windows) 258, 271,
starting 88 connection 255
273
stale timeout 220, 297, 300, 321 Java memory/ thread error
advisors not working 250
starting (HP-UX) 257, 278
advisors not working in high
advisor 55, 292, 343, 345 Java memory/thread error
availability setup after network
CBR 66 (HP-UX) 270, 273, 276
outage (Windows) 259
Cisco CSS Controller 104, 229 Korean fonts undesirable on AIX and
alias returned instead of local
Dispatcher 33 Linux 255
address 256
executor 52, 302 lbadmin disconnects from server after
blue screen displays when starting
manager 55, 316, 351, 353 updating configuration 255
Load Balancer executor 253
Metric Server 230 Load Balancer cannot process and
cannot create registry on port
Nortel Alteon Controller 122, 229 forward a frame 252
13099 274
server 52 Load Balancer processes end
cannot create registry on port
Site Selector 88, 228 (Solaris) 261
14099 277
starting and stopping Metric Server IOException on
CBR will not run 269
CBR 228 Windows 278
cbrcontrol fails on Solaris 269
Dispatcher 220 Metric Server log reports "Signature is
cbrcontrol or lbadmin command
statistics snapshot report, necessary for access to agent" 279
fails 269
displaying 316, 351, 352 Metric Server not reporting
ccocontrol or lbadmin command
status loads 278
fails 274
cbrcontrol 337 Metric value returns -1 after start
ccoserver will not start 274
dscontrol 337 Metric Server 281
Client requests fail when attempting
status, displaying nalcontrol or lbadmin command
return of large page responses 262
servers on a specific port 323 fails 276
common problems and
sticky (affinity) nalserver will not start 276
solutions 249, 251, 269, 271, 274,
active cookie 181, 327 not registering server loads 257
276, 278
affinity address mask 179 on AIX, ps -vg command output
configuring metric server in a two-tier
cross port affinity 179, 180, 319 becomes corrupted 279
configuration 279
how it works 178 On Linux, Dispatcher forwards
consultant connection error 275, 277
passive cookie 181, 183, 327 packets, but not received by backend
corrupted Latin-1 national characters
port affinity override 176 server 266
appear (Windows) 278
quiesce now 180, 314, 317 On Linux, HA Dispatcher may fail to
Corrupted Latin-1 national characters
sticky (port affinity override) 176, synchronize 262
appear (Windows) 257, 270, 273,
177, 331 On Linux, limitations when using
275
stickymask 179, 320 zSeries or S/390 servers 264
delay when loading Load Balancer
stickytime 41, 178, 179, 320, 327 On Linux, memory leak occurs when
configuration 261
URI 181, 327 using manager and advisors 266
disconnect from host, using Web
stopping on Solaris, scripts produce unwanted
administration 257, 270, 273, 275,
advisor 292, 344, 345 console messages 280
277
Cisco CSS Controller 229 On Windows system, problem with
Dispatcher and server will not
executor 302 high availability takeover 267
respond 249
manager 317, 352, 353 On Windows, "server not responding"
Dispatcher high availability not
Nortel Alteon Controller 229 error occurs 262
working 250
subagents 217, 221 Path to Discovery prevents return
Dispatcher requests not routed 249
dscontrol 338 traffic with Load Balancer 253
Dispatcher will not run 249
switch consultant port numbers used by CBR 246
Dispatcher, Microsoft IIS, and SSL do
define 136 port numbers used by Cisco CSS
not work 251
syntax diagrams Controller 248
do not use IP address add command
examples 285 port numbers used by Nortel Alteon
for aliasing loopback (Linux) 260
parameters 285 Controller 248
dscontrol or lbadmin command
punctuation 285 port numbers used by Site
fails 251
reading 285 Selector 247

446 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide

troubleshooting (continued)
port numbers used by the
W
Dispatcher 246 WAS (WebSphere Application Server)
primary and backup machines active WAS advisor 152, 155
in high availability WAS advisor 152, 155
configuration 261 Web-based Administration 213, 215
problem resolving IP address to host refresh 217
name (Windows) 258, 271 weight
refresh command not updating controllers 200
configuration 275, 278 how the manager sets 143
requests not being load balanced 269 setting
router address not specified or not boundary for all servers on a
valid for port method 260 port 143, 322
Site Selector does not load-balance for a server 334, 359
correctly 272 wide area support 184
Site Selector does not round-robin configuration example 187
(Solaris) 271 Linux 189
Site Selector will not run 271 using GRE 189
slow response time 256 using remote advisors 186
sscontrol or lbadmin command using remote Dispatcher 185
fails 272 wildcard cluster 52, 297
ssserver failing to start on to combine server configurations 191
Windows 272 to load balance firewalls 191
Syntactical or configuration error 270 with Caching Proxy for transparent
Unable to add heartbeat 250 proxy 192
unexpected behavior loading large wildcard port 54, 322
configuration file 254 ping advisor 151
unexpected behavior with "rmmod to direct unconfigured port
ibmlb" 256 traffic 192
unexpected GUI behavior with Matrox to handle FTP traffic 193
AGP cards 256, 270, 273, 275, 277 Windows
Upgrading Java provided with the executor configure command 53
installation 268 setting up Dispatcher machine 51
weights not updated by switch 275, wizard, configuring
277 CBR 78
troubleshooting tables Dispatcher 49
CBR 240 Site Selector 97
Cisco CSS Controller 243 workload manager advisor (WLM) 159,
Dispatcher component 235 208
Metric Server 245
Nortel Alteon Controller 244
Site Selector 241

U
up, marking a server as 334, 359, 360
URI affinity 181, 184, 327
user exit scripts 145, 210
ccoallserversdown 210
ccoserverdown 210
ccoserverup 210
denial of service detection 193
managerAlert 146
managerClear 146
nalallserversdown 210
naloserverup 210
nalserverdown 210
serverDown 146
serverUp 146

V
version, displaying
advisor 293, 344, 345
manager 317, 352, 353

Index 447
448 Load Balancer for IPv4 Administration Guide



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