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This chapter describes how to plan the installation of LSF desktop support to ensure it meets your user and system requirements.
- Load Balancing and the Directory Services Host
- Security
- Requirements
- Determining the Applications Required on Desktop Clients
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Load Balancing and the Directory Services Host
Load balancing evenly distributes the available desktop clients among the desktop servers, so that no desktop server is overloaded with requests for jobs or status updates at any time. You can use two methods of load balancing within an LSF desktop support environment:
Before you install LSF desktop support, you need to decide which method of load balancing to use.
When should you use automatic load balancing?
You should consider automatic load balancing under the following circumstances:
- Your environment includes a very large number of desktop clients, e.g. 1,000 desktop clients, and the number of available desktop clients varies dramatically over time.
OR
- You are setting up multiple desktop servers.
How does automatic load balancing work?
Automatic load balancing uses one or more Directory Services hosts to manage a large network of desktop clients, pointing desktop clients to desktop servers via a `round- robin' process. Usually, one Directory Services host is used. The Directory Services host uses a list of desktop servers that is created during installation. Each time a desktop client contacts the Directory Services host (at startup, and again at the configured time interval), the desktop client receives a new URL for the desktop server to contact.
Alternatively, you can set up multiple desktop servers as directory servers and round- robin between them.
If you choose to use automatic load balancing
If you choose to use automatic load balancing, then you must install at least one Directory Services host in your LSF desktop support environment. Therefore, when you install that desktop server, you must specify that it is a Directory Services host, using the
DIRECTORYSERVICE=yes
ininstall.config
. The remaining desktop servers should be installed without the Directory Services option, by specifyingDIRECTORYSERVICE=no
ininstall.config
.
Tip about specifying a failover host: If you are working with multiple Directory Services hosts with the same configuration, then you can create a DNS round-robin alias to point to these Directory Services hosts.
If you choose not to use automatic load balancing
If you choose not to use automatic load balancing, then every desktop server is configured as a Directory Services host. This means that it sends every desktop client that contacts it to its own desktop server URL. This is the default Directory Services installation option.
How does manual load balancing work?
You can achieve a certain amount of manual load balancing by using multiple desktop servers, and configuring a balanced number of desktop clients to report to each desktop server for work. This process requires advance planning, and may require adjusting the desktop client configuration at installation time accordingly.
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Security
Over the network
LSF desktop support uses standard protocols to ensure network security. The desktop client-to-host communication uses XML-based SOAP protocol, which is Microsoft.NET compatible. SSL Encryption can be used to protect communication.
At the desktop client
A desktop client user is prevented from accessing LSF desktop support data on the desktop client by using a Windows sandbox with permissions to read/write only to the sandbox. The desktop client runs as a background Windows service, using a different user ID than the desktop client end user. This prevents the desktop client from accessing user data.
Cache control
LSF desktop support uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer cache to reduce the number of file transfers required for a series of jobs. The size and expiry policy for the care are taken from the Microsoft Internet Explorer settings for the
Default User
of the operating system.By default, all files are cached. You can change the settings so that no files are cached. Alternatively, you can specify caching settings for each input file during job submission, as described in the Platform LSF Desktop Support User's Guide.
Increased security with HP ProtectTools Authentication Services
LSF desktop support increase security with HP ProtectTools Authentication Services, which mitigate security risks with strong user authentication including a customer- unique password hashing system, managed change of administration passwords, last successful and unsuccessful login information, multiple login denial, and timed auto log- out.
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Requirements
Each component in the LSF desktop support environment has both hardware and software requirements. Before installing, make sure your environment meets the requirements described below
LSF Master Batch Daemon
LSF desktop support requires LSF 6.2 and later.
Desktop server
- Supported operating systems:
- J2RE (Java Runtime Environment) is installed with the desktop server.
- Make sure that
root
can write to the installation directory.- Linux installations: Apache requires
/lib/libdb.so.3
(the Berkeley DB database library version 3.0). If this is not included with your Linux distribution, you can install it frommisc/examples
.
- 256 MB memory
- 1 GB free disk space for installation, but 20 GB is recommended for file caching
- Fast processor
Desktop clients
- Supported operating systems:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
- The desktop client installation checks for the DLL versions of Microsoft C Runtime Library, Microsoft C++ Runtime Library, and the Microsoft XML parser library.
If the DLL versions are older than those required by the desktop client, the DLLs are replaced. The required DLLs are:
- Update MSXML: You should install the latest MSXML 3.4 and higher patches and hotfixes on each desktop client, which are available at
http://www.msdn.microsoft.com
(search for MSXML).[ Top ]
Determining the Applications Required on Desktop Clients
Sometimes a job may require a specific application before it can run on a desktop client machine. The application and any corresponding data files must reside on the desktop client when the job runs. In general, the user can point to the required applications and data files when submitting the job, and the application and data are sent to the desktop client along with the request to run the job. However, if installing the application requires rebooting the desktop client machine, then the application must be physically installed on the desktop client machine before running the job. Installing the application in advance also reduces the amount of data sent across your network.
Before starting this task, you need to know the following information:
- The types of applications to run on the desktop clients
- What, if any, prerequisite software is required to run the applications, such as a Java runtime environment (JRE)
To determine the required applications:
- Obtain a list of applications that are expected to run on the desktop clients.
- Verify the prerequisite software required to run each application.
- Install the prerequisite software in the Program Files directory on all desktop clients that may be used to run each application. Make sure all desktop clients for a particular desktop server have the required software installed, since a job may run on any desktop client in the LSF desktop support environment.
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Date Modified: January 29, 2009
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