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.
What do you need?
For this quick start configuration example, you will need the
following:
- A Nortel Alteon Web Switch, running Web OS version 9.0 or version 10.0
- A server machine with the Nortel Alteon Controller component
- Two Web server machines
- 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.
- 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)
How do you prepare?
Ensure the following steps are complete before beginning configuration
for this example:
- 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.
- Ensure that the client machine can ping the Virtual Server IP
address 9.87.32.59.
- 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:
- Start the nalserver on Nortel Alteon Controller. As root user or administrator,
issue the following from a command prompt: nalserver
- 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.
- 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
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.
- 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.
- 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:
- From the Client Web browser, go to location http://www.Intersplashx.com. If a page is displayed, the configuration is working.
- Reload the page in the Web browser.
- 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 and Appendix A. GUI: General instructions.