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.
What do you need?
For this quick start configuration example, you will need
the following:
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.
- Update the company site's domain name server (see Figure 20). 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
- Ensure that the fully qualified hostname or site does
not resolve in the current domain name system.
- Install Metric Server on the servers (server1, server2, server3,
server4) that you intend to have Site Selector load balance. See Metric Server 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:
- 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.
- Start the name server on the Site Selector configuration:
sscontrol nameserver start
- 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
- 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
- Start the manager function of Site Selector:
sscontrol manager start
- 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.
- Ensure the Metric Server has been started on each of the load-balanced
servers.
Your basic Site Selector configuration is now complete.
Testing your configuration
Test to see if the configuration is working:
- 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.
- Connect to the application. For example:
- Open a browser, request marketing.apps.mywebshop.com and a valid
page should be served
- Open an FTP client to developer.apps.mywebshop.com and enter a
valid user and password
- 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 and Appendix A. GUI: General instructions.
Configuring with the configuration wizard
For information on using the Site Selector wizard, see Configuration wizard.