[AIX HP-UX Linux Solaris Windows]

Methods of configuration

There are four methods you can use to configure Load Balancer: the command line, scripts, the graphical user interface (GUI), and the configuration wizard. The Information Center assumes use of the command line.

There are four basic methods of configuring the Dispatcher:

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 high availability commands) and file names (used in file commands).

To start the Dispatcher from the command line:
  1. Start dsserver:
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] From the command prompt, issue the following:
      dsserver
      To stop the service, type:
      dsserver stop
    • [Windows] Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Right-click IBM Dispatcher (ULB) and select Start. To stop the service, follow the same steps and select Stop.
  2. Issue the Dispatcher control commands you want in order to set up your configuration. The command is dscontrol. For more information about commands, see Commands.
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 the commands 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. To quickly run the content of a script file (for example, myscript), use either of the following commands:
  • To update the current configuration, run the following executable commands from your script file:
    dscontrol file appendload myscript
  • 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 install_root/servers/configurations/dispatcher directory.

GUI

To start the GUI, follow these steps:
  1. Ensure dsserver is running:
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Run the following as root user:
      dsserver
    • [Windows] dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically.
  2. Start the Load Balancer GUI:
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Run the following:
      lbadmin
    • [Windows] 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 popup menu, left-click Add Cluster. Enter the cluster address in the popup 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 popup menu. You should save your Dispatcher configuration to a file periodically using the Save Configuration File As option also presented in the Host popup 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.

In order to run a command from the GUI:
  1. Highlight the Host node from the GUI tree and select Send command... from the Host pop-up menu.
  2. 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.
  • Help: Field level -- describes each field, default values
  • Help: How do I -- lists tasks that can be done from that screen
  • InfoCenter -- provides centralized access to product information

The configuration wizard

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

If you are using the configuration wizard, follow these steps:
  1. Start the dsserver on Dispatcher:
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Run the following as root user:
      dsserver
    • [Windows] dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically.
  2. Start the wizard function of Dispatcher by issuing the following command:
    dswizard
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Last updatedLast updated: Jun 20, 2011 4:04:37 PM EDT
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