This quick start example shows how to configure three locally
attached workstations to load-balance web traffic between two web
servers.
Before you begin
For the quick start example, you need three workstations and
four IP addresses. One workstation for the Dispatcher; the other two
workstations are the web servers. Each web server requires one IP
address. The Dispatcher workstation requires two addresses: the non-forwarding
address (NFA), and the cluster address (the address that is load balanced)
that you provide to clients to access your website.

For more information about the different ways Load Balancer
can be set up, read Types of cluster, port, and server configurations for Dispatcher to help you
design your topology.
About this task
Use this configuration method for a quick way to establish
a connection between servers and the dispatcher machine. This method
does not include configuring advisors or tuning performance. For a
full configuration, read
Configuring the Dispatcher machine and
Configuring the server machines.
Procedure
- Prepare your servers.
- 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 pass through any routers
or bridges.
- Configure the network adapters of the three workstations. For this example, it is assumed you have the following network
configuration, and each of the workstations contains only one standard
Ethernet network interface card:
Table 1. Sample network configurationWorkstation |
Name |
IP address |
1 |
server1.Intersplashx.com |
9.67.67.101 |
2 |
server2.Intersplashx.com |
9.67.67.102 |
3 |
server3.Intersplashx.com |
9.67.67.103 |
Netmask = 255.255.255.0 |
- 3. Ensure that all the servers can communicate with
each other.
- Ensure that server1.Intersplashx.com can
ping both server2.Intersplashx.com and server3.Intersplashx.com.
- Ensure that server2.Intersplashx.com and server3.Intersplashx.com can
ping server1.Intersplashx.com.
- Ensure that content is identical on the 2 web servers
(Server 2 and Server 3). You can complete this step by
replicating data on both workstations, using a shared file system
such as NFS, AFS®, or DFS™, or by any other means appropriate for
your site.
- 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.
- Obtain another valid IP address for this LAN segment.
This IP address is the address that you provide to clients who want
to access your site. For example:
Name= www.Intersplashx.com
IP=9.67.67.104
- 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:
- Delete any extra route that was created as a result
of aliasing the loopback interface. See Step 2 in
Configuring the server machines.
- Configure Load Balancer with the command line or the GUI.
- Configuring with the command line:
- Start the dsserver on Dispatcher:
![[AIX]](../images/aixlogo.gif)
![[HP-UX]](../images/hpux.gif)
![[Linux]](../images/linux.gif)
Run the following command as root user:
dsserver
dsserver runs as a service that starts automatically
- Start the executor function of Dispatcher by entering the following
command:
dscontrol executor start
- Add the cluster address to the Dispatcher configuration:
dscontrol cluster add www.Intersplashx.com
- Add the HTTP protocol port to the Dispatcher configuration:
dscontrol port add www.Intersplashx.com@80
- 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
- Start the manager function of Dispatcher:
dscontrol manager start
Dispatcher now load balances based on server
performance.
- Start the advisor function of Dispatcher:
dscontrol advisor start http 80
Dispatcher now makes sure that client requests are not sent to a failed web server.
- Configuring with the GUI:
![[AIX]](../images/aixlogo.gif)
![[Linux]](../images/linux.gif)
![[HP-UX]](../images/hpux.gif)
At a command prompt, enter the following
command:lbadmin
Click Start > Programs >
IBM WebSphere > Edge Components > IBM Load
Balancer > Load Balancer.
- Test your configuration.
- From a web browser, go to www.Intersplashx.com.
If a page displays, the configuration is working.
- Reload the page in the web browser.
- Look at the results of the following command:
dscontrol server report www.Intersplashx.com@80@
The
total connections column of the 2 servers should add up to 2.