Local Director

Hi!, I have a question: Is there any way using CISCO Local Director instead of WebLogic Clustering feature ? because that our production folks insist on using "hardware" solution. We us iPlanet Web server + WebLogic Application Server in our application. Very appreciate if anyone can answer my question.

Not yet. First, I do not believe that there is a hardware load balancer
          that "understands" WL stickiness, especially WRT failover. Only WL's
          plug-ins understand that, so right now you must use them.
          I expect that WL will eventually be able to route a request to the "right"
          server if it shows up at the "wrong" server, meaning that eventually each WL
          instance in a cluster could be used as the front-end of the cluster, so a
          hardware solution could work very well for non-session requests (where it
          doesn't matter which WL instance gets the requests) and for session requests
          (where it must go to the "right" server) it will re-route automatically.
          Right now I suggest using NAS to front the cluster; it appears to be the
          best solution. If you use a hardware load balancer, then a group of Apache
          servers on Linux would be as good or better of a solution to front the
          cluster (i.e. load balancer distributes to a set of Apache servers that are
          working independently of each other).
          Cameron Purdy
          [email protected]
          http://www.tangosol.com
          WebLogic Consulting Available
          "Bernie Wong" <[email protected]> wrote in message
          news:[email protected]...
          > Cameron,
          >
          > Can I use a hardware load balancer that respects stickiness and therefore
          > not use WL-based HTTP balancing.
          >
          > "Cameron Purdy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
          > news:[email protected]...
          > > From what I have heard, you can use CISCO local director to spread out
          > > incoming HTTP requests across a number of Apache or IIS or NAS servers,
          > each
          > > of which has the WL cluster feature. That really only makes sense
          though
          > if
          > > you have too large an amount of web server requests (typically static
          > files
          > > like HTML, GIF, etc.). There is no way currently to remove the WL
          cluster
          > > feature that plugs into the web server. If the request goes to the
          wrong
          > WL
          > > server, it won't get re-routed to the right WL server. There IS such a
          > > thing as a "wrong" server because HTTP sessions are sticky. Following
          the
          > > must-use-hardware line of thought, though, you could theoretically have
          10
          > > identically configured boxes running Apache with the WL mod and also
          have
          > WL
          > > on each box, then local director could hardware distribute to the 10
          boxes
          > > that would then software distribute to the same 10 boxes. In other
          words,
          > > each host in a 10-host WL cluster is also running Apache with the WL mod
          > (or
          > > one of the others).
          > >
          > > --
          > >
          > > Cameron Purdy
          > > [email protected]
          > > http://www.tangosol.com
          > > WebLogic Consulting Available
          > >
          > >
          > > "Think Lee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
          > > news:[email protected]...
          > > Hi!, I have a question: Is there any way using CISCO Local Director
          > instead
          > > of WebLogic Clustering feature ? because that our production folks
          insist
          > on
          > > using "hardware" solution. We us iPlanet Web server + WebLogic
          > Application
          > > Server in our application. Very appreciate if anyone can answer my
          > question.
          > >
          > >
          >
          >

Similar Messages

Server load balancing on Local Director implementing HTTP redirection

Hi, got an interesting problem when implementing the HTTP redirection method of session persistance or stickiness when balancing a couple of web servers on a Local Director 416. The session persistance works fine but it looks like one of the two servers is getting all the traffic rather than balancing accross the two. The servers are equally spec'd and when it comes to the predictor setting for the virtual, I'm just using the defaults i.e. leastconns/roundrobin. Is there a better predictor setting to use?? Any input would be appreciated.
Rgds
Adam Lacoba

The loaded argument has worked well. Take note that this requires a value to be set with the weight command. It gives a specific amount of traffic to one, and then moves to the other.

Local Director Load Balancing question

Using IOS 3.2.2
I have a local director 416 with 2 real servers. I would like to send all traffic to 1 server and if it fails to switch over to the secondary server. The way I see to do it is to use weighted load balancing and set the weight of the 2nd server to zero. But if the primary server fails what will happen since the secondary server has a weight of zero.
Jason

Not being a Cisco employee, I guess I can't define what "proper" is, but with the backup command, you don't need to play with the weights at all.
You just bind the primary real server to the virtual, then assign a backup to the primary. The backup server does not get directly bound to the virtual, so the only way it's going to get any traffic is if the primary server is down.

Local Director SNMP for CPU and Memory

Is there any way to get the CPU and memory utilization from a Local Director using SNMP? When I do an SNMP walk, I don't see any objects for CPU and memory.
Thank you

There's a "Show cpu " commmand availabe. Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.

SNMP problem in Local Director 416 V4.2.3

I am unable to get SNMP response from local director :
herafter the snmp configuration .
snmp-server host 62.184.xx.yy
snmp-server enable traps
snmp-server community xxxxxxxxx
snmp-server contact Philippe
snmp-server location B2
What else should be in configuration to have the local director respond to
SNMP request from snmp-server host 62.184.xx.yy ?
Thanks for your help.

This is not expected behavior with the LD.
I did see one bug (CSCdw87752) regarding the LD duplicating multicast packets in 4.2.3. The scenario was slightly different. In the bug, the LD was duplicating multicast packets from a Checkpoint Firewall. That bug is fixed in version 4.2.4. I think it is likely that this fix will also fix your issue.
Let me know if that works or not...
-Steve

Port based LB and Local Director

My customer would like to know whether the Local Director supports Load Balancing using the source port information. If this is possible any document on the configuration wouldbe highly appreciated.
Regards,
Mahesh

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iworksw/ps2769/products_maintenance_guide_chapter09186a008007d9fa.html#xtocid225795
as per this document i think the loadbalancing based on source port information cannot be done.
''The MNLB Services Manager makes the load-balancing decisions based on application availability, server capacity, and load distribution algorithms such as round robin or least connections, or the Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP).''

Local Director & HTTP Redirection

Hi, just wondering if anyone has successfully implemented HTTP
redirection on Cisco Local Director 416 running ver 4.1.2 Basically I'm
after any pitfalls to look out for. Current implementation utilizes
generic session stickiness however this has problems for clients
trying to access our load balanced servers if they come from behind
multiple proxies via their ISP.
Servers are Private IP addressed (Firewall in front of LD performing NAT static
txlation)
On another point, how does the Cisco CS11000 (Arrowpoint) perform
session persistance/stickiness or what "better" ways does the
Arrowpoint acheive this as compared to Local Director?
Any helpful input would be much appreciated.
Rgds
Adam

Since there has been no response to your post, it appears to be either too complex or too rare an issue for other forum members to assist you. If you don't get a suitable response to your post, you may wish to review our resources at the online Technical Assistance Center (http://www.cisco.com/tac) or speak with a TAC engineer. You can open a TAC case online at http://www.cisco.com/tac/caseopen
If anyone else in the forum has some advice, please reply to this thread.
Thank you for posting.

Local Director replacement

On Cisco site Local Director 400 series has been classified as End of Sales. Does anybody know what product replaces them?
Also I would like to know if IOS Server Load Balancing feature does the same job of Local Director as far load balancing between Web server s is concerned.
Thanks for any input.

The Local Director has a few potential replacements.
IOS SLB can perform the same function and if you have a 6500 already, it may be a good choice.
Also, the Content Swtiching Module (CSM) is more robust and has additional fuinctionality such as one-armed load balancing and firewall load balancing, among others...
The Content Services Switch (CSS) is a separate appliance that also has additional functions from the LD. It is comparable to the CSM in features.
Both the CSM and CSS have optional SSL modules to integrate SSL temination allowing the Load Balancer to do layer 5 inspection of "encrypted" traffic.
Hope this helps!
-Steve

Does the Cisco Cache Engine Work with the Cisco Local Director ?

I need to know if it is possible and how to use cisco local director to redirect traffic to the cache engine in reverse proxy configuration and transparent proxy configuration.

In directed mode, the client browsers are configured to point to a proxy to a virtual IP address on the Local Director. I know the Local Director does not support a real server that does not have a virtual address defined so it can't transparently forward like the CSS.

Local Director SNMP

below is the sh snmp output from my local director. I run snmpwalk and it coudn't connect to the device. Do i miss something..I basically want to enable SNMP on local director to view the bandwidth..
snmp-server host 10.X.X.X
no snmp-server enable traps
snmp-server community public
snmp-server contact Test
snmp-server location LOCATION

I tried both version 1 and 2...no response...
tried from Mandrake 10.snmpwalk -c public 1.1.1.1
and no response..any idea?

Local director with multiple virtual servers

I have a local director with 4 interfaces. Two interfaces are used for 2 virtual servers each bound to 2 real servers. The virtuals and the reals are on the same sub-net as the local director's IP address.
I would like to know if I can use the other 2 interfaces to bind 2 real addresses to a third virtual where all three of the address are located on a different Subnet from the servers already present.

Yes this is possible. However, in order to make this work you will need to configure a couple
of things. First, on the Local Director you should configure an 'alias ip address' that belongs in this new subnet. Second, you need to configure a secondary IP address on the upstream router. This will serve several purposes. One, the servers will be able to reach devices outside their own subnet. Two, the router will now belong to this subnet and therefore will be able to ARP for the new virtual.
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Chip Schneider
Cisco TAC

Using the Local Director "alias ip address" command

I believe it is possible to have real servers in a different subnet to the local director virtual address by using the "alias ip address" command. This eliminates the need to use a router between the Local Director and the real servers. Does this mean that the Local Director is routing between subnets? Do the real servers use the Local Director alias address as their default gateway? Can someone provide an example config using the "alias ip address" command?

no, the local director will not route. there are two ways to make this work.
1
the router on the front side of the local director must be configured with a secondary ip address from the real server subnet plus add the alias command
or
2
use the alias command, plus each real server must be configured with a static ARP entry. the ARP entry is for the ip address of the servers configured default gateway and the MAC address of the router interface.

Password recovery, Local Director 417

Greetings.
I am looking to remove the login password from a Local Director 417. I have found directions for "Local Director Password Recovery", but they require a floppy drive. The 417 does not have a floppy drive.
What would be the proper procedure for this?
Thanks,
- Tony

Tony,
Looking at some internal cases on the 417's, since there seems to be no docs on Passwd recovery I found that there is no passwd recovery for the 417's. In all cases where customers lost passwds a replacement 417 was needed to be RMA'd from Cisco.
Hope this helps you,
Don

Weblogic's redirect and Local Director session stikiness.

Hi all,
We've been facing a very painfull problem in my company. Basically, it relates
to the fact that weblogic 'uselessly' makes a redirect to index.jsp everytime
somebody tries to reach our website.
The redirect itselve is bad, but when we have Local Director configured in front
of our farm, with stickness enabled, the damn think locks for 3+ seconds before
sending the also weird '0000' characters (that I suppose, indicate the page or
transaction was completed). This 0000 comes from Weblogic itself (we notice it
sends that even when we are not behind local director). We are also expiriencing
some premature session timeoffs... very weird.
Did anybody even configured WL 6.1 SP2 as the main webserver under a local director,
and faced the same problem? We are desperate here.
Thanks,
Rodrigo

One other thing ... using URL with openConnection we found that we had to
end-pad the stream with two additional bytes (ignored) to get the full
message committed. Could be the same freaky thing.
Peace,
Cameron Purdy
Tangosol, Inc.
Clustering Weblogic? You're either using Coherence, or you should be!
Download a Tangosol Coherence eval today at http://www.tangosol.com/
"Rodrigo Rosa" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:3c5f0dcb$[email protected]..
>
Hi all,
We've been facing a very painfull problem in my company. Basically, itrelates
to the fact that weblogic 'uselessly' makes a redirect to index.jspeverytime
somebody tries to reach our website.
The redirect itselve is bad, but when we have Local Director configured infront
of our farm, with stickness enabled, the damn think locks for 3+ secondsbefore
sending the also weird '0000' characters (that I suppose, indicate thepage or
transaction was completed). This 0000 comes from Weblogic itself (wenotice it
sends that even when we are not behind local director). We are alsoexpiriencing
some premature session timeoffs... very weird.
Did anybody even configured WL 6.1 SP2 as the main webserver under a localdirector,
and faced the same problem? We are desperate here.
Thanks,
Rodrigo

Local Director unable to detect a failed web site

Hi all,
I have configured the local director to load balance several web sites on two real servers. One of these sites is required to be configured in backup mode.
For some reason the local director is unable to detect the site has gone down (by stopping the site to update the web content), therefore not directing requests to the backup real server.
I am using IIS 5.0, since its quite popular out there, has anyone experienced a similar situation and if so, how did you resolve it?
thanks

Your problem is based in the Operating system, not the Local Director. The LD is a layer 3 device. Microsoft put their application architecture together different from the Unix world, ie: Any ip address bound to a MS box is answered for by the OS - not the application (IIS in this case) If IIS is hosed up the OS will still answer for the IP you have bound to the NIC of the OS - the OS does not care at layer 3 that you want a higher level reply - LD does its availability checking at Layer 3 - the OS layer for MS. In the Unix world when an application is bound to a port - ie: Apache to port 80, then the apache deamon answers for that ip/port - not the OS - Apache panics and it will not respond at Layer 3 - the OS could be fine, but the LD will know that ip/port is not responding and will take the appropriate actions by your LD config.
Check out the httpprobe feature of the LD - it lets you test for a file in a URL inside the LD.
Cheers

Local Director Remote Management

Is there any way to use SNMP to manage the Local Director. I have the SNMP community but I can't seem to change the server status from out of service to in service using snmpset (from UCD-SNMP). Am I doing this in vain. Are there any ways to do remote management of the LD or can it easily be scripted. Thanks.

you cannot SET values for the Local Director through SNMP. Just GET them.
There used to be a GUI for the LD, that works up to version 3.x. It no longer works in version 4.x. The name for it is CVS and it can take servers out of service. It does it by telnetting to the LD and issueing commands.
Also, the LD support Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP) which is a protocol that allows the LD to talk to an agent application (installed on the server) and can dynamically adjust the server weight according to load.
Hope that helps,
-Steve

Local Director

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