Cluster guidelines

 

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Overview

A cluster is composed of multiple identical copies of an application server. A cluster member is a single application server in the cluster. WebSphere Portal is installed as an enterprise application server within the WAS infrastructure. All of the clustering features available within the WAS infrastructure are also available and apply to WebSphere Portal. Thus, a WebSphere Portal cluster is simply a collection of multiple WebSphere Portal servers that are identically configured.

The deployment manager node must be installed separately before the cells and clusters can be configured.

If you add a node to a cell or change a node's configuration after it has been federated to the deployment manager, synchronize the node's configuration.

For HTTP session failover, you can use...

See...

You can create an IBM WebSphere Extended Deployment dynamic cluster to run WebSphere Portal. WebSphere Extended Deployment does not support installation on i5/OS.

If you are planning to configure an external security manager to perform authentication or authorization for in a cluster environment, install and configure the WebSphere Portal cluster first. Verify that the cluster is working properly before proceeding with the configuration of any external security managers.

For i5/OS, set up a recycling procedure WebSphere Portal database by automatically removing the unused journal files:

CHGJRN JRN(QWPS60/QSQJRN) DLTRCV(*YES)

QWPS60 is a default name of the WebSphere Portal database.

 

Limitations

In a clustered environment, it is not possible to...

These changes must be made by modifying the respective properties in the WAS administrative console.

As it is essential that each user maintain a session with a single server, decentralized authoring applications would not be deployed in a cluster.

WebSphere Portal is not supported on managed nodes that are not part of a clustered environment.

A cluster can be created which contains only one WebSphere Portal server, enabling a single WebSphere Portal server to be operational in a managed cell.

Windows limits path names to a maximum length of 259 characters, which is problematic. Install portal at the top of the file system, using short paths such as...

Give cells, nodes, and servers short 2-3 character names.

Configure remote search service on an application server node that is not part of the cluster.

Administrative actions for WebSphere Portal are immediately visible for the user who performs them. However, another user can be assured of seeing the changes only if the user logs out of WebSphere Portal and then logs back in. This limitation applies to both cluster and non-cluster environments.

When creating a cluster or a cluster member, do not use spaces in the cluster name or the cluster member name.

Installation in a mixed node environment is not supported in an i5/OS environment.

For the deployment manager and each WebSphere Portal node to be in the cluster, verify that each system clock is set to within 5 minutes of the others or the addNode command will fail.

 

HTTP session failover

In a clustered environment, all requests for a particular session are directed to the same server instance in the cluster. In other words, after a user establishes a session

For example, by logging in, the user is served by the same server instance for the duration of the session.

To verify which server is handling user requests for a session, you can view the global settings portlet, which displays the node name of the server handling requests.

If one of the servers in the cluster fails, the request is rerouted to another server in the cluster. If distributed sessions support is enabled, either by persistent sessions or memory-to-memory session replication, the new server can access session data from the database or another server instance.

 

Set up an i5/OS database in a cluster

Servers running IBM i5/OS can use either of two JDBC drivers:

 

Cluster security

Security is enabled by default for the WAS deployment manager. WebSphere Portal will not attempt to change the security settings in the deployment manager cell whenever a node is federated.

This means that any existing security configuration of a stand-alone WebSphere Portal is lost when it joins a deployment manager cell and picks up the security settings of the cell.

 

Use external security managers in a cluster

If you are configuring security for IBM WebSphere Portal with an external security manager, review the additional considerations described in this section, depending on the external security manager that you are using.

Perform any configuration for an external security manager after you have completed all other setup, including ensuring that the WebSphere Portal cluster is functional.


Portlet Not Available

If you have performed database transfer in a clustered environment, explicitly copy...

...from the primary node on which the database-transfer task was processed to all secondary nodes. This ensures that the secondary nodes have the new JCR database values specified in the icm.properties file.

  1. Stop the portal server on the secondary node.

  2. Copy...

      wp_profile_root/PortalServer/jcr/lib/com/ibm/icm/icm.properties

    ...from the primary node and replace the icm.properties file on the secondary node with the new file from the primary node.

  3. Start the portal server on the secondary node.

 

Multiple clusters

Multiple clusters are sets of servers that are managed together within a single administrative domain known as a cell, and participate in workload management.

 

Portlet Not Available

 

WebSphere Extended Deployment Dynamic Clusters/a>

You can create a IBM WebSphere Extended Deployment dynamic cluster to run IBM WebSphere Portal.

 

Cluster maintenance

Maintaining IBM WebSphere Portal in a cluster typically means applying...

...on each node in the cluster.

Instructions for applying corrective service to a WebSphere Portal cluster are provided with the corrective service package.

Before applying any maintenance, analyze any impact to your end users and ensure that you are able to provide uninterrupted service, also referred to as 24x7 availability, even during the maintenance phase.

 

Parent topic

Plan for WebSphere Portal