MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX-CLUSTERCATS, Use Manual

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92 Chapter 4 Configuring Clusters
Load-balancing devices
You can configure ClusterCATS to work in conjunction with a third-party hardware
load-balancing device or load-balancing software product to provide comprehensive load
balancing and failover support for your server clusters.
This section describes the following:
•
“Using Cisco LocalDirector” on page 92
•
“Using third-party load-balancing devices in Windows” on page 96
•
“Using third-party load-balancing devices in UNIX” on page 97
Using Cisco LocalDirector
Cisco LocalDirector is a network appliance with a secure, real-time, embedded operating
system that intelligently load balances IP traffic across multiple servers. You can configure
ClusterCATS to provide server availability and load information to LocalDirector using
the Cisco Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP). LocalDirector then actively manages
HTTP traffic across the cluster, based on the load information provided to it by
ClusterCATS.
You can configure LocalDirector using the ClusterCATS Explorer on Windows only.
Note: You must use Cisco LocalDirector Version 3.1.4 software or later.
Before configuring ClusterCATS with LocalDirector, you must configure LocalDirector
to manage your web servers. For more information, see the Cisco documentation.
LocalDirector considerations
Be aware of the following issues when using ClusterCATS with Cisco LocalDirector:
•
When load balancing with LocalDirector, ClusterCATS sets the state of each cluster
member to passive mode. For more information, see
“Changing active/passive
settings” on page 111 .
•
Do not use round-robin DNS.
•
Turn off the ClusterCATS gradual redirection load threshold. For more information,
see
“Server load thresholds” on page 66 .
•
Do not use ClusterCATS dynamic IP addressing feature. If ClusterCATS performs
dynamic IP failover, the LocalDirector cannot recover the failed-over IP address. For
more information, see
“ClusterCATS dynamic IP addressing (Windows only)” on
page 132 .
•
If two or more web servers on a system are in clusters using LocalDirector load
balancing, each cluster must have the same DFP Agent Listen Port number
configured. The ClusterCATS DFP agent can listen only on one port.