MACROMEDIA FIREWORKS 2-USING FIREWORKS Use Manual Download Page 17

Introducing edge servers

17

When the load on an edge starts to scale down, so does its affinity value. Because the client 
always looks to connect to the edge with the lowest affinity value, this edge begins to take 
back connections that had spilled over into the next edge. The objective is to balance the 
number of connection requests to the available resources, and have all connections to the same 
application instance again pass through the same edge.

The client logic remains simple: to connect to the edge with the lowest affinity value. The 
client only needs to know the affinity value for the different edges in the cluster to make the 
connection to the right edge.

Clustering reverse proxies

Reverse proxies are configured to redirect incoming connection requests instead of outgoing 
connection requests, as is the case with explicit and anonymous proxies. The client’s request to 
connect to the desired application must first pass through the load balancer positioned before 
the cluster of reverse proxies before it reaches the origin server. When reverse proxies are 
deployed, the client's broadcast for a connection request cannot reach either an edge server or 
the origin server and the requested application. The URI for the proxy cluster or the origin 
server is not found on the client. Reverse proxying requires a different strategy for connecting 
clients and applications. 

Clustering works efficiently when all clients that request the same application instance 
connect to the same edge server in the cluster, where the application is cached. To accomplish 
this efficiency with reverse proxying requires a multistep procedure. 

1.

The client sends an HTTP request that includes an 

XML.load

 call to the origin server:

http://origin[:<port>]/fms/fpad?uri=<uri>

2.

The load balancer on the remote network intercepts the request and routes it to one of the 
edge servers in the cluster. 

3.

This edge server then acts as an FPAD client and broadcasts an FPAD message. 

4.

The edge servers enrolled in the cluster respond with their affinity values.

5.

The broadcasting edge server chooses the edge server with the lowest affinity value. 

6.

This edge server sends the required information back to the client:

<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>
<fpad>
   <proxy>10.133.192.85:1935</proxy>
   <timestamp>627539012</timestamp>
   <userdata></userdata>
</fpad>

where the 

<proxy>

 tag contains the 

host:ip address 

of the edge server to connect to. 

Summary of Contents for FIREWORKS 2-USING FIREWORKS

Page 1: ...Using Flash Media Server Edge Servers ...

Page 2: ...n of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third party sites Jabber is a registered trademark of the Jabber Software Foundation Sorenson Spark video compression and decompression technology licensed from Sorenson Media Inc Copyright 2002 2005 Macromedia Inc All rights reserved This manual may not be copied photocopied reproduced tra...

Page 3: ...onnecting to an edge server 12 Detecting the presence of proxy servers 13 Chaining edge servers 13 Configuring edge servers 14 Deploying a cluster of edge servers 15 Connecting to a cluster of edge servers 16 Enrolling proxy servers in the cluster 16 Accessing applications through an edge cluster 16 Clustering reverse proxies 17 Setting up origin and proxy servers 18 Maintaining edge server cluste...

Page 4: ...4 Contents ...

Page 5: ...in your organization offers significant benefits Enhanced security is one benefit Applications running on the origin server are no longer directly exposed to the Internet All requests for Flash Media Server services are routed through known and secure connection points These connectors are called edge or proxy servers the terms are interchangeable Administrators can monitor the traffic on edge ser...

Page 6: ... to the edge server which in turn forwards the data to the client the user s computer It may seem to the users that they are directly connected to the origin server where the application is located The edge server does make it appear as if it is running the application The edge server s role however is to mediate the communications between clients and the origin server Edge servers authenticate th...

Page 7: ...onnection to the origin server All communications between edge and origin servers happen transparently to the users To distribute the demands on network and system resources administrators can assign the users in a geographical region or functional area of the organization to a specific edge server For example one edge server might aggregate and forward requests from users in Tokyo and another mig...

Page 8: ... resources efficiently Caching static content reduces the overall load placed on the origin server A networked Flash Media Server deployment involves multiple edge servers these can be deployed individually or in clusters Edge servers can also be chained where one edge server collects and aggregates the connection requests from other edge servers and their clients then transmits the requests to an...

Page 9: ...he it returns the data to the requesting client the user s computer without ever calling upon the origin server This detour is transparent to the user The edge server is conserving bandwidth by not connecting to the origin server In this scenario no demands are placed on the origin server Deploying edge servers in the DMZ Edge servers may be deployed in the demilitarized zone DMZ of a corporate ne...

Page 10: ...e explicit proxy specifies the edge servers that will intercept the clients connection requests to the origin server The identity the IP address and port number of the implicit proxy is hidden from the client The implicit proxy does not change or modify the routing information in the incoming URI before it connects the clients to the origin server Edge servers are also defined as implicit proxies ...

Page 11: ...rs and position them closer to the origin server Reverse proxies are usually located within an organization s DMZ and control access to Flash Media Server resources from clients connecting through the Internet to an origin server located behind the firewall Reverse proxies redirect incoming connection requests instead of outgoing connection requests as in the case of explicit and anonymous proxies...

Page 12: ...ner tag holds all the RouteEntry tags For example the RouteTable container may hold one RouteEntry tag to specify a secure outgoing connection by using RTMP and another RouteEntry tag that specifies the nonsecure RTMP connection If a protocol is not specified the outgoing connection uses the same protocol as the incoming connection For detailed information on these routing tags see Vhost xml file ...

Page 13: ... you make connections to the origin server The following URI shows how two explicit proxies are chained together to direct connection requests to the origin server rtmp proxy1 rtmp proxy2 rtmp origin app inst When you use URL decoration to chain proxies Flash Player 7 and earlier versions may have problems with shared objects because of the embedded question mark character in the URL A workaround ...

Page 14: ...s to the origin server These settings determine how the incoming URLs are routed between the edges and the origin server You can have a computer run Flash Media Server in a mixed mode in which certain virtual hosts on this system run applications locally while others run applications remotely To configure Flash Media Server you edit or modify the XML tags in its configuration files Following are s...

Page 15: ...he results in a cache making it available to other servers and clients As this organization grows or reallocates its resources it can add more edge servers to the cluster or explicitly reassign clients to different edge servers Organization B uses a cluster of edge servers to manage the inbound traffic from clients located outside of the network This traffic is destined for Flash Media Server appl...

Page 16: ...ges allowed in the cluster The edge that is starting up waits for all of the responses to be received then assigns itself the first ID not found in the sequence When an edge server shuts down it broadcasts a message announcing its exit from the cluster Accessing applications through an edge cluster To maximize the conservation of network and bandwidth resources Flash Media Server directs to the sa...

Page 17: ...roadcast for a connection request cannot reach either an edge server or the origin server and the requested application The URI for the proxy cluster or the origin server is not found on the client Reverse proxying requires a different strategy for connecting clients and applications Clustering works efficiently when all clients that request the same application instance connect to the same edge s...

Page 18: ... origin and proxy servers Using these guidelines helps ensure satisfactory performance and results Make sure your Macromedia license permits you to use proxy servers or a proxy cluster Deploy all proxy and origin servers on identical computers Use the same operating system Linux or Windows on all computers to avoid conflicts with filenames Linux uses case sensitive filenames filenames on Windows a...

Page 19: ...next Flash Media Server in the cluster 5 Configure this Flash Media Server instance as an edge server 6 Make sure this edge server points to the origin server 7 Repeat steps 5 through 7 for each edge server that your license file allows Your Flash Media Servers are now clustered To expand the cluster s capacity you may add new edge servers if your license permits to the cluster and configure them ...

Page 20: ...cache_directory 2 Run the cache bat file and verify that it deletes files in the cache directory Note that the directory structure remains this is an expected behavior Any files currently locked by the edge server are not deleted this is also an expected behavior 3 Select Control Panel Scheduled Tasks Add Scheduled Task 4 Select cache bat as the new file to run Macromedia recommends that you sched...

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