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Intergraph WebScale User Manual

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:HE6FDOHŒ
Based on technology from Valence™ Research, Inc.
User's Guide
,QWHUJUDSK &RPSXWHU 6\VWHPV
Huntsville, AL

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Summary of Contents for Intergraph WebScale

  • Page 1 :HE6FDOHŒ Based on technology from Valence™ Research, Inc. User’s Guide ,QWHUJUDSK &RPSXWHU 6\VWHPV Huntsville, AL...
  • Page 2 This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Intergraph Computer Systems, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice.
  • Page 3 Internet server applications, such as World Wide Web, proxy, DNS, and FTP servers. At the same time, WebScale can help you to scale your server’s performance to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of your Internet-based clients.
  • Page 4 ABLE OF ONTENTS ™ ELCOME TO CALE ABLE OF ONTENTS ’ EW IN ERSION NIC L EMOVAL OF INGLE IMITATIONS EMOTE LUSTER ONTROL NHANCED ESSION UPPORT ERFORMANCE NHANCEMENTS NTRODUCTION DVANTAGES OF SING CALE ’ VERVIEW OF CALE OFTWARE ONFIGURATION ATABASE CCESS WITHIN OAD BALANCED ERVER...
  • Page 5 Removal of Single NIC Limitations By default, WebScale now directs network traffic to the cluster NIC’s using a multicast cluster MAC address instead of by using a non-multicast cluster MAC address. The WebScale driver no longer instructs the NIC driver (via the Windows NT Registry) to load the cluster MAC address into the NIC card at system startup.

  • Page 6: Performance Enhancements

    TCP connections, it is important that all TCP connections for this client be directed to the same cluster host. In previous versions of WebScale, you could optionally force this behavior by setting the WebScale registry parameter ScaleSingleClient to 0. Otherwise, WebScale would load balance TCP connections from a single client across the cluster to maximize performance.
  • Page 7 WebScale™ User’s Guide latest NDIS device drivers and NIC hardware. WebScale fully pipelines all packet reception and transmission to the maximum extent supported by NDIS drivers and protocol stacks. Also, WebScale’s load balancing mechanisms have been refined to ensure the smoothest possible load transfers when cluster hosts enter and exit the cluster...
  • Page 8 For other services, such as email, only one copy of the service handles the workload within the cluster. Instead of load balancing these services, WebScale allows the network traffic to flow to one host, and it moves the traffic to another host in case of failure.
  • Page 9 Hosts can be dynamically added to the cluster as necessary to handle increased load. WebScale can also direct all traffic to a designated single host, called the default host.
  • Page 10 WebScale™ User’s Guide WebScale allows finer control over the load distribution among the servers by designating load percentages to be assigned for the servers (the next version of WebScale will provide dynamic load balancing according to the measured server load).
  • Page 11 User’s Guide Overview of WebScale’s Software Configuration WebScale runs as a Windows NT networking driver and its operations are transparent to the TCP/IP networking stack. The above diagram shows the relationship between WebScale and the other software components in a typical configuration of a WebScale...
  • Page 12 Over the next five years, clustered database software will be deployed to deliver highly available and scalable database access within the cluster. For more information on how WebScale achieves fault-tolerance and scalability, please consult the section Theory of Operation.

  • Page 13: System Requirements

    WebScale cluster. If multicast cluster MAC addressing is disabled, it is still possible to use WebScale with a single NIC in the system, but this will limit overall performance and networking functionality within the cluster itself; please refer to the...
  • Page 14 Starting with Version 2, a multicast cluster MAC address is used by default for cluster operations. For backward compatibility with previous versions, you can disable the use of multicast cluster MAC addressing in the WebScale Setup dialog. In this case, please carefully read the limitations described below.
  • Page 15 If you have a single adapter card, it will serve both purposes. To install and configure WebScale, please follow these steps for each host to be used in your WebScale cluster: æ...
  • Page 16 Apply button to make use of the features enabled by your license key. æ Create port rules to specify how you want WebScale to handle network traffic for specific TCP and/or UDP ports. Refer to the Port Rules section for more details.
  • Page 17 Installation WebScale must be installed and configured on every Windows NT computer (called a host) that will be part of a cluster. Please follow these steps to install WebScale on each host: Before installing WebScale, be sure to read the section System Requirements.
  • Page 18 NIC. Step 3: Install the WebScale Driver Because WebScale is a standard Windows NT networking driver, it can be installed, configured and removed through the Network component of the Windows NT Control Panel. Although its installation is straightforward, it should be performed by a system administrator who is familiar with installing and managing networking software.
  • Page 19 Click on the Add button to begin installing WebScale. Windows NT will display the Select Network Adapter dialog (see below) to show a list of adapters supplied with Windows NT. Note that WebScale is not in this list of adapters.
  • Page 20 Fill out the directory path to the WebScale installation files and click on the OK button. If you copied the WebScale installation files to a diskette, make sure that the diskette is in your floppy drive now. If you copied the WebScale installation files to a directory on your hard disk, then enter the path to that directory.
  • Page 21 Network dialog and click on the Remove button. For more details on removing WebScale, please refer to the Disabling and Removing WebScale section. After you click on the Agree button for the WebScale license agreement, you will be presented with the WebScale Setup dialog which lets you configure your system for cluster operations.
  • Page 22 æ Click on the Close button to exit the Network setup dialog. You will be prompted to reboot your system at this point. The WebScale driver will automatically load next time you start your system. You have now successfully installed WebScale! Please refer to the topic Execution and Control for information...
  • Page 23 User’s Guide Setup: Configuring WebScale’s Parameters WebScale must be configured on each host computer within the cluster using the WebScale Setup dialog. This dialog appears automatically during the installation process. After installation, it can be invoked from the Network setup dialog from Control Panel folder as follows: æ...
  • Page 24 WebScale™ User’s Guide This dialog sets parameters that are recorded in the Windows NT registry. WebScale’s parameters are organized into four major sections, each of which is represented by a separate box in the WebScale Setup dialog: Cluster Parameters To set cluster-wide parameters...
  • Page 25 WebScale™ User’s Guide In addition to the above parameters, the WebScale Setup dialog has three buttons that apply to all parameters: æ Click on the OK button to save all of the entered parameters in the registry and exit the dialog.
  • Page 26 Primary IP address, which specifies the cluster-wide IP address to be used for all hosts, the Subnet mask for the cluster’s primary IP address, the Full Internet name, which specifies the full Internet name for the WebScale cluster (for example, cluster.your-company.com), the Network address, which specifies the cluster-wide Network address for the...
  • Page 27 Intergraph Computer Systems, Inc. for more information. If you have other WebScale clusters on one local subnet, each cluster will need to use a different network address. When you select a different primary IP address for each cluster, WebScale automatically ensures that the clusters use unique network addresses.
  • Page 28 Clear this field to disable remote control. Once remote control has been enabled, remote access can be restricted by specifying a remote control password. Host Parameters The Host Parameters section of the WebScale Setup dialog appears as follows on the screen:...
  • Page 29 TCP and UDP ports that are not otherwise specified in the Port Rules section of the WebScale Setup dialog. It is used in case a host within the cluster goes offline, and it determines which host within the cluster will take over handling this traffic if required.
  • Page 30 (NIC) is used to handle both cluster network traffic and network traffic to the dedicated IP address. (In this case, both the cluster’s IP address and the dedicated IP address are bound to the single NIC.) WebScale will ensure that all traffic to the dedicated IP address is unaffected by WebScale’s current configuration, including:...
  • Page 31 The WebScale Setup dialog will use these parameters while running the dialog; no changes are saved to the registry. If the License key field is left blank, WebScale will be enabled for a trial period with a subset of its full feature set.
  • Page 32 Intergraph Computer Systems, Inc. This field can be left blank in order to use WebScale for a trial period with a subset of its full feature set. After you enter a license key and press the Apply button, the WebScale Setup dialog will display your licensing information in the fields below the license key.
  • Page 33 This field is calculated based on the current license key. Maximum Number of Hosts This value displays the maximum number of hosts that you can have in the WebScale cluster. This field is calculated based on the current license key.
  • Page 34 100 percent. For example, if the cluster has two hosts with load percentages of 30 and 60 percent, WebScale will direct one-third (30/90) of the traffic to one host and two-thirds (60/90) to the other.
  • Page 35 A message will be entered into the Windows NT Event log. When this happens, you should consult the Event log to determine which host conflicts, fix the problem, and restart WebScale on this host. The rules entered on each host in the cluster must have matching port ranges, protocol...
  • Page 36 You will be warned of this situation, and your rules will remain unchanged so that you can make the necessary changes. Note that WebScale driver will use only the number of rules for which you are licensed (starting from the first rule).
  • Page 37 Affinity: None The None button specifies that WebScale does not need to direct multiple requests from the same client to the same cluster host (that is, no client affinity).
  • Page 38 Affinity: Class C The Class C button specifies that WebScale should direct multiple requests from the same TCP/IP Class C address range to the same cluster host. Enabling client affinity ensures that only one cluster host handles all connections that are part of the same client session.
  • Page 39 Modify button. You can also delete the rule by clicking on the Remove button. The number and type of rules must match across all of the machines in the WebScale cluster. Please see section Port Rules for more information on this subject.
  • Page 40 WebScale™ User’s Guide æ If you have one NIC that is used for both the WebScale cluster and for other network traffic to the host, follow the instructions in the section Using a Single Network Interface Card. æ Restart Windows NT as instructed by the Network setup dialog so that the binding changes will take place.
  • Page 41 When the bindings are displayed, you will see a – sign to the left of the protocol. You will notice that WebScale Virtual NIC appears in the list of adapters for the TCP/IP and WINS Client protocols. WebScale registers itself with Windows NT as both a protocol and as a virtual network adapter.
  • Page 42 Enable the binding from the WebScale Driver to the network adapter that will handle cluster traffic (called the cluster adapter). æ Disable the binding from the WebScale Driver to all other adapters. To disable a binding, highlight the adapter and click on the Disable button. æ...
  • Page 43 During the binding review, the TCP/IP protocol will discover that it is bound to a new network adapter, the WebScale Virtual NIC, and it will display the Microsoft TCP/IP Properties dialog, as shown below. This dialog is displayed the first time you establish the binding so that TCP/IP can setup IP addresses for the adapter.
  • Page 44 User’s Guide To setup TCP/IP for WebScale: æ Select WebScale Virtual NIC from the list of adapters in the drop down list. æ Enter the cluster IP address in the space for the IP address. This corresponds to the primary cluster IP address that you entered in the WebScale Setup dialog.
  • Page 45 Using a Single Network Interface Card When installing WebScale in a system with a single network interface card (NIC), make sure that you have read the topic on single network interface card limitations. Multicast support is enable by default. However, if you disable multicast support, this hardware configuration is not preferred because it limits networking performance and functionality.
  • Page 46 When the bindings are displayed, you will see a – sign to the left of the protocol. You will notice that WebScale Virtual NIC appears in the list of adapters for the TCP/IP and WINS Client protocols. WebScale registers itself with Windows NT as both a protocol and as a virtual network adapter.
  • Page 47 æ Disable the binding from the WINS Client to the network adapter. æ Note that other protocols will not be able to bind to WebScale Virtual NIC and will stay bound to the hardware network adapter. æ Click on the Close button to initiate the rebinding of network components by Windows NT.
  • Page 48 Enter this host’s dedicated IP address in the space for the IP address. Since TCP/IP is only bound to the WebScale Virtual NIC, it becomes this host’s only TCP/IP interface to the network. It is imperative that the dedicated IP address be entered here so that all outbound connections made on behalf of this host (for example Telnet or FTP) are initiated with this IP address.
  • Page 49 Click on the Add button and enter the cluster IP address in the space for the IP address followed by the appropriate subnet mask. This IP address corresponds to the primary cluster IP address that you entered in the WebScale Setup dialog. æ...
  • Page 50 Click on the OK button to complete the installation. æ Restart Windows NT to load the new version of WebScale and to allow this host to rejoin the cluster. You can also upgrade your software license to allow expanded use of WebScale features.
  • Page 51 (Please refer to the Cluster Control section for more information on these commands.) Disabling and Removing WebScale You can easily disable the WebScale driver if you will not be using a host in cluster operations for an extended period of time. To disable the WebScale driver: æ...
  • Page 52 WebScale™ User’s Guide æ Click on the OK button to complete the dialog. æ In the %SYSTEM_ROOT%\system32 directory, remove the files webscale.exe, webscale.dll, webscale.hlp, and webscale.cnt. æ In the %SYSTEM_ROOT%\system32\drivers directory, remove the file webscale.sys.

  • Page 53: Theory Of Operation

    User’s Guide XECUTION AND ONTROL Once you have installed and configured WebScale on all hosts that will belong to the cluster, you are ready to begin cluster operations. To help you use WebScale effectively, this section covers the following topics:...
  • Page 54 IP address (and for additional IP addresses on multi-homed hosts). On each cluster host, the WebScale driver acts as a filter between the cluster NIC driver and the TCP/IP protocol stack to allow a portion of the incoming network traffic to be received by the local host.
  • Page 55 When using the Microsoft network commands (such as net use …) or when mapping in remote shares, you can access a WebScale cluster as a whole using a single NetBIOS machine name. This lets you use WebScale to scale read-only file services or print...
  • Page 56 The cluster’s NetBIOS machine name is the host name within the Full Internet name, which is entered via the WebScale Setup dialog. In order for the clients to locate the cluster via this cluster NetBIOS name (by resolving cluster NetBIOS name to the cluster’s IP address), you will need to create the appropriate static WINS or DNS entry;...
  • Page 57 If your cluster hosts have unusually high CPU load percentages when using WebScale’s multicast support, you may want to disable this feature (using the multicast enable button in the WebScale Setup dialog) to see if this is the source of the problem.
  • Page 58 You can specify cluster and host names as Internet host names or as their equivalent IP addresses. In addition, you can specify host names using their unique host priorities that were entered in the WebScale Setup dialog. You can use the special host priority value 0 to refer to the default host within a cluster.
  • Page 59 - all hosts in mycluster Cluster Control Commands The following table describes the commands provided by the WebScale control program. Note that some commands can only be invoked on the cluster hosts; they are designated as “local only” in the table.
  • Page 60 If this occurs, you should check the event logs on the cluster hosts for WebScale messages warning you about the source of the problem. Draining: The cluster has converged, and the responding host is draining active connections...
  • Page 61 If an error exists in the parameters, the host will not join the cluster, and a warning will be displayed. In this case, run the WebScale Setup dialog to fix the problem. Displays extensive information about your current...
  • Page 62 WebScale hosts can be configured to join the cluster automatically upon startup or to wait for the webscale start command by checking the initial state box in the WebScale Setup dialog. This command can be used with the webscale stop command to change cluster parameters for the local host without taking entire cluster off-line.

  • Page 63: Error Detection And Handling

    1717. (To adjust WebScale’s parameters, start the Windows NT registry editor and select the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebScale\Parameters.) If you change this port number, you can instruct webscale.exe to send commands to the new port using the /PORT option. For example: webscale start mycluster /PORT 1000 sends the start command to port 1000 on all cluster hosts in mycluster.

  • Page 64: Event Logging

    If inconsistencies are unexpectedly discovered when a host attempts to join the cluster, the host should be taken out of the cluster with the webscale stop command. The problem should be located and corrected using the WebScale Setup dialog on each host prior to returning the host(s) to the cluster using the webscale start command.
  • Page 65 WebScale. This information should be copied into the text of electronic mail message sent to Intergraph Computer Systems, Inc. requesting technical support.
  • Page 66 WebScale : there are more port rules defined than you are licensed to use. Some rules will be disabled. Please check WebScale Setup dialog to ensure that you are using the proper number of rules.
  • Page 67 1 and the maximum number of hosts. WebScale : host 'N' does not have the same number or type of port rules as this host. Please check WebScale Setup dialog on all machines that belong to the cluster and make sure that they all contain the same number and the same type of port rules.
  • Page 68 WebScale and should be solved prior to rebinding and using WebScale. Problem: IP address conflict Description: After I install WebScale and reboot a cluster host, I get the Windows NT system error “The system has detected an IP address conflict with another system on the network…”.
  • Page 69 WebScale™ User’s Guide the network is unreachable, the dialog will encounter a temporary delay. Be sure to use the initial license key until WebScale has been installed and network access has been established. Problem: Cluster does not converge. Description: After I start the cluster hosts, they start converging but never report that convergence has completed.
  • Page 70 WebScale’s multicast support and use a unicast network address without a switch. 3. When using WebScale in either multicast or unicast mode, routers need to be able to accept proxy ARP responses (IP to network address mappings that are received with a different network source address in the Ethernet frame).
  • Page 71 WebScale™ User’s Guide WebScale. If you are using a single NIC for both the dedicated and cluster IP addresses, go on to the next step. 2. If you are using unicast support, the cluster NIC could not change its network address.
  • Page 72 (single or Class 2. The application is not started on all cluster hosts. WebScale does not start or control applications. You should check that the application has been started on every cluster host.
  • Page 73 2. Remote control commands are sent to a secondary cluster IP address. Commands must be sent to the cluster’s primary IP address (which is entered in the WebScale Setup dialog). Be sure that you send remote commands to this IP address.
  • Page 74 You can also change the port number by modifying the corresponding WebScale registry parameter. Problem: WebScale remote control commands fail when the target host is specified using its dedicated IP address.
  • Page 75 This standard protocol is used by the TCP/IP Protocol to resolve IP addresses into their associated MAC addresses prior to communication across a local subnet. When WebScale uses a multicast cluster MAC address, it assists ARP to ensure that the cluster IP address(es) are resolved into the corresponding multicast cluster MAC address.
  • Page 76 IP address, source port, and destination port are forwarded to the same host. Note that several client requests are often needed to provide a higher level service, such as downloading a single web page to a client. For these higher level services, WebScale scales performance to a single client. Cluster A cluster is a set of computers that work together to provide a service.
  • Page 77 Host As used in the WebScale documentation, a host is a Windows NT computer that runs an Internet service. A cluster consists of multiple hosts connected over a local area network, which is in turn connected to the Internet.
  • Page 78 TCP connections, and the server application sometimes maintains state information (such as, “server cookies”) between requests. To preserve access to server state, WebScale needs to direct all requests within a session to the same cluster host when load balancing.
  • Page 79 WebScale™ User’s Guide NDEX definition · 71, 73 network interface · 9, 10, 13, 35 Class C address · 30, 71 Class C address session support · 34 adapter card · 11, 13, 35 Class C addresses · 1, 33, 34 built-in address ·...
  • Page 80 Advanced IP Addressing · 41 Network setup · 10, 13, 35, 46 TCP/IP Properties · 36, 41 handling priority · 32 WebScale Setup · 19, 53, 59 hardware address · 73 different number of port rules · 60 high availability · 49, 71 disabling ·...
  • Page 81 WebScale™ User’s Guide Internet server · 4 rules · 26 intra-cluster communications · 10 message exchange period · 51 introduction · 4 mode of filtering · 73 IP address multicast cluster · 10, 13, 21, 22, 36, 41, 49, 72 MAC address ·...
  • Page 82 · 47 39, 43, 50 request from a client · 72, 73 definition · 74 requirements for WebScale system · 9 technical support · 57, 58, 59, 61 resolution · 24, 26 theory of operation · 49 round-robin · 5 trademark ·...
  • Page 83 · 4 warning events · 60 trial web pages · 8 license key · 26 WebScale Driver · 11, 12, 18, 37, 38, period · 26, 28 42, 43 Troubleshooting Guide · 64 WebScale Setup dialog · 19, 53, 59 WebScale Virtual NIC ·...