Setting Up a Cluster

14 Setting Up a Cluster

For high availability, you can set up a WebCenter Sites cluster in a WebLogic domain with a primary cluster node on one machine and one or more secondary cluster nodes on the same or different machines. The first WebCenter Sites Managed Server you create is the primary node, and any additional WebCenter Sites Managed Servers in the same domain are secondary nodes.

The following topics describe how to set up a WebCenter Sites cluster.

Preparing to Set Up a WebCenter Sites Cluster

Now that you have installed and configured a WebCenter Sites domain with Managed Servers, set up a load balancer, run the Configurator, set up an LDAP authentication provider, and configured CAS, you can set up a cluster of WebCenter Sites Managed Servers for the domain.

Before setting up a WebCenter Sites cluster, ensure that the following tasks are done:

Install WebCenter Sites, as Installing the Oracle WebCenter Sites Software describes, and set up a WebLogic domain with at least one WebCenter Sites Managed Server, the primary node in a cluster, as Configuring the WebCenter Sites Domain describes.

If you followed the instructions in Configuring the WebCenter Sites Domain, you would have a WebCenter Sites domain with one cluster and two Manager Servers to start setting up the cluster.

To add secondary nodes, you can clone the primary node configuration through the WebLogic Remote Console, as Setting Up a WebCenter Sites Cluster describes. Or you can use the Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard to extend the WebCenter Sites domain,
Set up a web tier and load balancer, and configure the primary cluster node to use the load balancer’s IP address, as Creating a WebCenter Sites Web Tier describes.

For more information about setting up a load balancer, see "Server Load Balancing in a High Availability Environment" and "Configure Load Balancer" in the High Availability Guide
Run the WebCenter Sites Configurator, as Configuring WebCenter Sites describes.
For authentication based on an external LDAP authentication provider or Oracle Access Manager, complete this integration before scaling out for a clustered environment. You can change the default identity store to an LDAP authentication provider with Oracle Access Manager, as Switching to Authentication Against an LDAP Directory describes. You also have the option of integrating WebCenter Sites with an external LDAP directory, as Switching to Authentication Against an LDAP Directory describes.
If you want to deploy the Centeral Authentication Service (CAS) on a separate server for High Availability, set up a CAS cluster prior to WebCenter Sites cluster configuration.
If the CAS application is to reside on a cluster node other than the primary, complete the steps in Configuring the CAS Primary Cluster Node.
For a traditional, file-based cluster, set up a new shared location, containing the wcs_properties.json file that all the different cluster nodes can point to.

Note:
This step is not required for a cluster that uses the NIO database-based file system. For more information, see Moving the Shared File System to a Database.
1. In the WebCenter Sites shared storage directory (sites-shared), create a directory named config.
2. Move the file DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config/wcs_properties.json to the sites-shared/config directory. Do not copy the file.
3. Update the sites.config system property on each cluster node to reference the shared directory where wcs_properties.json now resides.
  
  Note:
  The sites.config cannot used for sharedFS. For the directory sharedFS you need to create a new directory, often the directory wcssites/wcsites/shared is used. The configuration utility will fail when pointing the sharedFS to sites.config .
Shut down all WebCenter Sites Managed Servers in the cluster.

Setting Up a WebCenter Sites Cluster

After you create one or more WebCenter Sites cluster nodes as Managed Servers (wcs_server1 and wcs_server2), you need to configure the nodes to set up the cluster.

First you configure the primary cluster node for WebCenter Sites. Then you can configure one or more secondary nodes to work with the primary node in a cluster. Do the following steps to complete configuration changes required for the primary node to work in a cluster configuration:

Note:

Add these two new parameters to support the JEP 290 Deserialization Filter settings for Sites Cluster ehcache replication.

Dweblogic.oif.serialFilterMode=combine 
Dweblogic.oif.serialFilter=java.rmi.server.RemoteObject;java.**;net.sf.ehcach e.**

Register the primary cluster node:
1. Start the WebCenter Sites Managed Server.
2. Sign in to the WebCenter Sites Admin interface, select the Admin tab, expand System Tools, and click Cluster Node Management.
3. Enter valid values for the following fields for sites_server1:
  Node name: The node name should be the Managed Server Name. For example: sites_server1.
  
  Host name: The host name or IP address of the node member is the actual listen address of the node, and not the load balancer.
  
  Port number: The port number of the node member is the actual port of the node, and not the load balancer's port.
  
  Batch Host name: The host name or IP address of the node member is the actual listen address of the node, and not the load balancer. In a clustered environment, only one batch host is supported. The property must be set on each cluster member to point to the dedicated host.
  
  Batch Port number: Note that if the port number is something other than 80, you must also specify the port number.
  
  Are you installing over a secure connection? : Specify the protocol of the server on which the cluster member is running. Set yes for HTTPS and no for HTTP.
4. Click Add to register the primary node.
  
  Note:
  The primary node must be registered first.
Use the WebLogic Remote Console to start the servers:
1. In the Monitoring Tree, go to Environment, then Servers.
2. Select the server you want to start, then click Start.
3. Add -Dsites.node={serverName} under Arguments.
For more information about using the WebLogic Console to start servers, see Configure Clusters in Oracle WebLogic Remote Console Online Help.
In the DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config directory, modify the cas.properties file by updating the host.name property with a valid host name for this cluster node. The host.name value should be unique within the cluster.

If the cluster spans multiple physical servers, edit the cas-cache.xml, cs-cache.xml, linked-cache.xml, ss-cache.xml, and ticket-cache.xml files in the DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config directory as follows.

(Optional) If you are using IPv6 addressing, set multicastGroupAddress value to a valid IPv6 multicast address. This value must be the same for each node in the cluster. For example: [ff0x:0:0:0:0:0:0:301].

Set the timeToLive parameter in cas-cache.xml, cs-cache.xml, linked-cache.xml, and ss-cache.xml files to a value appropriate for your environment (typically 1). Set the ip_ttl parameter in ticket-cache.xml file to a value appropriate for your environment (typically 1). The timeToLive field must be changed from the default value of 0 if the cluster members are not all collocated on the same machine. This field must be set based on the distribution of your clustered machines, as the following table shows.

List	Description
1	Multicast packets restricted to the same subnet.
32	Multicast packets restricted to the same site.
64	Multicast packets restricted to the same geographical region.
128	Multicast packets restricted to the same continent.
255	No restriction.

Note:

Sometimes WebCenter Sites installation may be slow and take up to several hours because other installations may be using the same multicast port. Ensure that the ports used for this installation are different from other WebCenter Sites installations on the network. If your installation seems slow, change your multicast ports as a troubleshooting step.

(Optional) Oracle recommends changing the multicastGroupPort value to a unique value greater than 2048. Ensure that the multicast port used in ticket-cache.xml is the same on each node in the cluster but is different on other clusters running on the same network

If the CAS application is colocated on the same WebLogic domain as WebCenter Sites, complete the CAS cluster configuration steps in Configuring the CAS Primary Cluster Node..
Test the first node:
1. Start theWebCenter Sites Managed Server for this node, or if it is already running, restart it (stop and start).
2. Sign in to WebCenter Sites to ensure it is up and running.
To complete configuration changes required for sites_server2 and any additional secondary nodes, ensure that the Managed Server is shut down, do the following steps, and then go back and repeat steps 2 through 6.
Add any additional nodes to the WebCenter Sites domain, through the WebLogic Remote Console (preferred), or by extending the domain through the Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard.
1. To add an additional node using the Remote Console, see Configure Machines
2. For sites_server2 or any additional secondary node added using the Configuration Wizard (DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config.sh), copy the config folder from the primary node (DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config to replace the config folder created by the Configuration Wizard on the newly added node (DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config).
  This ensures that the configuration files on the newly added node are properly configured.

Configure the setStartupEnv.sh script in the <DOMAIN_HOME>/bin folder:

Locate the first instance of wcsites_server1 in a section that appears as follows:

if [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "wcsites_server1" ] ; then
 STARTUP_GROUP="WCSITES-MGD-SVR"
 export STARTUP_GROUP
 fi

Copy the entire if statement and add one for every additional Sites server. For example:

if [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "wcsites_server1" ] ; then
 STARTUP_GROUP="WCSITES-MGD-SVR"
 export STARTUP_GROUP
 fi
 if [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "wcsites_server2" ] ; then
 STARTUP_GROUP="WCSITES-MGD-SVR"
 export STARTUP_GROUP
 fi

Save the file.

Complete the following steps related to the folder DOMAIN_HOME/wcsites/wcsites/config.
1. Ensure this directory has been copied to each cluster node and is available locally.
2. Ensure this directory is referenced in the Managed Server class path of each cluster node.
3. Ensure this directory does not contain the wcs_properties.json file.

Restart the Managed Server for this cluster node.
Sign in to the WebCenter Sites Admin interface, select the Admin tab, expand System Tools, and click Cluster Node Management.

In the screen that appears, choose Add from the drop-down list and provide values for the following parameters.

Name	Description
Node name	This must be the same as the value of `-Dsites.node` for this cluster node from step 3
Host name	The host name or IP address of this cluster node (not the load balancer).
Port number	The port number of this cluster node (not the load balancer).
Batch Host name	The host name or IP address of the node member, which is the actual listen address of the node, and not the load balancer. In a clustered environment, only one batch host is supported. Set this property on each cluster member to point to the dedicated host.
Batch Port number	The batch port number, which you must specify if it is something other than `80`.
Are you installing over a secure connection?	Set to Yes if using SSL (HTTPS); otherwise set to No.

Restart the WebCenter Sites Managed Server running this cluster node.
Sign in to the WebCenter Sites Admin interface on this cluster node to confirm it is up and running. To view the cluster node configuration, click the Admin tab and navigate to System Tools > System Information > Sites Info.
(Optional) If you want to move the WebCenter Sites shared storage into a database, complete the steps in Moving the Shared File System to a Database.

For more information about clustering, see Advanced Administration: Expanding Your Environment in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware.