Coyote Point Systems Equalizer Instruction Manual

Equalizer
Installation and
Administration Guide
Version 7.0
September 2003
Coyote Point Systems, Inc.
12 South First Street
Suite 616
San Jose, California 95113

Coyote Point Systems, Inc. iii
Copyright © 1997-2003 Coyote Point Systems, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the USA.
Equalizer is a trademark of Coyote Point Systems Incorporated. All other brand or product
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or
organizations.
THE SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE PRODUCTS IN THIS
MANUAL ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL STATEMENTS,
INFORMATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS MANUAL ARE BELIEVED TO
BE ACCURATE BUT ARE PRESENTED WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USERS MUST TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR
APPLICATION OF ANY PRODUCTS.
See Appendix F for complete License and Warranty information for this product.

iv Coyote Point Systems, Inc.

Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide v
Contents
Preface....................................................................................................... ix
1 Overview................................................................................................. 1
Introducing Equalizer ...................................................................................2
Intelligent Load Balancing ......................................................................2
Load Balancing UDP Services ...............................................................4
Maintaining Persistent Sessions ............................................................4
Layer 7 Load Balancing ...............................................................................5
Geographic Load Balancing ........................................................................6
Real-time Monitoring ............................................................................10
Equalizer Network Configurations .............................................................10
Using IP Aliases ...................................................................................11
Using Equalizer as a Gateway Between Networks ..............................11
Using Equalizer in a Single Network Environment ..............................12
Using a Second Equalizer as a Backup Unit .......................................13
Using Reserved IP Addresses .............................................................14
Equalizer Configuration Worksheet ...........................................................16
Configuration Worksheet for Using Reserved IP Addresses ...............18
2 Installing Equalizer.............................................................................. 19
Installing Equalizer .....................................................................................20
Setting up a Terminal or Terminal Emulator for Equalizer .........................21
3 Configuring Equalizer ......................................................................... 23
Equalizer Configuration .............................................................................24
Configuring the Network Parameters ...................................................25
Committing Changes to the Configuration Parameters .......................26
Setting the Time Zone .........................................................................26
Setting the Date and Time ...................................................................27
Changing Equalizer’s Console Password ............................................27
Changing the Administration Interface Password ................................27

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vi Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide
Upgrading Equalizer Software .............................................................27
Shutting Down Equalizer .....................................................................28
Geographic Load Balancing Configuration ................................................28
Configuring the Authoritative Name Server to Query Envoy ...............28
Using Geographic Load Balancing with Firewalled Networks .............29
Server Configuration ..................................................................................29
Failover Configuration ................................................................................30
Testing Your Configuration ........................................................................30
Equalizer Configuration Checklist ..............................................................31
4 Administering Equalizer Operation.................................................... 33
Introducing the Equalizer Administration Interface ....................................34
Accessing the Administration Interface ......................................................35
Logging In ............................................................................................35
Navigating Through the Interface ........................................................36
Monitoring Equalizer Operation .................................................................37
Displaying Equalizer Information .........................................................38
Displaying the Cluster Summary .........................................................39
Displaying the System Event Log ........................................................40
Displaying Cluster Information .............................................................40
Plotting Cluster Performance ...............................................................41
Displaying Server Information ..............................................................42
Plotting Server Performance ................................................................43
Displaying Geographic Cluster Information .........................................45
Plotting Geographic Cluster Performance ...........................................46
Displaying Site Information ..................................................................48
Plotting Site Performance ....................................................................49
Configuring Equalizer Operation ................................................................50
Setting up a Failover Configuration .....................................................51
Enabling Outbound NAT ......................................................................52
Enabling Passive FTP Connections ....................................................53
Managing Stale Connections ...............................................................53
Enabling Sticky Network Aggregation ..................................................54
Configuring Custom Event Handling ....................................................55
Changing the Administration Passwords .............................................57
Saving or Restoring Your Configuration ....................................................57

Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide vii
Backing Up Your Configuration ...........................................................57
Restoring a Saved Configuration .........................................................58
Shutting Down Equalizer ...........................................................................59
5 Administering Virtual Clusters........................................................... 61
Working with Virtual Clusters .....................................................................62
Adding a Virtual Cluster .......................................................................62
Configuring a Cluster’s Load-Balancing Options .................................64
Providing FTP Services on a Virtual Cluster ........................................68
Configuring a Cluster to Use Server Agents ........................................68
Enabling Persistent Sessions ..............................................................69
Using Active Content Verification ........................................................72
Installing a Certificate for an HTTPS Cluster .......................................73
Deleting a Cluster ................................................................................75
Working with Servers .................................................................................75
Adding a Server to a Cluster ................................................................75
Adjusting a Server’s Static Weight .......................................................76
Shutting Down a Server Gracefully ......................................................78
Deleting a Server .................................................................................79
Specifying Layer 7 Rules ...........................................................................79
Defining a Match Rule .........................................................................80
Modifying a Match Rule .......................................................................82
Removing a Match Rule ......................................................................83
Adding a Server to a Match Rule .........................................................83
Removing a Server from a Match Rule ................................................84
6 Administering Geographic Clusters.................................................. 85
Geographic Load Balancing with Envoy ....................................................86
Envoy Installation and Configuration .........................................................86
Installing Envoy ....................................................................................86
Configuring the Authoritative Name Server to Query Envoy ...............86
Using Envoy with Firewalled Networks ................................................87
Working with Geographic Clusters ............................................................87
Adding a Geographic Cluster ...............................................................87
Configuring a Geographic Cluster’s Load-Balancing Options .............89
Deleting a Geographic Cluster .............................................................90
Working with Sites .....................................................................................90

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viii Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide
Adding a Site to a Geographic Cluster ................................................90
Adjusting a Site’s Static Weight ...........................................................92
Deleting a Site from a Geographic Cluster ..........................................93
7 Troubleshooting .................................................................................. 95
Equalizer doesn’t boot ...............................................................................96
Clients time out while trying to contact a virtual cluster .............................96
Can’t view Equalizer administration pages ................................................96
Equalizer administration page takes a long time to display .......................97
Equalizer doesn’t respond to pings to the admin address .........................97
Browser hangs when trying to connect via FTP to an FTP cluster ............97
A Using Server Agents........................................................................... 99
Introducing Server Agents .......................................................................100
Custom Server Agents .............................................................................100
B Using Reserved IP Addresses ......................................................... 101
Reserved IP Addresses ...........................................................................102
Configuration Worksheet for Using Reserved IP Addresses ...................103
C Regular Expression Format ............................................................. 105
D Equalizer Configuration File ............................................................ 109
Modifying the Equalizer Configuration File ..............................................110
Equalizer Parameters ..............................................................................111
Cluster-Specific Parameters ....................................................................113
HTTP-Specific Cluster Parameters ....................................................115
Server-Specific Parameters .....................................................................116
Match Group Parameters ........................................................................117
HTTP-Specific Match Group Parameters ..........................................117
HTTPS-Specific Match Group Parameters ........................................118
E Technical Specifications .................................................................. 119
F License and Warranty ....................................................................... 121
Glossary ................................................................................................. 127
Index ....................................................................................................... 129

Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide ix
Preface
This guide is indented for people who are installing, configuring, or administering an
Equalizer™ system. This guide contains seven chapters and five appendices:
■Overview—an overview of Equalizer concepts and terminology and information to
help you plan your Equalizer configuration.
■Installing Equalizer—instructions for installing Equalizer.
■Configuring Equalizer—setting up Equalizer to work with your network and servers.
■Administering Equalizer Operation—using the Equalizer administration tools and
monitoring Equalizer operation.
■Administering Virtual Clusters—adding and removing virtual clusters and servers,
changing load balancing options, and shutting down servers.
■Administering Geographic Clusters—adding and removing geographic clusters and sites
and changing geographic load balancing and targeting options.
■Troubleshooting—diagnosing Equalizer installation and configuration problems.
■Appendix A—describes how to develop custom Server Agents.
■Appendix B—describes how to configure Equalizer to distribute requests to servers
assigned IP addresses on reserved, non-routable networks.
■Appendix D—describes how to modify the Equalizer configuration file.
■Appendix E—describes the Equalizer’s physical and environmental specifications.
■Appendix F—contains the complete License and Warranty information for this product.
A glossary of the technology-specific terms used throughout this book follows
Appendix F.
If you are setting up Equalizer for the first time, you should read the Overview chapter
before attempting to install and configure your system.

Preface
x Equalizer Installation and Administration Guide
Typographical Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used throughout this guide:
Italics are used for emphasis.
Bold text is used to highlight key or button names in instructions.
Courier text is used to distinguish commands, file names, directory names, keywords,
and syntax from text.
❑Checklists are used to review steps that you must complete before proceeding to the
next task.
✔Checkmarks are used to identify items that you should verify or procedures you
should try to resolve particular problems.
Information critical to Equalizer operation is highlighted with an attention icon.
Note – Notes are used to highlight important information and special considerations.
Caution – Caution notes are used to warn when an action could result in loss of data or damage
to your equipment.