3.1.2 Matrix Server Administration Guide

Chapter 15: Test Your Configuration 199

3. Verify that all servers are up, that the service you are testing is up, and

that the virtual host is active on the primary server and inactive on the

backup servers.

4. Stop the service you are testing on the primary server (for example, for

HTTP, bring down the HTTP daemon).

5. Verify that Matrix Server detects the service failure. The virtual host

should be inactive on the primary server and active on the first backup

server.

6. Start the service that you are testing on the primary server.

7. Verify that Matrix Server detects that the service has become active.

8. Verify that the virtual host is active on the primary server and inactive

on the backup servers.

We strongly recommend that you run these tests successfully before

attempting more advanced tests. ISPs and hosting services should also

attempt multiple virtual host failover and reintegration tests.

Test DNS Load-Balancing and Failover

Testing the correct functionality of the load-balancing configuration is a

little more difficult than the primary/backup failover configuration. There

are more components to test, including the DNS server and multiple

clients.

The easiest way to test load-balancing and configuration is to use a single

client from outside of the matrix, ping the virtual hostnames, and

determine whether the DNS server is providing the virtual host IP

addresses in succession. The DNS server must be set up as described in

“Configure Servers for DNS Load Balancing” on page 46.

The following examples assume that you have a two-server round robin

setup, but you can easily extend this test for more than two servers.

Assume that you have the following DNS round robin setup: