User Guide

290 Chapter 12 Configuring ColdFusion Clusters
Load-Balancing Devices
You can configure ClusterCATS to work in conjunction with a third-party hardware
load balancing device or load balancing software product to provide comprehensive
load balancing and failover support for your server clusters.
This section describes the following:
• “Using Cisco LocalDirector” on page 290
• “Using third-party load balancing devices in Windows” on page 294
• “Using third-party load balancing devices in UNIX” on page 295
Using Cisco LocalDirector
Cisco LocalDirector is a network appliance with a secure, real-time, embedded
operating system that intelligently load balances IP traffic across multiple servers.
ClusterCATS can be configured to provide ColdFusion availability and load
information to the LocalDirector using Cisco’s Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP).
The LocalDirector then actively manages HTTP traffic across the cluster, based on
the load information provided to it by ClusterCATS.
You can configure the Cisco LocalDirector using the ClusterCATS Explorer on
Windows only.
Note
You must use Cisco LocalDirector Version 3.1.4 software or later.
Before configuring ClusterCATS with the LocalDirector, you must configure the
LocalDirector to manage your Web servers. For more information, refer to the Cisco
documentation.
LocalDirector considerations
You must be aware of the following when using ClusterCATS with Cisco
LocalDirector:
• When load balancing with the LocalDirector, ClusterCATS sets the state of each
cluster member to Passive mode. For more information about Passive mode, refer
to “Changing Active/Passive Settings” on page 309.
• Do not use round-robin DNS.
• Turn off ClusterCATS’ Gradual Redirection load threshold. See “Server Load
Thresholds” on page 268 for information on turning off gradual redirection.
• Do not use ClusterCATS’ dynamic IP addressing feature. If ClusterCATS performs
dynamic IP failover, the LocalDirector will not be able to recover the failed-over
IP address. For more information on ClusterCATS’ server failover features, refer to
“ClusterCATS Dynamic IP Addressing (Windows only)” on page 334.