Configuring load balancing

Use load balancing for distributing service requests from HCL Compass Web clients across multiple WebSphere® Application Server instances that are running HCL Compass Web server.

Important: WebSphere Application Server supports two types of load-balanced configurations: horizontal clustering and vertical clustering. A horizontal cluster comprises two or more physical computers. In contrast, a vertical cluster has cluster members on the same physical computer. HCL Compass Web supports only horizontal clustering. In a WebSphere Application Server horizontal cluster configuration of HCL Compass Web, HCL Compass Web requests are distributed across all the load-balanced servers in the deployment. For more information about horizontal clustering, see the WebSphere Application Server Information Center (V8.0, V8.5).

There is extensive information about load balancing in the IBM® WebSphere Application Server help topics. Bear in mind the following points when reading those topics:

  • You do not need to create a profile setup for HCL Compass Web (you already have one).
  • You do need to configure HTTP session affinity.
  • Although it may not be necessary in every case, it's a good idea to configure session persistence.
To configure simple load balancing using a web server plug-in configuration file, refer to the help topics that are listed below.
  • Configuring simple load balancing across multiple application server profiles (V8.0, V8.5)
  • Configuring simple load balancing across multiple application server profiles with an administrative agent (V8.0, V8.5)
  • Configuring simple load balancing across multiple application server profiles with an administrative agent by using a job manager (V8.0, V8.5)
For information about configuring load balancing by using the Load Balancer component of WebSphere Application Server Edge, see the next topics:
  • Introducing WebSphere Application Server Edge components (V8.0, V8.5)
  • Building a Load Balancer network (V8.0, V8.5)