Installing IBM Load Balancer

Install and configure IBM® Load Balancer to distribute workload among a cluster of these type of servers: Sametime® Proxy Server, Sametime Meeting Server, Media Manager Conference Manager, or Media Manager SIP Proxy/Registrar, and Sametime Community Server.

Before you begin

Create the cluster of servers first. Then configure the cluster and then start the deployment manager (the Sametime System Console) as well as all node agents and application servers in the cluster.

IBM Load Balancer is not required for a Sametime clustered deployment; you can use any load-balancing mechanism that supports HTTP session affinity so that a user is repeatedly routed to the same server during a single session. IBM Load Balancer is included in the Sametime package with the other IBM WebSphere® components.

About this task

If you are using a load balancer with TURN Servers, do not use this procedure. Instead, see the section Deploying a load balancer with Sametime TURN Servers.

Procedure

  1. On the computer where you will install IBM Load Balancer, log on as root (AIX® or Linux™) or as the system adminisrator (Microsoft™ Windows™).
  2. Find the software packages you need to download.
  3. Download the packages.
  4. Extract all downloaded packages.
  5. Navigate to the folder where you extracted the installation package, locate the folder for IBM Load Balancer, and start the installation program.
    Note: You can access PDFs for several releases of the IBM Load Balancer here WebSphere Application Server Library. Scroll through the list of publications until you see the IBM Load Balancer Administration Guides.
  6. After you have installed IBM Load Balancer, configure two static IP addresses for it:
    • Non-Forwarding Address: The NFA is the address of the server itself. It is used for logging in and administering the load balancer.
    • Cluster Address: This is the address by which clients and other servers will access the cluster. It must be DNS-resolvable.

    For example, suppose your cluster contains two nodes, and you configure an IBM Load Balancer for the cluster. Your IP addresses will look like this:

    Table 1. Sample host names and IP addresses for a Sametime cluster with IBM Load Balancer
    Fully qualified host name Server's role in deployment Server's IP address

    Load balancer:
    loadbal.example.com

    Cluster:
    st-cluster.example.com

    Load balancer

    (Cluster address)

    Load balancer (NFA):  
    192.0.2.15

    Cluster:  192.0.2.2

    stconsole.example.com

    deployment manager

    (Sametime System Console)

    		 192.0.2.3
    svr1.example.com

    Primary Node

    (a Sametime server)

    		 192.0.2.4
    svr2.example.com

    Secondary Node

    (a Sametime server)

    		 192.0.2.5