Server Clustering

Note: This option is only available in the Enterprise edition of OL Connect.

Note: This option is not available for Enterprise edition Server Extension (Client) installations

Server Clustering, only available in the Enterprise edition of OL Connect , enhances the processing capabilities of OL Connect Server by load-balancing jobs between the main Server module (master) and one or more Server Extension installations.

Setting up Server Clustering requires two or more installations of OL Connect on separate machines.

The Master server is setup by installing the OL Connect Server module during the Installation Wizard, while any Server Extension (Client) Servers are setup by installing the OL Connect Server Extension module instead.

Quick Howto

  1. Install the Master server (OL Connect Server module), making sure to select the MariaDB module.

  2. Grant access to the MariaDB root user for the appropriate IP range on the Master server.

  3. Restart the MariaDB Service on the Master server.

  4. Install Server Extension (Client) servers (OL Connect Server Extension module).

  5. Install the license on the Master server.

  6. Set the preferences for the engines (see Engine configuration) on both the Master and Server Extensions (Clients).

  7. Install the license on the Server Extension (Client) servers.

  8. Restart the Master server then, once restarted, restart the Server Extension (Client) servers.

What if MariaDB is not on the Master server?

It is possible to setup clustering with a MariaDB instance that is on a Server Extension (Client) server instead of on the master. In this case, the Server Extension (Client) must be installed with the MariaDB modules, the MariaDB instance configured (steps 2-4 above) then the master and other Server Extensions can be installed. The remainder of the instructions remain the same.

It is also possible to setup clustering with MariaDB/MySQL being installed completely separately from OL Connect, such as using an existing MariaDB/MySQL instance. For such cases, the instructions for the bind address must be followed, but the user does not have to be root. A user for the database must be created and have full access (GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES) to a database called "objectiflune" that can be created before Connect is installed.

Binding and Root access on the Master server

  • The MariaDB server's binding must be set to accept connections from the Server Extension (Client) servers.
    To do this, open C:\ProgramData\Objectif Lune\OL Connect\MariaDB\my.ini in a text editor and change the line bind-address= 127.0.0.1 to bind-address=0.0.0.0.

    Once the changes have been made and saved you need to restart the MariaDB services.

  • Access must be granted to the root user on the IPs from which the Server Extension (Client) server will connect.>

    • Open a Command Prompt in the following folder:
      C:\Program Files\Objectif Lune\OL Connect\MariaDB\bin

      Note: Navigate to the folder, SHIFT+Right-click and select "Open a command prompt here"

    • Type in the following command to connect to the database, where <password> is your MariaDB password. (This password is the MariaDB root password entered as part of Connect installation process. It had to be at least 8 characters long and contain mixed case characters, numeric digits and a punctuation character):
      MariaDB --user=root --password=<password> objectiflune

      You should see the prompt become MariaDB>.

    • Here, type the command to allow the "root" user to be accessed from a specific IP subnet range.

      For example, to accept communication on 192.168.*.*, use:
      GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON objectiflune.* TO 'root'@'192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';, where password is the one provided during installation. ( ref: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-security-excerpt/5.5/en/adding-users.html)

Tip: IP Subnets understanding is beyond the scope of this documentation. If you want to learn more, please see the Subnetwork article on Wikipedia .

Clustering Preferences and Setup

When Server extensions are installed and connected to a Master, the following options and settings change in availability or behaviour:

  • The Clean-up Service preferences requires special configuration on Clustering setups:

    • Clean-up service should not run simultaneously on all machines (staggered clean-up).
      Doing so may cause jobs not to be processed since all servers are busy.

    • Only the machine where the MariaDB/MySQL Server product is installed should attempt to clean-up database items. Essentially servers that do not have MariaDB/MySQL should only run Orphan File Clean-up.