CA Service Management

Expand all | Collapse all

Webdirector on IIS

Johnny_2302

Johnny_2302Apr 25, 2017 11:58 PM

  • 1.  Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 24, 2017 10:35 AM

    Hi Team,

     

    We are r14.1 and we have added 1 webengine & 1 webdirector on primary server(below configurations).

     

    1. Create new configuration for primary server

    2.Add webdirector

    3.Add webengine(

    protocol: https

    port:blank(default:443)

    webengine:select the above one)

     

    4.Edit the existing webengine i.e. OTB one(

    protocol: https

    port:blank(default:443)

    webengine:select the above one)

     

    5. Save & run pdm_configure, selecting the newly created configuration.

     

    As per current configuration, users are accessing the sdm url through https protocol, hence we have selected the same while adding webengine. 

     

    Can some1 validate above procedure?

    Also, does the webdirector work only on Tomcat?

    Is the webdirector configurations saved in any files?(like webengine configuration in web.cfg)

     

    Thanks



  • 2.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 24, 2017 10:51 AM

    Hi Pushpith,

    Your logic looks correct.  The web director will work via tomcat OR IIS, its simply an executable (usually pdmweb_d.exe for most), so as long as you point to that executable, it should work.   When adding webengines, did you point them to use the web director?

    To answer your last question - all configurations are now stored in the database.  Webdirector itself doesnt really have any configurations.  You can configure what is called a "willingness value" for each webengine (via web.cfg files which are created for each webengine) which allows you to control the number of sessions to specific webengines.  For example, if the willingness value on all webengines is set to 10, then the load will be distributed evenly across all of them.  Lets say you have one set to 10 and one set to 2, this means that the one where its set to 10 will handle most of the sessions, and only 2 out of every 10 would be sent to the webengine that has the willingness value set to 2.

    Outside of that there really is nothing to configure for the web director.

    Is there something specific you were looking to do with it?

    Regards,

    Jon I.



  • 3.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 24, 2017 10:58 AM

    Hi Jon,

     

    In the webdirector configuration, I haven't mentioned any ports. In this case, it should take the default port i.e. 443 IIS & 8443 tomcat(we are using https) but when I tried with 443(IIS) but it was failing to connect & threw error

    404 - File or directory not found.

    It worked fine with 8443, hence was curious if it works only on tomcat.



  • 4.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 12:27 AM

    Jon_Israel    Any inputs?



  • 5.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 02:15 AM

    Since you're using SSL, IIS will only respond to requests specifically addressed to the name in the cert - https://<certhost>/.. -  and ignoring other requests, like the ones connecting to a DNS alias or IP address.

    Tomcat, on the other hand, might have a different behavior, even with SSL configured.



  • 6.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 08:03 AM

    Hi Pushpith,

    What is the exact URL you are attempting to hit when you get this 404 error?   Are you hitting the web director, which then forwards you to a webengine, and it gets the error when it hits that webengine?  Or is it the web director itself throwing the error?

    For example:

    You enter in your browser:   https://servername/CAisd/pdmweb_d.exe  (this is the web director address)

    Your browser is then forwarded by that web director to:  https://servername/CAisd/pdmweb3.exe 

    And at that point you get the 404 error?  Or is it on the first URL?

    Let us know,

    Jon I.



  • 7.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 08:08 AM

    Jon_Israel The first URL i.e. the web director itself is throwing the error



  • 8.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 09:41 AM

    Ok, so go to the server where you added the web director, and go to NX_ROOT\bopcfg\www\wwwroot\  directory, and see if your "pdmweb_d.exe" file exists (or whatever name you gave the web director when you added it).

    I am wondering if there may be an issue with the configuration not creating the proper files in your environment.

    Let us know,

    Jon I.



  • 9.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 09:58 AM

    Jon_Israel I have named the director pdmwebd1.exe but I cant find the same In the mentioned folder. However, I can see below files. I believe pdmweb_d.exe is the director file(not sure). Is there anyway that you can check in your environment and confirm  . Also, I have faced similar issue in other environment wherein the webdirector was not working on IIS.

     



  • 10.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Apr 25, 2017 10:11 AM

    I'd recommend copying pdmweb.exe  as pdmwebd1.exe     and that should help here

     

    _R



  • 11.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 10:36 AM

    Raghu.Rudraraju That worked smooth!!!  Thanks a lot.

     

    But I have one more query.

     

    Apart from the above configuration which I have done, I have added below lines in the iisstart.htm(inetpub) page as below for redirection:

    <html><head>
    <script>location.replace("https://hostname:8443/CAisd/pdmwebd1.exe");</script>
    </head></html>

     

    In my scenario, the end-users would hit https://hostname, in this case as per the configuration it will redirect to the pdmwebd1.exe(director) which in turn will redirect to the webengines running on https. 

    So, now the issue is, whatever URL(tomcat/iis) I hit, it will always end up on IIS.

    I tried accessing the webengine URL explicitly i.e. https://hostname:8443/CAisd/pdmweb.exe but it seems to hit the webdirector URL first, so it ultimately throws it to IIS(https://hostname/CAisd/pdmweb.exe)

     

    Is there any way to handle this?



  • 12.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Apr 25, 2017 10:42 AM

    Glad it helped.

     

    Regarding your next question - It's working this way because of the way you configured the web director.

     

    You have web director configured to use  IIS ports,  but the  redirection on IIS's default page - you are pointing to Tomcat URL.   I'd think this should be IIS URL...

     

     

    3.Add webengine(

    protocol: https

    port:blank(default:443)

    webengine:select the above one)

     

    4.Edit the existing webengine i.e. OTB one(

    protocol: https

    port:blank(default:443)

    webengine:select the above one)

     

    So, it wont matter which URL you try,  if the SDM director thinks the other web engines under the director are less loaded, it'll send the request to that web engine/port

     

    _R



  • 13.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 10:49 AM

    So is this OTB behavior of webengine & webdirector? i.e. Even if the webengine url is hit explicitly, it will always go to the webdirector & inturn to the IIS Webengines.

     

    I have edited the files as below, but no change in behavior

    <html><head>
    <script>location.replace("CAisd/pdmwebd1.exe");</script>
    </head></html>



  • 14.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 26, 2017 07:46 AM

    Hi Pushpith,

    Yes, if you have your webengines set to use the web director, then yes, it will always redirect to the web director first, and then it will go to the appropriate webengine based on load.  What some folks do is create one extra webengine on the primary server which they do NOT set to use a web director - so that webengine specifically can always be accessed directly without it pushing you back to the web director.  Most folks do this withe primary default webengine (usually pdmweb.exe) so they can always access the primary directly that way.

    Hope this helps,

    Jon I.



  • 15.  Re: Webdirector on IIS

    Posted Apr 25, 2017 11:58 PM

    Raghu.Rudraraju any inputs?