Server Clustering

Server clustering is not a required part of the Responder implementation. If you choose to implement it, server clustering will provide failover support for the Responder services and message queues. If one Responder server should fail, its workload is shifted to another server in the cluster without impacting Responder users. Telvent recommends using an active/active configuration for the business services and active/passive configuration for the message router.

The Responder server is installed as a virtual server. This allows the Responder services to failover to a different server should the physical server fail. In order for this to work properly, it is critical that all servers in the cluster be configured identically.

In order to permit scaling-out, Responder uses a component called a Message Router to route messages from the client facing queues to the back-end Responder services (e.g., Data Services, Prediction Services). The image below shows the Message Router component in a group (to allow for failover) forwarding messages to additional server machines that participate as active nodes in an active/active server cluster. If an active node (in the responder business services cluster) fails-over then its resources will transfer to another node. (Only two nodes are shown in the active/active cluster, but Windows Server 2003 supports up to eight nodes. This may vary for different OS versions.)

Query Services should NOT participate in the cluster. Running Query Services as a generic Windows service resource under the cluster service is neither supported or tested.

Terms

These are the terms used in this documentation. Windows Server 2003 resources will use varying terms.

Server Cluster: A server cluster is a group of two or more servers working together to provide applications or services to clients. A server cluster provides failover support should a server in the cluster fail. Responder can use a server cluster to provide failover support for the Responder services (i.e., Data Services, Archive Services, Prediction Services). A server cluster may also be referred to as a cluster.

Group: Each virtual server in the cluster is represented by a group. When failover occurs, the entire group will failover. Windows Server 2003 resources may use the terms: group, cluster group or resource group. For consistency, this document will always refer to the item that represents a virtual server in the cluster as a group.

Resource: Each group consists of resources that indicate information such as physical address, IP address, message queuing and network name.

Node: A node represents a physical server in the server cluster. You may wish the names of your nodes to correspond with the names of the servers they represent.

Before You Begin

If you choose to use Server Clustering the following requirements are specific to Responder.

Responder supports only Server Clustering (NOT Network Load Balancing or Component Load Balancing).
Software must be installed in the following order:

Cluster Administrator

MSMQ

ArcFM or ArcFM Viewer

Responder
All servers (active and passive) in the server cluster must have identical Responder server configurations.

Configuration

Configure your Responder server and message router using the following instructions.

Additional Resources

The process for implementing server clustering can vary significantly depending on your system and requirements. For this reason, the Responder Configuration Guide does not describe how to set up your server cluster. Refer to the following resources for information about server clustering.

Stanek, William R. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Inside Out. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2004.

Microsoft Message Queuing. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2. <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/msmq/default.mspx#ECC>

Troubleshooting

Time Out When Attempting to Connect to Responder Server

You may encounter the following error message when attempting to start Responder Explorer or the Responder web application.

This error may be caused by any number of problems: misconfiguration, improper installation, access, rights, etc. If the error occurs and you have multiple NICs installed, additional configuration may be required. Microsoft discusses the configuration necessary to ensure the correct NIC is accessed. The article is called "A cluster node with two network cards does not receive messages." Locate this article at http://support.microsoft.com (Article ID: 329492).