Overview of the cluster

The cluster configuration that we are trying to achieve is an ACTIVE – PASSIVE configuration.

We will be running 2 CLUSTERS as part of this configuration

THE ACTIVE CLUSTER will have 2 ACTIVE NODES each running a single instance of JBOSS EAP
7.0.0

The two active nodes would be running on two different machines but would be grouped
together as part of one server group active-cluster-server-group.

The nodes will be configured with a domain controller in a Master slave configuration

The configuration and deployment of the slaves would always be controlled from a single
point called the Domain controller (Master)

All the configuration and resources are controlled through a single profile full-ha-active for
active cluster and a single profile called full-ha-passive for passive cluster.

THE PASSIVE CLUSTER will have 2 PASSIVE NODES each running a single instance of JBOSS
EAP.

The two passive nodes would be running on two different machines but would be grouped
together as part of one server group passive-cluster-server-group.

There shall be one Machine running Apache HTTP Server for the software load balancer.

The active and the passive clusters will be front ended with a software load balancer which
in our case would be JBOSS Core Apache HTTP Server connecting to them on ports 6667 &
6668 respectively. 6667 pointing towards the active cluster group and 6668 pointing
towards the passive cluster group.

We will have the same instance of database to which both the clusters will be pointing to.

Please Note:

As of writing this document failover, load balancing and sticky sessions were achieved,
however in EAP 7.0.0 the default configuration is not supporting session replication. It is
observed that Session replication is only supported when two instances of EAP7.0 are run
on the same node but on different ports. So session replication is still a topic of discussion
which requires further study and investigation from the author.
HIGH LEVEL ARCHITECTURE OF THE EAP CLUSTERED ENVIRONMENT

active-cluster-server-group

Domain Controller
MACHINE 2

JBOSS EAP 7.0

MASTER: node1

Server Name:
MACHINE 1
node1-active-
JBCS APACHE server

HTTP SERVER Port:8080

LB
LOAD BALANCER
UserRequest FOR ACTIVE
CLUSTER

PORT:80

PORT:6667
Session Replication

Failover
POR

MACHINE 3

JBOSS EAP 7.0

SLAVE :node2

Server Name:

node2-active-
server

Port:8080
HIGH LEVEL ARCHITECTURE OF THE EAP CLUSTERED ENVIRONMENT

passive-cluster-server-group

Domain Controller

MACHINE 4

JBOSS EAP 7.0

MASTER: node3

Server Name:
MACHINE 1
node3-passive-
JBCS APACHE server
HTTP SERVER
LB Port:8080
LOAD BALANCER
UserRequest FOR PASSIVE
CLUSTER

PORT:81

PORT:6668
Session Replication

Failover

MACHINE 5

JBOSS EAP 7.0

SLAVE :node4

Server Name:

node4-passive-
server

Port:8080

One common instance of the db for both the clusters, both the clusters connect to the same db.
Detailed Instruction on setting up the environment.

Pre requisite software on all the machines.

JDK "1.8.0_72"

Installation of Software

Machine 1:

Install Red Hat JBoss Core Services Apache HTTP Server for Linux (which ever
flavour available) (L.B)

Machine 2,3,4,5:

Install Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.0.0

I will discuss here the setup of the Active Cluster; passive cluster would be similar with
differences in ports of mod cluster.

1) Go to the installation directory of JBoss on Machine 2.

2) This machine we would be converted as Domain Controller or the master node.
3) This machine is node1
4) On node 1

/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/add-user.sh admin password1!

5) On node2 (slave) – Machine 3

6) Just run /opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/add-user.sh
No arguments
What type of user do you wish to add?
a) Management User (mgmt-users.properties)
b) Application User (application-users.properties)
(a): a
• Simply press enter to accept the default selection of (a)
Enter the details of the new user to add.
Realm (ManagementRealm) :
• Once again simply press enter to continue
Username : node2
• Enter the username and press enter
Password : password1!
• Enter password1! as the password, and press enter
 Re-enter Password : password1!
• Enter password1! again to confirm, and press enter
About to add user 'node2' for realm 'ManagementRealm'
Is this correct yes/no? yes
• Type yes and press enter to continue
Is this new user going to be used for one AS process to connect to another
AS process?
e.g. for a slave host controller connecting to the master or for a Remoting
connection for server to server EJB calls.
yes/no?
• Type yes and press enter
To represent the user add the following to the server-identities definition
<secret value="cGFzc3dvcmQxIQ==" />
• Copy and paste the provided secret hash into the notes. The host XML file of any
servers that are not domain controllers need to provide this password hash along
with
the associated username to connect to the domain controller.

7) Add Application User

An application user is also required on all 6 nodes to allow a remote Java class to
authenticate and invoke a deployed EJB. Creating an application user requires the
interactive mode so run add-user.sh and provide the following 2 times, once on each
EAP 7 installation

What type of user do you wish to add?

a) Management User (mgmt-users.properties)
b) Application User (application-users.properties)
(a): b
• Enter b and press enter to add an application user
Enter the details of the new user to add.
Realm (ApplicationRealm) :
• Simply press enter to continue
Username : ejbcaller
• Enter the username as ejbcaller press enter
Password : password1!
• Enter “password1!” as the password, and press enter
Re-enter Password : password1!
 • Enter “password1!” again to confirm, and press enter
What roles do you want this user to belong to? (Please enter a comma
separated list, or leave blank for none)[ ]:
• Press enter to leave this blank and continue
About to add user 'ejbcaller' for realm 'ApplicationRealm'
Is this correct yes/no? yes
• Type yes and press enter to continue
...[confirmation of user being added to files]
Is this new user going to be used for one AS process to connect to another
AS process?
e.g. for a slave host controller connecting to the master or for a Remoting
connection for server to server EJB calls.
yes/no? no
• Type no and press enter to complete user setup
At this point, all the required users have been created; move forward to making
minimal edits
to the server configuration files before starting the servers.

Domain Controller , MASTER: Node1 Manual Configuration

I have illustrated manual configuration below, the same can be achieved from the
cli command interface of JBOSS.

8) Go to node 1
Go to the host.xml file located under
/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/domain/configuration/host.xml
Change the host name to
<host xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:4.1" name="node1">

9) Create a properties file call it domain.properties under opt/jboss-eap-7.0

/domain/configuration/

Add the following content to it

jboss.bind.address.management=< IP ADDRESS OF NODE 1>

jboss.bind.address =< IP ADDRESS OF NODE 1>

Save it.
 10) Edit the servers section in the host.xml file to contain only this

<servers>

<server name="node1-active-server" group="active-cluster-server-group" auto-

start="true">

<system-properties>

<property name="jboss.tx.node.id" value="111" boot-time="true"/>

</system-properties>

</server>

</servers>

11) In the location /opt/jboss-eap-7.0/domain/configuration/domain.xml

Open the domain.xml file.

Copy the profile full- ha and create another profile with the name

full-ha-active so your profiles section should look like

<profiles>

<profile name=" full-ha">

.</profile>
<profile name=" full-ha-active ">

.</profile>

12) In the profile full-ha-active configure data source to represent the following.

<datasource jta="false" jndi-name="java:/jdbc/cisDS" pool-name="CisDS" enabled="true"

spy="true" use-ccm="false">

<connection-
url>jdbc:oracle:thin:@hsndsd58z1.hsntech.int:1531:SERGN1D</connection-url>

<driver-class>oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver</driver-class>

<driver>oracle</driver>

<pool>

<min-pool-size>1</min-pool-size>

<max-pool-size>4</max-pool-size>

</pool>

<security>

<user-name>DEV01</user-name>

<password>DEV01</password>

</security>

<validation>

<validate-on-match>false</validate-on-match>

<background-validation>false</background-validation>

</validation>

<statement>

<share-prepared-statements>false</share-prepared-statements>
 </statement>

</datasource>

<drivers>

<driver name="oracle" module="oracle.jdbc">

<xa-datasource-class>oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource</xa-
datasource-class>

</driver>

<driver name="h2" module="com.h2database.h2">

<xa-datasource-class>org.h2.jdbcx.JdbcDataSource</xa-datasource-class>

</driver>

</drivers>

13) Make sure the server groups element in the domain.xml represent the following

<server-groups>

<server-group name="active-cluster-server-group" profile=" full-ha-active">

<jvm name="default">

<heap size="1000m" max-size="1000m"/>

</jvm>

<socket-binding-group ref="full-ha-sockets"/>

</server-group>

</server-groups>
 14) In the modules directory

opt/jboss-eap-7.0/modules have the following oracle module expanded.

oracle.zip

This step concludes the configuration of the master.

Now you can run the master server by executing the following command

/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh --domain-config domain.xml --host-config=host.xml -P

<path to domain.properties that you saved earlier>

Or

opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh -b <IP_ADDRESS_OF NODE1>

-Djboss.bind.address.management=<IP_ADDRESS_OF NODE1>

-Djboss.bind.address=<IP_ADDRESS_OF NODE1>

Check the server logs of the master make sure everything looks fine and no errors in the
logs.

Go to the Admin to see the server you have configured

http://<IP_ADDRESS_OF MASTER>:9990/console/App.html#home

user id :admin

password:password1!

Go to runtime -> server groups -> active-cluster->server-group-> and servers will be listed.
Configuration of SLAVE – Node 2

15) On Node2 Machine 3 we go to the location where we installed

JBoss and go to the location
/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/domain/configuration/host-slave.xml

16) Create a properties file call it domain.properties under opt/jboss-eap-7.0

/domain/configuration/

Add the following content to it

jboss.bind.address.management=< IP ADDRESS OF NODE 2>

jboss.bind.address=< IP ADDRESS OF NODE 2>
jboss.domain.master.address=<IPADDRESS OF MASTER NODE 1>

Save it.

17) The change them from

<host xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:4.1"> to
<host xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:4.1" name="node2" >

18) Also replace the secret value tag

<secret value="cGFzc3dvcmQxIQ=="/> with the secret value that you stored earlier

This allows communication between the master and the node.

19) Then change the domain controller to reflect

<domain-controller>
<remote protocol="remote"
host="${jboss.domain.master.address:<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER}" port="9999"
security-realm="ManagementRealm" username="admin"/>
</domain-controller>
 20) In the interfaces change the ip address
<interfaces>
<interface name="management">
<inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address.management:<IP_ADDRESS_OF
_SLAVE>}"/>
</interface>
<interface name="public">
<inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address: :<IP_ADDRESS_OF _SLAVE>}"/>
</interface>
<interface name="unsecured">
<inet-address value=":<IP_ADDRESS_OF _SLAVE>" />
</interface>
</interfaces>

21) Configure this node to be part of the server group that you created earlier

Which would be to change

<server name="node2-active-server" group="active-cluster-server-group" auto-

start="true">

<system-properties>

<property name="jboss.tx.node.id" value="222" boot-time="true"/>

</system-properties>

</server>

Save it

22) In the modules directory

opt/jboss-eap-7.0/modules has the following oracle module expanded.

oracle.zip
 Please note that there is no configuration of data source or any other resources will be
required on the slave node and the profile of all the slave nodes will be controlled from
a single point master.

23) Start the node2 –slave by executing the command

domain -b <IP_ADDRESS_OF_SLAVE>
-Djboss.domain.master.address=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER> --host-config=host-
slave.xml

Or

opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh --host-config=host-slave.xml -P <path to

dmain.properties that you saved earlier>

Check the server logs of the slave make sure everything looks fine and no errors in the logs.

Go to the Admin to see the server you have configured is present

http://<IP_ADDRESS_OF MASTER>:9990/console/App.html#home

user id :admin

password:password1!

Go to runtime -> server groups -> active-cluster->server-group-> and servers will be listed.
 Now the good part about the domain and the server group is that a single deployment
artefact can be deployed to all nodes that belong to a server group in a single instance
through the master domain controller.

This is how you do it

Go to admin console on Master/Domain Controller

Go to Deployments->active-cluster-server-group-> deployments

Add select the artefact and deploy and you can see it’s deployed on all nodes.

Go to the individual address to check the deployment

http://masternode:8080/context

http://slavenode:8080/context
 Configuring the load balancer for the EAP cluster.

24) On Machine 1
Go to the location where we installed opt/jbcs-httpd24-2.4/

The jbcs-httpd24-2.4/httpd directory created by extracting the ZIP archive is the

top-level directory for Apache HTTP Server. This is referred to in this documentation
as HTTPD_HOME.

Follow this documentation for installation of ApacheHttpServer on linux

https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en/red-hat-jboss-core-services-apache-
http-server/2.4/apache-http-server-installation-guide/chapter-2-installing-jboss-
core-services-apache-http-server-on-red-hat-enterprise-linux

Go to the location
The jbcs-httpd24-2.4/httpd
And take a backup of the existing httpd.conf file.

The following files need to be put in conf directory. These files should only be used
as a reference as they are modified for windows environment. The linux installation
will have a different set of params.

common.conf httpd.conf

The above files need to modified for Linux environment, as they were initially
written for windows environment.

For Eg

Server root should be modified from

ServerRoot "C:/jbcs-httpd24-2.4/etc/httpd"

To linux env
ServerRoot "opt/jbcs-httpd24-2.4/httpd"

ServerAdmin Administrator@localhost to ServerAdmin root@localhost

 25) Once the load balancer is working and has no errors then configure mod_cluster on
the Master controller.
Go to the location on Master - node 1
/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/domain/configuration/domain.xml

Open the domain.xml file

Change the modcluster subsystem to reflect this in the active-full-ha profile.

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:modcluster:2.0">

<mod-cluster-config advertise-socket="modcluster" proxies="my-proxy-one"

balancer="mycluster" advertise="false" sticky-session-force="false" connector="ajp">

<dynamic-load-provider>

<load-metric type="busyness"/>

</dynamic-load-provider>

</mod-cluster-config>

</subsystem>

26) In the <socket-binding-groups> in the domain.xml under the same profile active-full-
ha Add

<outbound-socket-binding name="my-proxy-one">
<remote-destination host="<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MACHINE_1> " port="6667"/>

</outbound-socket-binding>

Save the file.

Go to the admin console:

Runtime->active-cluster-server-group-> node1-active-server: reload

Runtime->active-cluster-server-group-> node2-active-server: reload

 27) Come back to Machine 1 where we have the load balancer installed.

Access the url

http:// <IP_ADDRESS_OF_MACHINE_1>:6667/mod_cluster_manager

You should see something like below

This concludes the configuration of EAP clusters.

Now to test the load balancer, failover and sticky session’s part

Deploy this test application on the server group using the EAP admin console

cluster-demo.war

28) Go to the url http://<ip_address_of_machine_1>/cluster-demo it should open

Hello world page for you and request would go to node1 or node2,

Shutdown the node the request is going to from admin console of EAP and again access the
url through LB

http://<ip_address_of_machine_1>/cluster-demo it should still come up with hello world

page without any hicks.
Changes to be made on Master domain.xml to make SESSION REPLICATION work

29) Go to the location on Master node

/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/domain/configuration/domain.xml

In the subsystem jgroups

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:jgroups:4.0">
Change the channel stack to tcp

<channels default="ee">
<channel name="ee" stack="tcp"/>
</channels>

30) Now in the same subsystem make changes to the stackname =tcp as below

<property name="initial_hosts"><IP_ADDRESS_OF
MASTER_NODE>[7600], <IP_ADDRESS_OF_SLAVE_NODE> [7600]</property>

<stack name="tcp">
<transport type="TCP" socket-binding="jgroups-tcp"/>
<protocol type="TCPPING">
<property
name="initial_hosts">10.50.35.73[7600],10.50.35.72[7600]</property>
<property name="num_initial_members">
2
</property>
<property name="port_range">
0
</property>
<property name="timeout">
3600
</property>
</protocol>
<protocol type="MERGE3"/>
<protocol type="FD_SOCK" socket-binding="jgroups-tcp-fd"/>
<protocol type="FD"/>
 <protocol type="VERIFY_SUSPECT"/>
<protocol type="pbcast.NAKACK2"/>
<protocol type="UNICAST3"/>
<protocol type="pbcast.STABLE"/>
<protocol type="pbcast.GMS"/>
<protocol type="MFC"/>
<protocol type="FRAG2"/>
</stack>

Save the file

31) Now Start the Master with the following command

/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh -b <IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER>

-Djboss.bind.address.management= <IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER>

-Djboss.bind.address.private=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER>

Or

/opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh --domain-config domain.xml --host-config=host.xml -P

<path to domain.properties that you saved earlier>

Make sure you add the property jboss.bind.address.private=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER> to that

property file.

Similarly start the slave with following command

domain -b <IP_ADDRESS_OF_SLAVE>
-Djboss.domain.master.address=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_MASTER> --host-config=host-
slave.xml -Djboss.bind.address.private=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_SLAVE>

or

opt/jboss-eap-7.0/bin/domain.sh --host-config=host-slave.xml -P <path to

dmain.properties that you saved earlier>Make sure you add the property
jboss.bind.address.private=<IP_ADDRESS_OF_SLAVE> to that property file.

Clustering won’t happen until you start the master and slave nodes with the above
commands.
 32) Now to test the session replication Do the following

Go to the url http://<ip_address_of_machine_1>/cluster-demo it should open Hello world

page for you

Access the url http://<ip_address_of_machine_1>/cluster-demo/put.jsp

You will see time now is 2:28PM and request would go to node1 or node2,

Shutdown the node the request is going to from admin console of EAP and again access the
url through LB

http://<ip_address_of_machine_1>/cluster-demo/get.jsp

You should be same message time now is 2:28PM

This concludes EAP clustering on two nodes with load balancer, fail over, sticky session and
session fail over (session replication).

The same instructions need to be carried out for setting up passive cluster.