Loadbalancer Administration User Experience

Attendees:
Ken Paulsen, Vince Kraemer, Siraj Ghaffar, Satish Viswanatham, Jagadesh Babu Munta, Anissa Lam, Varun Rupela, Shing Wai Chan, Mike Wright, Jane Young

Summary:

  • LB Plugin Installation
    • Absence of installer in GlassFish is a pain for LB plugin installation since it involved many steps. Recommend to use the Java Application Platform Suite installer in the mean time. See Satish's blog.
  • Generating loadbalancer.xml
    • Use configure-http-lb-config command to generate the loadbalancer.xml. This xml is used by the LB plugin.
      • Example - asadmin configure-http-lb-config -target cluster1-lb-config "C:\loadbalancer.xml"
      • This command is not working in M1. Refer to bug 6186848.
      • We should allow user to download the loadbalancer.xml in the client host similar to how we treat client jar in deployment.
    • User may also use Admin GUi to generate the loadbalancer.xml (see slide 10)
      • User will not be able to enable applications now. Refer to bug 6347791.
      • Admin GUI team may not be able to fix this bug by M2. We should clarify this in our milestone definition.
      • We should allow user to name and save this file locally. Current experience is not very friendly.
  • Auto Apply of Changes
    • SSL setup is not working. We need to fix this. Harsha looked at using Web Server 7. The setup is simpler.
    • We should disable "Apply Changes Now" button when DAS can not communicate with LB.
    • Auto Apply should not be enabled by default. In the DTD, it is false.
  • Misc
    • Slide 7 refers to HADB which is available in Java ES Bundle only. GlassFish has support for in-memory replication. Larry White will talk about this feature on Oct 18, 2006.
    • ANT target "setup-one-machine-cluster" sometimes hangs. Recommend using asadmin command to create the node-agent. Cluster can be created easily in GUI. For example,
      • asadmin start-domain --user admin --passwordfile <path-to-password-file> domain1
      • asadmin create-node-agent --user admin --passwordfile <path-to-password-file> --port 4848 na1
        • Default master password is "changeit".
      • asadmin start-node-agent --user admin --passwordfile <path-to-password-file> --startinstances=false na1
      • Log on to Administration GUI to create cluster, etc. Use https://localhost:4848. Default user name and password is "admin"/"adminadmin".
    • Setup instructions need to be updated. Satish has sent the information to Dinesh.

Action Items:

  • Need EE Quick Start Guide in GlassFish - Ann Hillesland, Carla Mott
  • Need clustering documentation in GlassFish - Hanan Lang, Carla Mott
  • Module page for Loadbalancer Administration is missing in GlassFish - Satish
  • Update current setup instructions - Dinesh, Satish
  • Blocking bugs for this feature.
    • Bug 6186848 - configure-http-lb-config is not working - Satish
    • Bug# 6347791 - lb-enable/disable of application is missing in gui. - Anissa
    • Bug# 6461739 - Stickiness is not maintained in the second cluster. - Pankaj
    • Bug# 6340518 - SSL setup - loadbalaner plugin installation with Sun's Web Server. - Satish
  • Fix "setup-one-machine-cluster" hang issues. - Dinesh
  • File an RFE for installer in GlassFish - Varun
    • Refer to issue number 1040
  • Allow user to save loadbalancer.xml into the local machine from browser - Anissa
  • Allow user to download the loadbalancer.xml into the local machine in configure-http-lb-config command - Satish
  • Clarify M2 definition if bug 6347791 can not be fixed - Anissa
  • Disable "Auto Apply Change" when DAS can not contact LB - Anissa