HP sa9200 User Manual

hp multi-site
traffic director
server appliance

sa9200

user guide

©Copyright 2001 Hewlett-Packard Company. All rights reserved.

Hewlett-Packard Company
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185

Publication Number

5971-0897
March 2001

Disclaimer

The information containe d in thi s do cum e nt is subjec t to chan ge without no tic e .

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Hewlett-Packard shall not
be liable for errors contained herein or f or incidental or conse quential damages
in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Hewlett-Packard assumes no responsibility for the use or reliability of its
software on equipment that is not furnished by Hewlett-Packard.

Warranty

A copy of the specific warranty terms applicable to your Hewlett-Packard
products and replacement parts can be obtained from
http://www.hp.com/serverappliances/support.

*Other brands and names are the prop erty of their respective owners.

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

What is an HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200? . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Who Should Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

User Guide Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2: Theory of Operations 5

Site Balancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

“Intelligent” DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Traditional DNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Authoritative DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Multi-Site Traffic Management Using HP Traffic Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Multi-Site Traffic Management Without HP Traffic Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Typical Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Site Balancing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Weighted Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Metric Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Flash DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Partial Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Multiple VIP Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

C O N T E N T S HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Chapter 3: CLI Configuratio n 17

Custom/Manual Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Command Line Syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Adding a Secondary SA9200. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Creating Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Associating Services with Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Creating Zones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Creating Authority Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Creating Hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Committing the Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

NSLookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Configure DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Multiple-VIP Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 4: Multi-Site Scenarios 25

Scenario 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Part 1 – Initial Configuration of a Simple Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Part 2 – Changing to Flash Response Mode Balancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Part 3 – Adding Load Balancers to an Existing Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Scenario 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Configuring in a Mixed Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Chapter 5: Boot Monitor 55

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Accessing the Boot Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Boot Monitor Command Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 6: CLI Reference 67

Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Editing the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Command History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Pipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Command Line Syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

CLI Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

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Contents

Objects and Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Global & CLI System Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

File Management Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Configuration Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

System Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

DNS Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Show Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Chapter 7: SNMP Support 149

Standards Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

HP MIB Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Supported MIBs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Where to find MIB Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Agent Metrics Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Service Metrics Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

ISV Metrics Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Site Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

SNMP Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Configuring Trap Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Configuring Community Authentication & Security Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Configuring Other SNMP Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Chapter 8: Software Updates 161

Multiple Software Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Software Image Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Saving Your Current Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Downloading and Installing the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Rebooting with the New Image and Verifying Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Restoring Your Previous Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Appendix A: Diagnostics 165

Appendix B: Cleaning the Dust Filter 173

Appendix C: Regulatory Information 175

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C O N T E N T S HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Appendix D: Terms, Conditions and Software License 187

Support Services 189

Glossary 193

Index 197

iv

Introduction

What is an HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200?

The HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 is a
global site balancer. It gathers your geographically dispersed data
sites into multiple “virtual servers,” which gives you multifaceted,
centralized control over widely distributed resources.

• Performance

The SA9200 looks at individual client requests and mat ches them
up with the best of many geographically dispersed fulfillment
sites using the selection method most appropriate to your speci fic
needs.

• Reliability

The SA9200 supports active-active redundant mode, meaning
that multiple, active S A9200 s can be used simultaneously. When
one fails, any remaining SA9200s continue operation.

C H A P T E R 1 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

• Scalability

The SA9200 can work cooperatively with up to fifteen other
SA9200s in deployment across sites. A site may be managed by
any HP Traffic Director Server Appliance or HP e-Commerce
Traffic Director Serv er Appliance, which can in turn intelligen tly
manage server farms, and return server performance data to the
SA9200. The SA9200 also supports sites that have third-party
load balancers.

• Flexibility

The SA9200 offers six distinct methods of balancing your
distributed resources, ensuring a solution for your multi-site
problems.

• Weighted Round Robin

• Weighted Random

• Response Time

• Least Connections

• CPU Utilization of Local Load Balancer

• Flash DNS

Who Should Use This Book

This user guide is intended for network administrators with a basic
knowledge of:

• Networking concepts and terminology

• Network topologies

• IP routing

• DNS and BIND

2

C H A P T E R 1 User Guide Summary

User Guide Summary

In addition to this int roduction , the user guide co ntains the followi ng
chapters:

• Theory of Operations

An overview of the multi-site network, the SA9200’s place in it,
and some concepts you need to know to use the unit effectively.

• CLI Configuration

Instructions on how to use the Command Line Interface (CLI) to
manually configure additional sites, agents, zones, and services.

• Multi-Site Scenar ios

Descriptions of several typical multi-site challenges
accompanied by their corresponding SA9200 solutions.

• Boot Monitor

An explanation and reference of the SA9200’s configuration
commands.

• CLI Reference

Detailed descriptions of the SA9200’s operational commands,
including tree illustrations of the command system structure.

• SNMP Suppor t

Details of SA9200’s SNMP capabilities.

• Software Updates

Software update procedures.

• Diagnostics (Appendix A)

How to interpret the SA 9200’s LED display.

• Cleaning the Dust Filter (Appendix B)

• Regulatory Information (Append ix C)

• Terms, Conditions and Software License (Appendix D)

End user terms, conditions, and licensing information.

• Support Services

• Glossary

• Index

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C H A P T E R 1 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Notes

4

Theory of Operations

NOTE: HP Traffic
Director refers to either
an HP Traffic Director
Server Appliance, Model
SA7200 and SA7220; or
HP e-Commerce Director
Server Appliance, Model s
SA8200 and SA8220.

Typical load balancers work by balancing traffic over a Local Area
Network (LAN) to a Web farm. The HP Multi-Site Traffic Directo r
Server Appliance SA9200 extends this balancing to multiple sites
over a Wide Area Network (WAN). By balancing referrals to each
site, the SA9200 enables enterprises and Web hosting services to
integrate geographically distributed content and services.

The advantages of such integration are many, including:

• There is increased fault tolerance and availability owing to

redundant sites . Multiple ac tive sites per mit uninterr upted servic e
in the event of a localized outage in the data network.

• Customer response times are improved by directing users to

uncongested sites or data centers.

• Easy scaling of server farms can be accomplished.

Multi-site load balancin g works best in concert with HP Traffic
Directors. The SA9200 also supports multi-site load balancing with
sites that do not have HP Traffic Directors. In this case, the sites are
balanced on the basis of availability, and not based on proprietary
metric information.

C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Site Balancing

“Intelligent” DNS

Traditional DNS

The SA9200 leverages the DNS architectu re and protocol as the basis
for its site balancing op erations. Based on the information gathered
from all sites, the SA9200 returns the address of the site that best
meets the criteria for fulfilling the request.

Traditional, or Round Robin, Domain Name Service (DNS) is a
rudimentary means of server load balancing. Under this method, a
single hostname is mapp ed to a list of multiple server IP ad dresses.
When the DNS server resolves a request for that hostname, it return s
the entire list to the requestor, then sorts it (the first name drops to the
end of the list). Upon recei vi ng the l ist , the cl i ent requ esto r t ypi cal ly
uses the first address. The next requestor of the ho stname receives the
resorted list, and again most likely u ses the current first name. The list
is resorted again, so that each sequential request sees a different “first
choice” than the previous one. The chief benefit of Round Robin
DNS is that it allows requests to be distributed to multiple hosts and,
in theory, provides a layer of redundancy. On the negative side, the
DNS server has no knowledge of the status of the sites to which it
sends requests. Receiving sites may be heavily loaded or dead, thus
the potential is high for unacceptably slow replies error messages to
clients, which is out of the site operator’s control.

6

C H A P T E R 2 Authoritative DNS Servers

SA9200

(Los Angeles)

(San Diego)

Authoritative DNS Servers

SA8200

Client

SA8200

(Chicago)

ns.mstd-ex.com (Chicago)

Authority for msd-ex.com

Local DNS server

(San Diego)

Multi-Site Load Balancing

The DNS maps, or “resolves” hostnames into IP addresses. It is, in
effect, a distributed database operating through a distributed,
hierarchical system of Domain Name Servers. Thus, if t he local DNS
server cannot resolve a name, it looks “upstream” to consult a Root
Domain Server for help. The Root Domain Server in turn asks the
Authoritative Name Server (i .e., th e owner of t he name i t is tryi ng to
resolve) to return the appropriate IP address for the requested name.

To illustrate

1. The client sends a query to its configured DNS (all clients are
configured with the address of their DNS server) to resolve a par­ticular domain name (e.g., www.mstd-ex.com).

2. The client DNS server sends a query to the Root Domain server
for the .com domain (every DNS server is configured with the
root server information) to resolve mstd-ex.com.

3. The Root Domain server responds with the address of the
Authoritative DNS server fo r the mstd-ex.com domain.

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C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

4. The client DNS server sends a query to the mstd-ex.com
Authoritative DNS server to resolve www.mstd-ex.com.

5. The Authoritative DNS server responds to the client DNS server
with the IP address of www.mstd-ex.com.

6. The client DNS server responds to the client with the IP address
of www.mstd-ex.com.

In the discussion above, the SA9200 acts as authorit ative DNS server
for zone.mstd-ex.com, which is the zone in which the name
www.mstd-ex.com resides.

Multi-Site Traffic Managemen t Using HP Traffic Directors

Multi-site load balanc ing solves most of the prob le ms inherent in
Round Robin DNS. Under the server load balancing model, servers
are aggregated in a “server farm” behind a lo ad balan cer kn own by a
Virtual IP address or “service.” (The service is the IP address of
which the external network is aware.) By keeping track of such
metrics as number of connections, which services are running,
response time and the like, the load balancer knows the status of the
servers. The SA9200 retrieves metrics from the lo ad b alancer. Thus,
when a client requests the service, the SA9200 routes it to the site
who has a server best able to fulfill it.

If the data center has an HP Traffic Director, the SA9200 works in
concert with the “agents” in the load balancers by continually
communicating with each site’s agent through site verification
protocol. This keeps th e SA9200 infor med of the following:

• Health of the load balancers.

• Individual service health and availability.

• CPU utilization of load balancers.

• Response time for each service.

• Number of connections to each load balancers.

Site verification protocol information is encrypted for secure
communication between an HP Traffic Directors and the SA9200.

8

C H A P T E R 2 Multi-Site Traffic Management Without HP Traffic Directors

Multi-Site Traffic Management Without H P Traffic Directors

Typical Configuration

The SA9200 can support data centers, whether or not they have an HP
Traffic Director. Without t hese HP products, the SA9200 can monitor
site service availability by using an ISV met ho d:

• Ping (ICMP)

• TCP Open probe

• HTTP URL probe

The SA9200 can be used with a wid e variety of topolog ies but a basic
example of a SA9200 configuration might consist of two SA9200s
and four HP SA8200s (one SA9200 at each location that the site is
distributed across, and two SA8200s or two SA8220s in serial fail­over mode for each location). For illustrative p urposes, these dev ices
are configured to balance www.mstd-ex.com. Because the SA9200
does not resolve records aside from hostnames (e.g., no MX records
or reverse DNS lookups), your existing DNS server should remain
authoritative for the domain, mstd-ex.com. A new zone, zone.mstd-
ex.com, must be created and your existing DNS server must delegate
authority for this zone to all
www.zone.mstd-ex.com is created for www.mstd-ex.com. This zone
and alias are transparent to users connecting to your site. They still
requests www.mstd-ex.com and are referred to the op timal site by the
SA9200.

of the SA9200s. An alias,

Los Angeles location Chicago location

SA9200 primary

SA8200 or SA8220s

servers

Clie nt

SA9200 Overview - A Basic Configuration

Internet

SA9200 secondary

SA8200 or SA8220s

servers

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C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Site Balancing Methods

The SA9200 supports six si te-b alancing methods or algor i th ms. Th e
operator chooses the method most appropriate to the deployment to
optimize traffic volume, priority, resource ava ilability, and the
overall desired outcome.

Weighted Algorithms

Metric Algorithms

• Weighted Round Robin - Two differences distinguish this

method from traditional, or Round Robin, DNS. First, the
SA9200 is aware of the status of the si tes i t balances thus, unlike
legacy Round Robin, it does not indiscri minately send r equests to
servers that have gone down or are otherwise unable to fulfill
requests. Second, Weighted Round Robin allows the operator to
skew the loading among availabl e sit e servi ces on t he basi s of a n
assigned “weight.” (Weight takes into account differences in
capabilities of site services.) Weighting allows the operato r to
adjust loading on a percentage basis. For example, Site A is
assigned a weight of 1, Site B, 2, and Site C, 7. Thus, Site A
receives 10% of the traffic, Site B, 20% and Site C, 70%. This
method can ensure the most efficient use of those sites with
greater “horsepower,” while preventing the overtaxin g of less
powerful ones.

• W eighted Random - T he Weighted Random method is similar to

Weighted Round Robin with the exception that requests are not
fulfilled serially. IP addresses are resolved in a random fashion.
The weighting is accomplished as above. The benefit of this
algorithm is that it is more effective at n ormalizing, or leveling,
load.

Using DNS to balance multiple sites is more effective when the
referrals are based upon knowled ge of the actual loads on the servers.
In addition, balancing effect ivene ss no ti ceab ly i ncrease d whe n b ack­to-back referrals to the same site were not made even if metrics
indicated one site service was the best both times. T he SA9200 metric
algorithms reflect both of those findings.

10

These balancing algori thms are not availa ble for sites that do not have
HP load balancers:

• Response Time - The Response Time method directs requests to

the site that has the fastest aggregate (i.e., across all servers)
response time for the requested service. Likely users of this

C H A P T E R 2 Metric Algorithms

method are enterprises that have identified the efficient
fulfillment of a specific type or types of traffic as being crucial to
their business goals.

• Least Connections - The Least Connections method sends

requests to the site with fewest number of connections. This
method permits the most efficient management of requests that
are likely to require connections of long duration, such as FTP.

• CPU Utilization of Local Load Balancer - This method directs

clients to the site whose load b a lancer has the lightest workloa d.
The benefit of this method is most evident when used with sites
performing processor-intensive Layer 7 load balancing.

Managing Unequal Site Servers

There is a “factor” command to determine a th re shold factor in the
event of two unequal servers. (see config dns zones <zonename>
hostnames <hostname> siteservices <siteservicename> factor in
Chapter 6, “CLI Reference.”)

The SA9200 determines which IP address to return for a hostname,
based on the performance of the IP address and port at a site. The
three-step process is:

1. Determine the metric(s) with the smallest value.

2. Determine whether any remaining service(s) are close enough to
this best value to also be co nsidered. The quantifi cation of “close
enough” is the factor. A factor o f 0 means con sider only services
with the best value.

3. Randomly choose from all the services identified in the first two
steps.

A good example of the usefulness of this “close enough” threshold
factor is when two unequal servers are deployed behind di fferent load
balancers. Server A may be capable of handling 3000 connections per
second. Server B may also be capable of handling that many
connections per second, but is also servi ng more sites than Server A.
The realistic connection limit of Server B may therefore only be
about 500 connections per second. If Server A has 900 connections
and Server B has 400 connections, then Server B is the site with the
least number of connections, alth ough it is already 80% load ed while
Server A is only 30% l oad ed. The better choic e woul d be to give the
traffic to server A. However, the SA9200 has no knowledge of the
actual load potential of the servers underneath the load balancers it
monitors. Therefore it allows the next best thing. For example, it

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C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

allows the user to declare that if Server A is within 24 00 connections
(80% of maximum) of Server B, consider referrals to Server A even
if Server B is the lowest. The factor setting would be 2400 for the
service associated with Server A and 0 for the service associated with
Server B.

Flash DNS

Partial Failures

Network topology can greatly affect the overall transfer rate between
a site and a client. A solution is to replicate sites on multiple networks
(which are sometimes also distributed geographically). Without a
SA9200, it can be cumbersome to provide users with a list of mirror
sites and then let them choose which one appears to be best for them.

Flash DNS addresses this problem by letting a SA9200 at each
network site send out responses to a DNS query for the site host
name. If all responses are sent at the same time then the site that has
the least network latency connecting to the user should get its
response to the user first. The user ignores all the other responses.

Since many enterprise clients are behind firewalls that perform
Network Address Translation (NAT), by default, the SA9200
performs source IP using the IP ad dress of the SA9200 that o riginally
received the DNS request. This feature can be disabled.

The SA9200 maintains the current metric state of each service on a
per host basis. A “service” is an IP address and port at a site. The
maintained state has four levels relating to the amount of information
that the SA9200 has about each service.

Each load balancin g method handles parti al failures in t he same basic
way. Each balancing method always tries t o f ind at l east one servi ce
with a metric status of “OK” with which to balance. If no services are
available at this highest metric state, and it is not using a metric
balancing method, then it looks for at least one service with a metric
state of “No Services”. If none are found t hen it look s for at lea st one
service with a metric state of “No Metrics”. Finally, if no services
have been found at a high enough metric state level to balance
normally, it perfo rms a Round Robin selection among al l the enabl ed
services.

12

C H A P T E R 2 Partial Failures

Status: OK

This state indicates that the required services behind this service are
available on the associated load balancer. The metrics information for
this service are current and can be used for metric load balancing.

Status: No Services

This state indicates that services other than the one(s) configured as
required for the associated host are not available on the load balancer.
Other services with this same service are available. Metric load
balancing is not available for this service.

Status: No Metrics

This state indicates that the HP Traffic Director is not advertising any
services that use this service. Metric load balancing is not available
for this service.

Status: No Connection

The SA9200 has lost or been unable to establish a connection to the
fulfillment agent on the load balancer. No metrics information on any
services from this load balancer is available. No load balancing
methods are available for this service. It may only participa te in Non­Weighted Round Robin load balancing.

Service Standby

To achieve site service redundancy, customers often want to have
backup services that are completely dark to normal traffic, but are
instantly available to take over for a failed site service. The transition
of traffic from the failed site service to the standby site service occurs
without the need of operator intervention.

The Service Standby feature allows the designation of a site’s
services for standby. If there is a SA9200 located at the site, its
operation is unaffected and continues in resolving queries and
referring to active services. When the SA9200 has detected a failed
service, the failed service is not used in referrals. Once a failed
service has been deemed active again, no further referrals are made to
the standby service.

The determination to use or not use a standby site service is only
made upon receipt of a query that involves the service. Therefore, a
standby service is not activated to replace a failed service until a
query is received, and a failed service is not shown as active until
after a query is received.

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C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Multiple VI P Response

The DNS response from a SA9200 may contain multiple answers.
The number of answers and whether to include stand-by VIPs can be
configured.

Active VIPs are included first in the response. A stand-by VIP is
treated as an active VIP, if it is marked as “IN USE” due to a failed
VIP. Stand-by VIPs are included after the active VIPs: (a) if the
configuration is se t to incl ude th em and, (b ) the number of req uested
additional VIPs in the response has not been met.

When using multi-VIP r esponse with Flash load balancing, the Flash
response attemp ts to use VIPs wi thin the same pee r group first bef ore
including VIPs from the other peer groups.

1

Definitions

Understanding of the SA9200 requires some specialized terms. The
definitions provided here are specific to the context of multi-site load
balancing and the operation of the SA9200, thus there may be su btle
differences between these and those offered in other sources.

14

Agent is a component of an HP Traffic Director that gathers metric
data and transmits it to the SA9200. For the purposes of the
discussions in this user guide, “agent” is synonymous with “Traffic
Director” or “e-Commerce Director.”

Agent IP refers to the real IP ad dress of an HP Traffic Director in i ts
role as an agent to a SA9200.

Intelligent Site Verification (ISV) is used to directly determine the
availability of (1) a service or, (2) a service that is balanced using a
third-party load balancer. Methods of verification include a site ping,
TCP connect, and HTTP probe.

ISV Group refers to a collection of services available at a physical
site. All services in a group share th e same ISV polling parameters.

1.

If multi-VIP standby is enabled when using the Flash load balancing method,
standby VIPs from a site are not included if all of the VIPS are (1) standby and,
(2) not marked “IN USE” due to a failed VIP at another site.

C H A P T E R 2 Definitions

Primary SA9200 is a SA9200 that automatically transfers (copies)
configuration inf ormation to secondar y SA9200s (through the Glo bal
Sync process). Configuration may only be changed on a Primary
SA9200.

Service is the Virtual IP (VIP) and port number of an application
service available at a site.

Authoritative Server is a DNS name server that has co mplete name
space information regarding the hosts within a given zone (see
below).

Authority is an attribute of a DNS name server with respect to a
specific part of the DNS name space, or zone (see below). A name
server is said to have authority over a zon e, by whi ch that se rver has
complete name space information for that zone.

Zone is a portion of a DNS name space for which a given name server
has complete name space information. When a name server receives
a request for a host outside of its zone, it replies with the name of the
name server that is authoritative for a different zone and is likely to
have the specific inform a tion required to satisfy the re quest.

15

C H A P T E R 2 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Notes

16

CLI Configuration

Custom/Manual Configuratio n

You can manually change any specific configuration parameters if
any of the Quick Start Wizard default settings are not sufficient for
your site.

It is recommended that you use the custom configuration method only
after you have comp leted the initial config uration with the Quick
Start Wizard. See the HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server
Appliance SA9200 Getting S tarted Guide for instructions on using the
Quick Start Wizard.

Command Line Syntax

This User Guide uses the following syntax when referring to CLI
commands.

Angled
brackets (<>)

Straight
brackets ([ ])

Angled brackets designate where you enter
variable parameters.

Choices of parameters appear between straight
brackets, separated by vertical bars.

Command Line Syntax

C H A P T E R 3 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

SA9200 (Primary)

host name: ns1.xyz-ex.com
IP ad dress : 10.54 .67.2

HP Traffic Director

IP address 10.54.67.4

service VIP 10.54.67.5 port 80
service VIP 10.54.67.6 port 80

service VIP 10.54.67.7 port 255

service VIP 10.54.67.8 port 255

name: lb1

generic load balancer

IP address 10.54.67.3

name: isvg1

Braces ({})

Optional commands or parameters appear
between braces.

Commands shown as they are entered after the

Bold

CLI prompt appear in bold type. (The prompt
appears in normal typeface to distinguish it
from the command text.)

Separates choices of input parameters within

Vertical bar

(|)

straight brackets. You may choose only one of a
set of choices separated by the vertical bar. (Do
not include the vertical bar in the command.)

Data Center 1

Network Topology

M ap o f

www.xyz-ex.com

Data Center 2

Command Line Syntax

generic load balancer

IP a d d ress 1 0.10 0.68 .3

service VIP 10.54.68.7 port 255

service VIP 10.54.68.8 port 255

HP Traffic Director

IP address 10.100.68.4

service VIP 10.100.68.5 port 80

service VIP 10.100.68.6 port 80

SA9200 (Secondary & Peer)

host name: ns2.xyz-ex.com
IP address: 10.100.68.2

name: isvg2

name: lb2

Adding a Secondary SA9200

18

Sample Network Topology

Now that the primary SA9200 is up and running, the additional
SA9200s can be easily added by configuring them as secondary
SA9200s. They receive all their configuration information from the
designated primary SA9200 t hrough the Glob al Sync process, whi ch
automatically transfers the primary SA9200 configuration to any
secondary SA9200s.

Similar to a typical DNS server, all SA9200s are treated as equals by
other DNS servers. The terms of primary and secondary only refers
to where a SA9200 gets its new configuration information. The
SA9200 only allows the configuration to be changed on a primary

C H A P T E R 3 Custom/Manual Configuration

SA9200. Secondaries get their configuration from their designated
primary SA9200 and store a copy of the received configuration
locally. Should a secondary be unable to contact a primary it
functions normally us ing its sto red confi gura tion. All SA9200s have
the same picture of the current Agent metrics and are equally cap able
of responding. Should one fail the existing DNS protocol
automatically routes requests to the non-failed SA9200s.

The theoretical secondary ns2.xyz-ex.com (IP 10.100.68.2) can re­solve requests for www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com by becoming a sec­ondary of the SA9200 at 10.54.67.2. From the CLI on the proposed
second SA9200, execute the command:

NOTE: User-entered
names and IP addresses
in the example are for
illustrative purpo ses
only. The appropriate
values for your
installation may vary.

Creating Agents

NOTE: An HP Traffic
Director refers to an HP
Traffic Director Server
Appliance, Models
SA7200 and SA7220; or
HP e-Commerce Traffic
Director Server
Appliance, Models
SA8200 and SA8220.

#config dns secondary 10.54.67.2
Warning: Your current dns configurations will

be lost.
Are you sure you want to become a Secondary

(Yes/No):yes
Now running as a Secon dary.

If the DNS configuration of 10.54.67.2 is changed, the new
configuration can be prop agated to 10.100.68.2 by the commit all
command.

An agent refers to the HP Traffic Director at each site. They are used
to keep the SA9200 informed of site status, response time, and
number of current connections of the server farm they are balancing.

To add an agent, type the following:

HP SA9200# config dns agents create lb1 ip

10.54.67.4
HP SA9200# config dns agents create lb2 ip

10.100.68.4

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C H A P T E R 3 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Associating Services with Agents

Creating Zones

Creating Authority Records

NOTE: The SA9200
must be authoritative for
this zone—the existing
DNS server should
delegate the domain to
the SA9200.

Next, services must be associated with agent(s):

HP SA9200# config dns agents lb1 services
create 10.54.67.5:80

HP SA9200# config dns agents lbl services
create 10.54.67.6:80

HP SA9200# config dns agents lb2 services
create 10.100.68.5:80

HP SA9200# config dns agents lb2 services
create 10.100.68.6:80

The next step is to create a zone (e.g., somedomain.xyz-ex.com) on the
SA9200. The command to do this is:

HP SA9200# co nfig dns zones create
somedomain.xyz-ex.com

Next, authority records for y our two SA9200s are created. These sites
are used to tell DNS servers who they can query directly for other
hosts in the current zone. In order for the SA9200 to perform
effectively, only SA9200s should be authoritative for the zone.

For example, hostname ns1.xyz-ex.com at IP address 10.54. 67.2 and
hostname ns2.xyz-ex.com at 10.100.68.2. The authoritative DNS
servers for xyz-ex.com should contain records for these hostnames, as
well as the corresponding NS records for somedomain.xyz-ex.com.
(See the section, Existing DNS Servers.)

HP SA9200# co nfig dns zones somedomain.xyz­ex.com

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com# create-authority ns1.xyz-ex.com ip

10.54.67.2

Create Authority Successful
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz-

ex.com# create-authority ns2.xyz-ex.com ip

10.100.68.2

Create Authority Successful

20

C H A P T E R 3 Custom/Manual Configuration

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com# info

Zone: somedomai n.xyz-ex.com
Authority Records TTL: 7200
Authority Name: ns1.xyz-ex.com

Authority IP: 10.54.67.2
Authority Name: ns2.xyz-ex.com

Authority IP: 10.100.68.2

Creating Hosts

Next, the hostname www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com is created:

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com# hostnames create www

Create Hostname Successful

The next step is to map the services www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com to
the load balancer. The following assumes the IP addresses of the load
balancer to be 10.54.67.4 (service 10.54.67.5:80) and 10.100.68.4
(service 10.100.68.5:80), and that th e agents are enabled and run ning
on the default port 1999. (Agents are enabled or disabled using the
CLI of an HP Traffic Director, with the command, config sys
multisite <e nabl e|di sable> .) It is assumed t hat t he a gent
names are the same as their IP addresses.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com# hostnames www siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com/hostnames/www/siteservices# map

lb1:10.54.67.5:80

Site Service Mapped
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz-

ex.com/hostnames/www/vips# map

lb2:10.100.68.5:80

Site Service Mapped

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C H A P T E R 3 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Committing the Configuration

NOTE: If the SA9200
was not configured with a
primary name server
during setup from the
Boot Monitor, the
nslookup command fails.

The commit command is used to put the configuration into effect.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/somedomain.xyz­ex.com/hostnames/www/vips# commit all

Warning: Your active configuration will be
overwritten.

Are you sure you want to commit the
configuration (yes|no)? yes

Configuration has been committed

NSLookup

The nslookup utili ty can verify that the SA9200 is correc tly resolvin g
www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com:

HP SA9200# nslookup
www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com

Server: server1.xyz-ex.com
Address: 10.168.16.4

Name: www.somedomain.xyz-ex.com
Address: 10.168 .16.23

22

Configure DNS Servers

The existing DNS server or servers must be correctly configured to
work with the SA9200s. Entries need to be made that delegate the
responsibility of resolving DNS quer ies fo r www.xyz-ex.com to the
SA9200s. This can be done in one of two ways. The first way is to
delegate the entire zone to the SA9200. This works fine as long as
only type A records need to be returned for this zone. The SA9200 is
a high performance specialized DNS server and supports only the
more common type A records.

The recommended way of configuring your existing DNS server is
delegate partial authority by aliasing. All of the SA9200s (both
primary and all secondaries) must b e included in the authority record
(NS) portion of the delegation.

C H A P T E R 3 Configure DNS Servers

Multiple-VIP Response

A DNS response may contain multiple answers. A standby VIP is
automatically considered as a resp onse if it is marked “IN USE” due
to a failed VIP. When multi-VIP standb y is enabled, standby VIPs are
included in a response if the number of additional VIPs in the
response has not been met

dns zones <zonename> hostnames <hostname> multi-vip­standby enable.

HP SA9200#config dns zones somedomain.xyz-
ex.com hostnames www multi-vip-standby enable

1

. To include standby VIPs, type config

The number of additional answers in a response can be configured.
The range is from 0 to 15.

HP SA9200#config dns zones somedomain.xyz­ex.com hostnames www add -r ec-responses 4

To verify whether multi-VIP standby is enabled or check the numb er
of additional responses, type config dns zones

<zonename> hostnames <hostname> info.

HP SA9200#config dns zones somedomain.xyz-
ex.com hostnames www info

1.

If multi-VIP standby is enabled when using the Flash load balancing method,
standby VIPs from a site are not included if all of the VIPS are (1) standby and,
(2) not marked “IN USE” due to a failed VIP at another site.

23

C H A P T E R 3 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Notes

24

Multi-Site Scenarios

Scenario 1

One Web site, two geographical sites (one server each), two
SA9200s, optional SA7120s

Introduction

An e-commerce company with a single Web site (www.mstd-

ex.com) wants to expand their site to two geographically dispersed

locations so that customers can be referred to the site that gives them
the fastest response time. They initially d eploy only a si ngle server at
each site (no load balancers), but they want the ability to expand as
the demand on their Web site increases.

Initially, a SA9200 would be deployed at each site. Optional
SA7120s could be deployed in front of each server for HTTPS
traffic. Since only one server is being deployed at each site no
load balancers are required. T he SA9200s is se t up to monit or the
health of the Web site by performing a periodic HTTP probe of
the main Web page on each server. After verification that the
initial configuration is working properly, the balancing method is

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

changed to Flash Response Mode to deliver the site that has the
least network latency to potential customers.

Part 1 – Initial Configuration of a Simple Site

west coast

SA9200

10.1.1 .1

10.2.1.100 10.2.2.100

Key Concepts

• No Load Balancers (non-brokered)

• ISV

• Two Sites

• Configuring a Secondary SA9200

• Delegating Authority to a SA9200

Router Router

Interne t

SA7120

SA7120

east coast

SA9200

10 .1.2. 1

26

Server

Server

Simple Site (Scenario 1)

Procedures

In this scenario each site is treated as its own ISV Group, since there
are no load balancers at either site. Both sites could be put into one
single ISV Group for this simple example, but for a majority of
situations it is better t o have a one- to-one mapping of I SV Groups to
sites.

The SA9200 at the westcoastsite is the primary SA9200. All other
SA9200s in the network should be secondaries so they can slave the ir
configurations to the primary SA9200.

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

Step 1. Create the ISV Groups for each site and associate
their services.

The creation of an ISV Group i s primarily for management purposes.
The ISV Group is referred to by name. This allows you to choose a
name that is meaningful to you in your network environment (e.g.,
westcoastsite). Names are case insensitive.

HP SA9200# config dns isvgroups
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# create

westcoastsite
ISV group westcoastsite created.

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/westcoastsite
services# create 10.2.1.100:80

Service Created

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/westcoastsite
services# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/westcoastsite#

..
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# create

eastcoastsite
ISV group eastcoastsite created.

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/eastcoastsite/
services# create 10.2.2.100:80

Service Created

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/eastcoastsite/
services# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/eastcoastsite#

..

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# info

ISV Group: westcoastsite
State: Enabled Probe Interval: 30 Probe Timeout: 15

Primary Flash Src: Not Defined Primary Flash Port: 0
Backup Flash Src: Not Defined Backup Flash Port: 0

ISV Group: eastcoastsite
State: Enabled Probe Interval: 30 Probe Timeout: 15

Primary Flash Src: Not Defined Primary Flash Port: 0
Backup Flash Src: Not Defined Backup Flash Port: 0

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Step 2. Select HTTP probe as the ISV method and associate a
URL with each service.

Since there are no load balancers, ISV must be used to determine site
service availability. In this scenario the site represents a distributed
Web site. The best way of determining site service availability is a
combination of ISV and traffic monit oring. Only a l oad ba lancer can
do this. The next best thing is ISV using an HTTP probe. For this
scenario only the main Web page (http://www.mstd-ex.com/
main.html) is probed.

NOTE: Only the actual
file name is entered in the
URL string. The Service
VIP and Port already
imply http://www.mstd­ex.com.

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/westcoastsite/
services/10.2.1.100:80#url /m ain.html

URL set to /main.html

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/eastcoastsite/
services/10.2.2.100:80#url /m ain.html

URL set to /main.html

Step 3. Create the delegated zone for the hostname and the
authority records for the zone.

In order for the rest of the world to know that the SA9200s are the
place to go for resolving the hostname www.mstd-ex. com they must
be made authoritative for the domain mstd-ex.com. This could be
impractical, so the solution is to make the SA9200s authoritative for
a zone within the mstd-ex.com domain, rather than for the entire
domain.

For this example the authoritative name server for the mstd-ex.com
domain delegates authority of a new zone within its domain to the
SA9200. This zone is called geo.mstd-ex.com. The hostname
www.mstd-ex.com is aliased to www.geo.mstd-ex.com. Anyone
querying the mstd-ex.com name server f or the address o f www.mstd­ex.com is told to ask one of the SA9200s for the address of
www.geo.mstd-ex.com.

HP SA9200# co nfig dns zones
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones# create geo.ms td-

ex.com
Zone geo.mstd-ex .com created.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority nswc.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.1.1
Authority record nswc.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority nsec.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.2.1
Authority record nsec.mstd-ex.com created

28

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com#

info

Zone: geo.mstd-ex.com
Authority Records TTL: 86400

Authority Name: nswc.mstd-ex.com
Authority IP: 10.1.1.1

Authority Name: nsec.mstd-ex.com
Authority IP: 10.1.2.1
Hostnames:

www

Step 4. Create Host and Specify Balancing Method.

When you create the hostname you can specify the balancing method
to use in selecting which site services are referred. For this scenario,
the balancing method eventually is Flash Response Mode. But for
initial testing of the network and co nfiguration it is often best to
configure first with Weighted Round Robin mode. This allows for
easy verification of the configuration because the query r esponses are
deterministic. Once the initial configuration is verified, the balancing
method can be changed to the production method (Part 2 of this
scenario).

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# create www

Hostname was creat ed.

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# www method wrr

Load Balancing Met hod set to wrr

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# info

Host: www
Method: wrr TTL: 60 Return Aut ho ri ta ti ve :Y es

Max Additional Responses:0 Multi-VIP Standby:Disable

Step 5. Map Services to Hostname.

DNS is essentially a means of mapping hostnames to IP addresses.
The SA9200 takes this mapping one step further by allowing the
mapping of hostnames to services (IP address and service port). In
this step the services that were created in Step 1 are mapped to the
hostname created in Step 2.

29

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# create www

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

westcoastsite:10.2.1.100:80
Site Service mappe d

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

eastcoastsite:10.2.2.100:80
Site Service mappe d

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# info

Site Service: westcoastsite:10.2.1.100:80
State: Enabled Weight: 1
Site Service: eastcoastsite:10.2.2.100:80
State: Enabled Weight: 1

Step 6. Save and activate the configuration.

The SA9200 maintains two copies of conf iguration. One is the active
copy of the configuration used by the name server function of the
SA9200. This configuration is accessed by all the show commands.
The other copy is for in-work changes of the configuration. This
configuration is accessed by all the config commands. This is the
copy in which we have bee n entering the new config uratio n. In order
to make the current in-work configuration active, the configuration
must be committed using the commit all command.

30

Save and Commit commands: The difference between the save and
commit commands is often a source of confusion for ne w users. The
save command is used to make a snapshot of the act ive configuration.

The commit command is used to make the in-work configuration
active. Once you have a good working configuration it is always a
good idea to save a snapshot of this confi guration before yo u do your
next commit. This way if there is a problem with the new
configuration you can use the restore command to revert to the
previous configuration.

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

Step 7. Configure the Secondary SA9200.

Type the IP address of the primary SA9200 (10.1.1.1).

HP SA9200# config dns secondary 10.1.1.1
Warning: Your current configuration will be
lost.
Are you sure you want to become a Secondary
(yes|no) ? yes

Now running as a Secon dary

In a matter of seconds after issuing the command, the secondary has
a copy of the configuration from the primary.

Subsequent commit all commands automatically transfer the
configuration to every attached secondary. T his automatic process of
transferring (copying) a configuration from primary to secondary
SA9200s is called Global Sync.

Step 8. Delegate authority to the SA9200s.

The primary name sever responsible for the mstd-ex.com domain
needs to be modified. Th e modi fi cat ion s var y d epend ing on the type
and version of the DNS server used. For this example it is assumed
that a Bind server is being used.

At a Bind DNS server, add the following lines to the database file for
the mstd-ex.com domain. Typically this file would be ca lle d
something like “db.mstd-ex”.

geo.mstd-ex.com. IN NS nswc.mstd-ex.com.
geo.mstd-ex.com. IN NS nsec.mstd-ex.com.
nswc.mstd-ex.com. IN A 10.1.1.1
nsec.mstd-ex.com. IN A 10.1.2.1
www.mstd-ex.c om. CNAME www.geo.mstd-ex.com.

Step 9. Verify the configuration and network operation.

There are many tools available to accomplish this step. The simplest
is to ping www.mstd-ex.com. Since we have initially configured for
Weighted Round Robin (with a weight of 1) we expect to ping

10.2.1.100. After waiting at least 60 seconds (the default Time To
Live for a SA9200 response) perform another ping. This time it
should ping 10.2.2.100. Performing t his a thir d ti me shoul d resul t in
the first service being pinged again.

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Part 2 – Changing to Flash Response Mode Balancing

Key Concepts

• Flash Response Mode

• Associating SA9200s with a site

Procedures

Now that the SA9200 is configured and functioning properly it is
time to modify the configuration to use Flash Response Mode
balancing instead of Weighted Round Robin.

Step 1. Associate SA9200s with a site.

Flash Response Mode works by sending DNS responses back to the
client from a source that is as close (network wise) as possible to the
address it is returning. Only the SA9200s are capable of sending
Flash responses.

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/westcoastsite#

flash-src 10.1.1.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.1.1

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/eastcoastsite#

flash-src 10.1.2.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.2.1

Step 2. Change the host balancing method to Flash
Response Mode.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# method flash

Load Balancing Met hod set to flash

32

Step 3. Commit the configuration changes.

Now that the changes are completed, save a snapsh ot and commit the
configuration. Note that now that a seco ndary SA9200 is online these
configuration changes are instantly propagated to the secondary
SA9200 (eastcoastsite) whenever the commit all command is
executed.

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

HP SA9200/config/dns# save first-cfg
Configuration saved

HP SA9200/config/dns# comm it all
Warning: Your acti ve configuration will be
overwritten.
Are you sure you want to commit the
configuration (yes|no) ? yes
Configuration has been committed

Part 3 – Adding Load Balancers to an Existing Site

Key Concepts

• Adding a Load Balancer (Agent)

• Disabling a Site

• Mixture of Brokered and Non-brokered Sites

• Configuring for Future Expansion

• Deleting an ISV Group

• Adding and Deleting Services

Procedures

After the sites have been up and running for a while it is still easy to
change the configur ation to add new servers, serv ice s and host s. B ut
if the site data traffic increa s es significantly it is often advantageous
to add load balancers to manage the traffic to the Web servers. If done
correctly, the addition of a load balan cer at a site can be handled with
minimal service interrup tion.

There are two methods to handle this transition.

• The first method requires that all existing network addresses be

kept in place. The SA9200s would continue to refer clients
directly to the servers until the configuration changes are
committed.

• The second method assumes that addresses of the servers might

change. The act of ch anging ne twork addr esses of serv ers usually
entails taking a site offline whi le transitioning.

The SA9200 has some built-in features that make this transition
almost as simple as the first method. In this section, the SA9200 is
used to take sites offline (no new referrals) to add a load balancer at
each site.

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

west coast

SA9200

SA7100

10.1.1.2

(servers)

www.m std-ex.com

Router Router

Intern e t

ISV Groups

and S ervices

HP T ra ffic

Director

Services

10.2.1.50:80

HP T ra ffic

Director

Step 1. Add the load balancers and their services to the
SA9200 configuration.

The SA9200 allows agents (load b alancers) and ISV Groups and thei r
services to be added prior to their availability. They can be added and
then designated as disabled. This prevents any referrals to the new
services until they are enabled. When an agent or ISV Group is
disabled all their services are automatically disabled in every
hostname that currently uses them. Further, no communication is
attempted to the disabled agent/ISV Group.

east coast

10.1.2.110.1.1.1

SA7100

10 .1.2 .2

(serve rs )

Services

www.mstd-ex.com

10 .2.2.5 0 :80

SA9200

34

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

If a service is disabled individually, but the agent/ISV Group is left
enabled then no referrals are made to that service, but communicat ion
is attempted to the services associated agent/ISV Group.

HP_SA9200/config/dns# agents
HP_SA9200/config/dns/agents# create

westcoastbrok er ip 10.1.1.2
Agent westcoastbroker created

HP_SA9200/con fig/dns/agents# westcoastbroker
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/westcoastbroker#

services

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/westcoastbroker/
services# create 10.2.1.50:80

Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/westcoastbroker/
services# disable

All services are now Disabled for all hosts
which currently ma p to them

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/westcoastbroker/
services# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/westcoastbroker# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# create

eastcoastbrok er ip 10.1.2.2
Agent eastcoastbroker created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# eastcoastbroker

services

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/eastcoastbroker/
services# create 10.2.2.50:80

Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/eastcoastbroker/
services# disable

All services are now Disabled for all hosts
which currently ma p to them

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/eastcoastbroker/
services# info

Service: 10.2.2.50:80

Service IP: 10.2.2.50 Service Port: 80

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Step 2. Map the new services to a hostname.

When services are mapped to a hostname they are set to the enable
state of their parent agent/ISV Group. If the agent/ISV Group is
disabled then the mapped service is disabled. In the last step we
created agents and disabled them. Therefore we do not need to
explicitly disable them after mapping them.

HP SA9200/config/dns# zone s geo.mstd-ex.com
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com#

hostnames www siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/hostnames/www/
siteservices# map westcoastbr oker:10.2.1.50:80

Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

eastcoastbroker:10.2.2.50:80
Site Service mappe d

Step 3. Delete the first site to transition over.

For the purposes of this scenario, the eastcoastsite converts over first.
By deleting the site (deletin g the sites ISV Group), the SA920 0s
sends all new referrals to the remaining sites. In this case that leaves
just the westcoastsite, since the brokered sites are still disabled.
Deleting a site also causes the removal of a ll of its associated services
from hostname mappings. To prove this, check the hostname after
deletion.

HP SA9200# config dns isvgroups
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# delete

eastcoastsite
ISV Group eastcoastsite deleted

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns# zones geo.mstd-ex.com

hostnames www

36

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 1

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# info

Host: www
Method: flash TTL: 60 Retur n Au th or it at iv e: Ye s
Max Additional Res po ns es : 0 Mu lt i- VI P St an db y: Di sa bl e
Site Services:

westcoastsite:10.2.1.100:80
westcoastbroker:10.2.1.50:80
eastcoastbroker:10.2.2.50:80

Step 4. Commit the new configuration.

At this point, you can save and commit the configuration.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# save before- upgrade

Configuration saved

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/geo.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# commit all

Warning: Your acti ve configuration will be
overwritten.
Are you sure you want to commit the
configuration (yes|no) ? yes
Configuration has been committed

Step 5. Bring the new eastcoastbroker hardware on line.

After the commit, the site known as eastcoastsite no longer receives
traffic from new referrals. It may still continue to receive some
residual traffic from cached referrals or current connections.
Configure the load balancer known as the eastcoastbroker. Verify
that it has the service 10.2.2.50:80 configured.

Step 6. Enable the eastcoastbroker and delete the
westcoastsite.

Similar to disabling an agent, enabling an agent automatically
enables all of its services mapped to hostnames.

HP SA9200/config/dns# agents
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# eastcoastbroker

enable
Agent Enabled

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns# isvgroups
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# delete

westcoastsite
ISV Group westcoastsite deleted

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# commit all
Warning: Your acti ve configuration will be
overwritten.Are you sure you want to commit the
configuration (yes|no) ? yes
Configuration has been committed

Step 7. Bring the new westcoastbroker hardware on line.

After the commit, the site known as westcoastsite no longer receives
traffic from new referrals. It may still continue to receive some
residual traffic from cached referrals or current connections.
Configure the load balancer known as the westcoastbroker. Verify
that it has the service 10.2.1.50:80 configured.

Step 8. Enable the westcoastbroker.

After this step, both sites are operational and can talk to the load
balancers.

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# westcoastbroker
enable
Agent Enabled

38

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

Scenario 2

Multiple sites, server farms, multiple hostnames, multiple
SA9200s, generic (not HP) load balancer

A large company with multiple divisions wants to integra te most of
the divisio n’s Web sites onto server farms located at two new
geographically dispersed data centers.

• One division already has an existing brokered server farm at a

third site that they refuse to give up. The load balancer at this
third site is not an HP Traffic Director. They want all of the Web
traffic to be balanced between all of these sites.

• The division with the legacy brokered site wants to direct clients

to the site with the least network latency (Flash Response Mode).
They are extremely concerned about site availability and do not
tolerate a solution that has any single point of failure. To further
minimize the impact of any network outages that may affect one
of their sites, they are establishing a smaller backup site that is
used for testing new pages and should only receive traffic if one
of the main sites fails.

Configuring in a Mixed Environment

• Because each division of the company is maintaining its own

Web sites on the servers, multiple hostnames with different
services for each hostname must be supported. The types of
services vary from HTTP, HTTPS to FTP.

This scenario is meant to emphasiz e the flexibility of the SA9200 for
handling a wide variety of diverse requirements simultaneously.
Scenario 1 concentrated on basic configuration issues. Scenario 2
concentrates on features not previously mentioned (redundancy and
service standby) as well as the ad vant ages of u s ing t he SA920 0 wi th
HP Traffic Directors (metric load balancing).

Key Concepts

• Redundancy

• Service Standby

• Four (4) Sites

• ISV

• Generic (not HP) Load Balancers

• Metric Load Balancin g

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

• Flash Response Mode

• Mixture of Brokered and Non-brokered Sites

• Different Site Combinations for Each Hostname

• Different Balancing Methods for Each Hostname

• Associating Services with Hostnames

Procedures

NOTE: HP Traffic
Director refers to either
an HP Traffic Director
Server Appliance, Model s
SA7200 and SA7220; or
HP e-Commerce Traffic
Director Server
Appliance, Models
SA8200 and SA8220

Step 1. Create agents for each of the sites brokered by HP
T r affic Di rectors and associate their services.

For this example, there is one existing site used for only one
division’s Web site. This site enforces the fact that not all sites have
to be identical.

The SA9200-to-site association is also done at this time since at least
one Web site uses Flash Response Mode. The HP Traffic Directors
are used as the backup Flash source.

In this scenario, only two of the four sites SA9200s are actually
required. If Flash Response Mode is used, the Traffic Directors can
broadcast the DNS responses under th e direction of the SA9200s. The
Traffic Directors may have an impact on performance, so it is
recommended that a SA9200 be placed at each site and the site
Traffic Director designated as a backup Flash source. This prevents
the SA9200 from being a single source of failure without impacting
the performance of the Traffic Director except upon a SA9200
failure.

Since redundancy is a key issue, all of the Traffic Directors are
deployed in pairs with serial failover enabled. This means that each
Traffic Director actually has three IP addresses. The IP address that
is used to communicate with the SA9200 is the Online Outside IP
Address (management address). This makes the failure of a Traffic
Director transparent to the SA9200 except for a momentary loss of
connection that provides the Traffic Director metrics.

40

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

• Create Site 1 and associate services:

Site 1

SA9200

ns1.mstd-ex.com

10.1.1.1
HP Traffic

Director

(2)

(servers)

Internet

Router

SA9200

10.1.1.3

10.1.1.2

Services

www.mstd-ex.com 10.1.1.100:80
www.secure.div1.mstd-ex.com 10.1.1.100:443
ftp.div1.mstd-ex.com 10.1.1.102:21
www.div2.mstd-ex.com 10.1.1.103:80

(hot

backup

for Flash)

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# site1
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1# flash-src

10.1.1.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.1.1

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1# flash­backup-src 10.1. 1.3
Backup Flash Src set to 10.1.1.3

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1# services
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1/services#

create 10.1.1.10 0:80
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1/services#

create 10.1.1.10 0:443
Service created

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1/services#

create 10.1.1.10 2:21
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1/services#

create 10.1.1.10 3:80
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1/services# ..
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site1# ..

• Create Site 2 and associate services:

Site 2

Router

SA9200

ns2.mstd-ex.com

10.1.2.1
HP Traffic

Director

(2)

(servers)

SA9200

10.1.2.2

Services

www.mstd-ex.com 10.1.2.100:80
www.secure.div1.mstd-ex.com 10.1.2.100:443
ftp.div1.mstd-ex.com 10.1.2.102:21
www.div2.mstd-ex.com 10.1.2.103:80

(hot

backup

for Flash)

10.1.2.3

42

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# create site2 ip

10.1.2.2
Agent site2 created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# site2
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2# flash-src

10.1.2.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.2.1

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2# flash­backup-src 10.1. 2.3
Backup Flash Src set to 10.1.2.3

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2# services
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2/services#

create 10.1.2.10 0:80
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2/services#

create 10.1.2.10 0:443
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2/services#

create 10.1.2.10 2:2
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/site2/services#

create 10.1.2.10 3:80
Service created

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

e

• Create Backup Site and associate services

Backup Sit

Router

(hot

backup

for Flash)

SA9200

SA9220

ns5.mstd-ex.com

10.1.4.1

HP Traffic

Director (2)

10.1.4.2

(servers)

Services

www.mstd-ex.com -10.1.2.100:80
www.secur e.div1.mstd-ex.com -10 .1.2.1 00:443
ftp.div1.mstd-ex.com - 10.1.2.102:21
www.div2.mstd-ex.com -10. 1 .2.103 :80

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# create backupsite
ip 10.1.4.2
Agent backupsite created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents# backupsite
HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite# flash-

src 10.1.4.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.4.1

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite# flash­backup-src 10.1. 4.3
Backup Flash Src set to 10.1.4.3

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite#

services

SA7100

10.1.4.3

44

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite/
services# create 10.1.2.100:80

Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite/
services# create 10.1.2.100:443

Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite/
services# create 10.1.2.102:21

Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/agents/backupsite/
services# create 10.1.2.100:103

Service created

Step 2. Create ISV Group for the generic (not HP Traffic
Director) brokered site and associate its service.

This site is a legacy site with a ge neric load balancer. The SA9200
can function quite well in this environment, but is not able to obtain
metric informatio n to support any of the m etrics oriented balancing
methods. Generic load balancers should be set up as an ISV Group.
The brokered services offered by th e load bal ancer are confi gure d in
the SA9200 just like any other service (VIP and port).

Assume that the Web page s behind the single HTTP serv ice available
at the site are constantly changing. In this case it might be unwi se to
probe for a specific URL, and preferable to verify the presence of the
HTTP server by attempting a periodic TCP connection.

The scenario description stated that the service provided at this site
was to use Flash Response Mode. Since no load balancer is present,
only the SA9200 can broadcast Flash respo nses. This is a single point

45

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

of failure, so a second SA9200 is located at this site. The second
SA9200 does not need to be listed as au thor itat ive for an y zon es, but
this would be a waste of a good resource.

internet

Site 3

Router

SA9200

ns3.mstd-ex.com

10.1.3.1

load balancer

HP SA9200/config/dns# isvgroups
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# create site3

ISV Group site3 created

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups# site3
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/site3# flash-src

10.1.3.1
Primary Flash Src set to 10.1.3.1

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/site3# services
HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/site3/services#

create 10.2.3.10 3:80
Service created

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/site3/services#

10.2.3.103:80

SA9200

ns4.mstd-ex.com

10.1.3.2

generic

Server

www.div2.mstd-ex.com

10.2.3.103:80

46

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

HP SA9200/config/dns/isvgroups/site3/services/

10.2.3.103:80# method tcp

Probe Method set to tcp

Step 3. Create the delegated zones for the hostnames and
the authority records for each zone.

Since SA9200s are deployed at every site, there is no reason to not
utilize all of them to their full capabilities. All that is requ ire d to do
this is to make all of the SA9200s authoritative for both zones. Note
that there is no need for the ns3 and ns4 to be listed as authoritative
in the div1.mstd-ex.com zone. Fu rther note that the SA9200s used for
hot standby redundancy are not li sted as au thoritie s. If it were not for
the requirement of using Flash Response Mode for balancing
www.div2.mstd-ex.com, there would need to be only two SA9200s
in the entire network. A SA9200 only need s to be collo cat ed (on the
same network) with a site if Flash Response Mode is used and the
load balancers are not configured as a primary Flash source for
performance reasons.

HP SA9200/config/dns# zones
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones# create div1.ms td-

ex.com
Zone div1.mstd-e x.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones# div1.mstd-ex.com
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns1.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.1.1
Authority record ns1.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns2.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.2.1
Authority record ns2.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns3.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.3.1
Authority record ns3mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns4.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.3.2
Authority record ns4.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com#

create authority ns5.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.4.1
Authority record ns5.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones# create div2.m std­ex.com
Zone div2.mstd-e x.com created

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C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns1.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.1.1
Authority record ns1.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns2.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.2.1
Authority record ns2.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns3.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.3.1
Authority record ns3mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com#

create-authority ns4.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.3.2
Authority record ns4.mstd-ex.com created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com#

create authority ns5.mstd-ex.com ip 10.1.4.1
Authority record ns5.mstd-ex.com created

Step 4. Add hosts for the first zone and map their services.

A limitation of DNS is there is no bui l t-i n way of conveying exactly
what service the client actually needs. A request for www.mstd­ex.com could easily be for either HTTP or HTTPS service. A major
feature of the SA9200 is that it is service aware. It knows about the
actual availability of services and can direct clients to the best site for
that service. The problem lies in that the SA9200 has no idea what
service the client wants unless a one-to- one mapping of servi ce types
to host names is made in the configuration.

48

In this example scenario, it would be easy to lu mp both the HTTP and
HTTPS services together in the configuration for the hostname
www.div1.mstd-ex.com. But a problem could occur if one of the
services ever failed at a site; the others are stil l available. Even though
one service has failed, the o th er is still available and all that is
returned to the client is the IP address. The subsequent attempts by
the client to use the referred address fails because it is asking for a
service that is unavailable at that site.

The solution requires a little more work in the hos t Web pages, but
allows full advantage to be taken of the service awareness of the
SA9200. If unique hostnames are used for each service type, this
problem never occurs. Note that if the load balancers are HP Traffic
Directors there is less of an issue with combining HTTP services with
HTTPS services. Most of the traffic ever reaching a server woul d be
HTTP.

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

In this scenario, the services availabl e on a single Web site have been
divided into three different hostnames: www (HTTP), wwwsecure
(HTTPS), and ftp (FTP). Another advantage of dividing the service
types like this is that each hostname can be configured to use a
different balancing method. Typically FTP traffic has fewer
connections, but longer connect ion times. T his is idea l for bal ancing
by Least Connections. Secure traffic (HTTPS) or Layer 7 load
balancing (Rich Mode) can place a heavy burden on the load
balancers. This is ideal for balancing by CPU Utilization. Layer 4
load balancing is typically many short duration connections. In this
case, response time can be used as a direct measure of the actual
server farms loading. This is ideal for balancing by Response Time.

The mapping of services to hostnames is also the easiest place to
designate a service standby. If the service had been designated as
standby in the agent record when it was first confi gured, it would
have no effect. The standby command for an agent or ISV Group is
a shortcut to placing t hat servi ce in standby in all the h ost names t hat
use that service at the time the command is issued.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones# div1.mstd-ex.com

hostnames

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# cr eate www

Host www created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# www
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# method avgresp

Load Balancing Met hod set to avgresp

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site1:10.1.1.100:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site2:10.1.2.100:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/s/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

backupsite:10.1.4.100:80
Site Service mappe d

49

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices#

backupsite:10.1.4.100:80

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices/
backupsite:10.1.4.100:80# standby

Site Service Stand by

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# ..

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# ..

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# ..

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# cr eate wwwsecure

Host wwwsecure cre ated

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# wwwsecure
HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure# method cpu

Load Balancing Met hod set to cpu

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure# siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure/siteservices# map

site1:10.1.1.100:443
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site2:10.1.2.100:443
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/s/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure/siteservices# map

backupsite:10.1.2.100:433
Site Service mappe d

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices#

backupsite:10.1.4.100:433

50

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure/siteservices/
backupsite:10.1.4.100:433# standby

Site Service Stand by

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure/siteservices/
backupsite:10 .1.4.100:433# ..

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure/siteservices# ..

HP_SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/wwwsecure# ..

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# cr eate ftp

Host ftp created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# ftp

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp# method conn

Load Balancing Met hod set to conn

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp# siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp/siteservices# map

site1:10.1.1.102:21
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp/siteservices# map

site2:10.1.2.102:21
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp/siteservices# map

backupsite:10.1.2.102:21
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp/siteservices#

backupsite:10.1.4.102:21

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div1.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/ftp/siteservices/
backupsite:10.1.4.102:21# standby

Site Service Stand by

51

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Step 5. Add host for second zone and map its services.

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames# cr eate www

Host www created

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# method flash

Load Balancing Met hod set to flash

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www# siteservices

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site1:10.1.3.103:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site2:10.1.3.103:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

site3:10.1.3.103:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices# map

backupsite:10.1.2.103:80
Site Service mappe d

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices#

backupsite:10.1.2.103:80

HP SA9200/config/dns/zones/div2.mstd-ex.com/
hostnames/www/siteservices/
backupsite:10.1.2.103:80# standby

Site Service Stand by

52

Step 6. Save and activate the configuration.

For a discussion of what is actually happening in this step see
Scenario 1, Part 1, Step 6.

HP SA9200/config/dns#sav e first-cfg
Configuration saved.

HP SA9200/config/dns# comm it all
Warning: Your acti ve configuration will be
overwritten.

C H A P T E R 4 Scenario 2

Are you sure you want to commit the
configuration (yes|no) ? yes
Configuration has been committed

Step 7. Configure the Secondary SA9200s.

For this scenario the primary SA9200 is the SA9200 located at site1.
All of the other SA9200s are secondaries to this single primary. For
details on how to configure a secondary see Scenario 1, Part 1, St ep

7.

Step 8. Delegate authority to the SA9200s.

See Scenario 1, Part 1, Step 8 for an example of the type of entries
required in a Bind domain database file to delegate authority. In
reality the Bind files for this scenario would be quite complex
because it would involve multiple divisions of a large company.
Attempting to addr ess the type of issues that might be involved go es
well beyond the scope of this scenario.

53

C H A P T E R 4 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Notes

54

Boot Monitor

The SA9200 Boot Monitor Command Line Interface (CLI) allows
you to configure boot options and manage boot configuration files.
Typically, the Boot Monit or is us ed only d uring in iti al confi gurati on
or major reconfigurations, should the latter become necessary. Day­to-day operations are managed with t he CLI. See Chapt er 2, “Theory
of Operations,” for an overview of SA9200 operations. See Chapter
6, “CLI Reference,” for details on specific commands.

General categories of ta sks per for med t hr ou gh t he Boot Monitor are:

• Configure and display boot options, including the configuration

file

• Manage the boot configuration file system

• Configure and change IP parameters

System Requirements

You can use any terminal or personal computer with a terminal
emulator as the CLI command station.

The terminal must have the following features:

• 9600 bits per second, 8 data b its, 1 st op bit, no parity, and no flow

control.

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

• Serial terminal emulation program such as Terminal or

HyperTerminal* for Windows* NT or HyperTerminal for
Windows 95 or 98.

• Cable and connector to match male DTE connector (DB-9).

Accessing the Boot Monitor

NOTE: After configuring
the SA9200 in the Boot
Monitor, you must enable
autoboot for the devic e to
boot into normal
operating mode.

To access the Boot Monitor Command Line Interface, interrupt the
boot sequence by pressing a key at the following prompt:

Press any key to stop au toboot

In a few seconds the following prompt appears, confirming that the
Boot Monitor is running:

monitor>

56

C H A P T E R 5 Accessing the Boot Monitor

Boot Monitor

The Boot Monitor contains the following commands:

Command
Reference

Command Description
autoboot

Used to enable or disable the Autoboot function. When Autoboot is
enabled, during startup the SA9200 prompts you to press any key to
enter the Boot Monitor command line interface. If you ignore the
prompt, startup concludes with the SA9200 in normal operating mode
(displaying the HP SA9200# prompt). When Autoboot is disabled, t he
startup sequence is interrupted and displays the Boot Monitor interface
(displaying the monitor> prompt). Autoboot is enabled by default.

To enable Autoboot, press Enter to accept the default “enable.” To
disable, enter disable, then press Enter.

Example:

monitor>autoboot
Autoboot? [enable]--->

Boot Monitor Command Reference

57

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Command Description
boot

NOTE: User­entered names and
IP addresses in the
example are for
illustrative purposes
only. The
appropriate values
for your installation
may vary.

Boots the SA9200 using a specified configuration.

Example:

monitor>boot
Current active configuration

---------------------------­Product: HP_SA9200
Version: 3.0
Patch Level: 0.0
Build: D18

---------------------------­Current time: Fri Mar 31 14:04:56
Current Config: default.cfg
Hostname: www
Using DHCP: No
IP Address: 10.1.1.11
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Default Route: 10.1.1.1
Domain: xyz-ex.com
Primary nameserver: 10.1.1.101
NTP: Enabled
Servers: 10.1.1.2
NIC setup: auto
Autoboot: Enabled
Boot timeout: 5 (seconds)

Boot current configuration? [y]
Please stand by, the system is being rebooted.

delete

58

Deletes the specified configuration file from SA9200.

Example:

monitor>delete
Enter the configuration file to delete [] --->
filename.cfg

Boot Monitor Command Reference

C H A P T E R 5 Accessing the Boot Monitor

Command Description
dir

dhcp

dns

Displays the list of saved boot configuration files.

Example:

monitor>dir
File name

----------­ *default.cfg

Enables or disables the use of DHCP by the SA9200. When DHCP is
enabled, the SA9200 receives its configuration parameters from the
DHCP server at startup. When DHCP is disabled, the SA9200 ignores
the DHCP server, and so must be manually configured at startup.
Respond to the prompt with y to enable, respond with n to disable.
DHCP is disabled by default.

Example:

monitor>dhcp
Do you wish to use DHCP? [n]--->y

Press Enter to accept the default, n to disable DHCP, or enter y, then
press Enter to enable.

Specifies the domain and (optionally) nameserver(s). The SA9200
prompts you for the required information.

Syntax:

monitor>dns

Example:

monitor>dns
Enter domain ("-" to delete)
[somedomain.com] --->somedomain.com
Primary Name Server (<return> to end)
[209.218.240.1] --->209.218.240.1
Secondary Name Server (<return> to end "-" to delete)
[] --->

Boot Monitor Command Reference

59

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Command Description
factory_reset

NOTE: factory

_reset

does not
delete saved
configuration files.

CAUTION: This
command rewrites
the default
configuration to the
default.cfg
configuration file.

halt

Resets the system to factory defaults. Values affected by this command
are:

• Entire current DNS configuration is deleted

• Route parameters

• CLI parameters

• IP address

• Default route

• Hostname

• Domain

• Name servers

• DHCP is disabled

• Autoboot is set to “enabled”

Halts the SA9200 system.

Boot Monitor Command Reference

60

C H A P T E R 5 Accessing the Boot Monitor

Command Description
help

Lists all Boot Monitor commands or optionally displays syntax for a
specified command.

Example:

monitor>help
autoboot Enable or disable autoboot
boot Boot saved configuration
delete Delete a saved configuration file
dhcp Use DHCP to configure system
dir Directory of saved config files
dns Configure domain and name server(s)
factory_reset Reset system to factory defaults
halt Use to halt SA9200 system
help Show list of available commands
host Set host name
info Show system status
ip Set IP address
load Load a specified configuration
netmask Set netmask
nic Configure network interface card
route Set default route
save Save the current configuration
setdate Set the real-time clock
setup Configure unit
show Show saved configuration info
version Display software version info

Boot Monitor Command Reference

61

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Command Description
info

ip

Displays the current boot configuration.

Example:

monitor>info
Current active configuration

---------------------------­Product: HP_SA9200
Version: 3.0
Patch Level: 0.0
Build: D18

---------------------------­Current time: Thu Mar 31 12:04:39 2000
Current Config: default.cfg
Hostname: www
Using DHCP: No
IP Address: 10.1.1.11
Netmask: 255.255.254.0
Default Route: 10.1.1.1
Domain: xyz-ex.com
Primary nameserver: 10.1.1.10
NIC setup: auto
Autoboot: Enabled
Boot timeout: 5 (seconds)

Specifies the IP address of the SA9200.

load

netmask

62

Example:

monitor>ip
Enter IP address [10.1.1.11] --->10.1.1.111

Loads a previously saved configuration file into memory.

Example:

monitor>load
Do you want to load a saved configuration? [n] --->y
Configuration file name? [savedcnfg.cfg] --->
Configuration loaded: savedcnfg.cfg

Specifies the netmask.

Example:

monitor>netmask
Enter Netmask [255.255.254.0] --->255.255.254.0

Boot Monitor Command Reference

C H A P T E R 5 Accessing the Boot Monitor

Command Description
nic

route

save

Configures network interface card (NIC) parameters. Assurance of
compatibility with some older switches, hubs, or routers, may require
that you directly specify the Ethernet speed and duplex mode of the
network interface card for the SA9200. The nic command, available at
the serial console, allows you to specify these characteristics.

Example:

monitor>nic
Auto config NIC card? [y] --->n
1 - 100BaseTx
2 - 10BaseTx
Select Media Type (1 or 2): [1] --->1
Use Full Duplex? [y] --->y
Done Ether config: 100basetx,full_duplex

Specifies the default route (gateway). The current route is listed. Type a
new route to change.

Example:

monitor>route
Enter default route [10.1.1.1] --->10.1.1.2

Saves the current configuration. Changes made during the current Boot
Monitor session are lost unless you use the

save command.

Boot Monitor Command Reference

63

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Command Description
settime

NOTE: Answer yes
is you plan to use
Flash Load
Balancing.

Configures the date and time of the SA9200. One way to configure this
is by using the Network Time Protocol (NTP). The user is prompted if
NTP should be used, and is then prompted for IP addresses of the NTP
servers. Be sure that the selected NTP servers are a reliable source for
NTP time and that the NTP server latency is less than 20 milliseconds. If
NTP is not used, then the date and time are configured manually.

When you enter no for “Use NTP?” the setdate prompts are displayed.
When you specify yes, you ar e prompt ed for the NTP server a ddress(es).
Example:

monitor>settime
Use NTP? [y] --->n
Warning: Load Balancing Method FLASH will not work
without NTP
The current time is now: Wed Jan 12 20:23:53 2000
Enter the year (YYYY): [2000] --->
Enter the month (MM): [01] --->
Enter the day (DD): [12] --->
Enter the hour (HH): [20] --->
Enter the minute (MM): [23] --->
Enter the seconds (SS): [53] --->
Wed Jan 12 20:23:53 2000
Network Initialization...
Application Initialization...
monitor>settime
Use NTP? [y] --->y
Enter Name or IP address of NTP server: []
Enter an additional IP address of an NTP server or
<return> to end [] --->209.218.240.1
Enter an additional IP address of an NTP server or
<return> to end [] --->
monitor>

64

When logging into the CLI, the system date/time is displayed. If NTP is
enabled and operational, NTP information is also displayed.

Boot Monitor Command Reference

C H A P T E R 5 Accessing the Boot Monitor

Command Description
setup

show

NOTE: Use the dir
command to display
the list of saved
configuration files.

Initiates the setup procedure of the SA9200. The system displays
prompts for all inpu ts nec es s ar y to initialize system.

Example:

monitor>setup
Auto config NIC card? [n] --->y
Done Ether config: auto
Enter hostname [nsb-9] --->
Autoboot? [enable] --->
Enable DHCP? [n] --->
Enter domain (’-’ to delete) [mysite_ex.com] --->
Primary name server (’-’ to delete) [10.1.1.10] -->
Add additional name server (<return> to end) [] --->
Enter IP address [10.1.1.1] --->
Enter Netmask [255.255.254.0] --->

Displays a specified saved boot configuration file. Type show, then the
name of the configuration file you wish to view.
Example:

monitor>show
Configuration file name? [] ---><filename>

Boot Monitor Command Reference

65

C H A P T E R 5 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Notes

66

CLI Reference

The HP Multi-Site Traff ic Director Server Appli ance SA9200 is fully
configurable through the Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI is
accessible either through Telnet to the SA9200, or the serial port.
Commands exist in a logical hierarchy. This chapter contains a
summary command list, illustrations of the command tree structure,
and a comprehensive reference with descriptions of all commands,
their parameters, and if app licab le, examples of their output displ ay.

Environment

Editing the Command Line

The SA9200’s CLI provides many key combinations for ease of
editing. These are described in the following table. The list is also
available in the CLI. Type help ttychars and press Enter.

C H A P T E R 6 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

CTRL-A
CTRL-B
CTRL-C
CTRL-D
CTRL-E
CTRL-F
CTRL-H
CTRL-L-<TAB>

CTRL-L
CTRL-N or Down Arrow

CTRL-P or Up Arrow
CTRL-R

Move insertion point to beginning of line
Move insertion point back one character
Prompts to stop the currently running function
Delete character under cursor
Move insertion point to end of line
Move insertion point forward one character
Backspace
Show all possible completions of the current command

branch at the current level
Clear screen
Next item in Command History (see “Command

History” below)
Previous item in Command History
Reverse Command History search

CTRL-S
CTRL-T
CTRL-U
CTRL-W
<TAB>

CTRL-_
Esc-<

68

Forward Command History search
Transpose character over cursor wi th preceding character
Delete from cursor to beginning of line
Delete from cursor to beginning of word
Display all possible commands and levels available from

current level, except global commands and dynamic
nodes.

Undo the last character
Display beginning of Command History

Key Combinations

C H A P T E R 6 Command History

Esc->
Esc-Backspace or

Esc-CTRL-H
Esc-B
Esc-C
Esc-D
Esc-F
Esc-L

Esc-U
Insert

Command History

Go to end of Command History
Delete previous word

Move insertion point back one word
Capitalize letter and move to end of word
Delete from cursor to end of word
Move insertion point forward one word
Make letter lower case and move insertion po int to end of

word
Capitalize entire word
Toggle insertion mode (insert or overwrite)

Key Combinations

The SA9200’s CLI records recently executed commands and allows
you to review them.

NOTE: You must include

a space between the “!” or
“h” and the history index

number

.

history <n>

With no parameter <n> specified, history displays the last ten
commands entered by the user. The integ er <n> spe cifies the history
index number. When <n> is specified on the comman d line, the ten
commands executed before that of the specified index number are
displayed.

! <n> or h <n>

Executes the command beginning at the specified history index
number.

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C H A P T E R 6 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

Pipes Any command can be piped to either grep <grepstring> or more.

• Output display of commands piped to grep is limited to lines

containing <grepstring>.

• Output of commands piped to more appears a page at a time for

easier readability.

• Pipes can be cascaded (typically with a final pipe to more).

Example: config sys info | grep tel ne t | more

NOTE: Do not enclose
the search target in
quotes.

• Multiple grep commands can be cascaded to search for multiple

words.
Example: config sys info | grep telnet | grep
port

Online Help The SA9200 provides online help in the following forms:

• Type help to describe help features.

• Type help ttychars to display a list of special terminal editing

characters.

• Type help <command> for a description of a specific command

or, if relevant, a list of sub-commands you can enter from within
<command>.

• Type? to display a path list of commands and parameters

available from the current prompt or <command> forward.

• Typing? or help as one of a command’s parameters, i.e.,

<command>, displays help regarding the parameters available
for <command>.

70

C H A P T E R 6 Command Line Syntax

Command Line Syntax

Angled brackets
(<>)

Straight brackets
([ ])

Braces ({})
Bold

Vertical bar (|)

This chapter uses the following syntax when referring to CLI
commands.

Angled brackets designate where you enter variable parameters.

Choices of parameters appear between straight brackets, separated
by vertical bars.

Optional commands or parameters appear between braces.
Commands shown as they are entered after the CLI prompt appear

in bold type. (The prompt appears i n normal t ypefac e to disti nguish
it from the command text.)

Separates choices of input parameters within straight brackets. You
may choose only one of a set of choices separated by the vertical
bar. (Do not include the vertical bar in the command.)

Command Line Syntax

71

C H A P T E R 6 HP Multi-Site Traffic Director Server Appliance SA9200 User Guide

CLI Command Summary

This section contains diagrams and lists of the SA9200’s CLI
commands categorized by function. Complete details of CLI
commands appear in the command reference section of this chapter.

Objects and Parameters

The following figures illustrate the show and config branches of the
CLI-configurable objects and their relationships to one another
within the SA9200.

cli

info

zones

info

stats

<zonename>

info

stats

hostnames

info

stats

<hostname>

info

stats

siteservices

info

stats

show

dns
info

stats

info all

stats all

status

agents

info

stats

<agentname>

info

stats

services

info

stats

<servicename>

info

stats

isvgroups

info

stats

<isvname>

info

stats

services

info

stats

<servicename>

info

stats

flash

info

ROOT

info

sys
info

date

software info

snmp info
wizard info

secondary info

ssh info

logs

display

display-old

config

commands

72

<siteservicename>

info

stats

Command Tree (Show)

C H A P T E R 6 Objects and Parameters

show

commands

cli

info

login-attempts

port

more

prompt

screenlines

telnet-sessions

timeout

users

username

delete

software

delete
install

secondary

create
delete

enable
disable

community

info
boot

any

flash

list

info

ssh
info

trap
info

port
create
delete

info
create
delete

ROOT

info

sys

info

logs

display

display-old

SNMP

info

auto-topology

port

sysContact

sysName

sysLocati on

wizard

info

enable

disable

ntp

info
create
delete

config

zones

info

stats

create

delete

rename

<zonename>

create-authority
delete-authority

authority-ttl

hostnames

<hostname >

add-rec-responses

multi-vip-s ta nd by disable

multi-vip-standby enable

siteservices

info

stats

stats

info
create
delete

rename

stats

info

vips

ttl

method

authority

stats

info

map

unmap

max-delay

poll-interval

num-polls
drop-miss

dns
info

stats

info all

stats all

status

log

primary

secondary

flash

info
enable
disable

aliasing

<siteservicename>

agents

info

stats
create
delete

rename

<agentname>

info

stats
enable
disable

agent-ip

agent-port

interval
timeout

flash-src
flash-port

flash-backup-src

flash-backup-port

services

stats

info
enable
disable

standby

create

delete

rename

<servicename >

stats

info
enable
disable

standby

weight

factor

stats

info
enable
disable

standby

weight

factor

isvgroups

info
create
delete

rename

<isvname>

info

stats

enable

disable
interval
timeout

flash-src

flash-port

flash-backup-src

flash-backup-port

services

stats

info
enable
disable

standby

create
delete

rename

<servicename >

stats

info
enable
disable

standby

weight

method

url

Command Tree (Config)

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Global & CLI System Commands

?
!<n> or h<n>
!!
… | grep
… | more

arp
back (also box, top, toplevel)
box (also back, top, toplevel)
commit all
commit local
clearstats
dbpr
exit (also logout, quit)
factory-default
halt
help
history
info
logout (also exit, quit)
netstat
nslookup
ping
quit (also exit, log out)
reboot
revert
start-wizard
top (also back, box, toplevel)
toplevel (also back, top, box )
traceroute
who

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C H A P T E R 6 Objects and Parameters

File Management Commands

cat
copy
dir
get
put
remove
restore
restore-verbose
save

Configuration Commands

NOTE: The config info
commands display
uncommitted
configuration
information that is
inactive. The show info
commands display the
active configuration
information. A commit
command is necessary
before any config
commands become
active, after which the

show info and config
info commands displays

matching information.

config cli

info
delete
login-attempts
more
port
prompt
screenlines
telnet-sessions
timeout
username
users

System Commands

config sys

info
logs display
logs display-old
ntp create
ntp delete
ntp info

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config sys software

info
install
boot
delete

config sys secondary

info
any
flash
list
create
delete

config sys ssh

info
enable
disable

config sys wizard

info
enable
disable

76

SNMP Commands

config sys snmp

info
port
auto-topology
sysContact
sysLocation
sysName
community info
community create
community delete
trap info
trap port
trap create
trap delete

C H A P T E R 6 Objects and Parameters

DNS Commands

config dns

info
info all
stats
stats all
status
log
primary
secondary

config dns agents

info
stats
metrics
create
delete
rename

config dns agents <agentname>

info
stats
metrics
enable
disable
agent-ip
agent-port
interval
timeout
flash-src
flash-port
flash-backup-src
flash-backup-port

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config dns agents <agentname> services

info
stats
enable
disable
standby
create
delete
rename

config dns agents <agentname> services
<servicename>

info
stats
enable
disable
standby
weight
factor

config dns isvgroups

info
create
delete
rename

config dns isvgroups <isvname>

info
stats
enable
disable
interval
timeout
flash-src
flash-port
flash-backup-src
flash-backup-port

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C H A P T E R 6 Objects and Parameters

config dns isvgroups <isvname> services

info
stats
enable
disable
standby
create
delete
rename

config dns isvgroups <isvname> services
<servicename>

info
stats
enable
disable
standby
weight
method
url

config dns zones

info
stats
create
delete
rename

config dns zones <zo nename>

info
stats
create-authority
delete-authority
authority-ttl

config dns zones <zo nename> hostnames

info
stats
create
delete
rename

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config dns zones <zo nename> hostnames <hostname>

info
stats
ttl
method
authority
add-rec-responses
multi-vip-standby enable
multi-vip-standby disable

config dns z ones <zonename > hostnames <hos tname>
siteservices

info
stats
map
unmap

config dns z ones <zonename > hostnames <hos tname>
siteservices <s iteservicename>

info
stats
enable
disable
standby
weight
factor

config dns flash

info
enable
disable
aliasing
max-delay
poll-interval
num-polls
drop-miss

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C H A P T E R 6 Objects and Parameters

Show Commands

show dns

info
stats
info all
stats all
status
flash info

show dns agents

info
stats
metrics
metrics <ip address> port <port#>

show dns agents <agentname>

info
stats
metrics
metrics <ip address> port <port#>

show dns agents <agentname> services

info
stats

show dns agents <agentname> services
<servicename>

info
stats

show dns isvgroups

info

show dns isvgroups <isvname>

info
stats

show dns isvgroups <isvname> services

info
stats

show dns isvgroups <isvname> services
<servicename>

info
stats

show dns zones

info
stats

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show dns zones <zone name>

info
stats

show dns zones <zone name> hostnames

info
stats

show dns zones <zone name> hostnames <hostname>

info
stats

show dns zones <zone name> hostnames <hostname>
siteservices

info
stats

show dns zones <zone name> hostnames <hostname>
siteservices <s iteservicename>

info
stats

show sys

info
date
ntp info
secondary info
snmp info
ssh info
logs display
logs display-old
software info
wizard info

show cli

info

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C H A P T E R 6 Global & CLI System Commands

Global & CLI System Commands

Command Description
?
! (also h)
!!
arp
back (also ..)
box (also top)

clearstats
commit all

commit local

Displays all the commands at the command level.
Executes the history command.
Repeats the last command.
Displays the ARP table.
Moves up one level in the CLI command tree.
Moves back to the beginning (root level) of the CLI branch

command tree.
Clears all statistical information.
Saves changes and informs the DNS server of new

configurations. It writes all ch anges to the disk and propagates the
configurations to the secondary SA9200s.

Saves configuration information on the local SA9200 only (i.e.,
no information migrates to the secondary SA9200s on the
network.) This command is useful for testing new configur ations.

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Command Description
dbpr

Displays information on the active configuration down to the
agent VIP level. This command is useful for assessing the
effectiveness of the current balanc ing settings. Options consist of
a hyphen and letter followed by a user-specified parameter or
parameters.
Syntax:

dbpr [host | agent | flash] {options}

where:
host specifies that the command is to display information from
a specified host.
agent specifies that the command is to display information
from a specified agent.
flash specifies that the command is to display flash latency
information between peers.

Options:

-a agent_ip agent_port limits the display output to
information related to the load balancer identified by agent_ip
and agent_port.

-h hostname limits display output to information related to the
host identified by hostna me. Used together with the "-a" o ption,
the "-h" option limits the display i nformat ion to a specif ic servic e
on the specified load balancer.

-z zonename limits display output to information related to
hosts within zonename. This option is ignored if combined with
the "-h" option. Comb ining this option with the "-a" option
constrains the display info rmation to specific service(s) on the
specified load balancer.

-f overrides the default display limit of statistics and metrics
only . Addit ional i nformatio n disp layed wh en "- f" is use d incl udes
weight, factor, TTL, and authority records.

-v vip_ip_address limits output to information relating to
VIPs with an IP address of ip_address. This option can be
combined with the "-a", "-h", and "-z" options to display
information related to a narrow subset of VIPs or even a single
VIP. For example:

dbpr host -v 10.234.2.2 -h www.foo-ex.com -a

10.168.16.3 1999

84

Global & CLI System Commands

C H A P T E R 6 Global & CLI System Commands

Command Description
dbpr (cont’d)

exit
factory-default

NOTE: Only those
parameters set within the
CLI are affected.

Displays a single VIP- the one associated with host www.foo­ex.com whose IP address is 10.234.2.2 and is on t he load balancer
at 10.168.16.3:1999

-c causes the referral statistics associated with all displayed VIPs
to be cleared following the display.

Exits the CLI.
Resets the SA9200 to its original factory configuration. Original

factory settings are listed below .
Networking parameters controlled through the Boot Monitor are

not affected by the factory-default command.
CLI factory settings:

• Entire DNS configuration is deleted.

• SA9200 is set to primary.

• Telnet port is set to 23.

• Prompt is reset to product name.

• Maximum Telnet sessions is set to 0.

• Idle timeout is set to 900 seconds.

• Maximum login attempts is set to 3.

grep

halt

help
history

Searches for a specified string of characters. See the section
entitled Pipes earlier in this Chapter.

Shuts down the SA9200 preparatory to power off. If you wish to
return the SA9200 to operational mode from the halted state, you
must manually reboot using the switc h labeled "Reset" on the rear
panel.

Displays help for the CLI.
Displays the command history list or rec alls a command by i ndex

number from the history list.
Syntax:

history {<n>}

where:
n is the command index number from the history list

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Command Description
info

Information is displayed one pa ge at a time if the file size is
greater than 500K even when more (‘paging’) is disabled. This
info command (at the root level) displays only current
configurations, i.e., ‘committed’ changes ( perform ed in the
Config branch). This is the same information displayed from info
commands on the Show branch of the CLI commands.

System Information

•

Including the SA9200’s unit identifier, MAC address, IP
address, Netmask, Broadcast, Default Route, and
Nameservers.

SNMP Information

Including SNMP state (running or stopped), if auto-topology

•

state (enabled or not), agent port, SysName, SysLocation,
Community information, Trap information

Software Information

•

For each installed version: Image index number, Product
description, Version number, Patch number, Build number

CLI Information

Number of concurrent Telnet sessions allowed, Root prompt,

•

(number allowed of) Login attempts, More (‘paging’) state,
(number of) Screenlines, System ID, CLI Timeout value, CLI
port number, Wizard state (enabled or disabled)

logout

86

NTP Servers Information

•

Displays information about any configured NTP servers.

DNS Information

Primary or secondary (stat e), Logging sta te, Flash Infor mation

•

(Flash state, Polling In te rval, Max Broadcast Dela y, aliasing
state, Number of Polls, Drop Misses), Agent information and
services configured under each agent , I SV Group in fo rma tion
and services under the ISV, Zone information, Hostname and
information (load balancing method), and Site Services
information.

Exits the current logged-in session.

Global & CLI System Commands

C H A P T E R 6 Global & CLI System Commands

Command Description
more

netstat
nslookup

ping

Pauses the screen after displaying a full screen until the <Enter>
key is pressed. See the section entitled Pipes earlier in this
Chapter.

Displays the SA9200’s routing tables.
Performs an nslookup of the specified IP address or hostname

Syntax::

nslookup <ipaddr | hostname>

where:

• ipaddr is the IP address

• standard 8.5 X 11" is the name of the host

Tests the network connection to another networking device. It
sends an ICMP packet from the SA9200 to the target device;
when it receives the packet, it sends a ping reply. When the
SA9200 receives the reply, it displays a message indicating that
the specified IP address is alive. If the unit receives no reply, it
displays a message indicating that the target device is not
responding.
Syntax:

ping <ipaddress | hostname>

where:

ipaddress is the IP address of the other networking device.
hostname is the host name of the other networking device.

quit
reboot
revert
start-wizard

top
toplevel (also box)

Exits the current session.
Reboots the SA9200.
Returns the configura tion to the last committed configuration .
Starts the Quick Start Wizard, which is an automated, interac tive

system configuration tool.
Changes the prompt level to the system top or box level.
Changes the prompt level to the system top or box level.

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Command Description
traceroute
who

Displays the route that packets travel to the network host.
Displays the list of all users currently logged in.

Global & CLI System Commands

File Management Commands

Command Description
cat

copy

Displays contents of the specified saved configuration file.
Syntax:

cat <filename>

where:
filename is the name of the file to be displayed.

Copies an existing configuration file to a new file.
Syntax:

copy <source> to <destination>

where:

source is the name of the original file.
destination is the name of the target file.

88

dir

Displays a list of saved configuration files. Also displays the last
loaded configuration file.

File Management Commands

C H A P T E R 6 File Management Commands

Command Description
get

put

Retrieves a configuration file from a TFTP server. Because the
TFTP protocol has no user-login or validation, sites employing it
typically enforce some file access restrictions. Such restrictions
are specific to each site and vary widely in scope and methods.
Syntax:

get <TFTP URL>

where:
TFTP URL is the address of the tftp server from which you wish
to retrieve the configuration file
Example:
get tftp://10.168.30.2/ tftpboot/get.cfg
This helps to save configuration files outs ide the box.

Transfers a configurat ion t o th e spec ified re mote file o r di rectory.
If the remote-directory form is used, the remote host is assumed
to be a UNIX device. Because the TFTP protocol has no user­login or validation, sites employing it typically enforce some file
access restrictions. Such restrictions are specific to each site and
vary widely in scope and methods.
Syntax:

put <filename> to <TFTP URL>

where:
TFTP URL is the address of the tftp server to which you wish to
send the configuration file.
filename is the nam e of the file to send.
Example:
put default.cfg to tftp://10.168.30.2/tftpboot/default.cfg

remove

Removes a configuration file.
Syntax:

remove <filename>

where:
filename is name of the configuration file to be removed.

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Command Description
restore

restore-verbose
save

NOTE: Username
commands are not valid in
configuration files, i.e.,
save and restore
operations do not include
username data. Use the
command config cli
username to restore
user names and passwords.

Restores a CLI configuration from a previously saved file. (See
save.)
Syntax:

restore <filename>

where:
filename is the name of the configur at ion file to be restored.
(The default file name is default.cfg.)
Execute the command commit local or commit all to
activate the restored configuration.

As restore above, but displays each line of the restored file.
Saves the current CLI configuration to a file of the specified

name. This information is saved in a text file. (See also restore.)
Syntax:

save <filename>

where:
filename is the file name under which the configuration is
stored. (The default file name is “default.cfg.”)

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C H A P T E R 6 Configuration Commands

Configuration

Config CLI Commands

Commands

Command Description
config cli

info

Changes the prompt level to config cli.
Displays the status of all variables at the config cli level.

Information displayed:

• Number of concurrent telnet sessions allowed

• Root prompt

• Number of login attempts allowed

• More (‘paging’ enabled/disabled)

• Number of screenlines

• System ID

• CLI timeout (number of timeouts)

• CLI port (port number)

Example:

delete

Telnet sessions: 0
Root prompt: HP SA9200
Login attempts: 3
More: disabled
Screenlines: 25
System Id: SA9200
CLI timeout: 900
CLI Port: 23

Deletes a user.
Syntax:

config cli delete <username>

where:
username is the username of the user you wish to delete. The
default user name, “admin” cannot be deleted.

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Command Description

login-attempts

more

NOTE: If information is
greater than 500,000 bytes,
the display is automated to
display one page at a time.

port

prompt

Allows you to specify the maximum allowable number of failed
login attempts before closing the connection on a Telnet session.
Syntax:

config cli login-attempts <tries>

where:
tries is a number from 1 to 30.

Sets the scrolling of the output display to one page at a time or to
continuous display.
Syntax:

config cli more [enable | disable]

where:

enable allows you to scroll one page at a time.
disable results in continuous scrolling.

Specifies the Telnet port on which the CLI runs.
Syntax:

config CLI port <port>

where:
port is a valid port. Valid ports are port 23 or any port between
1024 and 65535. The default is port 23.

Changes the r oot level prompt.
Syntax:

config cli prompt <prompt>

where:
prompt is the new prompt name. The default prompt is an
abbreviation of the product’s name, e.g., “HP SA9200.”

screenlines

92

Specifies the number of lines in the output display.
Syntax:

config CLI screenlines <nlines>

where:
nlines is the number of output lines (8 to 64). The default
number of screenlines is 25.
If ‘nlines’ does not match the lines in the screen, output is not
displayed properly.

Config CLI Commands

C H A P T E R 6 Configuration Commands

Command Description

telnet-sessions

NOTE: If you set the
number of sessions to 0,
you are disabling all future
Telnet sessions to the
SA9200. To reset Telnet,
you must access the device
through the serial port and
login, then change the
Telnet session count from
0, to a number from 1 to 8

timeout

NOTE: Too small of a
timeout value renders the
CLI useless.

Sets the allowable number of concurrent inbound remote CLI
login sessions.
Syntax:

config CLI telnet-sessions <nsessions>

where:
nsessions is the number of allowed sessions (0 to 8). The
default number of sessions is 0. .

Sets or changes the idle timeout period before automatic logout
for CLI sessions. The timeout value can be set to 0, which
specifies no timeout

. To set a value, use the range 30 to 65535
seconds.
Syntax:

config CLI timeout <seconds>

where:
seconds is the timeout pe riod i n seconds (0, o r a ran ge of 30 to

65535). The default is 900 seconds (15 minutes).

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Command Description

username

NOTE: Username
commands are not valid in
configuration files, i.e.,

save config and restore
config operations do not

include username data.

users

Adds or updates the login or password.
Syntax:
To add or update a user:

config cli username <name> password <password>
level <ro | rw | rwa>

where:
name is t he login name. (Must be from four to six teen character s
with no spaces.)
password is the password. (Must be from four to sixteen
characters with no spaces.)
level is the authorization level for the user:

• ro = read only (user can read, but cannot modify data)

• rw = read & write (user can r ead and modif y data, b ut cannot

add or delete users)

• rwa = read & write admin (user can read and modify data,

and can add and delete users)

View all usernames and their access levels that exist in the
system.
Syntax:

config cli users

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94