Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms
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CONTENTS
Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Setting up a cluster of Breeze Presentation platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Verifying failover for HTTP requests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Verifying replication of content across the cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3
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4 Contents
Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms
If your Macromedia Breeze license permits, you can install the Breeze Presentation platform on
two or more computers and then cluster the Breeze Presentation platforms to provide load
balancing and failover.
Clustering Breeze Presentation platforms has the following advantages:
• You can effectively use third-party hardware or software to provide load balancing and failover
for HTTP requests. Clustering Breeze Presentation platforms allows them to share session
data with each other so that load balancing and failover through third-party solutions can
be effective.
• Clustered Breeze Presentation platforms provide their own load balancing for requests to
create Breeze Flash presentations from Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
• All Breeze Presentation platforms in a cluster have copies of the same content. If one computer
in a cluster fails, the Breeze Presentation platform on another computer in the cluster can take
over and supply the same content.
Note: If you are using Breeze Live as a stand-alone product, all references to the Breeze
Presentation platform in this white paper apply also to the Breeze application server.
This white paper explains how to cluster Breeze Presentation platforms and verify that the cluster
functions successfully. The following topics are discussed:
• “Setting up a cluster of Breeze Presentation platforms”
• “Verifying failover for HTTP requests” on page 7
• “Verifying replication of content across the cluster” on page 8
5
Setting up a cluster of Breeze Presentation platforms
Each Breeze Presentation platform in a cluster must be able to access the Breeze database. Because
licensing restrictions do not allow more than one Breeze Presentation platform to access the
Breeze database engine, you must use Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for the Breeze database.
The following figure illustrates a cluster with a load balancer and with the Breeze Presentation
platform on three computers.
Load balancer
Breeze
Presentation
platform
To set up clustered Breeze Presentation platforms:
1 Install the Breeze Presentation platform on each computer that will be in the cluster.
Breeze
Presentation
platform
Breeze database
(Microsoft SQL Server 2000)
Breeze
Presentation
platform
For information on installing the Breeze Presentation platform, see the Macromedia Breeze
Installation Guide. During installation, you use the same license key each time you install the
Breeze Presentation platform.
2 Set configuration properties in the custom.ini file belonging to one of the Breeze Presentation
platforms in the cluster.
For information on setting configuration properties for the Breeze Presentation platform, see
Chapter 4, “Configuring the Breeze Presentation Platform,” in the Macromedia Breeze
Installation Guide.
Some of the properties you need to set in the custom.ini configuration file apply to the Breeze
database. For information on these properties and on setting up the Breeze database, see
Chapter 3, “Setting up the Breeze Database,” in the Macromedia Breeze Installation Guide.
3 Copy the custom.ini configuration file to the installation folder of all the other Breeze
Presentation platforms in the cluster.
All Breeze Presentation platforms must have identical custom.ini files.
Your Breeze Presentation platforms are now clustered. Before you start one of the Breeze
Presentation platforms, you need to start Microsoft SQL Server.
6 Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms
Verifying failover for HTTP requests
This section describes a procedure for verifying that your Breeze Presentation platform cluster
provides failover in the event that one of the computers in the cluster fails. The procedure
assumes that there are two computers in the cluster, Computer1 and Computer2. The steps for
verifying failover with more than two computers is very similar.
The basic approach in the procedure that follows is to demonstrate failover when you are using
the Breeze Manager, a web application within the Breeze Presentation platform. If the computer
you are accessing for the Breeze Manager fails and you can continue to use the Breeze Manager
without logging in again and without interruption, failover is successful.
To verify failover for HTTP requests in a Breeze Presentation platform cluster with two
computers:
1 Make sure that the Breeze Presentation platform on Computer1 is started and that the Breeze
Presentation platform on Computer2 is stopped.
Before you start the Breeze Presentation platform, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 must
be running.
To start the Breeze Presentation platform:
■ Select Start > Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia Breeze 3 > Start Breeze Server.
To stop the Breeze Presentation platform:
■ Select Start > Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia Breeze 3 > Stop Breeze Server.
2 Log in to the Breeze Manager.
You can log in to the Breeze Manager from the following URL: http://admin_host/servlet/
admin.
In the URL, admin_host is the host name you entered as the value of the
in the Breeze Presentation platform custom.ini configuration file (see step 2 under “Setting up
a cluster of Breeze Presentation platforms” on page 6).
When you log in, the Breeze Manager home page opens.
ADMIN_HOST property
[User name]
Verifying failover for HTTP requests 7
3 Start the Breeze Presentation platform on Computer2.
4 Stop the Breeze Presentation platform on Computer1.
5 Click the Reports tab.
If failover is successful, the Breeze Manager Reports page opens. If the login page opens or any
other page is displayed, failover was not successful.
Verifying replication of content across the cluster
This section explains how you can verify that content uploaded to one Breeze Presentation
platform in a cluster is replicated to all other Breeze Presentation platforms in the cluster and is
therefore available whenever failover is necessary. As in the preceding section, the procedure that
follows assumes a cluster with two Breeze Presentation platforms.
To verify replication of content across a cluster with two Breeze Presentation platforms:
1 Make sure that the Breeze Presentation platform on Computer1 is started and that the Breeze
Presentation platform on Computer2 is stopped.
Before you start the Breeze Presentation platform, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 must
be running.
To start the Breeze Presentation platform:
■ Select Start > Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia Breeze 3 > Start Breeze Server.
To stop the Breeze Presentation platform:
■ Select Start > Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia Breeze 3 > Stop Breeze Server.
2 Log in to the Breeze Manager.
You can log in to the Breeze Manager from the following URL: http://admin_host/servlet/
admin.
In the URL, admin_host is the host name you entered as the value of the
in the Breeze Presentation platform custom.ini configuration file (see step 2 under “Setting up
a cluster of Breeze Presentation platforms” on page 6).
When you log in, the Breeze Manager home page opens.
3 Upload a JPEG image or other content to the Breeze Presentation platform on Computer1:
a Make sure that you are a member of the Account Authors user group.
To upload content, even if you are an account administrator, you must also be a member of
the Account Authors user group. As an account administrator, you can add yourself to the
Account Authors group. For information on how to do this, open Breeze Manager Help >
Contents > Managing Users and Groups > Managing Groups > Adding members to
a group.
b Click the Content tab in the Breeze Manager.
The Content page opens.
c Click the New Content button and then follow the steps displayed in your browser for
adding content.
Once your test content is uploaded, a User Content page opens and displays a list of the
content that belongs to you.
4 Click the link to the newly uploaded test content.
A Content Information page with a URL for viewing your test content opens.
ADMIN_HOST property
8 Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms
5 Make a note of the URL.
You will use it in step 9.
6 Click the URL.
Your test content is displayed.
7 Start Computer2, wait 10 seconds or so, and then stop Computer1.
8 Close the browser window in which you were viewing the test content.
9 Open a new browser window and go to the URL for viewing your test content.
If your test content is displayed, replication to Computer2 was successful. A blank window or
an error message means that replication failed.
Verifying replication of content across the cluster 9
10 Clustering Breeze Presentation Platforms
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