Using Web Search in a Clustered Environment

Installing and configuring NetWare Web Search Server with Novell Cluster Services^TM requires three primary steps:

1. Setting up your clustered environment, including any supporting Web technologies.
2. Installing Web Search Server to the same shared volume from each of your clustered servers.
3. Creating virtual search servers using the DNS name and IP address of your cluster server.

Step One: Setting Up Your Clustered Environment

Before NetWare Web Search Server will run in a clustered environment, you must install and configure the following components on a server in your cluster.

• Novell Cluster Services

  See "Installation and Setup" in Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.

• NetWare Enterprise Web Server

  See "Configuring NetWare Enterprise Web Server with Novell Cluster Services" in Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.

• Apache Web Server

  See "Apache with Novell Cluster Services" in Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.

• Tomcat Application Server

  See "Tomcat and Novell Cluster Services" in Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.

Step Two: Installing Web Search Server to a Shared Volume

Install Web Search Server (using the NetWare 6 Installation CD) to the same shared volume in your clustered environment. For information about setting up a shared volume in a clustered environment, see "Cluster Enable Pools and Volumes" in Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.

Installing Web Search Server to each server in your cluster allows the installation program to correctly register Web Search with each of your server's Web and application servers.

Installing it to the same shared volume centralizes all of the required templates, indexes, and configuration settings for use by all servers in your cluster. Each time you create a new virtual search server, default settings and templates are drawn from the shared volume. Future upgrades or patches to the Web Search Server need to be installed only to the shared volume and can be done from any server in your cluster.

Step Three: Creating Virtual Search Servers

You can now begin creating virtual search servers from any of the Web Search Servers in your cluster.

When prompted to provide a name and alias for your new virtual search server, enter the DNS name and IP address (alias) of your cluster server. The Path field can be left blank because it is already known by Web Search Server.

If You Are Not Using a Shared Volume

We recommend that you use a shared volume. However, if for some reason your clustered environment is not utilizing a shared volume, you can install Web Search Server to each of your servers and then use mirroring software to syncronize the data between your servers.

If you do this, each time you upgrade or apply a patch to the Web Search Server, you will need to repeat the upgrade installation or patch on each of the servers in your cluster.

For more information about clustering, see Novell Cluster Services Overview and Installation.