2.0 Adding a Filr Appliance to an Existing Deployment

To accommodate additional load, you can add Filr appliances to the Filr system only if your original Filr system was configured with shared storage (/vashare).

Prerequisites

You can add a Filr appliance to an existing Filr deployment only if your Filr deployment meets the following prerequisites:

  • It is an expandable deployment: Small (all-in-one) and non-expandable Filr deployments cannot be expanded.

  • Shared storage is enabled: Ensure that a shared storage CIFS or NFS mount (/vashare) exists for the Filr deployment. You configure shared storage during the Filr appliance installation, as described in Setting Up Shared Storage in the Filr 3.4: Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.

    IMPORTANT:If shared storage (/vashare) was not configured at the time you installed your original Filr system, you cannot add Filr appliances to the system.

  • The CIFS or NFS mount is accessible to all Filr appliances: All Filr appliances in the cluster need to have access to the CIFS or NFS mount.

  • (Recommended) A load balancing solution is in place: If you want to provide a common access URL for all your Filr users, you must provide a solution for load balancing between the Filr appliances.

    Micro Focus does not provide a load balancing appliance; however, there are many software solutions available, such as Apache, HAProxy, and NGinx.

    There are also hardware solutions available, such as F5 Networks, Juniper, Riverbend, and A10 Networks.

    Searching the web for Layer 4-7 switches or Application Delivery Controller is a good place to start finding a solution that meets your requirements.

Adding Filr Appliances to an Existing Deployment

To add Filr appliances to an exiting large Filr deployment:

  1. Ensure that your system meets the necessary prerequisites.

  2. Assuming that you have planned the installation, downloaded the software, and so on, install the additional Filr appliance, beginning with Deploying the Virtual Machines in the Filr 3.4: Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.

    The process is the same as when you installed the original Filr appliance.

    IMPORTANT:Choose the same configuration options (including the same CIFS and NFS mount) that you chose when you installed the original Filr appliance.

  3. Run the installation wizard for a large deployment (at port 9443), as described in Setting Up the Filr Appliances in the Filr 3.4: Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.

  4. After the configuration is complete, complete the steps in Completing the Expandable Filr Deployment in the Filr 3.4: Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.. Then verify that clustering is enabled and that the Memcached configuration matches the configuration of the original Filr appliance.