5.4 Managing WebAccess in a Cluster

After you have installed WebAccess in a cluster, you should consider some long-term management issues.

5.4.1 Updating GroupWise Objects with Cluster-Specific Descriptions

After installing WebAccess in your clustered GroupWise system, while the cluster-specific information is fresh in your mind, you should record that cluster-specific information as part of the GroupWise objects in ConsoleOne so that you can easily refer to it later. Be sure to update the information recorded in the GroupWise objects if the configuration of your system changes.

Recording Cluster-Specific Information about the WebAccess Agent Domain and Its MTA

To permanently record important cluster-specific information for the WebAccess Agent domain:

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Domain object, then click Properties.

  2. In the Description field of the WebAccess Agent domain Identification page, provide a cluster-specific description of the WebAccess Agent domain, including the secondary IP address of its cluster-enabled volume and the cluster-unique port numbers used by its MTA.

    You might also want to include cluster-specific information about the WebAccess Application, such as the secondary IP address of the Web server cluster resource where the WebAccess Application is installed.

  3. Click OK to save the WebAccess Agent domain description.

  4. Select the WebAccess Agent Domain object to display its contents.

  5. Right-click the MTA object, then click Properties.

  6. In the Description field of the MTA Identification page, record the secondary IP address of the cluster-enabled WebAccess Agent domain volume and the cluster-unique port numbers used by the MTA.

    This information appears on the MTA console, no matter which node in the cluster it is currently running on.

  7. Click OK to save the MTA description.

  8. Continue with Recording Cluster-Specific Information about the Internet Agent.

Recording Cluster-Specific Information about the WebAccess Agent

With the contents of the WebAccess Agent domain still displayed:

  1. Right-click the WEBAC70A object, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise, then click Identification.

  3. In the Description field, record the secondary IP address of the cluster-enabled WebAccess Agent domain volume and the cluster-unique port numbers used by the WebAccess Agent.

    This information appears on the WebAccess Agent console, no matter which node in the cluster it is currently running on.

  4. Click OK to save the WebAccess Agent information.

  5. Continue with Knowing What to Expect in MTA and POA Failover Situations.

5.4.2 Knowing What to Expect in WebAccess Failover Situations

The failover behavior of the MTA for the WebAccess Agent domain is the same as for an MTA in a regular domain. See Knowing What to Expect in MTA and POA Failover Situations.

The WebAccess Application caches users’ credentials on the node where it is running. Therefore, if that node fails, or if the WebAccess Application migrates to a different node, the cached credentials are lost. Consequently, the user needs to restart the WebAccess client in order to re-authenticate and re-establish the credentials.

If the WebAccess Agent fails over or migrates, the user receives an error message that the WebAccess Agent is no longer available. However, after the WebAccess Agent starts in its new location, the WebAccess Application passes the cached user credentials to the WebAccess Agent and the user reconnects automatically without having to re-authenticate.

As with the MTA and the POA, migration of the WebAccess Agent takes longer than failover. However, the WebAccess Agent restarts quickly so that users are able to reconnect quickly.

5.4.3 Updating the WebAccess Agent Configuration File (commgr.cfg)

As part of installing WebAccess, the WebAccess Agent configuration file (commgr.cfg) is created in the following subdirectory:

domain\wpgate\webac70a

It is also automatically copied to the following Web server subdirectory:

sys:\novell\webaccess

If you change WebAccess agent configuration information (for example, if you change its ip address), the information is changed in the following file:

domain\wpgate\webac70a\commgr.cfg

because the domain is on a cluster-enabled volume, and it is changed in the following file:

sys:\novell\webaccess\commgr.cfg

on the node where the WebAccess Application is currently running. However, the other nodes on the WebAccess Application failover path are not currently available for update. therefore, you must manually copy the updated commgr.cfg file to the sys:\novell\webaccess subdirectory on each node in the WebAccess Application failover path.