24.1 Services of the Real Server

A user’s authentication resides on the real (authentication) server cluster member that originally handled the user’s authentication. If this server malfunctions, all users whose authentication data resides on this cluster member must reauthenticate.

Requests that require user authentication information are processed on this server. When the system identifies a server as not being the real server, the HTTP request is forwarded to the appropriate cluster member, which processes the request and returns it to the requesting server.

24.1.1 A Note about Alteon Switches

When configuring an Alteon* switch for clustering, direct communication between real servers must be enabled. If direct access mode is not enabled and one of the real servers tries to proxy another real server, the connection fails and times out.

To enable direct communication on an Alteon switch:

  1. Go to cfg > slb > adv > direct.

  2. Specify e to enable direct access mode.

With some L4 switches, you should configure only the services that you are using. For example, if you configure the SSL service for the L4 and you have not configured SSL in Access Manager, then the HTTP service on the L4 does not work. If the health check for the SSL service fails, the L4 assumes that all the services configured to use the same virtual IP are down.

24.1.2 Real Server Settings Example

24.1.3 Virtual Server Settings Example