docs/manual/mod/mod_proxy_balancer.xml

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<modulesynopsis metafile="mod_proxy_balancer.xml.meta">

<name>mod_proxy_balancer</name>
<description><module>mod_proxy</module> extension for load balancing </description>
<status>Extension</status>
<sourcefile>mod_proxy_balancer.c</sourcefile>
<identifier>proxy_balancer_module</identifier>
<compatibility>Available in version 2.1 and later</compatibility>

<summary>
    <p>This module <em>requires</em> the service of <module
    >mod_proxy</module>. It provides load balancing support for
    <code>HTTP</code>, <code>FTP</code> and <code>AJP13</code> protocols
    </p>

    <p>Load balancing scheduler algorithm is provided by not this
    module but other modules such as:
    <module>mod_lbmethod_byrequests</module>,
    <module>mod_lbmethod_bytraffic</module> and
    <module>mod_lbmethod_bybusyness</module>.
    </p>

    <p>Thus, in order to get the ability of load balancing,
    <module>mod_proxy</module>, <module>mod_proxy_balancer</module>
    and at least one of load balancing scheduler algorithm modules have
    to be present in the server.</p>

    <note type="warning"><title>Warning</title>
      <p>Do not enable proxying until you have <a
      href="mod_proxy.html#access">secured your server</a>. Open proxy
      servers are dangerous both to your network and to the Internet at
      large.</p>
    </note>
</summary>
<seealso><module>mod_proxy</module></seealso>

<section id="scheduler">
    <title>Load balancer scheduler algorithm</title>
    <p>At present, there are 3 load balancer scheduler algorithms available
    for use: Request Counting, Weighted Traffic Counting and Pending Request 
    Counting. These are controlled via the <code>lbmethod</code> value of
    the Balancer definition. See the <directive module="mod_proxy">ProxyPass</directive> 
    directive for more information.</p>

</section>

<section id="example">
    <title>Example of a balancer configuration</title>
    <p>Before we dive into the technical details, here's an example of
    how you might use <module>mod_proxy_balancer</module> to provide
    load balancing between two back-end servers:
    </p>

    <example>
    &lt;Proxy balancer://mycluster&gt;<br />
        BalancerMember http://192.168.1.50:80<br />
        BalancerMember http://192.168.1.51:80<br />
    &lt;/Proxy&gt;<br />
    ProxyPass /test balancer://mycluster/
    </example>
</section>

<section id="environment">
    <title>Exported Environment Variables</title>
    <p>At present there are 6 environment variables exported:</p>

    <dl>
    <!-- ============= BALANCER_SESSION_STICKY =============== -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_session_sticky" id="balancer_session_sticky">BALANCER_SESSION_STICKY</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is assigned the <var>stickysession</var> value used in the current
    request.  It is the cookie or parameter name used for sticky sessions</p>
    </dd>

    <!-- ============= BALANCER_SESSION_ROUTE ================ -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_session_route" id="balancer_session_route">BALANCER_SESSION_ROUTE</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is assigned the <var>route</var> parsed from the current 
    request.</p>
    </dd>

    <!-- ============= BALANCER_NAME ========================= -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_name" id="balancer_name">BALANCER_NAME</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is assigned the name of the balancer used for the current 
    request. The value is something like <code>balancer://foo</code>.</p>
    </dd>

    <!-- ============= BALANCER_WORKER_NAME ================== -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_worker_name" id="balancer_worker_name">BALANCER_WORKER_NAME</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is assigned the name of the worker used for the current request.
    The value is something like <code>http://hostA:1234</code>.</p>
    </dd>

    <!-- ============= BALANCER_WORKER_ROUTE ================= -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_worker_route" id="balancer_worker_route">BALANCER_WORKER_ROUTE</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is assigned the <var>route</var> of the worker that will be 
    used for the current request.</p>
    </dd>

    <!-- ============= BALANCER_ROUTE_CHANGED ================= -->
    <dt><var><a name="balancer_route_changed" id="balancer_route_changed">BALANCER_ROUTE_CHANGED</a></var></dt>
    <dd>
    <p>This is set to 1 if the session route does not match the
    worker route (BALANCER_SESSION_ROUTE != BALANCER_WORKER_ROUTE) or the
    session does not yet have an established route.  This can be used to
    determine when/if the client needs to be sent an updated route
    when sticky sessions are used.</p>
    </dd>
    </dl>

</section>

<section id="enable">
    <title>Enabling Balancer Manager Support</title>
    <p>This module <em>requires</em> the service of 
    <module>mod_status</module>.
    Balancer manager enables dynamic update of balancer
    members. You can use balancer manager to change the balance
    factor or a particular member, or put it in the off line
    mode.
    </p>

    <p>Thus, in order to get the ability of load balancer management,
    <module>mod_status</module> and <module>mod_proxy_balancer</module>
    have to be present in the server.</p>

    <p>To enable load balancer management for browsers from the example.com
    domain add this code to your <code>httpd.conf</code>
    configuration file</p>
<example>
    &lt;Location /balancer-manager&gt;<br />
    SetHandler balancer-manager<br />
<br />
    Order Deny,Allow<br />
    Deny from all<br />
    Allow from .example.com<br />
    &lt;/Location&gt;
</example>

    <p>You can now access load balancer manager by using a Web browser
    to access the page
    <code>http://your.server.name/balancer-manager</code></p>
</section>

</modulesynopsis>