New AD/LDAP server connection can be added to the , log in to the management console, navigate to "Identity | Identity Sources", then left clicking on the context menu of the external directory and selecting "LDAP Connections";


A new window will now open titled "LDAP Connections - Deepnet Support AD";


To add a new AD/LDAP server connection to the server cluster, select the required Load Balancing Mode, then click on the button.

A new window will open titled "LDAP Connection - NEW";

 


The address of the server to be added to the server cluster


Provide a brief description of the LDAP connection providing details of the source and purpose of the directory information together with any other information that helps explain the connection (include any limitation such as "restricted to management level users only").  .


Enter a value that will be used by the Round Robin load balancing mode to determine the proportion of connections that will be sent to this server (see "Further information on Load Weighting" below).


Select this option if you want the server to be included in the cluster, but disabled.

Assign a weight to every AD/LDAP server in the load balancing cluster.  DualShield distributes traffic to all active servers in the cluster according to their weights (A server with a higher weight will get more traffic than a server with a lower weight).

When you have supplied the LDAP Connection details for the new connection click   to add the new server connection.

Repeat the previous two steps for all LDAP servers that you want to be load balance, then click .

Load Balancing Mode

There are four load balancing methodology modes to chose between.

You can specify which load balancing mode is to be used by selecting the mode from the drop-down "Load Balancing Mode:";

 

LOAD BALANCING MODES

 

Connections are passed to each enabled server in sequence, but taking into account the weighting factor of each server.

Connections are passed to the first enabled server in the above list (if all servers are enabled then connections will default to the first server - in this example this would be "ldap://1.2.3.4", and in the event of a failover, new connections would be switched to the next in the list, which in this example would be "ldap://2.3.4.5").

Connections are made based on which connections are expected to deliver the quickest connection (usually regionally chosen).

Connections are made based on which server presently has the least connections. 

Round Robin

The main purpose of Round Robin load balancing is to provide the system manager with the means to determine how connections are spread between the servers in the server cluster.

There are two approaches that can be taken when deciding how Round Robin load balancing is performed, either all servers in the server cluster receive an equal number of connections, or the connections are weighted.

Both variations require that you create a server cluster that includes all the servers that are to be load balanced (it is recommended that you include the primary server in this list if you want to ensure full control of how the connections are to be spread amongst the available servers).

  • Equal Connection Load Balancing

This approach should be taken when all servers in the server cluster are to receive approximately the same number of connections, and therefore all servers are weighting equally (this is typically used when all the servers have equal capabilities).

This approach can easily be achieved by ensuring that all servers are given the same weighting value.



  • Weighted Connection Load Balancing

Assign a weight to every AD/LDAP server in the load balancing cluster as Dualshield distributes traffic to all active servers in the cluster according to their weights,(a server with a higher weight will get more traffic than a server with a lower weight).

This approach is adopted when you wish some servers to receive more traffic than others (typically due to differences in the capacity or performance between the servers), and is best illustrated with an example.

In the following example a server cluster consists of four servers with weightings of 6, 6, 12 and 8 respectively;

The purpose of the weighting is to declare which servers should receive more connections than the others, and in which proportions.

If you prefer to think in terms of percentages this would work out as follows;

Total Weightings = (6 + 6 + 12 + 8 = 32)

Server 1 = 6 weightings out of a total of 32, and therefore would receive 18.75% of the total connections ( 6 * 100 /32  = 18.75% )
Server 2 = 6 weightings out of a total of 32, and therefore would receive 18.75% of the total connections ( 6 * 100 /32  = 18.75% )
Server 3 = 12 weightings out of a total of 32, and therefore would receive 37.5% of the total connections ( 12 * 100 /32  = 37.5% )
Server 4 = 8 weightings out of a total of 32, and therefore would receive 25% of the total connections ( 8 * 100 /32  = 25% )

Using the above example, and assuming 100 connections we would expect approximately 19 connections on server 1, 19 connections on server 2, 37 connections on server 3 and 25 connections on server 4.
 
Assigning larger weighting values will result in the server receiving a larger proportion of the connection requests.

Failover

Connections are passed to the first enabled server in the above list (if all servers are enabled then connections will default to the first server - in this example this would be "ldap://1.2.3.4", and in the event of a failover, new connections would be switched to the next in the list, which in this example would be "ldap://2.3.4.5").

Fastest Connect

Connections are made based on which connections are expected to deliver the quickest connection (usually regionally chosen).

Fewest Connections

Connections are made based on which server presently has the least connections. 

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