Software Version - Document Version: v1.8.0-1.4

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© 2020 TIXEL GmbH

The information in this document is property of TIXEL GmbH. It may not be used, reproduced or disclosed without written approval of TIXEL GmbH.

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TIXEL GmbH is providing the information in this document to you AS-IS with all faults. TIXEL GmbH makes no warranties of any kind (whether express, implied or statutory) with respect to the information contained herein. TIXEL GmbH assumes no liability for damages (whether direct or indirect), caused by errors or omissions, or resulting from the use of this document or the information contained in this document or resulting from the application or use of the product or service described herein. TIXEL GmbH reserves the right to make changes to any information herein without further notice.

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1. Windows Cluster Installation

1.1. Setting up Windows Cluster

In the following a basic cluster installation using Windows HA capabilities is described briefly. For more details on specific cluster configurations please contact TIXEL support.

On both cluster nodes, perform the installation as described below.

Sample Configuration: two nodes; in addition to the MFT system, also a MySQL server is run on the cluster while the actual DB data file is store on the shared CIFS storage:

  • External IP 10.10.10.10

  • Cluster IP 10.20.30.11

  • Node1, IP 10.20.30.12

  • Node2, IP 10.20.30.13

Set up the cluster resources as follows>

  • Add empty role "MFT" ("Clustergroup")

    • Add Client Access Point PS-MFTAP-01, IP 10.20.30.11

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" MySQL57_MFT

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" TIXEL Access Manager

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" TIXEL nginx server for TIXstream MFT

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" TIXEL TIXEL Control Center

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" TIXstream WAN Transfer Engine

    • Add Resource: "Generic Service" TIXEL Transfer Job Manager

Dependencies in the following order:

  • IP 10.20.30.11

  • Client Accesspoint PS-MFTAP-01

  • MySQL57_MFT

  • TIXEL Access Manager

  • TIXEL nginx server for TIXstream MFT

  • TIXEL TIXEL Control Center

  • TIXEL TIXstream WAN Transfer Engine

  • TIXEL Transfer Job Manager

The firewall is set up as follows (hidden NATing):

  • Cluster Node1 internal IP (10.20.30.12)

  • Cluster Client Access Point interne IP (10.20.30.11) -→ external IP (10.10.10.10)

  • Cluster Node2 internal IP (10.20.30.13)

  • Both cluster nodes and the Client Accesspoint appear with 10.10.10.10 in the external network

  • From the external network (via 10.10.10.10) only the Client Accesspoint 10.20.30.11 is nattet.

Verify if the host name (FQDN) on the cluster nodes is resolved to the shared cluster IP (in the example 10.20.30.11), not to the individual cluster node IP (10.20.30.12 or 10.20.30.13). You can use the tool resolveip.exe in the tools folder for this purpose. If this is not the case, enter them in the respective local hosts. Otherwise, a system can not connect to the cluster from the outside, which will be reported as an error in the tixstream logs.

1.2. Initial Remarks

The MFT system can optionally be installed on a Windows HA cluster. For this purpose, parts of the configuration as well as the working directories will be stored on a shared CIFS network storage system (e.g. NAS), which the configured cluster nodes (more precise, the active node) access. The following example refers to two cluster nodes, which are grouped into one HA cluster.

  • Perform a local installation on both cluster nodes.

  • Change the start type of all 5 MFT services to "manual"

  • Then follow the steps described hereunder.

Caution
 Perform the following steps, before you configure the MFT system. As generic configuration files are created here, any prior changes will be lost.

1.3. Differences to a Local Installation

While a local MFT system has a common reference point (the installation folder to which the environment variable TIXEL_HOME refers), in a Cluster three additional directories are defined, which have to be created on the NAS / CIFS storage. These directories are shared by the participating cluster nodes.

Local parts of the configuration remain in the directory config (in TIXEL_HOME), Cluster-used parts will be transferred to the NAS.

Databases can be connected via the network, just as in a local installation.

1.4. Specifying a CIFS Folder as Shared Storage

Open the file custom_locations.cmd in folder cluster with a text editor. Adjust the paths to your CIFS storage system. There are three new environment variables, that contain the directories, in which the shared files are to be stored. The directories must be available and writable by the MFT service. The reference is specified as a UNC path (\\server\share\folder). Therefore directories don’t have to be connected "as a drive letter".

If individual variables are not set, the default directories tmp, logs, config in the TIXEL installation folder will be used. Please do not use spaces etc. in the paths (untested)!

  • TIXEL_PROP includes several files previously stored in directory %TIXEL_HOME%\config

  • TIXEL_LOGS is used to store log files (previously: %TIXEL_HOME%\logs)

  • TIXEL_TEMP is used for temporary files (previously: %TIXEL_HOME%\temp)

Example custom_locations.cmd:

set TIXEL_PROP=\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\prop
set TIXEL_LOGS=\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\logs
set TIXEL_TEMP=\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\temp

1.5. Applying Cluster Configuration Changes

After editing this file, run the script reconfig-tix-services.cmd. Then the program setsysname will be called from the tools folder. Please specify the (common) FQDN of the cluster system and system alias here, then save and exit.

Caution
 Any previously performed changes to the configuration files (.properties) in the folder config will be lost and may have to be updated manually.

The following steps are performed:

  • The service definitions (accessmanager.service, tixelcontrolcenter.service, transferjobmanager.service) are adjusted, so as to enable the respective services finding "their" data on the NAS.

  • Generic configurations that are adapted to the environment variables (access-manager.properties, tixel-control-center.properties, transfer-job-manager.properties, from the directory cluster) are copied to the directory defined by TIXEL_PROP.

  • In transfer-job-manager.properties the system name (DNS name, system alias) will be registered as setsysname.

  • The environment variables (TIXEL_HOME, TIXEL_PROP, TIXEL_LOGS, TIXEL_TEMP) are set system-wide.

Thereafter the following files (service descriptions, TIXstream profiles and certificates) remain in the local config directory (example):

D:\BIN\TIXEL\CONFIG
│   accessmanager.service
│   host-crt.pem
│   host-key.pem
│   host.p12
│   tixelcontrolcenter.service
│   tixnginx.service
│   tixstream.service
│   transferjobmanager.service
│   trusted.p12
│   trusted.pem
└───profiles
        FileTransferReceiver.config
        FileTransferSender.config
Warning
 Ensure that identical certificates are stored on both systems. The remaining files are created during installation.

The following data is transferred to the NAS (example):

├───\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\prop
│       access
│       access-manager.properties
│       access_manager.mv.db
│       destinations.json
│       shares.xml
│       tixel-control-center.properties
│       tixstream.conf
│       transfer-job-manager.properties
│       transfer_job_manager.mv.db
│
├───\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\logs
│   ├───access-manager
│   │       accessmanager-2017-02-14T14-23-07.log
│   │       accessmanager-2017-02-14T15-04-20.log
│   │       accessmanager.log
│   │       accessmanager.status
│   │
│   ├───nginx
│   │       tixnginx.log
│   │       tixnginx.status
│   │
│   ├───tixel-control-center
│   │       tixelcontrolcenter-2017-02-14T14-23-06.log
│   │       tixelcontrolcenter-2017-02-14T15-04-19.log
│   │       tixelcontrolcenter.log
│   │       tixelcontrolcenter.status
│   │
│   ├───tixstream
│   │       tixstream-2017-02-14T14-23-30.log
│   │       tixstream-2017-02-14T15-04-43.log
│   │       tixstream.log
│   │       tixstream.status
│   │
│   └───transfer-job-manager
│           transferjobmanager-2017-02-14T14-23-06.log
│           transferjobmanager-2017-02-14T15-04-19.log
│           transferjobmanager.log
│           transferjobmanager.status
│
└───\\nasserver\share\tixel\mft\temp

1.6. Setting up the Second Cluster Node

Copy the entire MFT installation folder of the first system to the second system to the identical location in the file system (e.g. D:\bin\tixel). Run again reconfig-tix-services.cmd, but do not overwrite the previously created .properties-files.