Configuring load balancing with the ObjectServer

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Learn how to configure load balancing or high availability (HA) with an ObjectServer as the database.

ObjectServer-based HA requires Jazz® for Service Management 1.1.3.12 (DASH 3.1.3.12) or later and IBM® Netcool®/OMNIbus WebGUI 8.1.0.24 or later.

If you want to configure load balancing or high availability (HA) with Db2 as the database, see Configuring load balancing for on-premises WebGUI or Dashboard Application Services Hub nodes with Db2

ObjectServer configuration

Complete the following tasks on the IBM Tivoli® Netcool/OMNIbus ObjectServer administration client (<Omnibus_home>/bin/nco_config).
  1. Create an ObjectServer group named WebHA, which has two roles, CatalogUser and DatabaseAdmin.
  2. Create a non-root user in the ObjectServer and assign the user to the WebHA group.
  3. Create a database in the ObjectServer named dashdb. Open the ObjectServer UI and select the database section. Click Create Database.

WebGUI configuration

Log in to WebGUI, start the WebSphere® Application Server administration console, and complete the following tasks.
  1. Create the stored credentials alias for the JDBC connection.
    1. From the navigation page, click Security > Global Security. Expand the Java™ Authentication and Authorization Service section and click J2C authentication data.
    2. Create an alias to specify the ObjectServer credentials to be used for the tipds data source.
    3. Specify the non-root user, which you added to the WebHA group in the ObjectServer.
    4. Click Apply and Save.
  2. Create a Sybase JDBC provider for the ObjectServer.
    1. Select Resources > JDBC > JDBC providers.
    2. Under Scope: Cell=JazzSMNode01Cell, Node=JazzSMNode01, Server=server1, select Node=JazzSMNode01, Server=server1 and click New.
    3. Complete the JDBC provider configuration.
  3. Create the tipds JDBC data source.
    1. Select Resources > JDBC > Data sources.
    2. Under Scope: Cell=JazzSMNode01Cell, Node=JazzSMNode01, Server=server1, select Node=JazzSMNode01, Server=server1 and click New.
    3. Provide the data source name as tipds and the JNDI name as jdbc/tipds, and click Next.
    4. Select an existing JDBC Provider and choose Sybase JDBC 3 Driver. Click Next.
    5. Provide the port number and server name of the ObjectServer. Enter dashdb for the database name. Click Next.
    6. Set up security aliases and click Next.
    7. Check the summary and click Finish.
    8. Test the connection by selecting the data source and clicking Test connection.
    9. Open the tipds data source and select Custom properties.
    10. Click New and create a property that is called APPLICATIONNAME. Set the value to WebHA. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
  4. Add signer certificates for the other WebGUI cluster members to establish server-to-server trust. For more information, see JazzSM DASH - Exchanging signer certificate for DASH server in a high-availability load-balancing cluster in IBM Support.
  5. Update the WebGUI HA properties in the <WebGUI_Home>/etc/server.init file. For more information, see Configuring load balancing for on-premises WebGUI or Dashboard Application Services Hub nodes with Db2.
  6. Restart the WebGUI server process.
  7. Repeat the previous steps to create the JDBC provider and tipds data source on all WebGUI servers.

Configuring fail-over to a secondary ObjectServer HA database.

Complete the following steps to configure fail-over between two ObjectServers.
  1. Install two ObjectServers AGG_P(Primary) and AGG_B(Backup). For more information, see Installing the primary aggregation ObjectServer external icon in the Netcool/OMNIbus documentation.
  2. Set up a gateway.
    1. Download the AGG_GATE.tblrep.def.txt file and append the contents into the <NCHOME>/omnibus/etc/AGG_GATE.tblrep.def file.
    2. Download the AGG_GATE.map.txt file and append the contents into the <NCHOME>/omnibus/etc/AGG_GATE.map file.
    3. Verify that the <NCHOME>/omibus/etc/AGG_GATE.props file contains the correct ObjectServer instance names.
    4. To create the dashdb database, download the webha.sql script and run it on both AGG_P and AGG_B.
    5. Start AGG_P and AGG_B:
      $NCHOME/omnibus/bin/nco_objserv -name AGG_P 
$NCHOME/omnibus/bin/nco_objserv -name AGG_B
    6. Start the gateway:
      NCHOME/omnibs/bin/nco_g_objserver_bi -propsfile NCHOME/omnibus/etc/AGG_GATE.props (or)
nco_g_objserv_bi -name AGG_GATE -objectserveraserver NCOMS_AGG_P -objectserverbserver NCOMS_AGG_B
  3. Add fail-over properties to the tipds data source.
    1. In the WebSphere Application Server administration console, go to Resources > JDBC > Data sources > tipds > Custom properties.
    2. Click New.
    3. Set the name to REQUEST_HA_SESSION and the value to true. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
    4. Click New.
    5. Set the name to SECONDARY_SERVER_HOSTPORT and the value to <Secondary_objectserver_host>:<port>. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
  4. Restart the WebGUI server.

Using a backup ObjectServer for OAuth provider updates in a hybrid HADR setup

If you want to use a backup ObjectServer for OAuth provider updates in a high availability disaster recovery (HADR) setup, complete the following steps. Ensure that you configured an OAuth provider for the hybrid high availability disaster recovery (HADR) setup with an aggregation pair ObjectServer (AGG_P and AGG_B). Also ensure that you updated the AGG_GATE files for the aggregation layer ObjectServer gateway. For more information, see Setting up OAuth persistence.

Complete the following steps to use a backup ObjectServer for OAuth provider updates in a hybrid HADR setup.
  1. When the OAuthProvider data source is created in each WebSphere Application Server console, go to the data source page. Click WAS Admin Console > Resources > JDBC > Data sources > OAuth provider > Custom properties.
  2. Click New and create a property that is called APPLICATIONNAME. Set the string value to WebHA. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
  3. Click New. Set the name to REQUEST_HA_SESSION and the value to true. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
  4. Click New. Set the name to SECONDARY_SERVER_HOSTPORT and the value to <Secondary_objectserver_host>:<port>. Then click Apply. Save the link that is displayed.
  5. Repeat steps 7a to 7d on each on-premises WAS Admin Console.
  6. Restart the WebGUI server.
  7. You can test the configuration by bringing down the primary AGG_P ObjectServer and checking that access to the Netcool Operations Insight® console is still available. You can check that updates are being made into the backup ObjectServer OauthDBSchema.OAUTH20CACHE table each time you log in to the console.