Previous Topic: Example: 6.x Web Agent

Next Topic: Modify the Number of Connections Provided by Policy Servers

Determine the Number of Web Agents a Policy Server Can Support

The load requirements of the Policy Server depend upon how many Web Agents are configured to use the Policy Server, and how many requests each Web Agent supports. The sockets required by the Web Agents that the Policy Server serves must not exceed the maximum number of sockets that Policy Server provides. Socket requests are fulfilled by the Policy Server on a first come, first served basis.

For example, by default, the Policy Server provides a maximum of 256 sockets. By default, a Web Agent uses a maximum of 20 sockets. Therefore, if you do not modify the default values of either the Policy Server or the Web Agent, the Policy Server can support 12 Web Agents:

12(agents) x 20(sockets) = 240(sockets)

This configuration is acceptable because the total sockets required (240) is less than the 256 maximum default threshold. Adding another Web Agent would increase the socket requirement to 260, which the Policy Server could not support.

If you increase the sockets per port parameter for the Web Agent, the Policy Server would support fewer Web Agents, unless you modified the number of sockets the Policy Server provided.

For example, if the Policy Server provided 256 sockets, it would also support the following configuration:

4(agents) x 25(sockets) +
10(agents) x 15(sockets) = 250(sockets)

The total number of sockets used (250) would be less than the maximum number of sockets provided by the Policy Server. The four Web Agents configured to use 25 sockets could protect heavily used sites, where as the ten Web Agents using only 15 sockets could protect sites that experience lower traffic.

If the number of sockets required by the Web Agents exceeds the maximum provided by the Policy Server, you must do one of the following:


Copyright © 2010 CA. All rights reserved. Email CA about this topic