Policy Server Guides › Policy Design Guide › Agents and Agent Groups › How a Host Configuration Object is Configured for a Trusted Host › Configure Policy Server Clusters for a Host Configuration Object

Configure Policy Server Clusters for a Host Configuration Object

You can configure Policy Servers in a cluster for failover operation. Clustering servers enables failover from one group of servers to another group.

Policy Server clusters are defined as part of a Host Configuration Object. When a SiteMinder Web Agent initializes, the settings from the Host Configuration Object are used to setup communication with Policy Servers.

To configure a cluster

1. Open the Policy Server User Interface.
2. In the System tab of the SiteMinder Administration window, select Host Conf Objects.
3. In the List pane, select the host configuration object to which you want to add cluster configuration information.

   Once you configure a cluster for a host configuration object, any Agent that uses the object to establish its Policy Server connections will use the specified cluster configuration.

4. From the Edit menu, select Properties of Configuration Object.

   The Host Configuration Object Dialog box opens.

5. Select the Clusters tab.
6. In the Clusters tab, click the Add button.

   The Cluster Setup Dialog box opens.

7. In the Add Server group box, do one of the following:
   • Select the IP Address radio button and enter the IP address of a Policy Server in the cluster in the provided fields.

     Note: If you do not know the IP address of the Policy Server, but you know the host name, click the DNS Lookup button to search for the IP address of the Policy Server.

   • Select the Domain Name radio button and enter the domain name of the system where the Policy Server is installed. For example, server.company.com.
8. In the Server Port field, enter the port for Policy Server processing.
9. Click the Add to Cluster button.

   The Policy Server appears in the servers list in the Current Setup group box.

10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 for any other Policy Servers you want to add to the cluster.
11. When you finish adding Policy Servers to the cluster, click the OK button to save your changes and return to the Host Configuration Object Properties dialog.
12. In the Failover Threshold Percent field, enter a percentage of Policy Servers that must be active and click Apply.

    If the percentage of active servers in the cluster falls below the percentage you specify, the cluster fails over to the next available cluster in the list of clusters.

    The Policy Server User Interface automatically calculates the Failover Threshold value displayed in the column to the right of the lists of servers in each cluster from the Failover Threshold Percent you specify by taking the specified percentage of servers in the cluster and rounding up to the nearest integer. For example, if the number of servers is 5 and the Failover Threshold Percent is in the range between [0 – 20], the Failover Threshold is 1.

    When you set the Failover Threshold Percentage, it applies to all clusters that use the Host Configuration Object.

13. Click on the General tab.
14. Note the Policy Server parameter in the Parameter Name column.

    The value of the Policy Server parameter is overridden by the contents of the Clusters tab. This parameter should be commented for clarity (proceeded by a # symbol), since its value does not apply as long as Policy Servers are specified in the Clusters tab.

    Note: In order for the value of the Policy Server parameter in the General tab to apply, no Policy Servers should be specified in the Clusters tab. If clusters are configured and you decide to remove the clusters in favor of a simple failover configuration using the Policy Server parameter in the General tab, be sure to delete all Policy Server information in the Clusters tab.

15. Click OK to save your changes.