Introduction

The The JS7 - Agent Cluster brings horizontal scalability and fail-over capabilities for Agents. A single Agent can execute thousands of jobs in parallel tasks, however, for a number of use cases it is preferable to distribute server load. This applies particularly to applications that require horizontal scaling across a number of server nodes instead of vertical scaling on a more powerful single server node. Also when a server node in the scheduling environment fails then jobs are executed with the Agents on the remaining server nodes.

• A number of Subagents operated for different servers share the job execution load in an Agent Cluster (active-active clusteringcluster).
• Automated fail-over guarantees high - availability and restart capabilities of an Agent Cluster (active-passive cluster).

JS7 offers a number of clustering options:

• An Agent Cluster can be operated by a Standalone JOC Cockpit and a JS7 - JOC Cockpit Cluster.
• An Agent Cluster can be operated by a Standalone Controller and a JS7 - Controller Cluster.

Operation of an Agent Cluster is subject to the JS7 - License and is available to commercial license holders.

In this article you will find step-by-step instructions for setting up an Agent Cluster, for full explanations refer to the JS7 - Agent Management article.

Prerequisites

The following requirements have to be met before configuring the Agent cluster.setting up an Agent Cluster:

• The

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• JOC Cockpit should be

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• up & running and accessible from your browser, see JS7 - Initial Operation for JOC Cockpit Cluster.
• The Controller should be up & running, see JS7 - Initial Operation for Controller Cluster.
• A JS7 License Key is required for the JOC Cockpit and for the Controller, independently of whether the components are operated standalone or in a cluster, see JS7 - How to apply a JS7 License Key.

Set up

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Agent Cluster

1. Login to the JOC Cockpit and move navigate to the Manage Controllers/Agents view from the the Image Added Administration button icon.
   
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2. You can view the existing configuration for the Standalone Agent and Cluster AgentThe page displays existing Standalone Agents and Cluster Agents:
   
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3. To add the a new Agent cluster Cluster click on the Controller's action menu of Controller and from the drop-down menu click on the Add Agent button.Cluster menu item:
   
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4. A popup window will appear to create the add an Agent clusterCluster:
   
   
   • Fill out
   the
   • mandatory
   fields, Agent ID for
   • input fields: Agent ID and Agent Name of the Agent Cluster.
     • The Agent ID is a unique string that identifies the Agent Cluster and cannot be changed later on.
     • The Agent Name is a unique string that identifies the Agent Cluster and can be changed later on.
   • Add the Primary Director Agent with its Subagent ID and
   its URL.
5. Select the checkbox "As own cluster".
6. After adding all the details click on the submit button
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• URL.
  • The Primary Director Agent works as an interface between Controller and Subagents in a cluster.
  • The Primary Director Agent manages the Agent Cluster and distributes orders to Subagents. Preferably it is not used for job execution.
  • The Subagent ID is a unique string that identifies the Primary Director Agent and cannot be changed later on.
  • The URL specifies the protocol, host and port for the Primary Director Agent.
• The Secondary Director Agent is used as a fallback if the Primary Director Agent is not available.
  

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Add Subagents

1. After submitting the Agent Cluster add a number of Subagents. Click After submitting the Agent cluster add the subagent. Click on the action menu of the recently created Agent Cluster and select click the Add Subagent from the drop-down menu. menu item:
   
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2. A popup window will appear. Add the subagent Subagent ID and the URL.
   
   
   • The Subagent ID is a unique string that identifies the Subagent and cannot be changed later.
   • The URL specifies the protocol, host, and port on which the Subagent is available.
     
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3. Follow Repeat the same process above steps to add more subagents Subagents to the Agent Cluster.
4. I have added two subagents into In this example, two Subagents are added to the Agent Cluster.
   
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5. Once you add all the subagents select the agent cluster and click on the Deploy button.
   Image Removedall Subagents have been added, select the Agent Cluster action menu and click the Deploy menu item.
   
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6. After successfully deploying the cluster Agent the status will be changed to the synchronized state.
   
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Add Subagent Cluster

1. To add a Subagent Cluster select the Agent Cluster action menu and click the Manage Subagent Cluster menu item.
   
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2. A new window will appear with the list of Cluster Agents. Click any of the Cluster Agents.
   
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3. This brings up the following popup window:
   • In the left panel, the list of Subagents is available and can be dragged & dropped to the middle panel.
   • The middle panel holds a drop area which a Subagent can be dragged & dropped to.
     
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4. The Primary Director Agent has already been added to the graphical view. To adding the first Subagent to the cluster, the middle panel offers additional drag & drop areas:
   • The next Subagent can be dropped to the area above the existing Subagent to specify its role as the first Subagent used with the fixed-priority scheduling mode.
     • In this mode, the first Subagent is preferably used. Only if it becomes unavailable will the next Subagent be used.
       
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   • The next Subagent can be dropped to the area below the existing Subagent to specify its role as the next Subagent used with the fixed-priority scheduling mode.
     • In this mode, the next Subagent is used only if the first Subagent becomes unavailable.
   • The next Subagent can be dropped to the area to the right of the existing Subagent to specify the use of the round-robin scheduling mode.
     • In this mode, each next task is executed with the next Subagent.
       
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5. Once the configuration of a Subagent Cluster is completed the cluster can be deployed to its Controller.

   • A Subagent Cluster can be used only after deployment to a Controller.
   • Changes to a Subagent Cluster require to be deployed, for example, if a Subagent is added or removed from a cluster.
   • Deployment of Subagent Clusters can be performed individually and from bulk operations, see chapter: Bulk Operations on Subagent Clusters.
   • When deploying an Agent Cluster includes deploying any available Subagent Clusters, see chapter: Deploy Agent Cluster.

   
   

6. To deploy the Agent Cluster to its Controller click the Deploy button from the upper right corner.
   
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7. After successful deployment of the Agent Cluster, each Subagent Cluster is individually assigned to a job.
   • The property editor allows selection from the list of Agents that can be assigned a job.
     • This includes Standalone Agents.
     • This also includes Subagent Clusters that are grouped by Agent Cluster.
   • Assignment of Subagent Clusters can look like this:
     
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