Cache Parameters – Cache Farm

The Farm Table window displays the following:

IP Address – A virtual IP address representing the farm to the clients.

Name – Enter a name, up to 50 characters in length, to describe the WSD farm.

Admin. Status – Can be one of the following options:

Enable – The farm is active. All users are balanced between the servers.
Disable – The farm is inactive. Clients connecting to the farm will not be served.

Dispatch Method – The method used to determine to which server in the farm traffic will be directed:

Cyclic – Directs traffic to each sever one by one (round robin).
Local Least Traffic – Directs users to the server with the least traffic, from this farm only (i.e., traffic from other farms will not be considered).
Local Least Users Number – Directs users to the server with the fewest users, from this farm only (i.e., users of other farms will not be considered).
nt-1 – The WSD will start querying the farm's servers for Windows NT SNMP statistics. The WSD redirects the farm's clients to the least busy server according to the servers' reported statistics. This method may be used only with Windows NT servers. The parameters are considered according to the weights configured in the first Windows NT weights scheme (see the Windows NT Weights Table).
nt-2 – Similar to nt-1, but using the second weights scheme.
private-1 – When choosing this method, the WSD will query the farm's servers for private SNMP parameters, as defined in the first private weights scheme (see the Private Weights Table). The ratios of users on the servers will be balanced according to the reported statistics.
private-2 – Similar to private-1, but using the second weights scheme.
Content Balancing – The CSD uses a static algorithm to convert the URL or IP address of the site to a numerical value which is assigned to a specific cache server.

Multiplexed Farm Port – Enables applications on the servers to be available on different ports. Multiplexed ports can be defined in each farm. The value can be FTP, HTTP, SMTP, DNS, NNTP, HTTPS, Disable, or any port number you enter manually.

Redundancy Mode – For redundancy operation:

Regular – The farm is operating regularly on this WSD device.
Backup – The farm is not operational, and it backups another farm on another WSD device. When the other farm fails, this farm takes over and becomes operational.

Sessions Mode – The method used to handle new sessions:

Regular – Each client that connects to the farm represents one entry in the Client Table.
EntryPerSession – Each session a client opens is recorded in the client table and is balanced separately. This provides more accurate minimum-user load balancing. When disabled, all of the client's sessions are considered a single session, providing better performance.
ServerPerSession – Different sessions opened by a client's application will be served by different servers, according to the load balancing algorithms. This option enhances load-balancing performance but may hinder some applications that depend on being served by the same server. It also may overload the WSD's internal tables. This option overrides the New Entry On Source Port option.

URL Table Mode – How URLs are recorded.

Address - As an IP address
Host Name - As a URL text string

To configure a new farm:

From the CSD menu, point at Cache Parameters and choose Cache Farm.
The Farm Table window opens.
Click .
The Farm Table Insert window opens containing two tabs: Farm and Connectivity Check. These tabs contain the fields listed above as well as the following:
- Client Aging Time – The amount of time a non-active client is kept in the client table (in seconds). As long as a client is kept in the client table, the client will be connected to the same server.
- URL Aging Time – The time, in seconds, that sites that are not visited are removed.
- Connectivity Status – Whether or not to perform connectivity checks.
- Connectivity Method – Indicates the method of checking for server availability.
  - Ping - The CSD pings the server.
  - HTTP - The CSD checks to see if the HTTP port is open.
  - HTTP page - The CSD checks if a specific HTTP page exists on the server.
- Connectivity Interval – How often the CSD polls the servers (in seconds).
- Connectivity Retries – The number of polling attempts that should be made before a server is considered inactive.
- Retrieval Frequency – To save unnecessary Web page requests, Web page retrieval can be performed only periodically. Only once in a number of requests, according to the retrieval frequency, the Web page is requested. Otherwise, a simple TCP check for port 80 will occur.
- Home Page – When choosing the "HTTP pages" check method, this field defines the default web page which will be retrieved from the servers. If this web page is unavailable, the server is considered down.
Click .
The Farm Table Insert window closes.
In the Farm Table window, click . The farm is added to the list.

To view the servers of a specific farm:

From the CSD menu, point at Cache Parameters and choose Cache Farm.
The Farm Table window opens.
Click Servers.
The Server Table for Farm... Table opens.

To add a server to a specific farm:

From the CSD menu, point at Cache Parameters and choose Cache Farm.
The Farm Table window opens.
Click Servers.
The Server Table for Farm... Table opens.
Click .
The Application Server Table Insert window opens.
Enter the appropriate information.
Click .
The Application Server Table Insert window closes.
In the Server Table for Farm... window, click .
The server is added to the list.

To view the clients of a specific farm:

From the CSD menu, point at Cache Parameters and choose Cache Farm.
The Farm Table window opens.
Click Client.
The Client Table for Farm... Table opens.

To add a static client to a specific farm:

From the CSD menu, point at Cache Parameters and choose Cache Farm.
The Farm Table window opens.
Click Client.
The Client Table for Farm... Table opens.
Click .
The Client Table Insert window opens.
Enter the appropriate information.
Click .
The Client Table Insert window closes.
In the Client Table for Farm... window, click .
The client is added to the list.

In addition to assigning each cache farm a unique IP address, you can configure up to seven different alias IP addresses per farm. You use the Alias IP window to add, edit and delete alias IP addresses.