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WSD Farm Parameters

The WSD (+ Pro, DS, NP) Farm Table window displays the following:

To configure a new farm:
  1. From the WSD menu, choose Farm Parameters.
    The Farm Table window opens.
  2. Click .
    The Farm Table Insert window opens containing 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.
    • Connectivity Method – Indicates the method of checking for server availability. The value can be Ping, FTP, HTTP, SMTP, DNS, NNTP, HTTPS, or any port number you enter manually.
      If Ping is selected, the WSD pings the servers to verify valid communication. If "HTTP Pages" is selected, the WSD will try to retrieve the web pages (as configured in the "Home Page" field) from the servers. (You can configure which returned HTTP code indicates proper connection. Also, if the return of an HTTP code is not enough, you can have the device additionally check for the presence or absent of a text string, which is also configurable.) Any other value causes the WSD to attempt to connect to the specified application port. If a Ping operation fails, or an application could not be opened, this means that the server is down.
    • Connectivity Check Port – The specific port to which to conduct the connectivity check. There are a number of pre-set commonly used ports. For example, "HTTP" automatically checks port 80. You can enter any port number.
    • Connectivity Interval – How often the Web Server Director polls the servers (in seconds).
    • Connectivity Retries – The number of polling attempts that should be made before a server is considered inactive. This also applies to the reports from other WSD DS/NP devices.
    • 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.
    • DNS Redirection Fallback – This feature is available only when using "DNS Redirection" as the selected Redirection Mode (see above). If the WSD has no local servers for the farm, the redirection mode specified here is used redirect the client.
  3. Click .
    The Farm Table Insert window closes.
  4. In the Farm Table window, click . The farm is added to the list.
To view the servers of a specific farm:
  1. From the WSD menu, choose Farm Parameters.
    The Farm Table window opens.
  2. Click Servers.
    The Server Table for Farm... Table opens.
To add a server to a specific farm:
  1. From the WSD menu, choose Farm Parameters.
    The Farm Table window opens.
  2. Click Servers.
    The Server Table for Farm... Table opens.
  3. Click .
    The Application Server Table Insert window opens.
  4. Enter the appropriate information.
  5. Click .
    The Application Server Table Insert window closes.
  6. In the Server Table for Farm... window, click .
    The server is added to the list.
To view the clients of a specific farm:
  1. From the WSD menu, choose Farm Parameters.
    The Farm Table window opens.
  2. Click Client.
    The Client Table for Farm... Table opens.
To add a static client to a specific farm:
  1. From the WSD menu, choose Farm Parameters.
    The Farm Table window opens.
  2. Click Client.
    The Client Table for Farm... Table opens.
  3. Click .
    The Client Table Insert window opens.
  4. Enter the appropriate information.
  5. Click .
    The Client Table Insert window closes.
  6. In the Client Table for Farm... window, click .
    The client is added to the list.