Version 92

    The document describes the protocol elements of the mod_cluster protocol between a container (AS) and a load balancer (Apache httpd).

     

    Messages:

     

    Message typeDescription
    CONFIGSend configuration information for a node or set of nodes.
    ENABLE-APPSend requests and assign new sessions to the specified app. Use of  to identify the app means enable all apps on the given node.
    DISABLE-APPapache should not create new session for this webapp, but still continue serving existing session on this node. Use of  to identify the app means disable all apps on the given node.
    STOP-APPNew requests for this webapp should not be sent to this node. Use of  to identify the app means stop all apps on the given node.
    STOP-APP-RSPResponse to STOP-APP (since version 0.2.0)
    REMOVE-APPRemove the information about this webapp from mod_cluster tables.
    STATUSSend the current load balance factor for this node (or a set of nodes). Periodically sent.
    STATUS-RSPmod_cluster_manager response to a STATUS.
    INFORequest configuration info from mod_cluster-manager.
    INFO-RSPResponse to INFO virtual host and listen address/port.
    DUMPRequest a text dump of the current configuration seen by mod_cluster_manager.
    DUMP-RSPResponse to DUMP.
    PINGRequest a ping to httpd or node. The node could defined by JVMRoute or Scheme,Host and Port (since version 0.1.0).
    PING-RSPResponse to PING

     

    Message pay-load:

     

    The information is in ASCII and URL encoded if needed.

    All numbers are integer and a string representation is used.

    The command is string it is the first part of a message it is followed by a / HTTP/1.0

    <CR><LF>
    Example:

    DISABLE-APP / HTTP/1.0<CR><LF>

    All parameters are send as <PARAMETER_NAME>=<VALUE> and the separator between their pairs is <&>

    <SPACE> in value is escaped as <+>

    <&> in value is escaped as &26

    <=> in value is escaped %3D

    <CR><LF> means end of <COMMAND>
    example:

    DISABLE / HTTP/1.0<CR><LF>

    Content-length: 44<CR><LF>

    <CR><LF>

    Jvmroute=node1&Context=myapp&Context=ourapp<CR><LF>

     

    To make the document more readable the " / HTTP/1.0" is not added a the end of the commands.

     

    CONFIG:

    KeyDescriptionDefaultMax size
    AliasList of virtual hosts like host1,host2 (See Alias)
    Balanceris the name of the balancer in httpd (for example mycluster in ProxyPass /myapp balancer://mycluster/)mycluster40
    ContextList the context the virtual host list supports like (Ex. "/myapp,/ourapp")
    Domainis the domain corresponding to the nodeNULL20
    Hostis the IP address (or hostname) where the node is going to receive requests from httpd
    JvmRouteIs what is after the . in the JSESSIONID cookie or the parameter jsessionid80
    Portis the port on which the node except to receive requests80097
    Typehttp/https/ajp The protocol to use between httpd and AS to process requestsajp6


    For node and balancer configuration keys refer to "Mod-Cluster Node and Balancer"

     

     

    ENABLE-APP:

    KeyDescription
    JvmRouteSee CONFIG
    AliasSee CONFIG
    ContextThat is the context of the application

     

     

    DISABLE-APP:

    Like ENABLE-APP.

     

    STOP-APP:

    Like ENABLE-APP.

     

    REMOVE-APP:

    Like ENABLE-APP.

     

    STOP-APP-RSP:

    That is a reponse to STOP-APP, like a http reponse it starts with HTTP/1.1 200 OK

    <CR><LF>

    and it has the format:

     

    KeyDescription
    TypeSTOP-APP-RSP
    JvmRouteSee CONFIG
    AliasSee CONFIG
    ContextSee CONFIG
    RequestsThat the number of requests active on the context at the time of STOP-APP command


    Note that a Wildcard STOP-APP won't cause  a STOP-APP-RSP but just a 200 or 500

     

     

    STATUS:

    KeyDescriptionDefaultMax size
    JvmRouteSee CONFIG
    Load

    number between 1 and 100 and defines the normalized weighted load applied to the worker. Only possible values are real load factor.

    "0": node is on standby.

    "-1": node is broken (The cluster can't connect to it).

    "-2": just do a cping/cpong.

    3

     

    STATUS-RSP:

    That is a reponse, like a http reponse it starts with HTTP/1.1 200 OK

    <CR><LF>

    and it has the format:

     

     

    KeyDescription
    TypeSTATUS-RSP
    JvmRouteSee CONFIG
    StateThat is the state httpd see for the node at the time of the processing (value from shared memory).
    id

    That is the generation id of process in httpd if it changes (increases) when httpd has been restarted and its view of the cluster

    configuration could be incorrect. In this case ModClusterService should send a new CONFIG ASAP so the information could be updated.

     

    INFO:

    Emtpy request


    INFO-RSP:

    "readable" description of the mod_cluster configuration corresponding to the messages the cluster has sent to mod_cluster.


     

    DUMP:

    Emtpy request


    DUMP-RSP:

    "readable" description of the mod_cluster configuration corresponding to the messages the cluster has sent to mod_cluster.

     

    PING:

    There are 3 different pings: (for version 0.1.0 on)

    CombinationDescription
    Emtpy=?check that the proxy is alive.
    JvmRoute=?check if a node is alive.
    Type=?&Host=?&Port=?check that httpd can connect to a possible node defined by Type://Host:Port/


    KeyDescription
    JvmRouteSee CONFIG
    TypeSee CONFIG
    HostSee CONFIG
    PortSee CONFIG

     

    PING-RSP:

     

    KeyDescription
    TypePING-RSP
    StateSee STATUS_RSP
    idSee STATUS_RSP

     

     

    Using -APP command with wildcard:

    In case a -APP command with wildcard is sent by ModClusterManager to mod_cluster only the JVMRoute is going to be relevant in the payload message.

     

     

    For example:

     

    +++

     

    DISABLE  HTTP/1.0

    <CR><LF>

    Content-length: 44<CR><LF>

    <CR><LF>

    Jvmroute=node1&Context=myapp&Context=ourapp<CR><LF>

    +++


    Will be handled like:

    +++

    DISABLE  HTTP/1.0<CR><LF>

    Content-length: 15<CR><LF>

    <CR><LF>

    Jvmroute=node1<CR><LF>

     

    +++

     

     

    Other values between the command and HTTP/1.0 (or 1.1) are ignored in the actual version of the protocol.

     

    A shutdown of a node will cause the following events:

     

    DISABLE-APP / for each application.

     

    STOP-APP / for each application.

     

    DISABLE-APP

     

    STOP-APP

     

    (http://community.jboss.org/wiki/ModClusterDesign suggests that ModClusterManager should wait until all sessions have been finished but that requires a to be written tool. The idea is that an administrator initiated step; similar to what people do now by changing workers.properties to quiesce a node in mod_jk, but it could be initiated from the JBoss side via a management tool).

    If a request arrives for a context corresponding to this node 500 will be returned to the client.

     

    An additional utility could be written to send a REMOVE-APP  once the JBoss node is stopped REMOTE-APP will remove all the node information from mod_cluster table and any socket between httpd and the node will be closed. (For a more complete description see http://wiki.jboss.org/wiki/Mod-Cluster_Internals). If a request arrives for a context corresponding to this node 404 will be returned to the client: in fact the mod_proxy will not be called for the request and an httpd page could be displayed. A REMOVE-APP / for example will just clean the mod_cluster table corresponding to the application defined in the payload.

     

    Error handling:

    Once a error occurs in mod_cluster 500 is returned and the status line tells the version of protocol mod_cluster is using and a short description of the error.

    The error response status line will be something like:

    HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR

     

    Version: version_supported

     

    Type: type

     

    Mess: "error_string"

     

    Where version_supported is the version of the protocol mod_cluster is able to support.

     

    Where type is the type of error, for example: MEM to tell the message contains syntax errors (SYNTAX) or the data can't be updated to update the shared memory (MEM).

     

    The "error_string" should help to understand what was wrong and the n.p.n VERSION information tells which highest version of the protocol mod_cluster understands.

     

    The first part of the error_string should help to make a decision how to go on:

     

    SYNTAX: mod_cluster can't understand the message or part of the message. Another version of the protocol should used or ModClusterService should be fixed.

     

    MEM: mod_cluster can't update the shared memory. If that is the answer to a -APP messages or a STATUS message new CONFIG message should be send. If it is the answer to a CONFIG message the configuration of the cluster in ModCusterService should be checked or/and the CONFIG message should be resend to mod_cluster.

    Example:

    HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
    Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 09:55:21 GMT
    Server: Apache/2.2.9-dev (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.9-dev OpenSSL/0.9.8b DAV/2
    Content-Length: 557
    Connection: close
    Version: 0.0.0
    Type: SYNTAX
    Mess: "Command is not supported"
    Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
    
    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">

    mod_cluster-manager handler:

    The mod_cluster-manager handler allows to do operation like ENABLE_APP/DISABLE_APP through a web interface. The format of the request string is the following:

    Nonce: <nonce>Cmd: <cmd>Range: <range>MCMP String

    where:

    <nonce> Is a string like e17066b4-0cb1-4e58-93e3-cdc9efb6be9 corresponding to a unique id of httpd.

    <cmd> Is the command: one of ENABLE_APP, DISABLE_APP etc.

    <range> Is a "NODE" or "CONTEXT". "NODE" means that the _APP command is a wildcard command.

    The MCMP String is a string containing a command described above.

    Example:

    http://localhost:8000/mod_cluster-manager?nonce=e17066b4-0cb1-4e58-93e3-cdc9efb6be9c&Cmd=DISABLE-APP&Range=CONTEXT&JVMRoute=jvm1&Alias=