Set up multiple Web Help Desk instances

This section describes how to set up multiple instances of Web Help Desk with more than a one front-end instance and a load balancer.

In the following procedure:

• Node 1 is the first Web Help Desk instance to set up.
• Node 2 through 5 are the remaining nodes.

1. Set up Node 1.
   1. Install Web Help Desk.
   2. Activate your Web Help Desk license.
2. Set up Node 2.
   1. On Node 1, navigate to the <WebHelpDesk>/conf directory.
   2.  Copy the following files to the <WebHelpDesk>/conf directory on Node 2:

      • whd.conf

      • keystore.jks (if you are running HTTPS)

      • .whd.properties (contains the DB connection info)
   3. On Node 2 in the <WebHelpDesk>/conf directory, open the tomcat_web_template.xml file in a text editor (such as Notepad).
   4. Scroll down to the bottom of the file.

   5. Set the Daemon Mode from background to none.

      Change:

      <env-entry-name>WHDDaemonMode</env-entry-name>
      <env-entry-type>java.lang.String</env-entry-type>
      <env-entry-value>background</env-entry-value>
      

      to:

      <env-entry-name>WHDDaemonMode</env-entry-name>
      <env-entry-type>java.lang.String</env-entry-type>
      <env-entry-value>none</env-entry-value>

   6. Add the JVM Argument -DClusterSecondaryNode=true to the configuration.

      For Windows Server, navigate to <WebHelpDesk>/bin/wrapper/conf/, open the wrapper_template.conf file in a text editor, and add the following line in the # Java Additional Parameters section of that file, setting the next sequential number in the list:

      wrapper.java.additional.<NUMBER>=-DClusterSecondaryNode=true

      where <NUMBER> is the next proceeding number.

      For Mac or Linux, navigate to the <WebHelpDesk>/conf/ directory, open the whd.conf file in a text editor, and add the following line at the end of the file:

      JAVA_OPTS="-DClusterSecondaryNode=true"

   7. On Node 3 through 5, repeat steps a through g.
3. Assign Node 1 as the dedicated daemon instance. This will run the Web Help Desk daemons especially for heavy emails and database interactions.
   1. On Node 1, navigate to the <WebHelpDesk>/conf/ directory.
   2. Open the tomcat_web_template.xml file in a text editor.

   3. In the file, set the Daemon Mode to dedicated.

      Change:

      <env-entry-name>WHDDaemonMode</env-entry-name>
      <env-entry-type>java.lang.String</env-entry-type>
      <env-entry-value>background</env-entry-value>

      to:

      <env-entry-name>WHDDaemonMode</env-entry-name>
      <env-entry-type>java.lang.String</env-entry-type>
      <env-entry-value>dedicated</env-entry-value>

   4. Since this machine is no longer offering the Web user interfaces, you will have to take it off the pool for from your load balancer.

4. On your load balancer, enable Sticky sessions. Web Help Desk will require this setting for tracking sessions.

5. Restart all Web Help Desk instances.