12.2. Configure the demo client

Terms

Proxy Hostname

Hostname of the load-balancing proxy server, or the IP address on which the proxy server is listening for requests. The default value for this field is localhost, or determined by the mod_cluster.proxy.host system property, if set.

Edit the -Dmod_cluster.proxy.host=localhost value in run-demo.sh to avoid re-setting this value each time you use the demo.

Proxy Port

Port on which the load-balancing proxy server listens for requests. The default value is 8000, or determined by the mod_cluster.proxy.port property, if set.

Edit the -Dmod_cluster.proxy.port=8000 value in run-demo.sh to avoid re-setting this value each time you use the demo.

Context Path

The part of the request URL that specifies the request is for load-demo.war.

Session Life

Number of seconds a client thread should use a session before invalidating or abandoning it. This should be a small value, or session stickiness can prevent changes in server load from affecting the proxy server's routing decisions. When sticky sessions are enabled (strongly recommended), the creation of new sessions allows the proxy to balance the workload.

Invalidate

When checked, specifies that a session is invalidated by the client thread when the thread stops using a session. When unchecked, the session is abandoned, and exists on the worker node until the session timeout expires.

Session Timeout

The number of seconds a session can remain unused before the worker node can expire and remove the session.

Deselecting Invalidate and setting a high value relative to session life causes a significant number of unused sessions to accumulate on the server.

Num Threads

Number of client threads to launch. Each thread repeatedly makes requests until the Stop button is pressed, or a request receives a response other than HTTP 200.

Sleep Time

Number of milliseconds that client threads should sleep between requests.

Startup Time

Number of seconds over which the application should stagger client thread start-up. Staggering the start time of sessions avoids the unrealistic situation where all sessions start and end almost simultaneously. Staggering the start time allows the proxy to continually see new sessions and decide how to route them.