Got a general question about load balancing setup in JBoss (7.1.1.Final). I'm trying to setup a clustered JBoss instance with a master and slave node and I'm using the demo app here (https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS72/AS7+Cluster+Howto) to prove the load balancing/session replication. I've basically followed through to just before the 'cluster configuration' section.
I've got the app deployed to the master and slave nodes and if I hit their individual IPs directly I can access the application fine. According to the JBoss logs and admin console the slave has successfully connected to the master. However, if I put something in the session on the slave, take the slave offline, the master cannot read the item that the slave put in the session.
This is where I need some help with the general setup. Do I have to have a separate apache httpd instance sat in front of JBoss to do the load balancing? I thought there was a load balancing capability built into JBoss that wouldn't need the separate server, or am I just completely wrong? If I don't need apache, please could you point me in the direction of instructions to setup the JBoss load balancing?
Thanks.
Yes, you need a Apache or any other software or hardware that allows you to perform load balancing of the HTTP request JBoss Application Server does not provide this functionality.
For proper operation of the session replication you should check that the server configuration and the application configuration is well defined.
On the server must have the cache enabled for session replication (you can use standalone-ha.xml or standalone-full-ha.xml file for initial config).
To configuring the application to replicate the HTTP session is done by adding the <distributable/> element to the web.xml.
You can see a full example in http://blog.akquinet.de/2012/06/21/clustering-in-jboss-as7eap-6/