Installing in a Failover Cluster
Installing Access Manager in a Failover Cluster
Prerequisites
Installing Access Manager in a failover cluster requires the following;
A Lithnet Access Manager enterprise edition license
You must meet the hardware and storage requirements for a Microsoft failover cluster
A shared disk available to all cluster nodes (Recommended minimum size is 50GB)
At least one Windows Server 2012 R2 domain controller in the domain where AMS will be installed
The KDS root key in the domain must be enabled
Installation procedure
1. Install and configure the base cluster service
Follow the steps outlined in Microsoft documentation for creating a new failover cluster. Stop once you reach the section for Creating clustered roles
and continue from this guide.
2. Configure the cluster quorum
If you are setting up a cluster containing an even number of nodes, you must configure an appropriate witness to ensure a cluster quorum.
3. Configure the AMS storage volume online
Open the
Disk Management
tool, and bring the AMS storage volume online. Initialize the disk, format it, and assign it a drive letter (for the purposes of this guide, we will refer to the AMS storage volume asS:
)Open the
Failover Cluster Manager
tool, expand the cluster in the left hand side tree view, and selectStorage
followed byDisks
Select
Add Disk
from the right-hand actions menu, and add the appropriate disk to the cluster.
4. Install Access Manager
On the first node, run the Access Manager Service installer.
When prompted to provide the installation paths, set the log and config folders to be on the
S:
drive. EgS:\AMS\logs
andS:\AMS\config
\We also recommend using a group-managed service account for AMS. You must use the same account on all cluster nodes. \
When the installer finishes, do not run the configuration utility when prompted.
Exit the installer and return to the
Failover Cluster Manager
From the actions pane, select
Move Available Storage
and select the next node in the cluster. Confirm that theowner node
for the storage has changed to the correct node.Log onto the next node, and ensure the
S:
drive is present.Run the AMS installer again, providing the exact same paths and service account as you did on the primary node.
Repeat this process for all remaining cluster nodes
5. Install the cluster role
Once AMS has been installed on all nodes, open the
Failover Cluster Manager
and go to theRoles
node of the clusterClick
Configure rule...
from the actions paneSelect
Generic service
as the role type
Select
Lithnet Access Manager Service
from the services list
Provide an IP address and name for your client access point. This will be the name of the clustered service, and by default, forms the AD hostname of the cluster.
Select the storage volume that contains the AMS configuration
Click
Add
on thereplicate registry settings
screen, and specify the following valueSOFTWARE\Lithnet\Access Manager Service\Parameters
Complete the remaining steps of the wizard, and ensure the new role transitions to an 'online' state
6. Configure AMS for high availability
Use the
Failover Cluster Manager
to determine which node currently hosts the AMS service, and log onto that nodeOpen the AMS configuration utility
From the
Web hosting
page, select or import the SSL certificateFrom the
Licensing
page, clickEnter license key
and provide your enterprise licenseFrom the
High availability
page, selectEnable cluster-compatible secret encryption
andEnable encryption certificate synchronization
(unless you are storing your certificates in a HSM).Save the configuration at this point. Restart the service when prompted.
Close the AMS configuration utility
Note, the configuration utility requires access to the configuration file, and therefore can only be active on the cluster node that has access to the share storage volume. Always ensure you close the configuration utility before failing over to another node.
Use the
Failover Cluster Manager
to move the role to the next nodeOpen the AMS configuration utility
From the
Web hosting
page, select or import the SSL certificateSave the configuration and restart the service when prompted
Repeat the certificate selection process on the remaining nodes in the cluster.
At this point, the cluster-specific configure is complete. You can now follow the steps in the installing guide for configuring the AMS features as appropriate for your environment.
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