Location management for load balancing

All PingDirectory and PingAuthorize servers have a location, which is a label that defines a group of servers with similar response time characteristics. Each location consists of a name and an optional list of preferred failover locations.

The failover and fewest operations load-balancing algorithms, discussed in About the SCIM user store, take server location into account when routing requests. By default, they always prefer LDAP backend servers in the same location as the PingAuthorize Server. If no servers are available in the same location, they will fall back to any defined failover locations.

You assign a server a location using the --location option when you run setup.

You can manage configuration-level and server-level location settings after setup as explained in the following table.

Task	Corresponding command example
Define a new location.	dsconfig create-location \ --location-name Minneapolis
Define a new location with a failover location. The failover location must already exist.	dsconfig create-location \ --location-name Louisville \ --set preferred-failover-location:Minneapolis
Add a failover location to an existing location. The failover location must already exist.	dsconfig set-location-prop \ --location-name Minneapolis \ --set preferred-failover-location:Louisville
Change PingAuthorize Server’s existing location by modifying the global configuration.	dsconfig set-global-configuration-prop \ --set location:Minneapolis
Change a backend LDAP server’s location by modifying its LDAP external server entry.	dsconfig set-external-server-prop \ --server-name DS1 \ --set location:Minneapolis
Configure a load-balancing algorithm to ignore backend LDAP servers' locations when deciding how to route requests.	dsconfig set-load-balancing-algorithm-prop \ --algorithm-name "User Store LBA" \ --set use-location:false

Task

Corresponding command example

Define a new location.

dsconfig create-location \
  --location-name Minneapolis

Define a new location with a failover location. The failover location must already exist.

dsconfig create-location \
  --location-name Louisville \
  --set preferred-failover-location:Minneapolis

Add a failover location to an existing location. The failover location must already exist.

dsconfig set-location-prop \
  --location-name Minneapolis \
  --set preferred-failover-location:Louisville

Change PingAuthorize Server’s existing location by modifying the global configuration.

dsconfig set-global-configuration-prop \
  --set location:Minneapolis

Change a backend LDAP server’s location by modifying its LDAP external server entry.

dsconfig set-external-server-prop \
  --server-name DS1 \
  --set location:Minneapolis

Configure a load-balancing algorithm to ignore backend LDAP servers' locations when deciding how to route requests.

dsconfig set-load-balancing-algorithm-prop \
  --algorithm-name "User Store LBA"  \
  --set use-location:false