8.3 Setting Up Three Search Appliances

TeamWorks best practices require that every multi-appliance deployment have three Search appliances. There are no advantages to having more than three.

Best practices allow for operating TeamWorks with fewer than three search appliances, but only under special circumstances, such as when reindexing is required.

In the case of reindexing, one appliance focuses on rebuilding the search index while the other two continue to service user requests and provide the Messaging services that TeamWorks requires.

8.3.1 Setting Up the First Search Appliance

Table 8-3 Setting Up the First Search Appliance

Page, Dialog, or Option

Do This

 

  1. Open a management browser on your administrative workstation and access the Port 9443 Appliance Console on the first Search appliance using the following URL:

    https://IP_Address:9443

    Where IP_Address is the IP address of the first Search appliance.

TeamWorks Search Appliance Sign In

  1. Log in as the vaadmin user with the password that you set for the appliance in Vaadmin password and confirmation:.

TeamWorks Search Tools

  1. Click the Configuration button to launch the TeamWorks Search Configuration Wizard.

TeamWorks Search Configuration Wizard

  1. Read the information to be sure that you’re ready to proceed.

  2. Click Next.

Database

  1. Select the database type for this TeamWorks deployment.

  2. Type the DNS name or IP address of the database server or appliance.

  3. The standard port for the database type is shown. You can adjust this if required.

  4. Enter a name for the database.

    The name must not contain a dash.

  5. Type the name of the database user/role that you created when preparing the database for TeamWorks.

  6. Type the password for the database user/role.

  7. If you have prepared your appliances for SSL communications, leave the option selected. Otherwise, deselect it before continuing.

  8. Click Next.

    The credentials are validated and the process continues.

Passwords

  1. Type and confirm a password for the Search and Messaging services administrator.

    Make a note of the password in case a support technician needs it later to resolve a support issue.

  2. Type and confirm a password for service clients, such as Tomcat, to use for accessing the Search and Messaging services.

  3. Click Next.

Locale

  1. Select a Default Locale.

  2. Click Finish.

    Services configuration can take a few minutes. Do not proceed until the process finishes.

  3. After the process finishes, best practice dictates setting up the other two Search appliances before setting up the TeamWorks appliances.

    However, this is not enforced in case your circumstances dictate a different setup order. You can deploy a TeamWorks appliance when the database and at least one Search appliance are running.

8.3.2 Setting Up Subsequent Search Appliances

Table 8-4 Setting Up Subsequent Search Appliance

Page, Dialog, or Option

Do This

 

  1. Open a management browser on your administrative workstation and access the Port 9443 Appliance Console on a subsequent Search appliance using the following URL:

    https://IP_Address:9443

    Where IP_Address is the IP address of a second or third, etc. Search appliance.

TeamWorks Search Appliance Sign In

  1. Log in as the vaadmin user with the password that you set for the appliance in Vaadmin password and confirmation:.

TeamWorks Search Tools

  1. Click the Configuration button to launch the TeamWorks Search Configuration Wizard.

TeamWorks Search Configuration Wizard

  1. Read the information to be sure that you are ready to proceed.

  2. Click Next.

Search Clustering and Messaging Services

  1. Best practices dictate that two Search appliances have Messaging services enabled.

    You can enable this on the second or third Search appliance.

    The configuration wizard prevents you from disabling the Messaging service when it is the only instance in the deployment.

  2. Click Finish.

    Services configuration can take a few minutes. Do not proceed until the process finishes.

  3. Repeat the process until three Search appliances are running–two of them with Messaging services enabled.