| Scaling
for Large Chat Sites
More
General Issues about Distributed Serving
Fanout
Servers
Resources
Fanout
Servers
Fanout
servers are simply additional copies of Web Crossing which handle
the load of additional chatters when you reach the limit of either
server capabilities or TCP/IP sockets per "process"
(i.e. running program) on the operating system of your server.
For
instance, if you had a version of Unix that only supports 256
TCP/IP sockets per process, and you had 300 chatters, you would
need a fanout server to handle the additional people.
Or if
you were having performance problems with one physical server
(computer) and wanted to split up the load over one or more additional
computers, you could use one or more fanout servers.
| Note:
The ability to scale chat users providers nearly unlimited
capacity for large numbers of users. Chats with thousands
of simultaneous users have been held, and it is estimated
that as many 200,000 simultaneous chat users can be supported
on a system with sufficient bandwidth and fanout servers. |
Depending
on your setup and your needs, fanout servers can be set up on
the same computer as the first copy of Web Crossing, or on another
computer which is networked to the first server.
Figure
1 - fanout server setup options
| On
a different physical server: |
Different
IP address
Can
use either DWS or CGI mode
|
| On
the same physical server: |
Different
IP addresses
CGI
mode
If
server supports multihoming, no need for unique ports in
fanout server setup form
|
|
Different
IP addresses
DWS
mode
No
need for unique ports in fanout server setup form
|
|
Same
IP address
CGI
mode: different Web Crossing script name
Assign
unique ports on the fanout server setup form
|
|
Same
IP address
DWS
mode: server web port other than 80
Assign
unique ports on the fanout server setup form
|
Consult
the Sysop Documentation
for more details on all of this.
When
you have the additional copies of Web Crossing set up in their
new locations, go, in each, to the Control
Panel > Chat Services. Click on the link at the top
of that page to get to the more extensive Chat Services page.
Fill
in the port numbers and the IP numbers of the fanout server and
Control Room server (the original Web Crossing server) as appropriate.
Due
to Java security issues, you'll need to specify a chat applet
download area - one which resides within the IP address you've
specified for that fanout server - for each fanout server. If
you've used the default configuration, the WBChat directory will
be within your Images directory.
Note
that you don't need additional license certificates for the additional
copies of Web Crossing - the fanout servers will all use the certificate
of the Control Room server.
Resources
See
the more general information on Scaling,
Mirroring, and Distributed Serving
Sysop
Documentation
Sysop
Control Panel
- Chat
Services
- Chat
Status
Web Crossing
FAQ
|
