Executive Summary
Overview
CLUSTERING technology, which allows multiple stand-alone computing systems to function as a single virtual machine, has become a powerful ally in the fight for e-commerce application scalability and availability. In a nutshell, clustering boosts performance through better load balancing, which means your customers won't wait as long to access your business applications.
With Windows 2000, Microsoft offers very impressive clustering and load-balancing capabilities. Companies looking to get in on this business-boosting action should check out Microsoft's Application Center 2000, a Web-scaling management tool that allows easy set-up and configuration of server arrays (clusters).
Application Center 2000 is Microsoft's deployment and management tool for high-availability Web applications built on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Application Center 2000 makes managing groups of servers as simple as managing a single computer. This overview addresses high-level information on Application Center 2000, touching on application management, software scaling, and mission-critical availability.
Application Center 2000 leverages the stability and dependability of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. It allows Web site administrators to easily combine servers into Network Load Balanced (NLB) clusters and monitor their performance across corporate networks or the Internet. In addition, Application Center combines Web site files and components into sets of 'application images.' Application Center simplifies Web site administration by synchronizing application images throughout a cluster with the click of a button. It uses the scaling out theory that many small servers in a cluster is better than one large server as it lowers the change for point of failure and can balance the load over multiple machines.
Application Center is a tool for creating, deploying and managing Web and component based applications. Typically, these are line-of-business applications that require a high level of availability and need to provide acceptable response time. The servers hosting these applications are expected to handle traffic that is characterized by high volumes, exponential growth curves, and load fluctuations.
This software-based solution is designed to provide the capital cost advantages of the scale-out model, while at the same time providing reduced operations costs-one of the main advantages espoused by proponents of the scale-up model.
In addition to these cost benefits, Application Center provides:
- Manageability- through a centralized management console that is minimal and familiar. This console is used to organize and manage replication, load balancing, and the monitoring of Web and COM+ applications.
- Scalability- that is both linear and flexible. Additional servers can be added to a cluster as needed to accommodate seasonal peaks and removed (and reallocated within the organization) as the load decreases.
- Reliability- by eliminating the single point of failure associated with scaling up or hardware-based load balancing. It also transparently removes a server from operation in the event of a hardware or software failure.
Good performance, of course, is desirable in any product. In addition to offering optimal load balancing algorithms for different types of applications, Application Center provides tools for monitoring system performance and allows the system administrator to adjust load on a server-by-server basis. This approach recognizes the realities of heterogeneous server farms and provides far greater flexibility than the one-size-fits-all approach.
Design Goals
The following goals are highlights from the vision statement that was prepared by Microsoft in response to customer feedback:
- Provide easy administration of Web and COM+ applications on multiple server groups.
- Provide a taxonomy and user interface that will be easy to use, browsable, scalable, searchable and minimal.
- Increase the discoverability of most-used settings; bury or eliminate advanced settings.
- Provide easy access to related partner configuration tools (Microsoft Internet Information Services [IIS], COM+, and Microsoft Health Monitor).
MAC in Business
Application Center Scales e-business
Application Center is critical for the enterprise deployment of Windows 2000 on the .NET platform. Implementing this product will dramatically improve application availability and speed. And with this product, you can package and roll out application updates to every server in the array as easily as if you were working with a single computer.
The most recent version of Application Center, offers basic clustering and monitoring capabilities with self-healing automation to keep performance in peak condition. The tool also boasts easy synchronization of servers and simple COM+ application rollouts.
Application Center provides interfaces to all management and monitoring functions via a Microsoft Management Console snap-in, a Web browser, or a CLI (Command Line Interface) through which scripting adds automated functionality.
The product's wizard-driven routines enable quick setup, synchronization, and modification of cluster members. You can also add new servers, configure load balancing, and deploy applications with minimal technical expertise.
Application Center's monitoring and data collection tools delivered informative metrics on the aggregate health of our clusters. By setting threshold rules, we could preset error conditions, such as CPU utilization or server failure, that triggered immediate alert notifications.
In fact, because it is equipped with event-response aptitude, Application Center takes notification and automated correction to new levels. The product can trigger built-in commands, as well as external programs and VBScripts that mechanize processes, such as restarting downed servers. These favors will do wonders to improve application performance and reduce support costs.
The product offers support for Windows 2000 Network Load Balancing and Component Load Balancing (CLB) to move COM+ workload to dedicated servers for better system performance.
Although CLB was originally seen in Windows 2000, it lacked deployment, management, and monitoring capabilities. With the help of Application Center 2000, though, CLB is now a truly valuable tool.
Positioning Application Center
Application Center is a strategic server product in the .NET Enterprise Servers tier. Application Center was developed to provide a competitively priced, yet robust, tool for scaling and managing a broad range of Web-based business applications. Its feature set, which includes load-balancing and server synchronization, to name but two, is not limited to Web applications, and can support COM+ applications.
Figure 2.0 Positioning Application Center in the Microsoft business platform
Version 1 is integrated with core Microsoft Windows 2000 Server services, such as Network Load Balancing (NLB), and because of its level of integration, extends the core operating system services by providing tools such as application publishing. It is positioned in .NET Enterprise Servers tier so that it will be able to fully integrate with other middle tier servers and services, as well as the development tools layer.
What is MAC 2000?
Application Center 2000 is Microsoft's deployment and management tool for high-availability Web applications built on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Application Center 2000 makes managing groups of servers as simple as managing a single computer. This overview addresses high-level information on Application Center 2000, touching on application management, software scaling, and mission-critical availability.
Key Benefits and Features in MAC 2000
Application Center 2000 empowers developers and Web site administrators to:
- Deploy applications quickly and easily while minimizing the in-depth application knowledge requirements. This in turn reduces the complexity and cost of operating a scalable, highly-available application.
- Group Microsoft Windows 2000 Server computers into clusters.
- Easily manage Web site content and applications.
- Maintain high levels of availability.
Software scaling increases the capacity of an application by adding servers. While hardware scaling requires expensive, specialized servers, software scaling can be achieved using standard off-the-shelf servers. In addition, with software scaling, the relationship of cost to added capacity is close to linear.
Application Center 2000 simplifies software scaling using an idea called clustering. Although many different technologies have described themselves as clustering, the fundamental idea is a simple one: a group of servers used as a single, unified resource. By bringing the servers together into a cluster, many servers can be managed as easily as one. Application Center 2000 is designed so that any server may be brought down without affecting the availability of the application. There is no single point of failure. This means applications can have the necessary mission-critical availability using off-the-shelf hardware.
Benefits
- Load-balanced, scaled applications
- Easy rollout of application updates
- Simplified cluster management
- Informative cluster performance and health monitoring
Features and Functionality
- Single Application Image - Manage applications as a single high-level definition.
- Integrated Management Console - Make configuration changes and view performance and event log data for one or all computers, all from a single console.
- Integration with Network Load Balancing - Get automatic configuration and control over Windows 2000 Network Load Balancing.
- Component Load Balancing - Distribute your COM+ component execution load across multiple servers.
- No Single Point of Failure - Withstand software and hardware failures at any point in the system without disrupting application service.
- Rolling Upgrades - Upgrade production applications without service interruptions.
- Analyze performance data for any server in the cluster, or for the entire cluster as a single aggregated source.
- Automates the deployment of applications (content, components, & configuration data) from one server to another. For example, deploy from development to test, staging, and production environments.
- Keep your application content, components and configuration settings consistent across all the machines in the cluster.
- Automates the process of creating, configuring, and managing Web and COM+ clusters.
- Seamlessly publish content updates using FrontPage or Distributed Authoring and Versioning to a cluster of servers.
The features that are summarized below in Table 3.0 provide the essential tools needed to let us easily create and manage load-balanced clusters. Different elements of the product feature set are accessible through its Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in or via the Web browser.
Why MAC 2000?
As the platform of choice for supporting enterprise-wide applications is rapidly becoming the World Wide Web (www) technologies, the infrastructure required to develop and host applications has grown in scale and complexity. Server technology is particularly hard pressed to keep up with the daily client demands for Web pages. Microsoft Application Center 2000 (Application Center), one of the key new products in the Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers group, is designed to address issues that are related to server scalability, manageability, and reliability.
- Simplified Application Management
Application Center 2000 empowers developers and Web site administrators to deploy applications quickly and easily while minimizing the in-depth application knowledge requirements. This in turn reduces the complexity and cost of operating a scalable, highly-available application.
- Reduces application management complexity
Today's applications consist of many bits and pieces. Using Application Center 2000, administrators can quickly construct logical groupings including the contents, components, and configuration of applications. These groupings can be easily managed throughout the cluster, reducing application complexity.
- Manages many servers as one
When changes are made to a server, Application Center can automatically apply those changes to the other servers in the cluster, allowing Web site administrators to focus their attention on more valuable work.
- Streamlines application deployment
Application Center simplifies the task of migrating applications through the development cycle (from development to testing to production). It helps ensure consistency between the developed application, the tested application, and the production application. By automating deployment of applications from one server to another, Application Center speeds up the transfer time, eliminates manual errors, and improves the quality of releases.
- Software Scaling
Software scaling increases the capacity of an application by adding servers. While hardware scaling requires expensive, specialized servers, software scaling can be achieved using standard off-the-shelf servers. In addition, with software scaling, the relationship of cost to added capacity is close to linear.
Application Center 2000 simplifies software scaling using an idea called clustering. Although many different technologies have described themselves as clustering, the fundamental idea is a simple one: a group of servers used as a single, unified resource. By bringing the servers together into a cluster, many servers can be managed as easily as one.
In the past, software scaling was a time-consuming and resource-intensive operation. With Application Center 2000, creating and running a group of servers is designed to be as simple as operating a single server.
- Application Load Balancing - Simplified and centralized configuration of Network Load Balancing (NLB) and Component Load Balancing (CLB).
- On-Demand Scalability - Easily expand or reduce capacity using off the shelf PC hardware.
- Simplified Cluster Operations - Simplifies and automates the complex processes of creating a new cluster, adding new servers and removing servers from the cluster.
- Accelerates cluster deployment
Traditionally, software scaling has carried a "high barrier to entry," including a high cost in complexity and resources in getting applications to run on multiple servers as a unified resource. Application Center eliminates the barriers that make the move to a software-scaled architecture difficult.
- Scales with your business
Application Center 2000 makes scaling easy enough that applications can achieve on-demand scalability. Using Application Center, applications can handle increases and decreases in their capacity requirements by easily adding or removing servers.
Requires no new application programming interfaces (APIs). Application Center 2000 offers the benefits of software scaling to existing applications, without requiring modifications or rewrites.
- Mission-Critical Availability
Application Center 2000 is designed so that any server may be brought down without affecting the availability of the application. There is no single point of failure. This means applications can have the necessary mission-critical availability using off-the-shelf hardware.
- Fault Tolerance - System can withstand software and hardware failures at any point in the system without disrupting application service.
- Performance and Health Monitoring - View performance, event and log data for individual machines or aggregates, all from a single console.
- Automated Event Detection and Response - Configure responses to system failures allowing the system to proactively fix problems before the user is affected.
- Insures Availability
Application Center 2000 allows your Website to withstand software and hardware failures at any point in the system without disrupting application service.
Actively monitors performance and health. Application Center 2000 provides tools that monitor the cluster and its servers. It also includes powerful features that enable viewing of performance and event-log data for one server or the entire cluster. Administrators can monitor applications remotely using a browser-based console.
- Automates event responses
Application Center 2000 can monitor server and application health and can take action in response to particular events and conditions. With automated responses, operational costs will be reduced through the elimination of manual tasks. Automated responses also can provide higher application availability.
Minimum System Requirements
Server Components
Client Components
Licensing and Purchase Options
The retail price for Application Center is $2,999 US. Discount programs are available through Open, Select, and Enterprise agreements. Application Center is licensed on a per-processor basis and is installed on each Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server computer in a cluster, and often on staging and development servers as well.
In the example above, four licenses must be obtained to run Application Center on a single quad-processor server. The Application Center client tools, which are used to administrate Application Center clusters, can be installed on as many Windows 2000 computers as needed.
The tables below provide guidance on Application Center 2000 license pricing and point you to licensing programs so you can find the most cost-effective solution for your organization.
Case Studies from Microsoft
The following case studies show us how a deployment and management tool like Application Center 2000 can meet the needs of various organizations which come in all sizes and industries, each with its own business need.
Case Study 1
Application Center 2000 Plays Leading Role in Reducing Web Application Costs
As the world's leading promoter and marketer of live entertainment, Clear Channel Entertainment provides fun and exciting experiences to millions of entertainment and sports lovers around the world. From the Backstreet Boys, U2, and Madonna to Scooby Doo Live, Supercross, and Monster Trucks, Clear Channel Entertainment produces an unparalleled array of concerts, motorsports, theatrical and family events. Clear Channel Entertainment is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, Inc.
When Clear Channel Entertainment built its online membership program at getAccess.cc.com, it wanted to provide its members with the ability to purchase discounted tickets and to take advantage of presales promotional events, last-chance tickets, and premium tickets for special concert tours, all in a single, easy-to-use interface. Packed with up-to-the-minute information on thousands of CC Entertainment events all over the United States, the site allows members to find out first when new shows are announced. By choosing their region and locale, members can learn when tickets go on sale in their city.
Case Study 2
Lycos Implements Application Center 2000 and Windows 2000 for a Next-Generation Portal
Online in 1995, Lycos rapidly evolved from an Internet search engine to a full-fledged Web service. Lycos is now an Internet hub that reaches nearly half of U.S. Web users-it is one of the most visited hubs on the Internet today. Its network of sites provides the Lycos community with a complete array of online services and content. These sites include Lycos.com, Tripod, WhoWhere, Angelfire, MailCity, HotBot, HotWired, Wired News, Webmonkey, Sonique, Quote, Gamesville, and Lycos Zone.
To continue to provide users with the kind of powerful and relevant search experience they have come to expect, Lycos wanted to develop a common, flexible infrastructure to unify the existing Lycos.com home page and search applications into a single platform. It needed a technology solution that would improve administration, manageability, and reliability for these Web sites, as well as provide a structured migration path for new products developed on other platforms. Lycos also wanted to establish a Web production model that would allow the organization to take advantage of economies of scale. Lycos found that the Microsoft Web solution platform provided the best overall technology solution.
Lycos selected Microsoft because it enables Lycos to meet its aggressive goals with new product implementation and acquisition integration. In addition, the Microsoft solution makes bottom-line economic sense for Lycos, in terms of maximizing capital investments in technology while controlling operating expenses.
Summary /Conclusion
Across the board, Application Center delivers reliable, timesaving features that will benefit businesses of any size. The product might offer particular perks to small or midsize companies that lack the staff or skills typically required for this breed of deployment.
On the downside, although integration for third-party tools is available through Microsoft's API, the number of vendors currently integrating can be counted on the fingers of a bad wood shop teacher.
Nonetheless, Application Center's potential is evident and exciting. Microsoft's first-generation foray into Windows 2000 cluster management appears to not only be a success, but will play an important role in shaping Microsoft's e-commerce viability for the future.