Customization of PROFILE.TCPIP

Each TCP/IP profile in the sysplex must be updated to accommodate the z/OS® Load Balancing Advisor.

The updated portion of PROFILE.TCPIP for stack S1 on system SYSB follows:

VIPADYNAMIC
   ;Address LB & Agents use to reach Advisor fall into this subnet
   VIPARANGE DEFINE 255.255.255.0 10.1.5.0	
ENDVIPADYNAMIC

DEVICE VIPA41 VIRTUAL 0    ; Static VIPA for Agent's source address
   LINK LVIPA41 VIRTUAL 0 VIPA41
   HOME 10.1.1.1 LVIPA41

PORT
   3860 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor (LB connections)
   8100 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor (Agent connections)
   8000 TCP LBAGENT        ; SASP Workload Agent (Advisor connection)

In this example, the address 10.1.5.1 would be within the subnetwork that has been reserved for dynamic VIPAs in the VIPARANGE statement. The load balancer and the Agents use this address to reach the Advisor. Using a dynamic VIPA (DVIPA) facilitates the movement of the Advisor to another TCP/IP stack in the event of failure. This address is defined in the lb_connection_v4 statement in the Advisor's configuration file, in the load balancer as the location of the Advisor [known generically as the SASP Global Workload Manager (GWM)], and on the advisor_id statement in each of the Agent's configuration files.

The address 10.1.1.1 is a static VIPA. The Agent on this system uses this address as its source IP address. Because SYSB is a single stack system (INET), a static VIPA is sufficient. If this were a CINET system like SYSA, a DVIPA would be best. This address appears on the agent_id_list statement in the Advisor's configuration file, as well as on the agent_connection statement in the Agent's configuration file on SYSB.

The ports used for the Advisor and Agent are reserved, as advised. Port 3860 is reserved for the Advisor and is used to communicate with load balancers. This port appears on the lb_connection_v4 statement in the Advisor's configuration file. Port 8100 is also reserved for the Advisor, and is the port that the Agents use to connect to the Advisor. This port appears on the agent_connection_port statement in the Advisor's configuration file, as well as on the advisor_id statement in each of the Agents' configuration files. Port 8000 is reserved for the Agent on this system and is used as the source port for the connection with the Advisor. This port appears on the agent_id_list statement in the Advisor's configuration file, as well as on the agent_connection statement in the Agent's configuration file on this system.

The updated portion of PROFILE.TCPIP for stack S1 on system SYSA follows:

VIPADYNAMIC
   ;Address Agent uses as source will fall into this subnet
   VIPARANGE DEFINE 255.255.255.0 10.1.5.0		
ENDVIPADYNAMIC

PORT
   3860 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor LB connections, 
                           ;  in case Advisor is moved to this stack
   8100 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor Agent connections, 
                           ;  in case Advisor is moved to this stack
   8000 TCP LBAGENT        ; SASP Workload Agent Advisor connection

In Figure 1, the DVIPA that the Agent uses as a source IP address on this system is shown belonging to stack S1. It could just as easily belong to stack S2, but for the purposes of this example the DVIPA belongs to stack S1.

In this updated portion of PROFILE.TCPIP, the address that the Agent uses as a source address when connecting to the Advisor, 10.1.5.22, is within the subnetwork that has been reserved for dynamic VIPAs on the VIPARANGE statement. Using a dynamic VIPA (DVIPA) facilitates the movement of the Agent to another TCP/IP stack on the same system in the event of failure. This address is defined on the host_connection statement in this Agent's configuration file, and in the agent_id_list statement in the Advisor's configuration file. The DVIPA that the Advisor would use, should the Advisor be moved to this stack, would also fall within this subnetwork.

The port that is used for the Agent is reserved, as advised. Additionally, ports that the Advisor would use if it were to be moved to this TCP/IP stack are also reserved.

The updated portion of PROFILE.TCPIP for stack S2 on system SYSA follows:

VIPADYNAMIC
   ;Address Agent uses as source will fall into this subnet
   VIPARANGE DEFINE 255.255.255.0 10.1.5.0		
ENDVIPADYNAMIC

PORT
   3860 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor LB connections, 
                           ;  in case Advisor is moved to this stack
   8100 TCP LBADV          ; SASP Workload Advisor Agent connections, 
                           ;  in case Advisor is moved to this stack
   8000 TCP LBAGENT        ; SASP Workload Agent Advisor connection

This updated portion of the TCP/IP profile is identical to that of stack S1 on SYSA. This TCP/IP stack is capable of supporting the Advisor and the Agent running on this z/OS system, should it be necessary to move either to this TCP/IP stack.

Parent topic: z/OS Load Balancing Advisor configuration example