Webfarms - Installation - Installation Steps

The following steps should be performed to create a MOVEit DMZ webfarm:

Install MOVEit DMZ on node 1 if necessary

If an existing MOVEit DMZ server is not being used, install MOVEit DMZ on one of the nodes now. This will be node 1 of the webfarm, and the webfarm will takes its initial settings from this node.

If the MOVEit DMZ database has not been migrated to the webfarm database server, do this now. Note that you cannot use localhost as the database for a web farm. Use either the MOVEit DMZ SQL Server Conversion Assistant to help migrate a local MySQL database to a remote SQL Server database server or follow the steps below to use a remote MySQL database. Please see the knowledge base article on converting MOVEit DMZ to SQL Server for more information.

Finally, before continuing with the webfarm installation process, perform a full backup of the first MOVEit DMZ server to assist with recovery if necessary later.

Install MOVEit DMZ on remaining application nodes

Install MOVEit DMZ on the remaining application nodes at this time. Order does not matter. If a MOVEitDMZ_Install.INI file is available from a previous DMZ install, copy it to the root of the C: drive before running the installation program to use those settings. Otherwise, try to use the same settings during the install process as were used on the first DMZ server.

Run MOVEit DMZ Webfarm Conversion Assistant on node 1

  1. Select "Create new webfarm" to have the utility create a new webfarm based on this MOVEit DMZ server. Click Next to continue.
  2. Enter (or confirm) database settings. The utility will attempt to populate the fields with the current database settings of the DMZ server. Most of the time these will be correct, and you can continue by clicking Next. Note for a remote MySQL database you will need to specify the IP address that all nodes would be able to use. Additionally, you'll need to grant access to the database for each node. For example, GRANT ALL ON moveitdmz.* TO 'moveitdmz'@'192.168.1.101' IDENTIFIED BY '1Password'
  3. Enter files share settings. Enter the full UNC path to the webfarm files share, as well as the user and password that will be used to access it. If the MOVEit DMZ files directory content has not already been copied to the webfarm files share, click the provided checkbox to have the utility copy the files itself. Click Next to continue.
  4. Click the Save webfarm settings file checkbox and enter a path for the settings file. This will allow subsequently added webfarm nodes to be installed very easily, and helps prevent mistyping settings during configuration that could cause problems. You may choose not to do this step, but it is highly recommended. Click Next to continue.
  5. Confirm the displayed settings, or fix any displayed problems. Once all settings are confirmed, click Next to begin the webfarm creation process.

At this point, the conversion assistant will:

If any errors occurred, see the log file indicated on the final page of the utility for details.

If you elected to save the webfarm settings to a file, copy the resulting file to the other nodes that will be added, and to a safe location internally for storage.

Run MOVEit DMZ Webfarm Conversion Assistant on remaining application nodes

  1. Select "Add to existing webfarm" to have the utility add the node to the webfarm created above. If the previously saved settings file is available, select "Load settings from INI file" and enter the location of the file. Click Next to continue.
  2. Enter database and files share settings, if necessary. This step will be skipped if a valid settings file was loaded in the previous step.
  3. Confirm the displayed settings, or fix any displayed problems. Once all settings are confirmed, click Next to begin adding the node to the existing webfarm.

At this point, the conversion assistant will:

If any errors occurred, see the log file indicated on the final page of the utility for details.

Update the MOVEit DMZ App Pools in IIS

You must update the App Pools that MOVEit DMZ users ("moveitdmz ISAPI Pool" and "moveitdmz Pool") to run as the same user that MOVEit DMZ uses to connect to the external file storage location (NAS). This user should also be a member of the Local Administrators group on the MOVEit DMZ Server.

The reason for this is that, if the connection to the external file store fails, Windows will attempt to reconnect using the credentials of the App Pool. Therefore, if the App Pool user does not have permission to access the NAS, MOVEit DMZ will not be able to access the file system.

Test each application node

The best way to test each node is to run the MOVEit DMZ Check utility on each node. Remember that all nodes will now be using the user accounts from the first node.