Deploying in High Availability Environments

This article details the steps for deploying Issuetrak in a highly available configuration using Issuetrak 17.6 and above. 

Issuetrak releases version updates, enhancements, and new features periodically. Routine maintenance, such as upgrades, will be needed to ensure you have the latest and most secure version of Issuetrak.

* We strongly recommend that you make backups of systems and databases before proceeding with any maintenance.

Deployment in an HA environment shares the same process as our typical install, but requires some additional steps to get your environment configured and operating correctly. 

Dependencies

The diagram below illustrates an example architecture of an Issuetrak instance that is deployed in the Azure environment in a high availability configuration.

A diagram displaying the layout of a basic high availability architecture that uses Azure.

The full requirements for an HA deployment can be found here. Very briefly:

  1. SQL Environment - The environment should be pre-configured and ready to accept the database. You'll either be connecting to the Virtual Network Name or Cluster when prompted for a SQL connection.
  2. Web Environment - All of your web servers should have all of the dependencies and requirements pre-installed.
  3. Load Balancer - Should be pre-configured for port 80 & 443 traffic, as well as session affinity/persistent sessions/sticky sessions.
  4. Storage - Network path already configured and confirmed access from each web server in your environment.

First Server Deployment

  1. Configure your Load Balancer to add the first (and ONLY the first) web server for traffic routing.
  2. Walk through the installation prompts using the Issuetrak Deployment Manager (IDM). DO NOT click on 'Deploy' at the end of the prompts. You'll need to select 'Add to Site Explorer'.
  3. From the Site Explorer screen, you can export the configuration to a JSON file.
  4. Exit and close out of the IDM.
  5. Run the Issuetrak Provisioning Tool (IPT).
    1. Change the toggle to ‘High Availability’.
    2. Modify your desired failover detection timeout.
    3. Select ‘Run Full Deployment’ to copy the user data folders to the remote location and install the HA monitor process.
  6. Edit the JSON file:
    1. Modify the DetachedFilesPath entry to the correct UNC path (escapes required)
      1. Example: "DetachedFilesPath": "\\\\example-location.file.core.windows.net\\subfoldername"
    2. Modify the Sites.Website.Application section to add an entry for "ShouldUseLocalIPAddressForLocalRequests": true
  7. Re-launch the IDM.
  8. Select 'Go to Sites Explorer'. 
  9. Upload your updated JSON configuration.
  10. Run a full installation of the site.

Installation of Additional Node(s)

  1. Ensure the server you are on is not added to the Load Balancer and will not be receiving traffic.
  2. Copy the modified JSON file created previously on the primary or first server (see previous section "First Server Deployment").
  3. If the server is intended to run services and tasks, you'll need to edit the JSON and set the key DisableAllScheduledTasksAndServices to TRUE. 
  4. Launch the IDM.
  5. Select 'Go to Sites Explorer'.
  6. Upload the modified JSON configuration from step 3. 
  7. Under options, confirm the following:
    1. Selected
      1. Web
      2. Services optional, only if you intend for this server to be a backup for the services and scheduled tasks)
    2. De-selected
      1. SQL
      2. Backup
  8. Click 'Deploy' to run the installation.
  9. Run the Issuetrak Provisioning Tool, select the toggle for ‘High Availability’, and click only the ‘Deploy HA Monitoring’ button.
  10. Add the server to the load balancer list to begin ingesting traffic.
  11. Repeat these steps for each additional node.

Upgrading the Primary Node

Upgrades will follow a very similar process to the installation.

  1. Ensure all of the web servers are excluded from the load balancer from receiving traffic, except for the primary server.
  2. Disable the “HA-Issuetrak-Monitor” scheduled task on all servers including the primary server. Verify that services and scheduled tasks are stopped/disabled on all secondary servers.
  3. Launch the new version of the IDM included in the latest release.
  4. Walk through the prompts to complete an upgrade.
    1. NOTE: The upgrade will attempt to backup both your SQL configuration and web files. If you're using a managed SQL environment, you may need to perform a manual backup.
  5. If the upgrade does not complete properly, the IDM will attempt a rollback to the previous state to get you back up and running. 
    1. When the site comes back up, test functionality and confirm its operations.
    2. You can review the installation log to identify the error and try again, however, we strongly recommend contacting our Support team to walk you through the upgrade process.
  6. Once the upgrade completes successfully, re-enable the "Issuetrak HA Monitor" and move onto the next node.

Upgrade of Each Additional Node

  1. Ensure the node is not in the load balancer and receiving traffic.
  2. Disable the "Issuetrak-HA-Monitor" scheduled tasks on the server being upgraded.
  3. Launch the new version of the IDM included in the latest release.
  4. Go to 'Site Explorer' and scan for sites.
  5. Export the JSON configuration for the site.
  6. Close out of the IDM.
  7. Modify the JSON and set the key DisableAllScheduledTasksAndServices to TRUE.
  8. Re-launch the IDM.
  9. Go to the 'Sites Explorer'.
  10. Do not perform a scan. Instead, upload the JSON file modified in step 7.
  11. Under options, confirm the following:
    1. Selected
      1. Web
      2. Services (optional, only if you intend for this server to be a backup for the services and scheduled tasks)
    2. De-selected
      1. SQL
      2. Backup
  12. Click 'Deploy' to run the upgrade.
  13. If the upgrade does not complete properly, the IDM will attempt a rollback to the previous state to get you back up and running.
    1. When the site comes back up, test functionality and confirm its operations.
    2. You can review the installation log to identify the error and try again. However, we strongly recommend contacting our Support team to walk you through the upgrade process.
  14. If the upgrade completes successfully, re-enable the "Issuetrak-HA-Monitor" scheduled task, add the server back to the load balancer to begin receiving traffic, and move onto the next node.
  15. Repeat these steps for each additional node.
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