Farm configuration

When the IPF Control Service is installed, these components are automatically created in the Farm Manager:
  • A single server, which is the IPF Control Service server specified during installation.
  • A single farm, named Default, which contains the specified server.
  • A single IPF instance. The farm is set to this IPF instance by default and is used for all portals created in the farm unless it is overridden.
  • A host name that matches the specified server.
  • The installed IPF version and the IPF, IPF Dev Tools, and portal content versions.
    Note: If you are installing from an IPF patch build, the portal content version is not automatically included. You must import the latest portal content after farm configuration. This is described in the farm configuration steps.

Farm configuration includes these tasks:

  • Register load balancers in IPF. This is optional in some environments.
  • Add farms. This is optional in some environments.
  • Add servers. This is optional in some environments.
  • Import digital certificates.
  • Register host names in IPF.
  • Import the portal content patch build, if needed.
  • Create data sources in the Farm Manager.
  • Create a portal in the Farm Manager.

On-premises single server (and test or development portals)

For configuration in an on-premises, single-server environment, you must complete the tasks shown in this table. For a test or development portal, you can skip the first two tasks.
✔ Task
❑ Import digital certificates.
❑ Register host names in IPF and apply digital certificates.
❑ Create data sources.
❑ Create a portal.
❑ Configure the portal.

On-premises server farm

For configuration in an on-premises, multi-server farm environment, you must complete the tasks shown in this table:
✔ Task
❑ Register the load balancer in IPF.
❑ Add servers to the farm.
❑ Import digital certificates.
❑ Register host names in IPF and apply digital certificates.
❑ Create data sources.
❑ Create a portal.
❑ Configure the portal.

On-premises server farm with reverse proxy

This environment requires the same tasks as the on-premises server farm, with these additional requirements:

  • If you use reverse proxy with SSL offloading, perform these tasks:
    • When you register your host name in IPF, select Uses SSL Offloading on the Host Names tab in the Farm Manager.
    • Configure your SSL offloading tool to add the following header when an offloaded request is forwarded on to HTTP (port 80): X-Forwarded-Proto: https.
  • If you use custom reverse proxy with URL rewrite, perform these tasks:
    • Your proxy must rewrite URLs as required by IPF.

      See Understanding portal URL handling for custom reverse proxy.

    • When you register a load balancer in IPF, specify the Rewrite ID Host Name on the Load Balancers tab in the Farm Manager. This is the internal host name that comes from your URL rewrite tool and that load balances across your reverse proxy.

      The system uses this host name to generate bindings to apply in IIS for internal processing. The host name is automatically set to use http and start with port 14300; for example, http://<hostname>:14300/. Ports 14301 through 14400 are also reserved and assigned incrementally to each IPF instance in the farm to which you assign this load balancer. You can see the rewrite binding information for a selected instance on the IPF Instances tab.

      This host name is configured with sticky sessions.

      If you change the Rewrite ID Host Name field on the Load Balancers tab, a farm job is created to remove old bindings and add new bindings to each IPF instance.

      To remove the rewrite ID host name, no host names for the farm can be set to Uses Rewrite on the Host Names tab.

    • After you register the host name used for portals, the Uses Rewrite option on the Host Names tab in the Farm Manager is set by default.
  • If you use standard reverse proxy provided with IPF, you do not need to maintain URL rewrite settings. When you register a load balancer in IPF, specify the Rewrite ID Host Name on the Load Balancers tab in the Farm Manager. This is the internal host name that the load balancer balances on.

    The system uses this host name to generate bindings to apply in IIS for internal processing. The host name is automatically set to use http and start with port 14300; for example, http://<hostname>:14300/. Ports 14301 through 14400 are also reserved and assigned incrementally to each IPF instance in the farm to which you assign this load balancer. You can see the rewrite binding information for a selected instance on the IPF Instances tab.

    This host name is configured with sticky sessions.

    If you change the Rewrite ID Host Name field on the Load Balancers tab, a farm job is created to remove old bindings and add new bindings to each IPF instance.

    To remove the rewrite ID host name, no host names for the farm can be set to Uses Rewrite on the Host Names tab.