TCP socket configuration for SP

[Cantor, Scott]

On 7/27/12 5:15 PM, "Christopher Bongaarts" <cab at umn.edu> wrote:

>Does mod_shib use the TCPListener configuration to decide where to
>connect?  (I think this is a "yes")

Yes, assuming it's present. Non-Windows doesn't use TCP by default.

>If so, is it possible to configure shibd differently than the Apache
>module on the same machine such that the Apache module is connecting to
>a shibd on a different box, but shibd continues to run locally?

Well, you can have different configuration files for each, but that's not
typical and requires command line options or environment overrides. I
think the address setting on the server side affects the bind call, so I
don't think you can have it set to a remote address for the client half
without breaking the other half. Not sure.

>The idea is to have a "warm spare" shibd ready to kick into action
>should the primary one fail, with only configuration change and Apache
>restart needed to effect the failover.

I'm not sure what that accomplishes vs. just restarting the service.
Either way it's a disruption since there's no state preserved. Are you
seeing crashes? To be honest, that would make the software useless. It has
to be bulletproof or it's a pretty big pain.

-- Scott