I think the subject is pretty self-explanatory, but we have a partner server in our DMZ listening to a specific port. Unfortunately, for load-balancing requirements, we would like to have the process not just listen to a port, but a specific ip and port combination. Can this be done? In the interface, I only see where I can set up the listener for a port. Thanks for any help you guys may have.

My apologies but I’m confused by the question. Listeners (IS or otherwise) don’t normally indicate what IP they are to listen on. They simply listen to a port on the server they are on. The IP is associated with the server. Can you clarify?

I think Rob is right. In any network service, there is no way the server can just listen on a specific IP address. However, what server can do is listen on a specific port and then filter or restrict the access from a predefined IP. To restrict the IP access, please check your IS administration guide “controlling IP access”. cheers

Have a look at the watt.server.inetaddress extended setting. This should allow you to force your IS to only bind to a specific IP address.

James…

Damon,

I’m inclined to agree with everyone here that what you’re requesting seems a little weird. Since you’ve mentioned that you’re trying to load-balance, am I correct in guessing that you’re trying to do that without a real load-balancer?

Since your partner server is sitting in DMZ, by definition, it is protected by two firewalls. So the port filtering is going to be done by the firewalls anyway. For example, you want to listen on 172.16.1.1:5555 (for internal) and 123.123.12.1:80 (for external), then your external FW would allow in 123.123.12.1 @ port 80, and internal FW would allow out (from internal LAN) 172.16.1.1 @ port 5555. The issue becomes moot, since you want your FW to protect your server, right?

Damon,

There is a setting available on each port you set up called “bind addresss”. Set this value to the IP you want the port to listen on. You can also use the value James mentions, it is the default IP if you don’t set it otherwise.

– Tim

James and Tim have rightly pointed out that you can bind to a specific IP address for the case where the server hosting IS has more than one IP assigned to it (multiple NICs, multi-IP capable NIC, etc.). But this doesn’t seem to apply to a load-balancing situation that Damon was asking about. Can you clarify Damon?