Roles of the Management and Replication servers

The management server creates configurations, identifies servers, and creates and issues job instructions.

One management server will control all of your servers and jobs on the entire planet.  Running more that one management server in the same FRP replication group will cause failures and problems.

The management server has no role in replication, it is a tool to define jobs.  The system is designed so that once servers are identified and jobs created the instructions are distributed to the replication only servers.  Each server has an identical copy of the instructions.  No matter if the management server is online or off line or if other servers are down, any two servers with a common job will continue to replicate according to their job instructions until given different instructions.

The management server can be collocated with a replication server or it can be installed stand alone on another computer or desktop.  The management server does not require a license.  Only replication nodes are licensed.

Further points

1. The management server (FRPMgmt and FRPHelp services) serve the purpose to provide a GUI interface to create, edit and manage jobs. Also for limited online status / reporting.  The management server has NO role in replication and can be offline 100% of the time that you do not require those services.

2. The Replication servers (FRPRep service) all have a complete copy of the jobs configuration sent to them by the management server.  The replication servers run their jobs according to that onboard copy of the configuration.  No replication data flows through the management services, replication is point to point between servers running the FRPRep service.

3. If the management sever is online the replication servers will send status and reports to the management server.  All replication servers keep a complete set of logs in the local logs folder of it's side of the replication conversations and activity with other servers.  This is why when troubleshooting we need logs from both machines involved in a job.

More that one Management Server?

Read VERY carefully before even considering more than one management server.

Management Server Requirements

In 99.9% of all installations of FRP no matter how many servers are involved there is no need for more than one management server.  We have numerous clients running over 100 servers from one management server to contol all their servers around the planet and or locally.  Incorrectly installing more than one management server is a sure ticket to a corrupted installation and a lot of hard work to restore it to operation.  Think very hard about why it is impossible to operate with only one management server before attempting to use more than one management server.


1. 2 or more Management servers cannot exist on the same subnet or VPN, operating on the same ports (IE:9100 and 9200)
2. No job can be made up of 2 servers that belong to different management servers.
3. The same server cannot be added to the server list of more than ONE management servers or groups.
4. If there is more than one management server or group on the same subnet or VPN each management server group must have it's own set of ports, and each can only have specific replication servers with the same ports assigned to it.  There can be no mixing of servers between groups.
5. A replication server MUST NOT be added to the server list of more than one management server.

Violation of any of the above conditions will absolutely cause problems, and probably corrupt the configuration of all replication servers and management servers that are involved.

Definitions:
 

Changing the Management (Console) Port (Default 9100)
http://fb.filereplicationpro.com/default.asp?W53

Changing the Replication Server Port (Default 9200)
http://fb.filereplicationpro.com/default.asp?W36