Master-Slave Configuration

Bitdefender Management Server provides great scalability through its master-slave architecture. You can set up a master instance of management server to manage a number of slave instances. The master-slave architecture can be used both to extend the management server capabilities in very large computer networks and to centrally manage Bitdefender Management Server instances in different physical locations.

This article is providing information about the master-slave architecture of Bitdefender Management Server and the differences between the single (stand-alone), slave and master instances of the management server.

1. Master-Slave Configuration Overview

• In a master-slave architecture, a specific instance of Bitdefender Management Server (the master server) manages other instances of Bitdefender Management Server (the slave servers). The stand-alone and slave instances are almost identical in functionality and user interface.
• A slave server acts as a single (stand-alone) instance of Bitdefender Management Server, managing network computers. Furthermore, the slave server receives policies and tasks from its master server. An extra-column added to the policies and tasks tables indicates the owner of a policy or task.
• The master server does not have its own managed computers, but it indirectly manages those of its slave servers by assigning policies and tasks to them. Another purpose of the master server is to provide you with information on the network security status, by centralizing data from all managed servers. In this way, you can get centralized results from all the clients of the slave servers in a single report.

2. Feature Availability in Master Servers

The functionality and user interface of the master server is similar to an extent to that of stand-alone and slave servers. Some features however are not available on master servers:

• The Management Dashboard;
• Network Audit;
• Scheduled Reports;
• Unavailable Tools: Registration, Network Builder, Automatic Deployment,  Deployment Tool, View Deployment Status, E-mail Settings;

3. Registering a Stand-Alone Server to a Master Server

If you want to convert a single (stand-alone) instance of Bitdefender Management Server to a slave instance, managed by a master, please follow these steps:

         a)  Connect to the Bitdefender Management Server instance using the management console.
         b)  Right-click the instance name in the tree menu and select Register to Master server. A new window will appear.

 

         c)  Enter the IP address or name of the master server and the server communication port. The default port is 7073.

 

         d)  Click OK.

4. Unregistering from Master Server

If you want a slave server not to be managed by its master anymore, right-click its name in the tree menu and select Unregister from Master server.

 

5. Master Servers Management Console Menu

In the left pane tree menu there are 2 view modes available:

• Network View (default);
• Virtual View;

These views can be changed by right-clicking the server name and select "Switch to Network View" / "Switch to Virtual View".

 

When you switch from one view mode to another the entire tree menu will change depending on the chosen viewing mode.

6. Replication Process

The Master - Slave replication process is a synchronization transaction between the slave and master instances. During the replication process the information in the master database is refreshed with the information from the slave instances database. The default time interval for the replication process is 1800 seconds. When you have multiple slave instances in you network we advise you to modify this interval to 3600 seconds or 7200 seconds. This option can be changed from the configuration file of Bitdefender Management Server. To modify this replication interval please follow the next steps:

         a)  Go to the Start menu and open the Run window;
         b)  In the Run window execute services.msc . The Services console is now opened;
         c)  In the services console find and stop the "Bitdefender Management Server" service.
         d)  Now navigate to the below path and edit the server.xml configuration file:

- for Windows 2000 / 2003 Server or Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\All users\Application Data\Bitdefender\Enterprise 3\Server

- For Windows 2008 Server or Windows Vista / 7:
C:\ProgramData\Bitdefender\Enterprise 3\Server

In the server.xml configuration file the tag for this setting is :

"1800"


7. License Management

License management is done by the slave servers. You do not need to enter a license key on the master server. All you have to do is to register each slave server with a license key that allows it to manage a specific number of Bitdefender client products.

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