Multihomed hosts and virtual web hosts

Some of our hosts acting as web servers have two ethernet interfaces. One
interface is connected to a public network (through a load balancing switch)
and the other interface is connected to a private network for access to
database and file servers.

None of the Sidai host and network configurations support multiple IP
addresses per host. Instead, the code is sprinkled with error messages like
this:

  raise ark.error.GeneralPanic, 'Can only have one IP address at the moment
:-('

Has anyone turned those frowns into smiles?

Our web servers have multiple IP addresses on the public side to support
virtual web hosts. The Sidai Apache configuration appears to support a
single host. Since a virtual host, www.abc.com, could be hosted on multiple
load-balanced computers (and influence their network and Apache
configurations), I am exploring the idea of defining an XML file for each
virtual host (either in the hosts directory or a new virtual-hosts
directory).  This XML file could describe the virtual host's Apache
configuration, its IP address(es), etc.

I would appreciated hearing from anyone who has tried something similar.

--

Joel Shprentz
National Imagery and Mapping Agency
Mailstop N-17
Washington Navy Yard, Building 213
1200 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20303-0001

202-685-3534




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