The system installation network is logically divided into the BackNet, FrontNet, and BackupNet networks. BackNet is not accessible from the Internet and is intended for communication between system components. FrontNet is accessible from the Internet and is intended for access to services by users. BackupNet is not accessible from the Internet and is intended for performing the backup and restoration operations.
The major system components are the CloudBlue Commerce management node and CloudBlue Commerce Agents. The management node manages the whole system by using CloudBlue Commerce Agents on nodes. A typical examples of services provided are the HTTP/FTP/mail services, which are used by the end users.
The system installation includes the two types of nodes. The nodes of the first type play the roles of back-ends: they host system components and services’ databases. These nodes are connected to the BackNet. The nodes of the second type play the front-end roles: they host system components, web-based interfaces, and services used by users. These nodes are connected to the FrontNet and the BackNet. Typically, a CloudBlue Commerce Agent is installed on every back-end or front-end node, but exceptions exist.
There are two cases of BackNet and FrontNet configuration in terms of physical and IP networks:
-
FrontNet and BackNet networks are different physical networks where each is assigned its own range of IP addresses.
The back-end node is attached to the BackNet physical network, and has the BackNet Network Interface Card (NIC) with an IP address from the BackNet IP address range. A typical example of a back-end node is the management node, which communicates with CloudBlue Commerce Agents on nodes via the BackNet.
The front-end node is attached to the BackNet and FrontNet physical networks. The BackNet NIC is attached to the BackNet physical network, and the FrontNet NIC is attached to the FrontNet physical network. On the BackNet NIC, an IP address from the BackNet IP address range is configured, on the FrontNet NIC, an IP address from the FrontNet IP address range is configured. The BackNet IP address is used by the CloudBlue Commerce Agent. The FrontNet IP address is used by the services installed on the front-end node. A typical example of a front-end node is a web server node, which hosts a CloudBlue Commerce Agent and HTTP and FTP services. The management node manages the web server node by using a CloudBlue Commerce Agent via the BackNet. HTTP and FTP services are accessible by users via the FrontNet.
-
FrontNet and BackNet networks represent a single physical network.
One or several ranges of IP addresses may be used. We recommend that you use two different ranges of IP addresses to separate BackNet and FrontNet IP address space.
Every back-end or front-end node has a NIC with BackNet and FrontNet IP addresses configured. The BackNet IP address is used by CloudBlue Commerce Agent to communicate with the management node; the FrontNet IP address is used by the services installed on the node. The services bound to the FrontNet IP address are accessible from the Internet.
BackupNet, as it was mentioned above, is a network intended for performing backup and restoration operations. Typical examples of data that should be backed up regularly are the system database, the content of user webspaces, and databases of services. There are two cases of BackupNet configuration in terms of physical and IP networks:
- BackupNet is a separate physical network with its own range of IP addresses. Every back-end node, which hosts system components that should be backed up on a regular basis, has an additional NIC. This NIC is attached to the BackupNet physical network and has an IP address from the BackupNet IP addresses range configured.
- BackupNet and BackNet represent a single physical network. In such a case, BackNet is used to perform backup and restoration operations.
We strongly recommend that you configure BackupNet as a separate physical network with its own range of IP addresses. Such a configuration allows separating bulk backup traffic from the traffic generated by the system components.