Installation guide

switching options. This section summarizes some possibilities for highly available
Web proxy deployments.
Using explicit proxy
As previously mentioned for the explicit proxy deployment, clients are specifically
configured to send requests directly to a proxy. The configuration can be
accomplished manually, or via a PAC file or a WPAD server.
An explicit proxy deployment for high availability can benefit from the use of virtual
IP failover. IP addresses may be assigned dynamically in a proxy cluster, so that one
proxy can assume traffic-handling capabilities when another proxy fails. Websense
Content Gateway maintains a pool of virtual IP addresses that it distributes across the
nodes of a cluster. If Content Gateway detects a hard node failure (such as a power
supply or CPU failure), it reassigns IP addresses of the failed node to the operational
nodes.
Active/Standby
In the simple case of an active/standby configuration with 2 proxies, a single virtual IP
address is assigned to the virtual IP address “pool.” The virtual IP address is assigned
to one proxy, which handles the network traffic that is explicitly routed to it. A second
proxy, the standby, assumes the virtual IP address and handles network traffic only if
the first proxy fails.
This deployment assumes the proxy machines are clustered in the same subnet, and
management clustering is configured (that is, both proxies have the same
configuration). The following figure illustrates this deployment: