Implementing AhsayRDR

Overview

For Ahsay licensees with multiple OBS servers, customer growth means that occasionally customers must be migrated between OBS servers. If AhsayRDR is not in use, this necessitates modifying the customer's backup client configuration. This constrains the Ahsay licensee from migrating customers at will.

AhsayRDR provides a redirection service; all AhsayOBM/AhsayACB clients connect first to the AhsayRDR server, which then redirects the client directly to the relevant backup server.

Implementing AhsayRDR

Avoiding making any changes to client configuration

If your clients connect via hostname to the AhsayOBS server, the simplest approach to implement AhsayRDR is to point all hostnames to the AhsayRDR server, and change the AhsayOBS servers to use new hostnames. If you are using AhsayOBS Subadmins, then this also necessitates also modifying the DNS records for all Subadmin hostnames.

Normally, recent versions of AhsayOBS do not allow direct client connections unless the hostname is known to the server. As a result, implementing the above will cause backup connections to fail. However, this can be resolved by simply creating a blank subadmin attached to the original URL. This causes AhsayOBS to allow the client backup connection, despite the hostname not matching.

If your clients connect via IP address to the AhsayOBS server, the simplest approach to implement AhsayRDR is to move AhsayOBS to a different port, and redirect the standard port 80/443 to your AhsayRDR server, using either your firewall, AhsayPRD, or an nginx proxy_pass rule.

Automatically making changes to client configuration

It may be possible to remotely deploy and run MyClient SetHost to automatically change the configured backup server for all relevant accounts. If you have an existing remote administration tool in place, this would be suitable; otherwise, commands can be run in bulk via careful application of pre/post-commands or AUA scripts.

For more information about this option, please see MyClient SetHost ».

Alternatives to AhsayRDR

AhsayPRD

AhsayPRD is a free alternative to AhsayRDR that instead of redirecting the client, tunnels all communication through to the backup server. This configuration can be useful if you only want to maintain one public-facing server, while still maintaining the ability to migrate customers at will.

By coupling AhsayPRD with the IP-based workaround above, it is possible to maintain existing hostname configurations.

DNS-level redirection

It's possible to use DNS-level redirection by automatically creating a subdomain for each individual AhsayOBM/ACB customer. By hosting your own DNS server or by integrating with your DNS provider's API, this can be a simple solution that allows easy migration with distributed points of failure.

However, implementing this would be difficult for licensees with existing AhsayOBM/ACB customers.

Custom Solution

If you have certain specific problems with the AhsayRDR software, please contact support to discuss additional alternative options.