NextGen Knowledge Center

Set Up Clustering Using the Appliance Control Panel

Before you begin

Setting up clustering provides a highly-available network endpoint for message processing backed by a single, highly-available database.

  • Before starting to set up clustering, you need to set up replication and automatic failover for the appliances that are to be part of the cluster. See the Replicate the Database and Set Up Automatic Failover for details on how to do this.
  • Take a snapshot of each VM before proceeding.
  • You need an unused IP address to assign as the Mirth® Connect Virtual IP (VIP) address:
    • This VIP must be different from and is in addition to the database VIP.
    • You should ensure it's not already in use on your network, for example, by using the ping command and verifying you receive no responses.
    • This VIP must be in the same IP network as the appliance.
    • Contact your network administrator or NextGen Healthcare Support if you have any questions.
  1. Set mirthdb's password and IP access list on the primary node.
    1. Go to Services > Postgres > Database Management.
    2. Select mirthdb to go to the Edit Database window for mirthdb.
    3. Choose a password and enter it in the New Password and Retype Password fields.
      You need this information in a later step.
    4. Select Enable External Access.
    5. In the Restrict connections to IP Address(es) box, provide the following three IP addresses (all are required):
      • IP of Appliance 1
      • IP of Appliance 2
      • Your database VIP
    6. Select Update.
  2. Set mirthdb's IP access list on the standby node.
    1. Go to Services > Postgres > Database Management.
    2. Select mirthdb to go to the Edit Database window for mirthdb.
      You do not need to set the password on this database. It has already been replicated from the primary node and, because this database is read-only, any attempt to set it fails automatically.
    3. Check Enable External Access.
    4. In the Restrict connections to IP Address(es) box, provide the following three IP addresses (all are required):
      • IP of Appliance 1
      • IP of Appliance 2
      • Your database VIP
    5. Select Update.
  3. Enable Mirth® Connect clustering on both the primary and the standby nodes.
    1. Go to Applications > Mirth Connect > Manage > Clustering > Configuration.
      Clustering menu
    2. Enter a VIP address for the cluster.
    3. If you are using an active-active cluster configuration, select the Active/Active? box, and then enter the IP addresses of the participants in the cluster.
      Mirth Connect Clustering window

  4. Configure the Mirth® Connect database URL to point to the database VIP address on both the primary and the standby nodes.
    1. Go to Applications > Mirth Connect > Manage > Mirth Connect Settings.
    2. In Database URL, enter the database VIP address.
    3. In Database Password, provide the mirthdb password you set earlier.
      Mirth Connect Settings window

  5. Start Mirth® Connect on both the primary and the standby nodes.
    1. Go to Applications > Applications Control.
      Application Control menu

    2. To restart Mirth® Connect, select Start.
      Applications Control window