The Application Center user interface provides access to the product feature set via a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, the Web browser, and the Microsoft Windows command prompt. (For more detailed information about the MMC, see "MMC version 1.2" later in this chapter.) The MMC provides full access to the product feature set, but access to cluster administration and monitoring tasks is also possible—although to a lesser extent—by using Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Application Center command-line tool. Table 3.1 compares these three interfaces.
Several administrative tasks can be accomplished via parameterized commands that are executed from the Windows command prompt. These commands, which are described in detail in Chapter 11, "Working with the Command Line Tool and Scripts," provide a robust command subset that supports both remote and automated cluster administration.
Table 3.1 A Comparison of the Application Center User Interfaces
Task | MMC snap-in | Web browser | Command-line tool |
---|---|---|---|
Create a cluster | Yes | No | No |
Add/remove server | Yes | No | Yes |
Restart a server | Yes | No | No |
Reset Web services | Yes | No | No |
Connect to server (controller or member) | Yes | No | No |
Change the cluster controller | Yes | No | Yes |
Set offline/online | Yes | No | Yes |
Set server drain time | Yes | No | Yes |
Change load balancing options | Yes | No | No |
Edit cluster IP addresses | Yes | Yes | No |
Specify load balancing address | Yes | No | Yes |
Change load balancing weight | Yes | No | Yes |
Change component services routing | Yes | No | Yes |
Change request forwarding options | Yes | No | No |
Synchronize the cluster | Yes | No | Yes |
Change synchronization options | Yes | No | No |
Disable server synchronization | Yes | No | Yes |
Applications (view, create, edit, delete, rename, and synchronize) | Yes | No | View applications on controller |
Deploy applications | Yes | No | Yes |
Add/remove performance counters | Yes | Yes | No |
View events | Yes | Yes | No |
Edit event properties | Yes | No | No |
Monitoring (edit, enable, disable) | No | Yes | No |
As you can see, each interface has its merits. The command-line tool, for example, is particularly useful for automating cluster tasks through the use of scripting—a topic that is covered extensively in Chapter 11.