Hi @shivanandbm,
as @richgalloway said, the number of Heavy forwarder is relevant only for performaces, how many final Forwarders have to send teir logs to the intermediate Forwarders?
Usually are used two Intermediate Forwarders (and they could be heavy or also Universal Forwarders) and if there's a queue issue on one of them it's better to give more resources than add a new one, but anyway, using six Intermediate Forwarders should be mandatory only having hundreds of thousands of other Forwarders!
The only situation to use six Intermediate Forwarders is that you have three segregated networks and you have to put two of them in each of these networks.
Anyway, about configuration, you have to create an App, called e.g. TA_Forwarders, where there are only three files:
- app.conf, contaning inormation about the app,
- deploymentclient.conf containing the address of the Deployment Server,
- outputs.conf, addressing the Intermediate heavy Forwarders,
and then deploy this app to all the final Forwarders that have to send their logs to the Indexers passing through the Intermediate HF.
Then you have to create another app, called e.g. TA_HF, containing the same files, but addressing the Indexers and then deploy to the Heavy Forwarders.
The correct question is: how to manage all these Forwarders (final and Intermediate)?
You have two solutions:
- use one Deployment Server reachable by all the Forwarders (Final and Intermediate), it's the easiest solution but requires to open a connection between all the Forwarders (Intermediate and final) and the Deployment Server,
- use a primary Deployment Server to manage the Heavy Forwarders and all the other Forwarders directly connected to Indexers and use one of the Heavy Forwarders od each segregated network as a secondary Deployment Server that manages the Forwarders of its network.
The second solution is just a little more complicated but prefereable.
I hope to have answered to your question and not enlarged you confusion!
Ciao.
Giuseppe
