What is Navitaire, by Collins Aerospace #

Navitaire, a subsidiary of Collins Aerospace, is a leading provider of technology solutions designed specifically for the airline and travel industry. It offers platforms that streamline reservations, ancillary sales, departure control, and various other operations critical to the travel ecosystem. Its cloud-native architecture supports seamless scalability and rapid innovation, making it a preferred choice for low-cost carriers and hybrid airlines.

Main Features or Modules of Navitaire #

• Reservation Services: Centralized booking system enabling reservations across multiple channels.
• Revenue Accounting: Automated tools for managing and optimizing airline revenue streams.
• Departure Control: Comprehensive passenger check-in and boarding processes.
• Ancillary Management: Tools for upselling additional services like baggage, seat upgrades, and meals.
• Analytics and Reporting: Advanced insights to improve operational efficiency and customer experience.

Different Services Provided by Navitaire and Their Interaction in a Deployment Environment #

Navitaire’s services are modular yet interconnected, allowing airlines to deploy only the services they need while ensuring seamless integration. The key components include:

• New Skies: Reservation and retailing platform designed to manage bookings and enhance customer experience.
• SkyLedger: Revenue accounting platform that interacts directly with New Skies to provide real-time financial data.
• GoNow: Departure control solution for efficient passenger processing.

In a deployment environment, these services communicate via APIs and shared databases, ensuring data consistency across the system.

How to Configure Load Balancing for Navitaire #

To ensure high availability and optimal performance for Navitaire applications, load balancing is essential. Below are steps to configure it using RELIANOID:

1. Deploy RELIANOID: Install the RELIANOID appliance in your network environment.
2. Define Virtual Address:
   • Log into the RELIANOID management interface.
   • Navigate to Network > Virtual Interfaces.
   • Create a new virtual IP for the Navitaire service.
3. Configure LSLB Farm:
   • Go to LSLB > Farms.
   • Add a farm service with the Navitaire applications with HTTP or HTTPS listener.
4. Add service and pool servers:
   • In the Service section, create a new Service for the Navitaire application, ex. newSky.
   • Configure Session persistence by IP address.
   • Set up health checks using protocols like HTTP or TCP to monitor server availability in the FarmGuardian section.
   • Then, add the backends servers that delivers the real application.
5. Test the Configuration: Use the browser to connect via the load balancer to deliver the Navitaire application and ensure traffic is properly distributed.

How to Configure High Availability for Navitaire #

High availability minimizes downtime for critical Navitaire services. Configure RELIANOID for high availability as follows:

1. Enable Clustering:
   • Set up two or more RELIANOID appliances in active-active or active-passive mode.
   • Go to System > Cluster and create the cluster service to enable synchronization between nodes.
2. Test Failover: Simulate a node failure and verify that traffic is seamlessly redirected to the standby appliance.

How to Improve Security for Navitaire #

To protect Navitaire services from cyber threats, enhance security using RELIANOID:

1. Enable Web Application Firewall (WAF):
   • Go to IPDS > WAF and activate rules tailored to the Navitaire farm service.
   • Upload custom rules to block specific threats or patterns.
2. Set Up SSL/TLS Termination:
   • Import Navitaire’s SSL certificates into RELIANOID.
   • Enable HTTPS listener on the farms to encrypt client connections.
3. Implement DoS Protection:
   • Activate DoS protection under IPDS > DoS.
   • Define thresholds to block excessive traffic from malicious sources.

Conclusions about Consolidating Navitaire with RELIANOID #

The integration of Navitaire services with RELIANOID enhances performance, availability, and security. By leveraging RELIANOID’s advanced load balancing, high availability, and security features, airlines can ensure seamless operations while safeguarding critical systems. This consolidation not only simplifies management but also provides a robust platform to support future scalability and innovation.