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Manual Chapter : Configuring the Link Controller System to Manage Traffic

Applies To:

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BIG-IP Link Controller

  • 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0, 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0, 11.6.5, 11.6.4
Manual Chapter

Configuring the Link Controller System to Manage Traffic

Overview: Configuring the Link Controller system to manage traffic

This functionality is not currently available in the U.S.
The BIG-IP®Link Controller™ provides a variety of methods for managing the traffic flowing in and out of a network. In order to integrate Link Controller into your network to manage traffic, you must complete a specific set of tasks for the capabilities of Link Controller to be available to you.
The following illustration shows a network for configuring the Link Controller system to manage Internet traffic on two connections using two different Internet service providers (ISPs).
Example of a network for configuring a Link Controller system to manage traffic

About the initial setup of Link Controller

Before you configure Link Controller™ on a BIG-IP® device, make sure you complete the following:
  • Install the BIG-IP hardware with an initial network configuration applied.
  • Provision Link Controller at the level Nominal or Dedicated.
  • Configure the management IP address, network mask, and management route on the BIG-IP system.
  • Designate the host name of the system as a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
  • Define the user name and password on the system that you will use when logging in to the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
  • License the appropriate BIG-IP software.

Task summary for integrating Link Controller in a network

This functionality is not currently available in the U.S.
Use the tasks in this implementation to integrate BIG-IP®Link Controller™ into your network. After completed, you can configure a variety of methods for managing the traffic flowing in and out of a network, including cost-based and bandwidth load balancing.

Task list

Creating VLANs for communication between the network and links

Before you begin creating VLANs, ensure that you have completed the initial setup of the Link Controller system.
Create VLANs to encompass the IP addresses associated with Link Controller and the other network components that help manage DNS traffic.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Network
    VLANs
    .
    The VLAN List screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New VLAN screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type the name of the first VLAN.
  4. In the
    Tag
     field, type a numeric tag, between 1-4094, for the VLAN, or leave the field blank if you want the BIG-IP system to automatically assign a VLAN tag.
    The VLAN tag identifies the traffic from hosts in the associated VLAN.
  5. If you want to use Q-in-Q (double) tagging, use the
    Customer Tag
     setting to perform the following two steps. If you do not see the
    Customer Tag
     setting, your hardware platform does not support Q-in-Q tagging and you can skip this step.
    1. From the
      Customer Tag
       list, select
      Specify
      .
    2. Type a numeric tag, from 1-4094, for the VLAN.
    The customer tag specifies the inner tag of any frame passing through the VLAN.
  6. For the
    Interfaces
     setting:
    1. From the
      Interface
       list, select an interface number.
    2. From the
      Tagging
       list, select
      Tagged
       or
      Untagged
      .
      Select
      Tagged
       when you want traffic for that interface to be tagged with a VLAN ID.
    3. If you specified a numeric value for the
      Customer Tag
       setting and from the
      Tagging
       list you selected
      Tagged
      , then from the
      Tag Mode
       list, select a value.
    4. Click
      Add
      .
  7. Click
    Finished
    .
  8. Repeat these steps to create two additional VLANs.

Creating a default gateway pool

Gather the IP addresses associated with each link.
Create a default gateway pool to load balance the outbound traffic across the links.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Pools
    .
    The Pools list screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New Pool screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the pool.
    Names must begin with a letter, and can contain only letters, numbers, and the underscore (_) character.
    The pool name is limited to 63 characters.
  4. In the New Members area, add the IP addresses associated with each link.
    1. In the
      Address
       field, type the IP address.
    2. Click
      Add
      .
  5. Click
    Finished
    .

Creating a default route to the internet

Configure Link Controller to use the pool as the default gateway connection between the internal network and the internet.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Network
    Routes
    .
  2. Click
    Add
    .
    The New Route screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique name.
  4. From the
    Resource
     list, select
    Use Pool
    .
  5. From the
    Pool
     list, select
    default_gateway_pool
    .
  6. Click
    Finished
    .

Creating links to define the physical connections to the Internet

Gather the IP addresses of the routers associated with the ISPs and IP addresses, which correspond with the external Internet connections.
Create links using the IP addresses of routers on the network that provide a path to the Internet.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Link Controller
    Links
    .
    The Links List screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the link that represents one of the ISPs.
  4. In the
    Router Address
     field, type the IP address of the router associated with the ISP.
  5. In the
    Uplink Address
     field, type the IP address that corresponds with the external Internet connection.
  6. In the
    Service Provider
     field, type the name of the ISP.
  7. For the
    Health Monitors
     setting, from the
    Available
     list, select
    bigip_link
     and
    gateway_icmp
     and move the monitors to the
    Enabled
     list.
  8. Click
    Create
    .
  9. Repeat these steps to create the second service provider link.

Creating listeners to detect traffic coming from ISPs

Gather the self IP addresses on which Link Controller listens for traffic.
Create two listeners for detecting DNS traffic.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Link Controller
    Listeners
    .
    The Listeners List screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The Listeners properties screen opens.
  3. In the
    Destination
     field, type the self IP address on which the Link Controller listens for traffic.
  4. From the
    Protocol
     drop-down list, select either
    UDP
     or
    TCP
    .
    The listener uses the UDP or TCP protocol to listen for connections on the enabled VLANs. The default is UDP. Zone transfers require the TCP protocol.
  5. Click
    Finished
    .
  6. Repeat these steps to create the second listener.

Creating a load balancing pool

Create a load balancing pool to process the inbound traffic from the Internet.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Pools
    .
    The Pools list screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New Pool screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the pool.
    Names must begin with a letter, and can contain only letters, numbers, and the underscore (_) character.
    The pool name is limited to 63 characters.
  4. For the
    Health Monitors
     setting, from the
    Available
     list, select the
    http
     monitor and move the monitor to the
    Active
     list.
  5. Click
    Finished
    .

Creating virtual servers to load balance connections across servers

Gather the IP addresses you want to use for creating the virtual servers.
Create two virtual servers, one for each link, to load balance inbound connections across the servers on the network.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Virtual Servers
    .
    The Virtual Server List screen opens.
  2. Click the
    Create
     button.
    The New Virtual Server screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique name for the virtual server.
  4. In the
    Destination Address/Mask
     field, type the IP address you want to use for the virtual server.
  5. In the
    Service Port
     field, type
    80
    , or select
    HTTP
     from the list.
  6. Click
    Finished
    .
  7. Repeat these steps to create the second virtual server.

Creating a wildcard virtual server

Create a wildcard server to load balance outbound connections across the routers.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Virtual Servers
    .
    The Virtual Server List screen opens.
  2. Click the
    Create
     button.
    The New Virtual Server screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a unique name for the virtual server.
  4. For the
    Destination
     setting, select
    Network
    , and type
    0.0.0.0
     in the
    Address
     field and
    0.0.0.0
     in the
    Mask
     field.
  5. In the
    Service Port
     field, type
    0
    .
    Port
    0
     defines a wildcard virtual server that handles all types of services. If you specify a port number, you create a port-specific wildcard virtual server. In that case, the wildcard virtual server handles traffic only for the specified port.
  6. In the Resources area, from the
    Default Pool
     list, select
    default_gateway_pool
    .
  7. Click
    Finished
    .

Creating a wide IP that encompasses virtual servers

Gather the IP addresses of the two virtual servers that you created previously.
Create a wide IP that encompasses the virtual servers.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Link Controller
    Inbound Wide IPs
    .
    The Wide IP List screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New Wide IP screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the wide IP.
  4. From the
    Type
     list, select a record type for the wide IP.
  5. From the
    Load Balancing Method
     list, make selections from the
    Preferred
    ,
    Alternate
    , and
    Fallback
     lists.
  6. For the
    Member List
     field, add the virtual servers that you created previously.
    1. From the
      Virtual Server
       list, select a virtual server.
    2. Click
      Add
      .
  7. Click
    Finished
    .

Implementation result for Link Controller network integration

Now Link Controller is configured to manage the DNS traffic in and out of a network.
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