Configuring a Simple Intranet

Overview: A simple intranet configuration

The simple intranet implementation is commonly found in a corporate intranet (see the following illustration). In this implementation, the BIG-IP system performs load balancing for several different types of connection requests:

• HTTP connections to the company’s intranet web site. The BIG-IP system load balances the two web servers that host the corporate intranet web site, Corporate.main.net.
• HTTP connections to Internet content. These are handled through a pair of cache servers that are also load balanced by the BIG-IP system.
• Non-HTTP connections to the Internet.

As the illustration shows, the non-intranet connections are handled by wildcard virtual servers; that is, servers with the IP address 0.0.0.0. The wildcard virtual server that is handling traffic to the cache servers is port specific, specifying port 80 for HTTP requests. As a result, all HTTP requests not matching an IP address on the intranet are directed to the cache server. The wildcard virtual server handling non-HTTP requests is a default wildcard server. A default wildcard virtual server is one that uses only port 0. This makes it a catch-all match for outgoing traffic that does not match any standard virtual server or any port-specific wildcard virtual server.

Creating a pool

You can create pool of servers that you group together to receive and process traffic, to enable the BIG-IP system to efficiently distribute the load on servers.

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Pools.

   The Pool List screen opens.

2. Click Create.

   The New Pool screen opens.

3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the pool.

4. In the Resources area of the screen, use the New Members setting to add the pool members.

   For example, the pool members for http_pool are 192.168.100.10:80 and 192.168.100.11:80. The pool members for specificport_pool are 192.168.100.20:80 and 192.168.100.21:80.

5. Click Finished.

Create a virtual server for application traffic

This task creates a destination IP address for application traffic. As part of this task, you must assign the relevant pool to the virtual server.

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers.

   The Virtual Server List screen opens.

2. Click Create.

   The New Virtual Server screen opens.

3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the virtual server.

4. For a host, in the Destination Address/Mask field, type an IPv4 or IPv6 address in CIDR format to allow all traffic to be translated.

   The supported format is address/prefix, where the prefix length is in bits. For example, an IPv4 address/prefix is 0.0.0.0/0, and an IPv6 address/prefix is ::/0.

5. In the Service Port field, type 80, or select HTTP from the list.

6. In the Configuration area of the screen, locate the Type setting and select either Standard or Forwarding (IP).

7. From the HTTP Profile list, select an HTTP profile.

8. In the Resources area of the screen, from the Default Pool list, select the relevant pool name.

9. Click Finished.

You now have a virtual server to use as a destination address for application traffic.