2

Basic Web Site and E-Commerce Configuration

• Working with a basic web site and e-commerce configuration
• Configuring a basic e-commerce site
• Additional configuration options

Working with a basic web site and e-commerce configuration

The most common application of the BIG-IP Controller is distributing traffic across an array of web servers that host standard web traffic, including e-commerce traffic. Figure 2.1 shows a configuration where a BIG-IP Controller load balances two sites: www.MySite.com and store.MySite.com. The www.MySite.com site provides standard web content, and the store.MySite.com site is the e-commerce site that sells items to www.MySite.com customers.

To set up load balancing for these sites, you need to create two pools that are referenced by two virtual servers, one for each site. Even though the sites are related and they may even share the same IP address, each requires its own virtual server because it uses a different port to support its particular protocol: port 80 for the HTTP traffic going to www.MySite.com, and port 443 for the SSL traffic going to store.MySite.com. Note that this is true even when there are a port 80 and a port 443 on the same physical server, as in the case of Server 2.

Note: Note that in this example, as in all examples in this guide, we use only non-routable IP addresses. In a real topology, the virtual server IP addresses would have to be routable on the Internet.

Figure 2.1 A basic configuration

Configuring a basic e-commerce site

To configure the e-commerce site, you need to complete the following tasks in order:

• Define the load balancing pools
• Define virtual servers for the inbound traffic

Defining the pools

The first step in a basic configuration is to define the two load balancing pools, one for HTTP, the other for SSL.

To create pools using the Configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, click Pools.
   The Pools screen opens.
2. Click the Add button.
   The Add Pool screen opens.
3. In the Add Pool screen, configure the attributes you want to use with the pool. For additional information about configuring a pool, click the Help button.
   
   

   Configuration Notes

   · For this example, you would create an HTTP pool named http_pool and an SSL pool named ssl_pool.

   · http_pool contains the following members:
   192.168.100.1:80
   192.168.100.2:80

   · ssl_pool contains the following members:
   192.168.100.2:443
   192.168.100.3:443

To define the pools from the command line

To define a pool from the command line, use the following syntax:

b pool <pool_name> {member <member_definition> ... member <member_definition>}

To create the pools http_pool and ssl_pool from the command line, you would type the following commands:

b pool http_pool { member 192.168.100.1:80 member 192.168.100.2:80 }

b pool ssl_pool { member 192.168.100.2:443 member 192.168.100.3:443 }

Defining the virtual servers

The next step in a basic configuration is to define the virtual servers that reference http_pool and ssl_pool, respectively.

To define the virtual servers using the Configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, click Virtual Servers.
   The Virtual Servers screen opens.
2. Click the Add button.
   The Add Virtual Server screen opens.
3. In the Add Virtual Server screen, configure the attributes that you want to use with the virtual server. For additional information about configuring a virtual server, click the Help button.
   
   

   Configuration note

   · For this example, create a virtual server 192.168.200.10:80 that uses http_pool and a virtual server 192.168.200.10:443 that uses ssl_pool

To define the virtual servers from the command line

Use the bigpipe virtual command as shown below. You can use standard service names in place of port numbers. If you have DNS configured, you can also use host names in place of IP addresses.

b virtual <virt IP>:<port> use pool <pool_name>

The following command defines a virtual server that maps to pools http_pool and ssl_pool, respectively:

b virtual 192.168.200.10:80 use pool http_pool

b virtual 192.168.200.10:443 use pool ssl_pool

Additional configuration options

Whenever a BIG-IP Controller is configured, a number of options are available to the user:

• You have the option in all configurations to configure a redundant BIG-IP Controller for fail-over. Refer to Redundant Systems in the BIG-IP Reference Guide, Chapter 1, Configuring the BIG-IP Controller.
• All configurations have health monitoring options. Refer to Health Monitors in the BIG-IP Reference Guide, Chapter 1, Configuring the BIG-IP Controller.
• When you create a pool, there is an option to set up persistence and a choice of load balancing methods. Refer to Pools in the BIG-IP Reference Guide, Chapter 1, Configuring the BIG-IP Controller.