Manual Chapter : BIG-IP Administrator guide v4.0: Hosting Multiple Sites

Applies To:

Show Versions Show Versions

BIG-IP versions 1.x - 4.x

  • 4.0 PTF-04, 4.0 PTF-03, 4.0 PTF-02, 4.0 PTF-01, 4.0.0
Manual Chapter


14

Hosting Multiple Sites



Introducing multiple site hosting

You can use the BIG-IP Controller to load balance and host multiple sites. In this example, the BIG-IP Controller has a gigabit Ethernet interface tagged to handle traffic for vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC. The servers, in groups of two, host several different sites.

Figure 14.1 An example of multiple site hosting

Configuring multiple site hosting

To configure the BIG-IP Controller for this solution, you must complete the following tasks:

  • Create tagged VLANs
  • Create a pool of web servers that contains the web servers that you want to load balance.
  • Create a virtual server that load balances the web servers.

Creating VLAN tags

To create tagged VLANs in the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click Network.
    The VLAN screen opens.
  2. For each VLAN:
  3. Click the Add button.
    The Add VLAN screen opens.
  4. Enter the VLAN name and tag number.
  5. In the Resources box, select the internal interface (in the example, 5.1) and click tagged >>. The interface appears in the Current Interfaces box.

    Configuration note

    For this example, create three tagged vlans, vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, tagged to the internal interface they connect to.

Creating tagged VLANs from the command line

You can create a tagged VLAN using the vlan tag command:

b vlan <vlan_name> tag <tag_number>

You can then map an interface or interfaces to the VLAN using the tagged flag:

b vlan <vlan_name> interfaces add tagged <if_list>

To create tagged VLANs vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, type:

b vlan vlanA tag 0001

b vlan vlanB tag 0002

b vlan vlanC tag 0003

To add interface 5.1 to tagged VLANs vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, type:

b vlan vlanA interfaces add tagged 5.1

b vlan vlanB interfaces add tagged 5.1

b vlan vlanC interfaces add tagged 5.1

Creating the server pools to load balance

After you create the network environment for the BIG-IP Controller, create three load balancing pools, one for each network.

To create a pool in the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click Pools.
    The Pools screen opens.
  2. In the Pools screen, click the Add button to start the Add Pool wizard.

    Configuration notes

    For this example, create the following pools:

    · server_pool1 containing the web servers 10.1.1.1:80, 10.1.1.2:80

    · server_pool2 containing the web servers 10.1.2.1:80, 10.1.2.2:80

    · server_pool3 containing the web servers 10.1.3.1:80 and 10.1.3.2:80.

To create a pool from the command line

To create a pool from the command line, type the following command.

b pool <pool_name> { member <server1> member <server2> ... }

In this example, you create the pool name mywebpool with the members 10.1.1.1:80, 10.1.1.2:80, 10.1.2.1:80, 10.1.2.2:80, 10.1.3.1:80 and 10.1.3.2:80:

b pool server_pool1 { member 10.1.1.1:80 member 10.1.1.2:80 }

b pool server_pool2 { member 10.1.2.1:80 member 10.1.2.2:80 }

b pool server_pool3 { member 10.1.3.1:80 member 10.1.3.2:80 }

Creating the virtual server to load balance the web servers

After you create the web server pools that you want to load balance, create a virtual server for each pool.

To create a virtual server in the Configuration utility

  1. In the navigation pane, click Virtual Servers.
    The Virtual Servers screen opens.
  2. In the Virtual Servers screen, click the Add button to start the Add Virtual Server wizard.

    Configuration notes

    For this example, create the following virtual servers:

    · virtual server 10.1.10.10:80 using server_pool1

    · virtual server 10.1.10.11:80 using server_pool2

    · virtual server 10.1.10.12:80 using server_pool3

To create a virtual server from the command line

To create the virtual server for this example from the command line, type the following command.

b virtual <addr:service> use pool <pool>

In this example:

b virtual 10.1.10.10:80 use pool server_pool1

b virtual 10.1.10.11:80 use pool server_pool2

b virtual 10.1.10.12:80 use pool server_pool3

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.