4

Hosting for Multiple Customers

• Introducing multiple customer hosting
• Configuring multiple customer hosting
• Multiple customer hosting using built-in switching
• Additional configuration options

Introducing multiple customer hosting

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

Figure 4.1 An example of multiple site hosting

Configuring multiple customer hosting

To configure the BIG-IP 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

The first step in configuring the BIG-IP for multiple customer hosting is creating tagged VLANs. You can create the VLAN tags for this configuration using the Configuration utility or from the command line.

To create tagged VLANs using 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, 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.
3. For each pool, enter the pool name and member addresses in the Add Pool screen. (For additional information about configuring a pool, click the Help button.)
   
   

   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 the pools from the command line

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

   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.
3. Type the address and pool name. (For additional information about configuring a virtual server, click the Help button.)
   
   

   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, use the following syntax.

   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

Multiple customer hosting using built-in switching

The configuration shown in Figure 4.1 uses a two-interface BIG-IP and an external switch. The BIG-IP and external switch may be replaced by a single IP Application Switch. Because the BIG-IP is now the switch, tagging is no longer necessary, but it is necessary to configure the interface group VLANs on the BIG-IP. Figure 4.2 is an example of this example with the IP Application Switch.

Figure 4.2 Multiple customer hosting using VLAN switching.

Creating VLAN tags

The first step in configuring the BIG-IP for multiple customer hosting on the IP Application Switch is to create tagged VLANs. You can create the VLAN tags for this configuration using the Configuration utility or from the command line.

To create interface-group VLANs using 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.
5. In the Resources box, select the internal interfaces to be assigned to the VLAN and click untagged >>. The interface appears in the Current Interfaces box.
   
   

   Configuration notes

   For this example, create three tagged vlans, vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, adding the internal interfaces they connect to as follows:

   vlanA takes interfaces 4.1 and 4.2.

   vlanB takes interfaces 4.3 and 4.4.

   vlanC takes interfaces 4.5 and 4.6.

   Creating interface-group VLANs from the command line

   You can create an interface-group VLAN using the vlan command:

   b vlan <vlan_name> interfaces add tagged <if_list>

   To create interface-group VLANs vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, type:

   b vlan vlanA interfaces add 4.1 4.2

   b vlan vlanB interfaces add 4.3 4.4

   b vlan vlanC interfaces add 4.5 4.6

Additional configuration options

Whenever a BIG-IP is configured, you have a number of options:

• You have the option in all configurations to configure a BIG-IP redundant system for fail-over. Refer to Chapter 5, Configuring a Redundant System, in the BIG-IP Reference Guide.
• All configurations have health monitoring options. Refer to Health Monitors in Chapter 3, Configuring the High-Level Network, in the BIG-IP Reference Guide.
• 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 Chapter 3, Configuring the High-Level Network, in the BIG-IP Reference Guide.