Manual Chapter : BIG-IP Solutions Guide v4.2: Hosting for Multiple Customers

Applies To:

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BIG-IP versions 1.x - 4.x

  • 4.2 PTF-10, 4.2 PTF-09, 4.2 PTF-08, 4.2 PTF-07, 4.2 PTF-06, 4.2 PTF-05, 4.2 PTF-04, 4.2 PTF-03, 4.2 PTF-02, 4.2 PTF-01, 4.2.0
Manual Chapter


4

Hosting for Multiple Customers



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 VLANs with tagged interfaces.
  • 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 VLANs with tagged interfaces

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

To create VLANs with tagged interfaces 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. If you do not provide a tag number, the BIG-IP automatically generates a 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 VLANs, vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, adding the internal interface to each VLAN as a tagged interface.

To create VLANs with tagged interfaces from the command line

To create a VLAN with tagged interface, you must first create the VLAN and then add tagged interfaces to it. You can create a VLAN using the vlan tag command:

b vlan <vlan_name> tag <tag_number>

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

b vlan <vlan_name> interfaces add tagged <if_list>

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

b vlan vlanA tag 0001

b vlan vlanB tag 0002

b vlan vlanC tag 0003

To add tagged interface 5.1 to 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, 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, on page 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 VLANs, with untagged interfaces, 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 VLANs with untagged interfaces

The first step in configuring the BIG-IP for multiple customer hosting on the IP Application Switch is to create VLANs and add untagged interfaces to them. You can do this using the Configuration utility or from the command line.

To create VLANs with untagged interfaces 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 vlans, vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, adding the untagged internal interfaces they connect to as follows:

    vlanA takes interfaces 1.1 and 1.2.

    vlanB takes interfaces 1.3 and 1.4.

    vlanC takes interfaces 1.5 and 1.6.

To create VLANs with untagged interfaces from the command line

You can create a VLAN with untagged interfaces using the vlan command:

b vlan <vlan_name> interfaces add <if_list>

Thus, to create vlanA, vlanB, and vlanC, type:

b vlan vlanA interfaces add 1.1 1.2

b vlan vlanB interfaces add 1.3 1.4

b vlan vlanC interfaces add 1.5 1.6

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 6, Configuring a Redundant System, in the BIG-IP Reference Guide.
  • All configurations have health monitoring options. Refer to Health Monitors in Chapter 4, 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 4, Configuring the High-Level Network, in the BIG-IP Reference Guide.