BIG-IP acceleration in a server farm deployment comprises multiple devices in a scalable trusted deployment, operating as peers in a pool behind a load balancer. Each BIG-IP device within the pool separately processes traffic and maintains a discrete cache. Because a BIG-IP server farm deployment requires a trusted deployment, the configuration, invalidations, and performance statistics are shared across the BIG-IP devices within the device group.

A BIG-IP server farm deployment

1. On the Main tab, click System > Configuration > Device > NTP. The NTP Device configuration screen opens.
2. In the Time Server Lookup List area, in the Address field, type the IP address of the NTP that you want to add. Then, click Add.
   Note: If you did not disable DHCP before the first boot of the BIG-IP system, and if the DHCP server provides the information about your NTP server, then this field is automatically populated.
3. Click Update.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Trust, and then either Peer List or Subordinate List.
2. In the Peer Authority Devices or the Subordinate Non-Authority Devices area of the screen, click Add.
3. Type a device IP address, administrator user name, and administrator password for the remote BIG-IP device with which you want to establish trust. The IP address you specify depends on the type of BIG-IP device:
   • If the BIG-IP device is a non-VIPRION device, type the management IP address for the device.
   • If the BIG-IP device is a VIPRION device that is not licensed and provisioned for vCMP, type the primary cluster management IP address for the cluster.
   • If the BIG-IP device is a VIPRION device that is licensed and provisioned for vCMP, type the cluster management IP address for the guest.
   • If the BIG-IP device is an Amazon Web Services EC2 device, type one of the Private IP addresses created for this EC2 instance.
4. Click Retrieve Device Information.
5. Verify that the displayed information is correct.
6. Click Finished.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups.
2. On the Device Groups list screen, click Create. The New Device Group screen opens.
3. Type a name for the device group, select the device group type Sync-Only, and type a description for the device group.
4. From the Configuration list, select Advanced.
5. For the Members setting, select an IP address and host name from the Available list for each BIG-IP device that you want to include in the device group. Use the Move button to move the host name to the Includes list. The list shows any devices that are members of the device's local trust domain.
6. For the Automatic Sync setting, select or clear the check box:
   • Select the check box when you want the BIG-IP system to automatically sync the BIG-IP configuration data whenever a config sync operation is required. In this case, the BIG-IP system syncs the configuration data whenever the data changes on any device in the device group.
   • Clear the check box when you want to manually initiate each config sync operation. In this case, F5 networks recommends that you perform a config sync operation whenever configuration data changes on one of the devices in the device group.
7. For the Full Sync setting, select or clear the check box:
   • Select the check box when you want all sync operations to be full syncs. In this case, the BIG-IP system syncs the entire set of BIG-IP configuration data whenever a config sync operation is required.
   • Clear the check box when you want all sync operations to be incremental (the default setting). In this case, the BIG-IP system syncs only the changes that are more recent than those on the target device. When you select this option, the BIG-IP system compares the configuration data on each target device with the configuration data on the source device and then syncs the delta of each target-source pair.
   If you enable incremental synchronization, the BIG-IP system might occasionally perform a full sync for internal reasons. This is a rare occurrence and no user intervention is required.
8. In the Maximum Incremental Sync Size (KB) field, retain the default value of 1024, or type a different value. This value specifies the total size of configuration changes that can reside in the incremental sync cache. If the total size of the configuration changes in the cache exceeds the specified value, the BIG-IP system performs a full sync whenever the next config sync operation occurs.
9. Click Finished.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Overview.
2. In the Device Groups area of the screen, in the Name column, select the name of the relevant device group. The screen expands to show a summary and details of the sync status of the selected device group, as well as a list of the individual devices within the device group.
3. In the Devices area of the screen, in the Sync Status column, select the device that shows a sync status of Changes Pending.
4. In the Sync Options area of the screen, select Sync Device to Group.
5. Click Sync. The BIG-IP system syncs the configuration data of the selected device in the Device area of the screen to the other members of the device group.

1. On the Main tab, click System > Configuration > Device > NTP. The NTP Device configuration screen opens.
2. In the Time Server Lookup List area, in the Address field, type the IP address of the NTP that you want to add. Then, click Add.
   Note: If you did not disable DHCP before the first boot of the BIG-IP system, and if the DHCP server provides the information about your NTP server, then this field is automatically populated.
3. Click Update.

1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Symmetric Folders.
2. Click Create.
3. In the Folder Name field, type a name for the folder.
4. From the Device Group list, select a Sync-Only device group.
5. Optional: In the Description field, type a description.
6. Click Save.

1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Policies. The Policies screen displays a list of existing acceleration policies.
2. In the Tools column, click Copy for the predefined acceleration policy you want to copy.
3. Name the policy.
4. Specify a folder, based on your configuration.
   • For a symmetric or farm configuration, from the Sync Folder list, select the name of a symmetric folder.
   • For an asymmetric configuration, from the Sync Folder list, select No Selection.
5. Click Copy.
6. Click the name of the new user-defined acceleration policy.
7. Create, delete, or modify nodes, matching rules, and acceleration rules, as necessary.
8. Publish the acceleration policy.
   1. Click Publish.
   2. In the Comment field, type a description.
   3. Click Publish Now.

1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Applications. The Applications List screen opens.
2. Click Create.
3. From the General Options list, select Advanced.
4. Name the application.
5. In the Description field, type a description.
6. From the Policy list, select a policy.
7. In the Requested Host field, type each domain name (host name), or IP address, that might appear in HTTP requests for your web application. The specified domain names, or IP addresses, are defined in the host map for the application profile.
8. Configure the Symmetric Deployment settings.
   1. From the Symmetric Mode list, select Farm.
      Note: Selecting Farm from the Symmetric Mode list enables the BIG-IP to broadcast invalidations of cached content to all devices within the Sync-Only device group.
   2. From the Sync Folder list, select a Sync-Only device group.
9. Click Save.

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Profiles > Services > Web Acceleration. The Web Acceleration profile list screen opens.
2. Click the name of a profile.
3. Select the Custom check box.
4. For the WA Applications setting, select an application in the Available list and click Enable. The application is listed in the Enabled list.
5. Click Update.

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. For the Health Monitors setting, from the Available list, select the http monitor, and click << to move the monitor to the Active list.
5. From the Load Balancing Method list, select how the system distributes traffic to members of this pool. The default is Round Robin.
6. For the Priority Group Activation setting, specify how to handle priority groups:
   • Select Disabled to disable priority groups. This is the default option.
   • Select Less than, and in the Available Members field type the minimum number of members that must remain available in each priority group in order for traffic to remain confined to that group.
7. Using the New Members setting, add each resource that you want to include in the pool:
   1. Type an IP address in the Address field.
   2. Type 80 in the Service Port field, or select HTTP from the list.
   3. (Optional) Type a priority number in the Priority field.
   4. Click Add.
8. Click Finished.

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers. The Virtual Server List screen opens.
2. Click the Create button. The New Virtual Server screen opens.
3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the virtual server.
4. For the Destination setting, in the Address field, type the IP address you want to use for the virtual server. The IP address you type must be available and not in the loopback network.
5. In the Service Port field, type 80, or select HTTP from the list.
6. From the HTTP Profile list, select http.
7. From the HTTP Compression Profile list, select one of the following profiles:
   • httpcompression
   • wan-optimized-compression
   • A customized profile
8. From the Web Acceleration Profile list, select one of the following profiles with an enabled application:
   • optimized-acceleration
   • optimized-caching
   • webacceleration
   • A customized profile
9. In the Resources area of the screen, from the Default Pool list, select a pool name.
10. Click Finished.