F5 load balancer sample configuration in Remedy AR System

Use the F5 load balancer to ensure seamless failover when the mid tiers are operating in a multi-tenant environment. This topic provides information about how to prepare and configure the F5 load balancer.

To configure F5 load balancer, perform the following steps:

1. Create a pool
2. Create a node
3. Add nodes to a pool
4. Create a virtual server

Creating a pool

You need to create a pool to which nodes can be added.

To create a pool

1. On the F5 home page, click Local Traffic > Pools > Pool list.
2. On the Pool List page, click Create.
3. Enter the following information on the New Pool page.
   
   1. In the Configuration list, select Basic.
   2. In the Name field, enter a name for the pool. For example, add a pool named pool_rod_arsys.
   3. Optionally, in the Description field, enter a brief description for your pool.
   4. For Health Monitors, select the appropriate health monitor in the Available list, and then move it to the Active list. You need health monitors to ping the defined URLs at a defined interval and check whether the node is alive.
   5. In the Resources area, select the appropriate load balancing method from the Load Balancing Method list. For example, Round Robin.
4. Click Finished.
   The new pool with the specified name is created.

Creating a node

A node represents a Tomcat instance in the cluster. For example, if you have a cluster of four tomcat instances, you need to create four nodes in F5.

To create a node

1. On the F5 home page, click Local Traffic > Nodes > Node List.
2. Click Create.
3. On the New Node page, enter the following information:
   1. In the Name field, enter a name for the node. For example, add a node named Node1_RoD.
   2. In the Address field, enter the IP address of the node.
   3. Optionally, in the Description field, enter a brief description for the node.
   4. In the Configuration area, keep the default configurations.
4. Click Finished.
   The new node is created.

Adding nodes

When a cluster is created, you need to add the nodes to a single pool.

To add nodes to a pool

1. On the F5 home page, click Local Traffic > Pools > Pool list.
2. Click the Members tab.
3. Click Add.
4. Click Node List.
5. In the Address list, click to select the node that you want to add to the pool.
6. Enter the service port number.
7. Keep the default configurations.
8. Click Finished.
   A node is added to a pool. Repeat these steps for as many nodes you want to add to the pool.

Creating a Virtual Server

You must create a virtual server so that the F5 load balancer can re-route the requests to a working server, in case of a failure. After creating a virtual server, the F5 load balancer can redirect such URL requests to the right mid tier.

To create a virtual server

1. On the F5 home page, click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers > Virtual Server List.
2. Click Create.
3. Click the Properties tab.
4. In the General Properties area, enter the following information:
   1. In the Name field, enter a name for the virtual server. For example, add a virtual server named vs_rod_arsys.
   2. In the Destination field, enter the appropriate IP address that is allocated for your virtual server.
   3. Enter the service port number.
5. Click the Resources tab.
6. In the Default Pool list, select the pool that you have created. For more information about creating a pool, see To create a pool. 
7. Click Finished.