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sandheep_unniki's avatar
sandheep_unniki
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Apr 22, 2015

GTM : Confgire Exchange 2013 with Single URL

Hi

 

We have 4 Exchange 2013 multiple roles servers installed and load balanced with F5 LTM. Servers are load balanced for HTTP/HTTPS/IMAP/SMTP. (ports: 80/443/993/25/465/587)

 

2 Virtual IP (Virtual Servers) are configured for the 4 servers

 

VIP1 is for HTTP/HTTPS - between all 4 servers (IN-line/No SSL Offloading)

 

VIP2 is for SMTP/IMAP - between all 4 server (IN-line/No SSL Offloading)

 

VIP are published out side (internet) with NAT and we are using split DNS.

 

VIP are configured in "In-Line mode", which forward client IP address to exchange server, this is required because we have smtp receive connector which allow anonymous relay if the client IP address trusted.

 

OWA : Form based authentication is enabled on Exchange, it F5 LTM is just doing the basic load balancing.

 

Now we will be configuring DR site for Exchange, where we will have another LTM which will be doing SMTP and IMAP load balancing.

 

VIP3 is for HTTP/HTTPS - between all DR servers (IN-line/No SSL Offloading)

 

VIP4 is for SMTP/IMAP - between all DR server(IN-line/No SSL Offloading)

 

We are planning to have GTM insatalled and configured to do the load balacne between Primary DC and DR DC.

 

Our objective is, we need to keep our OWA URL same, no matter where the service is.

 

Internal DNS is integrated with AD and replicated to DR. External DNS is unix BIND server with DR Copy and manged by us.

 

How can we achieve this ?How do we configure the pools/ WideIP on GTM

 

If you think there are better architecture available to satisfy our requirements, please comment about it

 

Thanks, Sandheep

 

application delivery
BIG-IP DNS
design
exchange 2013
LTM

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  • Aubrey_King_278's avatar
    Aubrey_King_278
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Apr 22, 2015

    The GTM Concepts doc should give you what you want:

     

    https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_gtm/manuals/product/gtm-concepts-11-5-0.html

     

    Basic synopsis for configuring gtm is like this:

     

    1. Plumb it - basic networking.. Link Agg, VLANs, Self IPs.
    2. Establish a listener for inbound DNS queries.
    3. Add authoritative zone or subdelegated zone and add delegation
    4. Define data centers
    5. Define servers in each DC. GTMs first. If LTM, suck in the LTM config, too.
    6. Create pools from imported LTM virtual servers or pre-defined generic hosts with virtual servers
    7. Create a WIP (FQDN). It automatically adds the DNS portions to your zone from step 3.
    8. Celebrate your brilliance for embracing "disaster avoidance," rather than disaster recovery.