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James_Smith_299's avatar
James_Smith_299
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Feb 10, 2017

One VServer, Multiple Pools and Forward Request to both Pools

Can I setup 1 Virtual Server to forward to 2 different Pools? Do I simply associated that VS to 2 Pools?

 

Current setup on BIG-IP LTM running firmware 10.2.4: 1 Virtual Server -> 1 App Pool -> 10 Backend Servers

 

Desired setup: 1 Virtual Server -> 2 App Pools -> 10 Backend Servers in Pool1 + 10 Backend Servers in Pool2.

 

The goal is to have redundancy of sending files to 2 different vendor systems belonging in 2 different Pools.

 

application delivery
BIG-IP
LTM

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  • Kai_Wilke's avatar
    Kai_Wilke
    Icon for MVP rankMVP
    Feb 10, 2017

    Hi James,

    LTM's build-in cloning functionality is only able to clone traffic on a OSI Layer2 level (aka. packet duplication) and is intended to send a carbon copy of the incomming traffic to an NIDS system.

    To clone the incomming request to two distinct nodes/application pools (at least different L3/4 information), you have to write a more or less complicated iRule which:

    Note: Asuming you're trying to clone request for a website.

    1. Collects each incomming HTTP-Header and HTTP-Payload (if exists)
    2. Constructs a new HTTP-Request based on the collected HTTP-Header and HTTP-Payload
    3. Performs a handcrafted Load-Balaincing decission to choose a member of the second pool.
    4. Connects to the selected member of the secondary pool via a dedicated 
      [SIDEBAND]
      (with ability to parse the response) or 
      [HSL]
      (one way communication) connection.
    5. Send the collected HTTP-Request to the established connection to the secondary pool member.
    6. Parses the response of the secondary pool member (if needed and [SIDEBAND] was used).
    7. Releases the original incomming request (without any modifications) and and then passes the response back to the client.

    Cheers, Kai