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d2001's avatar
d2001
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Jun 02, 2019

best way to cluster 2 seperate F5 LTM in production?

Hello Folks,

I have 2 seperate F5 LTMs in production that are load balancing different services each. I want to cluster them but not sure what is the easiest method. Each F5 LTM is currently a standalone.

I was thinking of

1) move the services from LTM A to LTM B,

(copy certs from A to B as well)

2) cluster the LTMs

3) move services back from B to A using traffic groups.

 

Should I put the services into traffic groups first? I'm also using templates would that make any difference to the clustering process.

I've only clustered F5 LTMs a few times, without templates, so any assistance would be appreciated.

 

Rgds

D2001

2 Replies

  • SWJO's avatar
    SWJO
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus

    Best way is using Professional service.

     

    I`ll simply explain method.

     

    You have to using 2 traffic-group.

     

    LTM A -> traffic-group-1

    LTM B -> traffic-group-2

     

    Before configure HA, you have to change one of your LTM`s VIP and Self IP`s traffic-group.

     

    But It might be cause your service disconnect.

     

    After work. configure HA and sync.

     

    Thanks.

  • Do LTM A and B have all of the necessary VLANs and self-IP addresses for handling traffic (for both their own original services and any services gained via consolidation)? If no, then you need to make sure that each device is configured with relevant VLANs and static self IP addresses. If the answer is yes, then I'd use SCF output to merge the A & B configurations onto a single device, add any needed floating self IP addresses, then create a cluster.

     

    You will need two traffic groups, one set to prefer LTM A and a second set to prefer LTM B, perhaps even with Automatic Failback set.

     

    If by templates you mean iApps, I'm not sure what the impact of application services would be on a merge operation, nor what impact a merge would have on the application services.