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Manual Chapter: Configuring Acceleration with an Asymmetric BIG-IP System
Manual Chapter
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Configuring Acceleration with an Asymmetric BIG-IP System

About an asymmetric BIG-IP deployment

A BIG-IP® asymmetric deployment consists of one or more BIG-IP systems installed on one end of a WAN, and in the same location as the origin web servers that are running the applications to which the BIG-IP system is accelerating client access.

An asymmetric deployment

An asymmetric deployment

Task summary for configuring Acceleration with an asymmetric BIG-IP system

Perform these tasks to configure Acceleration with and asymmetric BIG-IP® system.

Task summary

Defining an NTP server

Network Time Protocol (NTP) synchronizes the clocks on a network by means of a defined NTP server. You can specify a list of IP addresses of the servers that you want the BIG-IP system to use when updating the time on network systems.
  1. On the Main tab, click System > Configuration > Device > NTP .
    The NTP Device configuration screen opens.
  2. For the Time Server Lookup List setting, 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. For the Time Server List setting, in the Address field, type the IP address of the NTP server that you want to add. Then click Add.
    For this example, type 192.168.5.15.
    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.
  4. For the Time Server List setting, in the Address field, type the IP address of an NTP server that you want to add. Then click Add.
    Note: If you are using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign IP addresses, then the BIG-IP system automatically populates the Address field with the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the NTP server.
  5. Repeat the preceding step as needed.
  6. Click Update.

Creating a new folder for synchronized acceleration applications

You can organize synchronized acceleration applications in folders.
  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.
A folder for organizing synchronized acceleration applications is available.

Creating a user-defined acceleration policy from a predefined acceleration policy

You can copy a predefined acceleration policy, and modify applicable nodes, matching rules, and acceleration rules, to create a user-defined acceleration policy.
  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.
The user-defined acceleration policy appears in the Policy column.

Creating a BIG-IP application profile for an asymmetric acceleration deployment

An application profile provides the key information that the BIG-IP device needs to appropriately handle requests to your site's web applications.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Applications .
    The Applications List screen opens.
  2. Click Create.
  3. Name the application.
  4. In the Description field, type a description.
  5. Specify the type of acceleration policy:
    • Click the name of a user-defined acceleration policy.
    • Click the name of a predefined acceleration policy.
  6. 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.
  7. Click Save.
The application profile appears in the Application column on the Applications List screen.

Enabling acceleration with the Web Acceleration profile

A BIG-IP® Acceleration application for a Web Application must be available.
The Web Acceleration profile enables acceleration by using applications that run on a virtual server.
  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.
Acceleration is enabled through the BIG-IP application in the Web Acceleration profile.

Creating a pool to process HTTP traffic

You can create a pool of web servers to process HTTP requests.
  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 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.
The new pool appears in the Pools list.

Creating a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic

You can create a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic as either a host virtual server or a network virtual server.
  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. In the Destination Address/Mask field, type the IP address in CIDR format.
    The supported format is address/prefix, where the prefix length is in bits. For example, an IPv4 address/prefix is 10.0.0.1 or 10.0.0.0/24, and an IPv6 address/prefix is ffe1::0020/64 or 2001:ed8:77b5:2:10:10:100:42/64. When you use an IPv4 address without specifying a prefix, the BIG-IP® system automatically uses a /32 prefix.
    Note: 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. Optional: From the Web Acceleration Profile list, select one of the following profiles:
    • optimized-acceleration
    • optimized-caching
    • webacceleration
    • A customized profile
  9. From the Web Acceleration Profile list, select one of the following profiles with an enabled application:
    • optimized-acceleration
    • optimized-caching
    • webacceleration
    • A customized profile
  10. In the Resources area of the screen, from the Default Pool list, select the relevant pool name.
  11. Click Finished.
The HTTP virtual server appears in the list of existing virtual servers on the Virtual Server List screen.

Clearing cache for a deployment change

Before, or immediately after, you reconfigure a BIG-IP® Device from a symmetric to a standalone deployment, or a standalone to a symmetric deployment, you can manually clear the Acceleration cache to ensure that the device is serving valid objects.
  1. Log on to the command line of the system using the root account.
  2. Type this command at the command line.
    wa_clear_cache
The BIG-IP Device Acceleration cache is clear.

Implementation result

BIG-IP® acceleration is configured asymmetrically to accelerate HTTP traffic.

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