F5 load balancing SMTP to 2 groups of servers

hi Michael, good point. 🙂

by the way, just curious when a number of active pool member in priority group 2 is less than 4, will priority group 1 bring only some of its pool member (not all the member)?

this is my test. could you please advise if i missed anything?

[root@ve1023:Active] config  b virtual bar list
virtual bar {
   snat automap
   pool foo
   destination 172.28.19.79:80
   ip protocol 6
   rules myrule
   profiles {
      http {}
      tcp {}
   }
}
[root@ve1023:Active] config  b pool foo list
pool foo {
   min active members 2
   monitor all http
   members {
      200.200.200.101:80 {
         priority 2
      }
      200.200.200.102:80 {
         priority 2
      }
      200.200.200.111:80 {
         priority 1
      }
      200.200.200.112:80 {
         priority 1
      }
   }
}
[root@ve1023:Active] config  b pool foo|grep -i pool\ member
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.101:80   active,up
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.102:80   active,up
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.111:80   active,up
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.112:80   active,up

[root@ve1023:Active] config  ab -c1 -n100 http://172.28.19.79/
...

[root@ve1023:Active] config  b pool foo
POOL foo  LB METHOD round robin   MIN/CUR ACTIVE MEMBERS 2/4
|     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 2, 0, 100)
|     (pkts,bits) in = (500, 287200), out = (500, 597200)
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.101:80   active,up
|   |     session enabled    priority 2    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 1, 0, 50)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (250, 143600), out = (250, 366000)
|   |     requests (total) = 50
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.102:80   active,up
|   |     session enabled    priority 2    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 1, 0, 50)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (250, 143600), out = (250, 231200)
|   |     requests (total) = 50
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.111:80   active,up
|   |     session enabled    priority 1    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 0, 0, 0)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (0, 0), out = (0, 0)
|   |     requests (total) = 0
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.112:80   active,up
    |     session enabled    priority 1    ratio 1
    |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 0, 0, 0)
    |     (pkts,bits) in = (0, 0), out = (0, 0)
    |     requests (total) = 0

[root@ve1023:Active] config  b pool foo|grep -i pool\ member
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.101:80   inactive,down
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.102:80   active,up
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.111:80   active,up
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.112:80   active,up

[root@ve1023:Active] config  ab -c1 -n100 http://172.28.19.79/
...

[root@ve1023:Active] config  b pool foo
POOL foo  LB METHOD round robin   MIN/CUR ACTIVE MEMBERS 2/3
|     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 3, 0, 100)
|     (pkts,bits) in = (500, 287200), out = (500, 551368)
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.101:80   inactive,down
|   |     session enabled    priority 2    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 0, 0, 0)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (0, 0), out = (0, 0)
|   |     requests (total) = 0
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.102:80   active,up
|   |     session enabled    priority 2    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 1, 0, 33)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (165, 94776), out = (165, 152592)
|   |     requests (total) = 33
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.111:80   active,up
|   |     session enabled    priority 1    ratio 1
|   |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 1, 0, 34)
|   |     (pkts,bits) in = (170, 97648), out = (170, 157216)
|   |     requests (total) = 34
+-> POOL MEMBER foo/200.200.200.112:80   active,up
    |     session enabled    priority 1    ratio 1
    |     (cur, max, limit, tot) = (0, 1, 0, 33)
    |     (pkts,bits) in = (165, 94776), out = (165, 241560)
    |     requests (total) = 33

thanks!