supporting "ratio weight" in third party appliances

I understand that our server needs to talk with Big-IP via the iControl interface of Big-IP, i.e. "use" (not "implement") the iControl interface of Big-IP.

 

 

Ok, good...

 

 

How frequent do we need to update the Big-IP? From the previous paragraph, it seems that we need to "use" the iControl interface to update the Big-IP. Your this paragraph seems to indicate we can rely on a "configuration system" to do this. Is this "configuration system" something that we need to implement? Where can I find some examples on how backend servers communicate with Big-IP with these two methods?

 

 

Once an initial configuration is made, you should only need to modify the BIG-IP settings when something changes on your backend servers that will require a change in the traffic distribution. This will depend on your applications usage so I can't really comment on the frequency. As for the configuration system, you will only need this if your system is dynamic in it's nature (meaning servers added/removed at regular intervals). In most cases, the initial configuration (virtuals, pools, and members) is made once and can be done with the product's administrative GUI. In cases of SOA or Grid networks, you may have to roll your own configuration system. Again, that will depend on your needs. As for examples, I've referenced the methods you'll need to use. I could supply a sample perl script that calls the set_lb_method() and set_ratio() but I don't think that would help much as the hard part is building the logic into your backend applications which I'm not really setup to help with here.

 

 

did read the LTM manual and understand the LB algorithms. However, I need some help to understand HOW to instruct Big-IP to use these algorithms such as passing the "ratio weight" to Big-IP.

 

 

Once your configuration is setup (virtual, pools, and members), you specify the lb method in the pool attributes. This can be done in the GUI or via the LocalLB::Pool::set_lb_method() command. The ratios can be set with the LocalLB::PoolMember::set_ratio() method (or via the admin GUI).

 

 

Has Big-IP ever been used in LB of bridges?

 

 

You are going to have to go through Product Support for questions like this. We are here to help with the actual building of iControl applications, not with general product support.

 

 

Another resource you might want to consider is our consulting group that could possibly help you with your backend server development.

 

 

-Joe