20-Jan-2021 09:01
Hello guys,
We have two data centers, with L2 link between the DCs. Is it possible to create one cluster (2 BIG-IP LTM in primary DC + 2 BIG-IP LTM in standby DC)?
And in case one of the services/links go down in primary location, the VIP for that specific service will be up in standby DC?
Is it a good practice?
Thank you.
Solved! Go to Solution.
20-Jan-2021 10:49
It is sort of a good practice, but to shift traffic to a backup data center you would also use F5 DNS.
You would have two clusters, one in each datacenter. And F5 DNS would distribute traffic across data centers.
Take a look at this video: BIG-IP DNS Load Balancing Introduction
Otherwise you would have plenty of (virtual) hardware sitting idle.
20-Jan-2021 10:49
It is sort of a good practice, but to shift traffic to a backup data center you would also use F5 DNS.
You would have two clusters, one in each datacenter. And F5 DNS would distribute traffic across data centers.
Take a look at this video: BIG-IP DNS Load Balancing Introduction
Otherwise you would have plenty of (virtual) hardware sitting idle.
20-Jan-2021 11:25
On a second thought - without knowing more about your (cloud) infrastructure, your business requirements, the application itself, ... and so on, it is nearly impossible to provide you with a blueprint of a "silver bullet" architecture that will satisfy all your requirements.
From the top of my head, I could see a couple of scenarios.
Option 2 and 3 combined with F5 DNS or F5 DNS Load Balancer Cloud Service and optional also with BIG-IQ.
Depending on how far you have developed this idea already, it might make sense to reach out to someone who can help you with the design of your topology.
20-Jan-2021 13:42
Hello Daniel,
I think the f5 DNS will be best solution here, but unfortunately it wasn't in the budget... So I'm exploring alternatives designs.
Scenario 2:
Is there a way to failover virtual server between two different clusters?
Thanks again!
20-Jan-2021 23:24
Hello Shurik.
If your idea is that both clusters have the VIP configured and one cluster has the VIP up, while the other cluster has the same VIP down, like a warm standby... nope. At least to my knowledge. Probably possible with some external tools for monitoring & scripting.
With your requirements and budget a 4 node cluster might be a good solution. But also I am not seeing the full picture of your requirements, so I cannot recommend a "best solution".
KR
22-Jan-2021 12:53
Thank you Daniel! I like the DNS solution, we will see what can be done here 🙂