F5 LTM Training

Introduction to virtual servers


Virtual Server :A virtual server is a traffic-management object on the
BIG-IP system that is represented by an IP address and a service. Clients
on an external network can send application traffic to a virtual server,
which thendirects the traffic according to your configuration
instructions. Virtual servers typically direct traffic toa pool of servers on
an internal network, by translating the destination IP address in each
packet to a pool member address. Overall, virtual serversincrease the
availability of resources for processing client requests.
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Virtual Address :is the IP address component of a virtual server. For
example, if a virtual server’sdestination IP address and service are
10.10.10.2:80, then the IP address 10.10.10.2 is a
virtualaddress. You do not explicitly create virtual addresses; instead,
the BIG-IP system creates a virtualaddress when you create a virtual
server and specify the destination IP address.
 Case Study Example
You can create a many-to-one relationship between virtual servers and a virtual
address.
For example, you can create the three virtual servers
10.10.10.2:80,
10.10.10.2:443, and
10.10.10.2:161 for the
same virtual address, 10.10.10.2.
You can enable and disable a virtual address. When you disable a virtual
address, none of the virtual servers associated with that address can receive
incoming network traffic.
 About virtual server settings
A virtual server has several settings that you can configure to affect the way that
a virtual server manages traffic. You can also assign certain resources to a
virtual server, such as a load balancing pool and various policies. Together,
these properties, settings, and resources represent the definition of a virtual
server, and most have default values. When you create a virtual server, you
can either retain the default values or adjust them to suit your needs.
If you have created a virtual server that is a standard type of virtual server, one
of the resources you typically assign to the virtual server is a default pool. A
default pool is the server pool to which Local Traffic Manager sends traffic if
no iRule or policy exists that specifies a different pool. Note that if you plan
on using an iRule or policy to direct traffic to a pool, you must assign the
iRule or policy as a resource to the virtual server.
 Types of virtual servers
Standard :A Standard virtual server (also known as a load balancing virtual
server) directs client traffic to a load balancing pool and is the most basic
type of virtual server. When you Standard first create the virtual server, you
assign an existing default pool to it. From then on, the virtual server
automatically directs traffic to that default pool.