DEPLOYMENT GUIDE DEPLOYING F5 WITH ORACLE S BEA AQUALOGIC

Transcription

1 DEPLOYMENT GUIDE DEPLOYING F5 WITH ORACLE S BEA AQUALOGIC Version: 1.0

2 Table of Contents Table of Contents Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Prerequisites and configuration notes Configuration example Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for BEA AquaLogic Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for AquaLogic Portal Services Creating the health monitor Creating the pool Using SSL certificates and keys Creating profiles Creating the irules Creating the Portal virtual server Configuring the BIG-IP LTM system for AquaLogic Image Services Creating a health monitor Creating the pool Using SSL certificates and keys Creating the Profiles Creating the irules Creating the Image Service virtual server Modifying the AquaLogic configuration Disabling compression on the AquaLogic Portal devices Changing the AquaLogic Portal configuration Modifying the ALUI services that use the Portal and Image services Modifying the AquaLogic database Synchronizing the BIG-IP LTM configuration if using a redundant system Appendix A: Load balancing other AquaLogic services Load balancing the Document Repository service Load balancing the Interaction Automation service Configuring the F5 WebAccelerator module with BEA AquaLogic Prerequisites and configuration notes Configuration example Configuring the WebAccelerator module Connecting to the BIG-IP LTM device Creating an HTTP Class profile Modifying the Virtual Server to use the Class profile Creating an Application F5 Deployment Guide i

3 1 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic

4 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Welcome to the F5 and the Oracle BEA AquaLogic deployment guide. This deployment guide contains step-by-step procedures for configuring the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and WebAccelerator with BEA AquaLogic. BEA AquaLogic provides a complete solution for tapping the energy of the convergence of SOA, BPM and Enterprise Social Computing to create dynamic business applications. For more information on BEA AquaLogic, see ducts/aqualogic/ For more information on the BIG-IP product family, see This guide is broken up into two chapters: Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for BEA AquaLogic, on page 1-3 Configuring the F5 WebAccelerator module with BEA AquaLogic, on page 2-1 Prerequisites and configuration notes The following are prerequisites for this solution. We recommend BEA AquaLogic User Interaction version 6.5. Our installation was using BEA WebLogic Server The BIG-IP LTM system must be running version 9.0 or later. We strongly recommend using version 9.4 or later. The configuration in this deployment guide is based on BEA AquaLogic Security Mode 3, which uses SSL in nearly all situations (see ml#wp for necessary configuration changes on the AquaLogic devices. We also recommend you read the BEA Networking and Authentication chapter on Load Balancing: ing.html. Product Tested Version Tested BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) BEA AquaLogic 6.5 BEA WebLogic Server

5 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Configuration example Using the configuration in this guide, the BIG-IP LTM system is optimally configured to accelerate and direct traffic to BEA AquaLogic Servers. Figure 1.1 shows a typical configuration with a redundant pair of BIG-IP devices (with an optional WebAccelerator module), directing traffic to the AquaLogic Portal and Image Services, as well as the AquaLogic applications. AquaLogic Clients Internet Firewalls BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager WebAccelerator Available as a module on the BIG-IP LTM AquaLogic Portal Service BEA WebLogic Servers AquaLogic Image Services BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager AquaLogic Analytics AquaLogic Applications Database Figure 1.1 Logical configuration example F5 Deployment Guide 1-2

6 Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for BEA AquaLogic This chapter of the deployment guide is broken up into the following three sections: Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for AquaLogic Portal Services, following Configuring the BIG-IP LTM system for AquaLogic Image Services, on page 1-20 Modifying the AquaLogic configuration, on page 1-22 The next chapter, Configuring the F5 WebAccelerator module with BEA AquaLogic, contains procedures for configuring the BIG-IP WebAccelerator for BEA AquaLogic. Configuring the BIG-IP LTM for AquaLogic Portal Services To configure the BIG-IP LTM system for your AquaLogic Portal you need to complete the following tasks: Creating the health monitor Creating the pool Using SSL certificates and keys Creating profiles Creating the Portal virtual server After finishing this section, the following section, Configuring the BIG-IP LTM system for AquaLogic Image Services, on page 1-20, contains procedures for configuring the BIG-IP LTM for AquaLogic Image Services. The final section, Modifying the AquaLogic configuration, on page 1-22, contains configuration changes to make on the AquaLogic devices. Creating the health monitor The first step is to set up a health monitor for the AquaLogic Servers. This procedure is optional, but very strongly recommended. In our example, we create a simple HTTP health monitor. Although the monitor in the following example is quite simple, you can configure optional settings such as Send and Receive Strings to make the monitor much more specific. To configure a health monitor 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Monitors. 2. Click the Create button. The New Monitor screen opens. 1-3

7 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic 3. In the Name box, type a name for the Monitor. In our example, we type aqualogic-http. 4. From the Type list, select HTTP. 5. In the Configuration section, in the Interval and Timeout boxes, type an Interval and Timeout. We recommend at least a 1:3 +1 ratio between the interval and the timeout. In our example, we use a Interval of 30 and a Timeout of In the Send String and Receive String sections, you can add a Send String and Receive Rule specific to the device being checked. 7. Click the Finished button. The new monitor is added to the Monitor list (see Figure 1.2). Figure 1.2 Creating the HTTP Monitor Creating the pool The next step is to define a load balancing pool for the AquaLogic Portal servers. A BIG-IP pool is a set of devices grouped together to receive traffic according to a load balancing method. This pool uses the monitor you just created. BEA recommends using the Fastest (application) load balancing method. F5 Deployment Guide 1-4

8 To create a pool 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Pools. The Pool screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New Pool screen opens. 3. From the Configuration list, select Advanced. The Advanced configuration options appear. 4. In the Name box, type a name for your pool. In our example, we use aqualogic-portal. 5. In the Health Monitors section, select the name of the monitor you created in the Creating the health monitor section, and click the Add (<<) button. In our example, we select aqualogic-http. 6. From the Load Balancing Method list, select Fastest (application). This the BEA-recommended load balancing method. 7. For this pool, we leave the Priority Group Activation Disabled. 8. In the New Members section, make sure the New Address option button is selected. 9. In the Address box, add the first Aqualogic server to the pool. In our example, we type In the Service Port box, type the appropriate port. In our example, we are using BEA WebLogic Server, so we type Click the Add button to add the member to the list. 12. Repeat steps for each server you want to add to the pool. In our example, we repeat these steps once for the remaining server, Click the Finished button (see Figure 1.3). 1-5

9 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Figure 1.3 Creating a pool for the AquaLogic Portal servers Using SSL certificates and keys If you are using the BIG-IP LTM to offload SSL (recommended), you must install a SSL certificate on the virtual server that you wish to use for BEA AquaLogic connections on the BIG-IP LTM device. For this Deployment Guide, we assume that you already have obtained an SSL certificate, but it is not yet installed on the BIG-IP LTM system. For information on generating certificates, or using the BIG-IP LTM to generate a request for a new certificate and key from a certificate authority, see the Managing SSL Traffic chapter in the Configuration Guide for Local Traffic Management. Important Importing keys and certificates Be sure to see the BEA document Configuring AquaLogic Interaction for SSL for important configuration changes on the AquaLogic devices. Once you have obtained a certificate, you can import this certificate into the BIG-IP LTM system using the Configuration utility. By importing a certificate or archive into the Configuration utility, you ease the task of F5 Deployment Guide 1-6

10 managing that certificate or archive. You can use the Import SSL Certificates and Keys screen only when the certificate you are importing is in Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) format. To import a key or certificate 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic. 2. Click SSL Certificates. The list of existing certificates displays. 3. In the upper right corner of the screen, click Import. 4. From the Import Type list, select the type of import (Certificate or Key). 5. In the Certificate (or Key) Name box, type a unique name for the certificate or key. 6. In the Certificate (or Key) Source box, choose to either upload the file or paste the text. 7. Click Import. If you imported the certificate, repeat this procedure for the key. Creating profiles Creating an HTTP profile BIG-IP version 9.0 and later use profiles. A profile is an object that contains user-configurable settings for controlling the behavior of a particular type of network traffic, such as HTTP connections. Using profiles enhances your control over managing network traffic, and makes traffic-management tasks easier and more efficient. Although it is possible to use the default profiles, we strongly recommend you create new profiles based on the default parent profiles, even if you do not change any of the settings initially. Creating new profiles allows you to easily modify the profile settings specific to this deployment, and ensures you do not accidentally overwrite the default profile. These profiles use new optimized profiles available in BIG-IP LTM version 9.4 and later. If you are using a BIG-IP LTM version prior to 9.4, the Configuration Guide for BIG-IP Local Traffic Management for version 9.4 (available on AskF5) shows the differences between the base profiles and the optimized profile types. Use this guide to manually configure the optimization settings. The first new profile we create is an HTTP profile. The HTTP profile contains numerous configuration options for how the BIG-IP LTM system handles HTTP traffic, and includes compression and caching configuration options. 1-7

11 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic For this deployment, we assume you are using the BIG-IP LTM or WebAccelerator to offload compression from the AquaLogic devices. If you not using the BIG-IP LTM or WebAccelerator to offload compression, we recommend you use an HTTP profile with compression disabled (such as the base HTTP parent profile). Important When using the BIG-IP LTM or WebAccelerator to offload compression, you must disable compression on the AquaLogic devices. See Modifying the AquaLogic configuration, on page 1-22 for configuration information. If you are using the WebAccelerator, use the following procedure to configure the HTTP profile. If you are not using the WebAccelerator, see Configuring the HTTP profile if you are not using the WebAccelerator, on page 1-8. Configuring the HTTP Profile if you are using WebAccelerator For deployments where WebAccelerator is used, and the majority of users accessing the AquaLogic devices are connecting across a WAN, we use the http-acceleration parent profile (available in versions and later). This profile uses specific settings to optimize traffic over the WAN. This profile has compression disabled, because compression duties are handled by the WebAccelerator. To create a new HTTP profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New HTTP Profile screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-http-acceleration. 4. From the Parent Profile list, select http-acceleration. 5. Modify any of the other settings as applicable for your network. In our example, we leave the settings at their default levels. 6. Click the Finished button. Configuring the HTTP profile if you are not using the WebAccelerator Use the following procedure to configure an HTTP profile if you are not using the WebAccelerator. If you want the compression settings on the BIG-IP LTM to be the same as the default AquaLogic compression settings, there are two optional settings in the HTTP profile (minimum content length and gzip compression level) to modify in the following procedure. F5 recommends you leave these settings at their default level on the BIG-IP LTM for maximum performance. F5 Deployment Guide 1-8

12 Creating the TCP profiles Creating the WAN optimized TCP profile To configure the HTTP profile on the BIG-IP LTM 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New HTTP Profile screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-http. 4. From the Parent Profile list, select http-wan-optimized-compression-caching. 5. Optional: In the Minimum Content Length row, click the Custom box, and then type 512 in the box. This matches the default compression setting on the AquaLogic device. We recommend leaving this setting at Optional: In the gzip Compression Level row, click the Custom box, and then select Other. In the box, type 5. This matches the default gzip compression level on the AquaLogic device. We recommend leaving this setting at 1 - Least Compression (Fastest). 7. Modify any of the other settings as applicable for your network. 8. Click the Finished button. The next profiles we create are the TCP profiles. If most of the BEA AquaLogic users are accessing the devices via a Local Area Network, we recommend using the tcp-lan-optimized (for server-side TCP connections) parent profile. If the majority of the users are accessing the system from remote or home offices, we recommend using an additional TCP profile, called tcp-wan-optimized (for client side TCP connections). In these profiles, we set the Congestion Control to High Speed, which helps the BIG-IP LTM detect and adapt more quickly to network congestion. First we configure the WAN optimized profile. If most of the users are accessing the system over the LAN or other low latency links, you do not need to create this profile. To create a new TCP WAN optimized profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 2. On the Menu bar, from the Protocol menu, click tcp. 3. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New TCP Profile screen opens. 4. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-wan. 1-9

13 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic 5. From the Parent Profile list, select tcp-wan-optimized. 6. In the Congestion Control row, click the Custom box. From the list, select High Speed. 7. Modify any of the settings as applicable for your network. In our example, we leave the settings at their default levels. 8. Click the Finished button. Figure 1.4 Creating the TCP profile (condensed to show relevant settings) Creating the LAN optimized TCP profile Next we configure the LAN optimized profile. Remember, if you are not using version 9.4 or do not want to use this optimized profile, you can choose the default TCP parent profile. To create a new TCP profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. 2. On the Menu bar, from the Protocol menu, click tcp. 3. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New TCP Profile screen opens. 4. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-lan. 5. From the Parent Profile list, select tcp-lan-optimized if you are using BIG-IP LTM version 9.4 or later; otherwise select tcp. 6. In the Congestion Control row, click the Custom box. From the list, select High Speed. F5 Deployment Guide 1-10

14 7. Modify any of the other settings as applicable for your network. In our example, we leave the settings at their default levels. 8. Click the Finished button. Creating persistence profile The next profile we create is a Persistence profile. This profile for AquaLogic devices uses an irule that provides persistence on the JSESSIONID value found in either the URI or a cookie. More information on this irule can be found on DevCentral (requires free registration). We first create the irule, and then add it to the persistence profile. To create the persistence irule 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click irules. The irules screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New irule screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this irule. In our example, we type jsessionid-persistence. 4. In the Definition box, copy and paste the following irule: when HTTP_REQUEST { if { [ exists "JSESSIONID"] } { persist uie [ "JSESSIONID"] } else { set jsess [findstr [ "JSESSIONID" 11 ";"] if { $jsess!= "" } { persist uie $jsess } } } when HTTP_RESPONSE { if { [ exists "JSESSIONID"] } { persist add uie [ "JSESSIONID"] } } 5. Click the Finished button. Now we create a new persistence profile that uses the irule you just created. 1-11

15 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic To create a new persistence profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 2. On the Menu bar, click Persistence. The Persistence Profiles screen opens. 3. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New Persistence Profile screen opens. 4. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-jsessionid. 5. From the Persistence Type list, select Universal. The configuration options for universal persistence appear. 6. In the irule row, click the Custom box, and then select the name of the irule you created in the preceding procedure. In our example, we type jsessionid-persistence. 7. In the Timeout row, click the Custom box, and then type 1200 in the Seconds box. 1,200 seconds is the default session timeout in AquaLogic. If you have change the default setting, make sure this value matches that new setting. 8. Modify any of the settings as applicable for your network. In our example, we leave the settings at their default levels. 9. Click the Finished button. Figure 1.5 Configuring the persistence profile that uses an irule F5 Deployment Guide 1-12

16 Creating a OneConnect profile The next profile we create is a OneConnect profile. With OneConnect enabled, client requests can utilize existing, server-side connections, thus reducing the number of server-side connections that a server must open to service those requests. This can provide significant performance improvements for AquaLogic implementations. For more information on OneConnect, see the BIG-IP LTM documentation. In our example, we leave all the options at their default settings. You can configure these options as appropriate for your network. To create a new OneConnect profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 2. On the Menu bar, from the Other menu, click OneConnect. The Persistence Profiles screen opens. 3. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New HTTP Profile screen opens. 4. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-oneconnect. 5. From the Parent Profile list, ensure that oneconnect is selected. 6. Modify any of the other settings as applicable for your network. In our example, we leave the settings at their default levels. 7. Click the Finished button. Creating the Stream profile (optional) The next profile we create is a Stream profile. This profile is optional, and is created to correct instances where the web server inserts its own host name instead of the host name of the virtual servers, or incorrect paths into the content of the web pages. The Stream profile performs a search and replace procedure for all occurrences of a string in a data stream efficiently and with minimal buffering. For more information on the Stream Profile, see Solution 8115, Overview of the Stream Profile, on Ask F5. This procedure uses the host name of the virtual server you will create in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page If you do not yet know the host name, you can return to this procedure after creating the virtual server and modify the Target. To create a new Stream profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. 1-13

17 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic 2. On the Menu bar, click Stream. The Stream Profiles screen opens. 3. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New Stream Profile screen opens. 4. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-stream 5. Click the Custom box in the Target row. In the Target box, type use the following In our example, we eb1.weblogic10.tc.f5net.com:7001@portal.tc.f5net.com@ In this example, we are searching for the host name of the AquaLogic device, and replacing it with the host name of the virtual server you will create in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page The second search and replace pattern (following is for our second AquaLogic device. 6. Click the Finished button. Figure 1.6 Creating the Stream profile Creating a Client SSL profile The next step in this configuration is to create a Client SSL profile. This profile contains the SSL certificate and Key information for offloading the SSL traffic. If you are not using the BIG-IP LTM system to offload SSL transactions, you do not need to create this profile. To create a new Client SSL profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic. 2. Click Profiles. The HTTP Profiles screen opens. F5 Deployment Guide 1-14

18 3. On the Menu bar, from the SSL menu, select Client. The Client SSL Profiles screen opens. 4. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New Client SSL Profile screen opens. 5. In the Name box, type a name for this profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-clientssl. 6. In the Configuration section, check the Certificate and Key Custom boxes. 7. From the Certificate list, select the name of the Certificate you imported in the Importing keys and certificates section. 8. From the Key list, select the key you imported in the Importing keys and certificates section. 9. Click the Finished button. Creating the irules Creating the Gateway Service irule The next step is create two irules on the BIG-IP LTM that make sure that requests are properly routed from the backend to the BIG-IP LTM. This irule is used for AquaLogic components that are communicating between each other using the Gateway Service. In this case, we do not want the BIG-IP device to modify any of the traffic between the components, so this irule disables RAM cache and the HTTP Class profile (which is what associates WebAccelerator with a particular virtual server). To create the Portal Gateway irule 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click irules. The irules screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New irule screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this irule. In our example, we type aqualogic-gateway. 1-15

19 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic 4. In the Definition box, copy and paste the following irule: when HTTP_REQUEST { if { [ exists {CSP-Gateway-Type}] } { #log local0.notice "Gateway header spotted." disable CACHE::disable } elseif { [ starts_with "/portal/server.pt/gateway/" } { #log local0.notice "Gateway request spotted." disable CACHE::disable } elseif { [ exists {PT-HTTPRequest-Type}] } { #log local0.notice "Gateway request spotted." disable CACHE::disable } } 5. Click the Finished button. Creating the Analytics irule This irule is very similar to the previous irule, but is only used for the Analytics Service. If you do not have Analytics installed, you do not need this irule. To create the Analytics irule 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click irules. The irules screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New irule screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this irule. In our example, we type aqualogic-analytics. 4. In the Definition box, copy and paste the following irule: when HTTP_REQUEST { if { [ contains "/analytics_console/" } { #log local0.notice "Analytics request spotted." disable CACHE::disable } } 5. Click the Finished button. F5 Deployment Guide 1-16

20 Creating the Portal virtual server Next, we configure a virtual server that references the profiles and pool you created in the preceding procedures. To create the virtual server 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Virtual Servers. The Virtual Servers screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this virtual server. In our example, we type aqualogic-portal. 4. In the Destination section, select the Host option button. 5. In the Address box, type the IP address of this virtual server. In our example, we use In the Service Port box, type 443. Figure 1.7 Creating the AquaLogic Portal virtual server 7. From the Configuration list, select Advanced. The Advanced configuration options appear. 8. Leave the Type list at the default setting: Standard. 9. From the Protocol Profile (Client) list select the profile you created in Creating the WAN optimized TCP profile. If you did not create a WAN optimized profile, select the LAN optimized profile as in the following Step. In our example, we select aqualogic-wan. 10. From the Protocol Profile (Server) list, select the profile you created in Creating the LAN optimized TCP profile. In our example, we select aqualogic-lan. 11. From the OneConnect Profile list, select the profile you created in Creating a OneConnect profile. In our example, we select aqualogic-oneconnect. 12. From the HTTP Profile list, select the profile you created in Creating an HTTP profile. In our example, we are using the WebAccelerator, so we select aqualogic-http-acceleration. 1-17

21 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic 13. From the SSL Profile (Client) list, select the profile you created in Creating a Client SSL profile. In our example, we type aqualogic-clientssl. 14. If you created a Stream profile, from the Stream Profile list, select the profile you created in Creating the Stream profile (optional). In our example, we type aqualogic-stream (see Figure 1.8). Figure 1.8 Selecting the AquaLogic profiles for the virtual server 15. In the Resources irule section, from the Available list, select all of the irules you created in Creating the irules, on page In our example, we select aqualogic-gateway and aqualogic-analytics. 16. From the Default Pool list, select the pool you created in the Creating the pool section. In our example, we select aqualogic-portal. 17. From the Default Persistence Profile list, select the persistence profile you created in the Creating persistence profile section. In our example, we select aqualogic-cookie. 18. From the Fallback Persistence Profile box, select source_addr (see Figure 1.9). F5 Deployment Guide 1-18

22 Figure 1.9 Adding the Pool and Persistence profile to the virtual server 19. Click the Finished button. See the following section for AquaLogic Image Services configuration. 1-19

23 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Configuring the BIG-IP LTM system for AquaLogic Image Services In this section, we configure the BIG-IP LTM for BEA AquaLogic Image Services. The image service serves images, javascript, and other static content for use by the AquaLogic User Interaction system. Because the BIG-IP LTM configuration for AquaLogic applications is similar to the Portal configuration, this sections refers to procedures in the Portal configuration, with notes about any differences. In many cases, you can use the same objects for both Portal and Image Services (such as the health monitor and profiles), however, we strongly recommend you create new objects for each AquaLogic component. Creating a health monitor The first task is to create a health monitor for the Portal devices. Follow the procedure Creating the health monitor, on page 1-3. Use a unique name for the monitor, and use the same a 1:3 +1 ratio between the interval and the timeout. All other settings are optional, configure as applicable for your configuration. Creating the pool The next task is to create a pool for the Image Service. Follow the procedure Creating the pool, on page 1-4. Type a unique name for the pool and configure the pool to use the health monitor you just created. Be sure to use the appropriate port and IP address. All other settings are optional, configure as applicable for your configuration. Using SSL certificates and keys The next task is to ensure you have the appropriate SSL certificate and key on the BIG-IP LTM. Follow the procedure Using SSL certificates and keys, on page 1-6. Creating the Profiles For the AquaLogic Image Service configuration, you should create new versions of the profiles you created for AquaLogic Portal Server. With the exception of the Stream profile and the SSL profile, you could use the same profiles you created for the Portal configuration, but we strongly F5 Deployment Guide 1-20

24 recommend you create new profiles. By creating new profiles, it makes it much easier to fine tune optimization and other settings for specific applications in the future. For the optional Stream profile, follow the procedure Creating the Stream profile (optional), on page 1-13, making sure in step 5 to use the appropriate host name and virtual server host name. For the SSL profile, if you are importing a new certificate and key, follow Importing keys and certificates, on page 1-6, and use that information in the Client SSL profile. Creating the irules For this virtual server, we only use the gateway disable irule. You can use the same irule you created previously. Creating the Image Service virtual server The final step is to create a virtual server for the Images Service devices. Follow the procedure Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Give this virtual server a unique name, and use the appropriate address and port (443), and configure the virtual server to use all of the objects you created in the preceding procedures. 1-21

25 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Modifying the AquaLogic configuration The following procedures need to be performed on the AquaLogic devices for the BIG-IP LTM integration to function correctly. These changes include turning off compression, modifications for SSL offload on the LTM, and changing the DNS names to match the BIG-IP LTM virtual server. Disabling compression on the AquaLogic Portal devices If you are using the BIG-IP LTM or WebAccelerator to handle compression duties (as recommended in this guide), you must disable compression on the AquaLogic Portal devices. You must perform the following procedure on each server where your AquaLogic Portal service is installed. To turn off compression on the AquaLogic devices 1. From the AquaLogic device, start a text editor, and then open the PT_HOME/settings/portal/httpcompression.xml file. 2. Find the enablehttpcompression setting, and change the value to false (circled in red in the Figure 1.10). 3. Save and close the httpcompression.xml file. 4. Repeat these steps on each server where the AquaLogic Portal Service is installed. Figure 1.10 Changing the enablehttpcompression setting to false in the httpcompression.xml file Changing the AquaLogic Portal configuration The next procedure involves making changes to the portalconfig.xml file. The first change is to change the DNS entry in the AquaLogic Portal configuration to be the DNS name of the BIG-IP LTM portal virtual server. There are also changes to make in this file if you are using the BIG-IP LTM F5 Deployment Guide 1-22

26 to offload SSL from the AquaLogic deployment. Again, this procedure needs to be performed on each server where your AquaLogic Portal service is installed. To change the AquaLogic Portal configuration 1. From the AquaLogic device, start a text editor, and then open PT_HOME/settings/portal/portalconfig.xml. 2. Find the ApplicationURL0 setting, and change the host name to match the FQDN of your Portal virtual server that you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Find the SecureApplicationURL0 setting, and also change the host name to match the FQDN of the Portal virtual server. Important: If you are offloading SSL, change to Figure 1.11 Changing the DNS names to match the BIG-IP LTM virtual server 4. If you are using the BIG-IP LTM to offload SSL, you must also find the SecurityMode setting, and change the value to 3. This is only necessary if you are offloading SSL to the BIG-IP LTM (see Figure 1.12, which also contains the descriptions of the Security Modes). 5. Save and close the portalconfig.xml file. 6. Repeat these steps on each server where the AquaLogic Portal Service is installed. 1-23

27 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Figure 1.12 Changing the SecurityMode value to 3 Modifying the Portal Settings from the Configuration manager The next step is to modify the main Portal settings from the Configuration Manager. To modify the Portal settings 1. Open a web browser, and navigate to your ALUI Configuration Manager (for example, 2. From the left navigation pane, expand Portal Service, and then click Main Portal Settings. 3. In the Image Server base URL box, type the FQDN of the Image Service virtual server you created in Creating the Image Service virtual server, on page In our example, we type 4. In the Image Server secure base URL box, if you are using the BIG-IP LTM to offload SSL, type the FQDN of the Image Service virtual server you created in Creating the Image Service virtual server, on page 1-21, preceded by In our example, we type If you are not offloading SSL, simply use the same URL you used in Step In the Image Server connection URL box, type the FQDN of the Image Service virtual server you created in Creating the Image Service virtual server, on page In our example, we type 6. Click the Save button. F5 Deployment Guide 1-24

28 Figure 1.13 Modifying the Image Server settings for the Portal server 7. From the left navigation pane, under Portal, click Portal System Properties. 8. In the Server Name box, type the FQDN of the Portal virtual server you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Click the Save button. Figure 1.14 Modifying the Server Name on the Portal System Properties 1-25

29 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Modifying the ALUI services that use the Portal and Image services The next step is to modify the ALUI services that use the Portal and Image services. This includes API, Notification, and Activity services. You only need to perform the procedures relevant to your configuration. Modifying the AquaLogic Notification Service The first procedure in this section is modifying the Notification service configuration to use the BIG-IP LTM virtual server. To modify the Notification Service configuration 1. Open a web browser, and navigate to your ALUI Configuration Manager (for example, 2. From the left navigation pane, expand AquaLogic Notification Service, and then click General Settings. 3. From the Portal Server section, in the AquaLogic Interaction URL box, type the type the FQDN of the Portal Service virtual server you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Click the Save button. Figure 1.15 Modifying the Notification Service configuration Modifying the ALI API service configuration The next step is to modify the ALI API Service to use the Image virtual server address. F5 Deployment Guide 1-26

30 To modify the ALI API service 1. From the left navigation pane, expand ALI API Service, and then click API Service General. 2. In the Image Service Connection URL box, type the FQDN of the Image Service virtual server you created in Creating the Image Service virtual server, on page Click the Save button. Figure 1.16 Setting the Image Service Connection URL for the API Modifying the Activity service configuration The final task is to modify the Activity service configuration to use the BIG-IP LTM Portal virtual server. To modify the Activity service configuration 1. From the left navigation pane, expand Activity Service, and then click General. 2. In the Portal URL box, type the FQDN of the Image Service virtual server you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Click the Save button (see Figure 1.17). 1-27

31 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Figure 1.17 Modifying the Activity service configuration Modifying the AquaLogic database To be consistent, you also need to make sure the backend database that AquaLogic uses for all of its configuration and settings has the correct names and values corresponding to the Virtual Servers we have created in this deployment guide. In our environment, we are using an Oracle 10g database, and our schema is PLUMTREE (the default for AquaLogic User Interaction 6.5). Important Modifying the PTSERVERCONFIG table The following sections do not contain procedures for configuring the database. Please refer to your installation and your vendor's database documentation for specifics on making modifications to your database. First, we need to make two changes in the PTSERVERCONFIG table to point to the correct URL for our Portal installation. SETTINGID: 2 NAME: AquaLogic Interaction web server URL VALUE: Change the VALUE column to reflect the FQDN of the virtual F5 Deployment Guide 1-28

32 server you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page In our example, we change it to SETTINGID: 3 NAME: display files directory URL VALUE: Change the VALUE column to reflect the FQDN of the virtual server you created in Creating the Portal virtual server, on page In our example, we change it to RGS_0. In both settings, we are just concerned with changing the host name to match the DNS name of our AquaLogic Portal virtual server. The paths in the URLs should not be changed unless you have modified the default. Also, if you are off-loading SSL for your Portal installation, use instead of Figure 1.18 Viewing the PTSERVERCONFIG table after modifying SETTINGID 2 and 3 Modifying the PTOBJECTPROPERTIES table The second database change is to modify the PTOBJECTPROPERTIES table to point to the correct URL for the Image Service installation. OBJECTID: 30 CLASSID: 48 PROPERTIES2: Change the PROPERTIES2 column (the URL between the <S></S> tags) to reflect the FQDN of the Virtual Server you created in Creating the Image Service virtual server, on page Note that you In our example, we change it to See Figure 1.19 for an example of what the table should look like when the changes are complete. 1-29

33 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Figure 1.19 The PTOBJECTPROPERTIES table after changing the PROPERTIES2 column. This concludes the BIG-IP LTM configuration. If you are using the WebAccelerator module, continue to Configuring the F5 WebAccelerator module with BEA AquaLogic, on page 2-1. F5 Deployment Guide 1-30

34 Synchronizing the BIG-IP LTM configuration if using a redundant system If you are using a redundant BIG-IP configuration, the final step is to synchronize the configuration to the peer BIG-IP device. To synchronize the configuration using the Configuration utility 1. On the Main tab, expand System. 2. Click High Availability. The Redundancy screen opens. 3. On the Menu bar, click ConfigSync. 4. Click the Self --> Peer button. 1-31

35 Deploying F5 with Oracle s BEA AquaLogic Appendix A: Load balancing other AquaLogic services This Appendix gives recommendations on load balancing other AquaLogic services with the BIG-IP LTM, such as the Document Repository and the Interaction Automation services. Load balancing the Document Repository service The AquaLogic Document Repository Service enables content from file system locations, URLs, Collaboration projects, or Publisher targets to be made available through the portal. For configuring the BIG-IP LTM with the Document Repository Service, we recommend the following: Health Monitor: Follow Creating the health monitor, on page 1-3. Pool: Follow Creating the pool, on page 1-4. Use a simple load balancing algorithm, such as Round Robin. Note: All nodes in the BIG-IP LTM pool must use a common data store. Profiles: An HTTP profile with no acceleration, or compression/caching (use Configuring the HTTP Profile if you are using WebAccelerator, on page 1-8, but in Step 4, select http as the parent profile (not http-acceleration). Create a new TCP profile. Use the tcp-lan-optimized parent profile. Create a a Persistence Profile with a Persistence Type of Source Address Affinity. Virtual Server: Follow Creating the Portal virtual server, on page Use the objects you created in this section. The virtual server port should be 8020 if using HTTP, and 8021 if using HTTPS. Load balancing the Interaction Automation service AquaLogic Interaction Automation Service enables the ALI administrator to schedule and run administrative and maintenance jobs, such as user and group synchronization or data source crawls. For load balancing the Interaction Automation service, we recommend the following: Health Monitor: Create a health monitor, using the TCP Half Open as the monitor type. Pool: Follow Creating the pool, on page 1-4. Use a simple load balancing algorithm, such as Round Robin. F5 Deployment Guide 1-32

36 Profiles: Create a new TCP profile. Use the tcp-lan-optimized parent profile. Create a a Persistence Profile with a Persistence Type of Source Address Affinity. Virtual Server: Follow Creating the Portal virtual server, on page The virtual server port should be From the Type list, select Performance (Layer 4). Use the objects you created in this section. The select the TCP profile you created above from the Protocol Profile (Client) list. 1-33

37 2 Configuring the BIG-IP WebAccelerator with BEA AquaLogic

38 Configuring the F5 WebAccelerator module with BEA AquaLogic In this chapter, we configure the WebAccelerator module for the AquaLogic devices to increase performance for end users. The BIG-IP WebAccelerator is an advanced web application delivery solution that provides a series of intelligent technologies designed to overcome problems with browsers, web application platforms and WAN latency issues which impact user performance. For more information on the F5 WebAccelerator, see Prerequisites and configuration notes The following are prerequisites for this section: We assume that you have already configured the BIG-IP LTM system for directing traffic to the AquaLogic deployment as described in this Deployment Guide. You must have purchased and licensed the WebAccelerator module on the BIG-IP LTM system, version 9.4 or later. This document is written with the assumption that you are familiar with the BIG-IP LTM system, WebAccelerator and BEA WebLogic Server. Consult the appropriate documentation for detailed information. Configuration example Using the configuration in this section, the BIG-IP LTM system with WebAccelerator module is optimally configured to accelerate traffic to BEA AquaLogic devices. The BIG-IP LTM with WebAccelerator module both increases end user performance as well as offloads the servers from serving repetitive and duplicate content. In this configuration, a remote client with WAN latency accesses a BEA AquaLogic server via the WebAccelerator. The user s request is accelerated on repeat visits by the WebAccelerator instructing the browser to use the dynamic or static object that is stored in its local cache. Additionally, dynamic and static objects are cached at the WebAccelerator so that they can be served quickly without requiring the server to re-serve the same objects. 2-1

39 Configuring the BIG-IP WebAccelerator with BEA AquaLogic Configuring the WebAccelerator module Configuring the WebAccelerator module requires creating an HTTP class profile and creating an Application. The WebAccelerator device has a large number of other features and options for fine tuning performance gains, see the WebAccelerator Administrator Guide for more information. Connecting to the BIG-IP LTM device Use the following procedure to access the BIG-IP LTM system s web-based Configuration utility using a web browser. To connect to the BIG-IP LTM system using the Configuration utility 1. In a browser, type the following URL: IP address of the BIG-IP device> A Security Alert dialog box appears, click Yes. The authorization dialog box appears. 2. Type your user name and password, and click OK. The Welcome screen opens. Creating an HTTP Class profile The first procedure is to create an HTTP class profile. When incoming HTTP traffic matches the criteria you specify in the WebAccelerator class, the system diverts the traffic through this class. In the following example, we create a new HTTP class profile, based on the default profile. To create a new HTTP class profile 1. On the Main tab, expand WebAccelerator, and then click Classes. The HTTP Class Profiles screen opens. 2. In the upper right portion of the screen, click the Create button. The New HTTP Class Profile screen opens. 3. In the Name box, type a name for this Class. In our example, we type aqualogic-class. 4. From the Parent Profile list, make sure httpclass is selected. 5. In the Configuration section, from the WebAccelerator row, make sure Enabled is selected. 6. In the Hosts row, from the list select Match Only. The Host List options appear. a) In the Host box, type the host name that your end users use to access the AquaLogic devices. In our example, we type aqualogic-application.f5.com(see Figure 1). F5 Deployment Guide 2-2

40 b) Leave the Entry Type at Pattern String. c) Click the Add button. d) Repeat these sub-steps for any other host names users might use to access the AquaLogic deployment. 7. The rest of the settings are optional, configure them as applicable for your deployment. 8. Click the Finished button. The new HTTP class is added to the list. Figure 1 Creating a new HTTP Class profile Modifying the Virtual Server to use the Class profile The next step is to modify the virtual server for your AquaLogic deployment on the BIG-IP LTM system to use the HTTP Class profile you just created. To modify the Virtual Server to use the Class profile 1. On the Main tab, expand Local Traffic, and then click Virtual Servers. The Virtual Servers screen opens. 2-3

41 Configuring the BIG-IP WebAccelerator with BEA AquaLogic 2. From the Virtual Server list, click the name of the virtual server you created for the AquaLogic servers. In our example, we click aqualogic-portal. The General Properties screen for the Virtual Server opens. 3. On the Menu bar, click Resources. The Resources screen for the Virtual Server opens. 4. In the HTTP Class Profiles section, click the Manage button. 5. From the Available list, select the name of the HTTP Class Profile you created in the preceding procedure, and click the Add (<<) button to move it to the Enabled box. In our example, we select bea-class (see Figure 2). 6. Click the Finished button. The HTTP Class Profile is now associated with the Virtual Server. Figure 2 Adding the HTTP Class to the Virtual Server Important If you are using the BIG-IP LTM version or later, you must have created an HTTP profile on the BIG-IP LTM system that has RAM Cache enabled. In our example (Creating an HTTP profile, on page 1-7) we use a parent profile that includes RAM Cache. If you did not create an HTTP profile with RAM Cache enabled, you must create a new HTTP profile, based on a parent profile that uses RAM Cache (such as HTTP Acceleration), and modify the virtual server to use this new profile. This is only required for BIG-IP LTM version and later. To create the HTTP profile, use Creating an HTTP profile, on page 1-7, selecting the HTTP Acceleration parent profile. You must leave RAM Cache enabled; all other settings are optional. To modify the virtual server, follow Steps 1 and 2 from the preceding procedure to access the virtual server, and then from the HTTP Profile list, select the name of the new profile you just created and click Update. F5 Deployment Guide 2-4

42 Creating an Application The next procedure is to create a WebAccelerator Application. The Application provides key information to the WebAccelerator so that it can handle requests to your application appropriately. To create a new Application 1. On the Main tab, expand WebAccelerator, and then click Applications. The WebAccelerator UI opens in a new window. 2. Click the Create button. 3. In the Application Name box, type a name for your application. In our example, we type BEA AquaLogic Portal. 4. In the Description box, you can optionally type a description for this application. 5. From the Local Policies or Central Policy list, select BEA AquaLogic (Plumtree with Collaboration). This is a pre-defined policy created for BEA AquaLogic devices (see Figure 3). 6. In the Requested Host box, type the host name that your end users use to access the BEA AquaLogic deployment. This should be the same host name you used in Step 6a of Creating an HTTP Class profile, on page 2-2. In our example, we type aqualogic-application.f5.com. If you have additional host names, click the Add Host button and enter the host name(s). 7. Click the Save button. Figure 3 Configuring an Application on the WebAccelerator 2-5