You can set up the BIG-IP® system to load balance passive mode FTP traffic. To do this, you perform the following tasks:
Create a custom FTP health monitor.
Create a pool for load balancing FTP traffic.
Create a virtual server for processing FTP traffic.
When you create the virtual server, you can configure it to use the default FTP profile. An FTP profile determines the way that the BIG-IP system processes FTP traffic.
This chapter describes how to create the objects listed above, using the default FTP profile.
Creating a custom FTP monitor
You can create a custom FTP monitor to monitor files on your FTP server.
To create a custom FTP monitor
1.On the Main tab of the navigation pane, expand Local Traffic, and click Monitors.This displays a list of existing health and performance monitors.
2.On the upper-right corner of the screen, click Create.This opens the New Monitor screen.
3.In the Name box, type a name for the custom monitor, such as my_ftp_monitor.
4.From the Type list, select FTP.This displays additional FTP monitor settings.
5.In the User Name box, type the logon name for the FTP server.
6.In the Password box, type the password for the logon name.
7.In the Path/Filename box, type the path and name for the file you want to monitor.
8.Verify that the Mode setting is set to Passive.
9.For all other settings, retain the default values.
10.Click Finished.
After you have created a custom FTP monitor, you can create a load balancing pool for your FTP traffic.
Creating a pool
To load balance passive mode FTP traffic, you create a load balancing pool. When you create the pool, you assign the custom FTP monitor that you created in the previous task.After creating the pool, you assign it to the virtual server that you create.
To create a pool for load balancing FTP traffic
1.On the Main tab of the navigation pane, expand Local Traffic, and click Pools.The Pools screen opens.
2.In the upper-right corner of the screen, click Create.
The New Pool screen opens.
Note: If the Create button is unavailable, this indicates that your user role does not grant you permission to create a pool.
3.In the Name box, type a name for the pool, such as ftp_pool.
4.For the Health Monitors setting, from the Available box select the name of the custom FTP monitor, such as my_ftp_monitor, and click the Move button (<<) to move the monitor name to the Active box.
5.Ensure that Priority Group Activation is set to Disabled.
6.For the New Members setting, add the pool members:
a)Click the New Address option.
b)In the Address box, type the IP address of a server in the pool.
c)From the Service Port list, select FTP.
d)Click Add.
e)Repeat steps b, c, and d for each server in the pool.
7.Click Finished.
Creating a virtual server
The next task in a basic configuration is to define a virtual server that references the FTP profile and the FTP pool.
To create a virtual server for FTP traffic
1.On the Main tab of the navigation pane, expand Local Traffic, and click Virtual Servers.The Virtual Servers screen opens.
2.In the upper-right corner of the screen, click Create.The New Virtual Server screen opens.
Note: If the Create button is unavailable, this indicates that your user role does not grant you permission to create a virtual server.
3.In the Name box, type a name for the virtual server, such as vs_ftp.
4.In the Destination box, verify that the type of virtual server is Host, and in the Address box, type an IP address for the virtual server.
5.From the Service Port list, select FTP.
6.From the FTP Profile list, select ftp.
This assigns the default FTP profile to the virtual server.
7.In the Resources area of the screen, locate the Default Pool setting and select the name of the FTP pool you created in the previous task (for example, ftp_pool).
8.From the Default Persistence Profile setting, select source_addr.
This implements simple persistence, using the default source address affinity profile.
9.Click Finished.