How to use pfSense to load balance your web services

Note that there are two types of load balancing for pfSense: one is to set up multiple WAN for dual-line load balancing, and the other is to do inbound-loadbalancer for the webserver in LAN.

This article shows how to use pfSense 2.0 to configure load balancing (load balancer) for your multiple webservers. It is assumed here that you already have one pfSense server and 2 or more apache servers in your network environment, and have certain pfSense knowledge.

1.Prerequisites

An installed pfSense 2.0 machine (if it is your perimeter firewall, it is recommended to install it on a physical machine)

At least 2 apacheserver (can be a virtual machine)

Ensure that code files are synchronized between apacheservers (rsync, cororsyncor other can keep webfiles updated between servers)

2. Configure pfSense

pfSense You can use the load balancing function to share the specific request pressure among multiple servers. This is very helpful for servers with multiple applications because you can distribute the load The pressure is distributed to other nodes instead of being stuck on one node.

2.1Monitor

We officially start. First click on Services -> Load Balancers and then select the Monitor tab.

Click the +plus sign on the right to add a record, enter the name Name and description Description of the monitor (in this example I use ApacheClusterMon for both name and description), put the type Type Set it to HTTP, and set the host address Host to an unused IP (later we will create a virtual IP on this IP, and this virtual IP will be assigned to the failover failover On the node, note: There are also articles saying to set it to WAN IP), HTTP CodeSave the default 200 OK, then click Save to save and make the changes effectiveApply Changes.

2.2Pool

Then create the server pool server pool. Click the + button of the Pools tag to add a pool.

I specified ApacheSrvPool as the service pool name, set Mode to Load Balance, and port 80(. This port is the listening port of your backend server. Of course, you can set other settings for other applications. Port, not necessarily web). Set the ApacheClusterMon created in the previous step for this pool, add all your webserversIP to this pool in turn Add to pool, save and apply.

2.3Virtual Server

In the last step, select the Virtual Servers tab and click + to add a record. Fill in the name Apache Cluster Virtual Server, description and IPaddress. This IPaddress is the same as the unused IP mentioned in step 1, port 80, all sent to this WANIP:port Connections will be forwarded to the server pool. Virtual Server PoolVirtual Server PollSelect the one created in the previous step. Submit and apply.

Done! Finally don’t forget to add firewall rules for the virtual server IP and pool.

Get Brothers IT Education’s original Linux operation and maintenance engineer video/detailed Linux tutorial for free. For details, consult the official website customer service: http://www.lampbrother.net/linux/

Learn PHP, Linux, HTML5, UI, Android, etc. Video tutorial (courseware + notes + video)! Contact Q2430675018