F5 Add-on for Web Farm Framework
Gupreet over on the IIS.NET site posted a sample for integrating an F5 load balancer with the Web Farm Framework. It works well, but isn't configurable. I started adding my own configuration, but artisticcheese posted a project to CodePlex that already has this functionality.
To install, download the extension and perform the following:
- Create pool on F5 load balanacer with exactly the same
name on WFF. Do not add any farm members yet.
- Stop WFF service
- Create folder "%programfiles%\IIS\Microsoft Web Farm Framework\extensions"
and put all files in distribution into that folder
- Modify "F5LoadBalancer.dll.config" file to point to active node of F5
loadbalancer and authentication credentials
- Copy "icontrol.dll" into "%programfiles%\IIS\Microsoft Web Farm Framework"
- Open "%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config" and edit
XML node below by adding attribute in bold <webFarm name="DevWebFarm"
enabled="true" primaryServer="webnode1" loadBalancerProvider="F5">
- Start WFF service
iControl.dll is an assembly provided by BigIP giving you a .NET API to control your F5 Local Traffic Balancer.
Now that you have it installed, WFF will automatically take nodes online & offline thru the F5 as needed. This supports rolling deployments and more.