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Barracuda Link Balancer

Attention

As of 1st March 2019, all new sales for the Barracuda Link Balancer product will cease. Only renewals of software and hardware subscriptions for a maximum of one year is available for a limited time. 1st March 2020: All Barracuda Link Balancer sales will cease; neither new sales nor any renewals will be available. If you currently hold a maintenance and support contract, you will continue to receive our award-winning support and services until your contract expires.

How to Create a High Availability Cluster

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The following instructions describe how to deploy a pair of Barracuda Link Balancers in a cluster. Prior to clustering Barracuda Link Balancers, you should place the systems into their production IP address range. This will save you from reconfiguring the cluster later because of an IP address change.

Step 1. Complete the Installation Process for Both Systems

To prepare the Barracuda Link Balancers for clustering, put both systems into the production location on the network.

Complete the following steps:

  1. If the primary system is a brand new unconfigured system, then you need to install, configure and test the primary system as described in the installation articles. If the primary system is already configured and operational, update its firmware. If the firewall is enabled, change its LAN IP address to a new value. Use its original LAN IP address as the VRRP virtual IP address.
  2. On the backup system, configure a WAN link, connect to the Internet, and activate the system (BASIC > Status). Then configure the LAN IP address, LAN2 IP address (optional), and the default domain (BASIC > IP Configuration). Set the time zone to be the same as the primary system (BASIC > Administration). Then update the firmware (ADVANCED > Firmware Update). Connect to the LAN. To use the LAN2 ports, connect them with a crossover cable.

Step 2. Create the Cluster

Navigate to the ADVANCED > High Availability page on each system to be clustered, and perform the following steps:

  1. On the primary system, enter values into the fields in the Cluster Settings section, and save your changes.
  2. On the backup system, enter the same values for the cluster settings and save your changes. In the Clustered Systems section, enter the LAN2 IP address of the primary system (if it is to be used) or the LAN IP address of the primary system and click Join Cluster. The backup system will reboot.
  3. When the backup system comes back up, refresh the Advanced > High Availability page on both systems and verify that each system’s LAN or LAN2 IP address appears in the Clustered Systems table and the Status of each system is green.

The systems are now joined. The shared configuration settings of the primary system (as listed in Synchronization of Data Between Clustered Systems) will be copied to the secondary system, and each system will begin monitoring the health of the other system.

Step 3. Connect WAN Links and Test

Connect all WAN links to the backup Barracuda Link Balancer. To test the clustering capability, power off the active system. The backup system should take over the link balancing function. Power the system back on to test automatic failback. If you chose the option to failover if all WAN links are down, then test this by removing the WAN links from the active system. You can also configure specific WAN links to trigger the failover.

Step 4. Put in Production

From now on, always use the VRRP virtual IP address to manage the Barracuda Link Balancer to be sure that any changes you make occur immediately on the active system.