Endurance
v3.2 (latest) v3.1
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Appliance Deployment

Deploy the Endurance appliance as a virtual machine, on hardware, or in the public cloud.

Hardware

Support for various hardware platforms is coming soon.

Virtual

Host Requirements

To run the Loadbalancer.org Endurance VA (irrespective of which Hypervisor is being used) the following basic server specifications must be met:

  • 64bit CPU

  • Virtual Technology hardware support - either Intel-VT-x or AMD-V compliant CPUs

Virtual Appliance Deployment

Currently, Endurance is available in ISO format with full support for VMware. Additional platforms and deployment formats are coming soon.

The latest ISO file can be downloaded from the Endurance download page if not done so already.

There are 2 Platform options on the download page: ISO and VMware. Selecting "VMware" provides an image that includes VMware Tools, selecting "ISO" provides an image without VMware Tools which can be used with other hypervisors but with limited hypervisor integration.

To create a VA using vSphere:

  1. Login to vSphere client and upload the ISO file to an appropriate datastore.

  2. Create a 64bit Rocky Linux VA, customize the Hardware as shown below:

    deploy va

  3. Configure the following vCPU, RAM, hard disk and network resources:

    • 2 vCPUs

    • 4 GB RAM

    • 50 GB drive

    • Use the ADD NEW DEVICE option to add additional network adapters if needed

      In a production environment, separate interfaces are normally used for management and workload traffic. In a test environment a single interface can be used for both if preferred.

  4. Connect the network adapter(s) to an appropriate network.

  5. Set the appliance’s virtual CD/DVD drive to Datastore ISO File and browse to & select the ISO file download previously. Ensure that Connect At Power On is enabled.

  6. Click Next then Finish to create the VA.

  7. Power up to the appliance.

  8. At the console, select Test this media & install LBOS 3.2.0-BETA and hit Enter to start the installation.

  9. Once complete, hit Enter to quit the installer and start Endurance.

VA Resources

The suggested CPU and memory allocations are suitable for a PoC or for low to medium throughput production applications. For more demanding situations, they can be increased as needed.

Resources required depend on multiple factors including the application being load balanced, the number of end-users, the anticipated throughput, the underlying physical hardware running the hypervisor and whether you’ll be load balancing at layer 4 or layer 7. Therefore it’s not realistic to make generic recommendations.

If you need assistance in determining the resources required for your deployment, please contact support.

Public Cloud

Support for AWS, Azure and GCP is coming soon.

Configure Initial Network Settings

After power up, the following startup message is displayed on the appliance console:

netwiz console

As mentioned in the text, initial network configuration can be performed at the console or via a browser. This will enable you to configure the management IP address and other network settings for the appliance.

An IP address will be displayed if the appliance can obtain an address from a DHCP server. If not, no address will be shown and a static IP will first need to be assigned before the web based setup can be used. This can be done by logging in at the console as the "setup" user and selecting Set Static IP.

At the Console

To start the console based setup process, login as the "setup" user. Once logged in, the Network Setup Wizard will start automatically.

Username: setup <Enter>

A password is not required.

A series of screens will be displayed that allow network settings to be configured:

In the Welcome to Endurance screen, ensure Continue is selected and hit Enter to continue.

netwiz welcome

In the keymap screen, select the required keymap settings and hit Enter to continue.

netwiz select keymap

The Next button will be selected, hit Enter to continue.

In the Client Credentials screen, enter your Email and Password. These will be used to login to the appliance’s WebUI. Hit Enter to continue.

netwiz enter creds

The Next button will be selected, hit Enter to continue.

In the Timezone screen, select the required timezone settings, and hit Enter to continue.

netwiz select timezone

The Next button will be selected, hit Enter to continue.

The Network Setting screen will be displayed.

This screen is used to configure the management interface. Additional interfaces must be configured using the WebUI.
netwiz network settings

  • Using the Spacebar, ensure that the Interface is selected.

  • If additional adapters were added to the VA, additional interfaces will be displayed as shown below:

    netwiz network settings multi

    • Select the required Interface(s). Multiple interfaces can be selected and bonded - in this case, select the required Bond Mode - the following options are available:

      • Balance Round Robin - This mode distributes network traffic across multiple network interfaces in a sequential, cyclic manner.

      • Active Backup - This mode places one of the adapters in a backup state and will only become active if the link is lost to the active adapter. This mode provides fault tolerance.

      • 802.3ad - Dynamic link aggregation mode. This mode requires a switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad.

  • Set the required IP Address and CIDR Suffix.

    A subnet mask such as 255.255.255.0 is not valid, in this case set the CIDR Suffix to 24.

  • If required, set a VLAN ID.

  • Configure an appropriate Default Gateway, DNS Server and Hostname.

  • Hit Enter to continue.

The Next button will be selected, hit Enter to continue.

In the Summary screen, check all settings. If you need to change anything, use the Back button. If everything is correct, ensure that Confirm selected and hit Enter to continue.

netwiz network settings confirm

Hit Enter again to confirm. All settings will be applied.

Once the configuration has been written, the Setup Complete screen will be displayed.

netwiz alldone

Hit Enter to exit the wizard and return to the command prompt.

Using a Browser

To start the web based setup process, browse to the IP address mentioned on the startup screen - if an IP address is not shown, login at the console as the "setup" user and select Set Static IP as mentioned previously.

In the keyboard screen, select the required keyboard settings.

netwiz select keymap web

Click Next to continue.

In the Client Credentials screen, enter your Email and Password. These will be used to login to the appliance’s WebUI.

netwiz enter creds web

Click Next to continue.

In the Timezone screen, select the required timezone settings.

netwiz select timezone web

Click Next to continue.

In the Network Settings screen, configure the required network settings.

This screen is used to configure the management interface. Additional interfaces must be configured using the WebUI.
netwiz network settings web

  • Specify an appropriate Hostname.

  • If additional adapters were added to the VA, additional interfaces will be displayed as shown below:

    netwiz network settings web multi

    • Select the required Interface(s). Multiple interfaces can be selected and bonded - in this case, select the required Bond Mode - the following options are available:

      • Balance Round Robin - This mode distributes network traffic across multiple network interfaces in a sequential, cyclic manner.

      • Active Backup - This mode places one of the adapters in a backup state and will only become active if the link is lost to the active adapter. This mode provides fault tolerance.

      • 802.3ad - Dynamic link aggregation mode. This mode requires a switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad.

  • Set the required IP Address and select the required subnet Mask.

  • Configure an appropriate Default Gateway.

  • Scroll down to display the remaining fields.

    netwiz network settings web2

  • If required, set a VLAN ID.

  • Configure the required Domain name servers.

Click Next to continue.

In the Summary screen, check all settings. If you need to change anything, use the Back button.

netwiz network settings confirm web

If everything is correct, click Submit.

Once the configuration has been written, the Confirmation screen will be displayed.

netwiz alldone web

Click Login to open the WebUI login page for the appliance.

Accessing the Appliance WebUI

  1. Using a browser, navigate to the following URL:

    https://<IP-address-configured-during-the-network-setup-wizard>

    You’ll receive a warning about the WebUI’s SSL certificate. This is due to the default self signed certificate that is used. If preferred, you can upload your own certificate.

  2. Log in to the WebUI using the following credentials:

    Email: <configured-during-network-setup-wizard>
    Password: <configured-during-network-setup-wizard>

    Once logged in, the WebUI will be displayed as shown below:

    standard webui

Menu Options

The main menu is comprised of a primary and secondary menu. By default, the primary menu is always open. This can be customised to suit your preferences under Maintenance > Account Settings.

The primary menu options are:

  • System Overview - Main system dashboard - includes key system information and summary of all load balanced services

  • Local Configuration - Configure local host settings such as data & time, WebUI settings and SNMP

  • Network - Configure network settings such as IP address, IP groups (subnets) DNS server(s)

  • Cluster Configuration - Configure load balanced services, SSL certificates, HA and health checks

  • Maintenance - Perform maintenance tasks such as backup and restore, service restarts and software updates

  • View Configuration - Display the on-disk configuration for all settings configured

  • Logs - View all system logs

  • Notifications - View all system notifications

  • Support - Create a support download, contact the support team & access useful resources