1 Introduction

Ellucian Portal is a web services and delivery environment tailored for higher education. It enables you to provide an interactive and collaborative environment. It supports a richer, more personalized user experience, improved information and service delivery and simplified administration and technology management.

1.1 Document Purpose

This document provides the recommended LoadMaster settings used when load balancing the Ellucian Portal workload. The Kemp Support Team is available to provide solutions for scenarios not explicitly defined. The Kemp support site can be found at: https://support.kemptechnologies.com.

1.2 Intended Audience

This document is for anyone deploying Ellucian Portal with a Kemp LoadMaster.

2 Architecture

3 Template

Kemp has developed a template containing our recommended settings for this workload. You can install this template to help create Virtual Services (VSs) because it automatically populates the settings. You can use the template to easily create the required VSs with the recommended settings. For some workloads, additional manual steps may be required such as assigning a certificate or applying port following, these steps are covered in the document, if needed.

You can remove templates after use and this will not affect deployed services. If needed, you can make changes to any of the VS settings after using the template.

Download released templates from the following page: LoadMaster Templates.

For more information and steps on how to import and use templates, refer to the Virtual Services and Templates, Feature Description on the Kemp Documentation page.

4 Configure the LoadMaster

Follow the steps in the sections below to configure the LoadMaster with the recommended settings to load balance the Ellucian Portal workload.

4.1 Enable Check Persist Globally

It is recommended that you change the Always Check Persist option to Yes - Accept Changes. Use the following steps:

1. Go to System Configuration > Miscellaneous Options > L7 Configuration.

2. Click the Always Check Persist drop-down arrow and select Yes - Accept Changes.

4.2 Enable Subnet Originating Requests Globally

It is best practice to enable the Subnet Originating Requests option globally.

In a one-armed setup (where the Virtual Service and Real Servers are on the same network/subnet) Subnet Originating Requests is usually not needed. However, enabling Subnet Originating Requests should not affect the routing in a one-armed setup.

In a two-armed setup where the Virtual Service is on network/subnet A, for example, and the Real Servers are on network B, Subnet Originating Requests should be enabled on LoadMasters with firmware version 7.1-16 and above.

When Subnet Originating Requests is enabled, the Real Server sees traffic originating from 10.20.20.21 (LoadMaster eth1 address) and responds correctly in most scenarios.

With Subnet Originating Requests disabled, the Real Server sees traffic originating from 10.0.0.15 (LoadMaster Virtual Service address on eth0) and responds to eth0 which could cause asymmetric routing.

When Subnet Originating Requests is enabled globally, it is automatically enabled on all Virtual Services. If the Subnet Originating Requests option is disabled globally, you can choose whether to enable Subnet Originating Requests on a per-Virtual Service basis.

To enable Subnet Originating Requests globally, follow the steps below:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster User Interface (UI), go to System Configuration > Miscellaneous Options > Network Options.

2. Select the Subnet Originating Requests check box.

5 Virtual Service - Ellucian Portal

This step-by-step set up of the Virtual Services leverages the Kemp application template for Ellucian Portal.

The table in each section outlines the settings configured by the application template. You can use this information to manually configure the Virtual Services or use the Kemp LoadMaster Application Programming Interface (API) and automation tools.

5.1 Create the Ellucian Portal HTTPS Re-Encrypted Virtual Service

To configure the Virtual Service using the application template, perform the following steps:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster WUI, go to Virtual Services > Add New.

2. Type a valid Virtual Address.

3. Select Ellucian Portal HTTPS Re-encrypted in the Use Template drop-down list.

4. Click Add this Virtual Service.

5. In the left-hand navigation select View/Modify Services.

6. Click Modify on the Ellucian Portal HTTPS Re-encrypted Virtual Service on port TCP 443.

7. Expand the SSL Properties section.

8. Select the certificate to use from Available Certificates and click the arrow (>) to move it to Assigned Certificates.

9. Expand the Real Servers section.

10. Click Add New.

11. Type the Real Server Address.

12. Confirm that port 443 is entered.

13. Click Add This Real Server.

14. Repeat this step to add more Real Servers as needed.

5.1.1 Portal HTTPS Re-encrypted Virtual Service Recommended API Settings (optional)

This table outlines the API parameters and values set using the Kemp application template. You can use these settings with scripts and automation tools.

API Parameter	API Value
port	443
prot	tcp
SubnetOriginating	1
Persist	active-cookie
Cookie	jsessionid
PersistTimeout	3600
Schedule	lc
Idletimeout	660
SSLAcceleration	1
SSLReencrypt	1
CipherSet	BestPractices
ClientCert	0
CheckUseGet	0

5.1.2 Portal HTTPS Re-encrypted Redirect Virtual Service Recommended API Settings (optional)

This table outlines the API parameters and values set using the Kemp application template. You can use these settings with scripts and automation tools.

API Parameter	API Value
port	80
prot	tcp
Transparent	0
Persist	none
Schedule	rr

Last Updated Date

This document was last updated on 03 March 2022.