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 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.

3.1 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.

3.2 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 LoadMaster routes traffic so that the Real Server sees traffic arriving from the LoadMaster interface that is in that network/subnet.

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 Web User Interface (WUI), go to System Configuration > Miscellaneous Options > Network Options.

2. Select the Subnet Originating Requests check box.

4 Configure the Portal Reencrypted Virtual Service

Follow the steps below to create and configure the recommended settings for the Portal Reencrypted Virtual Service:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster Web User Interface (WUI), go to Virtual Services > Add New.

2. Type a valid IP address in the Virtual Address text box.

3. Type 443 in the Port text box.

4. Enter a recognizable Service Name, for example, Portal Reencrypted.

5. Ensure tcp is selected as the Protocol.

6. Click Add this Virtual Service.

7. Configure the settings as shown in the following table:

Section	Option	Value	Comment
Standard Options	Persistence Mode	Active Cookie	You must enable SSL Acceleration before you can select Active Cookie
	Timeout	1 Hour
	Cookie name	jsessionid
	Scheduling Method	least connection
	Idle Connection Timeout	660
SSL Properties	SSL Acceleration	Enabled
	Reencrypt	Selected
	Supported Protocols	TLS1.0 TLS1.1 TLS1.2 TLS1.3	While this workload may not support TLS1.3 yet, Kemp recommend enabling it for future proofing.
	Cipher Set	BestPractices
Advanced Properties	Add a Port 80 Redirector VS	https://%h%s	Click Add HTTP Redirector. This automatically creates a redirect on port 80. Note: This field disappears after it is clicked.
Real Servers	Real Server Check Method	HTTPS Protocol
	Checked Port	443

8. Add the Real Servers:

a) Expand the Real Servers section.

b) Click Add New.

c) Type the address of the Real Server.

d) Type 443 as the Port.

e) Click Add This Real Server.

f) Repeat the steps above to add more Real Servers as needed, based on the environment.

4.1 Configure the Portal Reencrypted HTTP Redirect Virtual Service

Clicking the Add HTTP Redirector button automatically creates a port 80 redirect Virtual Service. This is optional, but the purpose of this Virtual Service is to redirect any clients who have connected using HTTP to the HTTPS Virtual Service. Kemp also recommends changing the Real Server Check Method and Persistence Mode to None.

Last Updated Date

This document was last updated on 04 March 2022.