A10 AX Series Quick reference guide

Deployment Guide
AX Series for SharePoint 2010
DG_ACC_062011.1

AX Series for SharePoint 2010 Deployment Guide
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1Introduction ............................................................................................................................................5
2Deployment Guide Overview.................................................................................................................5
3Deployment Guide Prerequisites...........................................................................................................6
4AX Deployment for SharePoint 2010 Server Roles...............................................................................7
5Accessing the AX Series Load Balancer...............................................................................................7
6SharePoint 2010 Recommended Installation Procedures.....................................................................8
7Architecture Overview............................................................................................................................9
8Basic AX Configuration For SharePoint...............................................................................................10
8.1 Server Configuration ...................................................................................................................11
8.2 Health Monitor Configuration ......................................................................................................12
8.3 Service Group Configuration.......................................................................................................13
8.4 Virtual Server Configuration........................................................................................................15
8.5 Source IP Persistence.................................................................................................................17
8.5.1 Create IP Persistence Template.............................................................................................17
8.5.2 Apply IP Persistence to the VIP..............................................................................................18
8.6 IP Source NAT ............................................................................................................................18
8.6.1 Create IP Source NAT Template ............................................................................................19
8.6.2 Apply IP Source NAT to the VIP .............................................................................................20
8.7 Validate Service ..........................................................................................................................21
9Advanced AX Features for SharePoint................................................................................................22
9.1 Preparing the Configuration ........................................................................................................22
9.1.1 Import existing SharePoint webserver SSL cert or create self-signed CA from the AX .........22
9.1.2 Create one client and one server SSL template.....................................................................26

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9.1.3 On the virtual server, change the service type of the virtual port from “TCP” to “HTTPS” and
apply the new client and server SSL template ....................................................................................27
9.2 SSL Offload.................................................................................................................................29
9.2.1 Change the Port Numbers in the Service Group ....................................................................30
9.2.2 On the Virtual Server, remove the Server SSL Template.......................................................30
9.2.3 Validate the Deployment.........................................................................................................31
9.3 Compression...............................................................................................................................32
9.3.1 Create HTTP Compression Template.....................................................................................32
9.3.2 Apply HTTP Compression Template to VIP............................................................................34
9.3.3 Validate the Deployment.........................................................................................................35
9.4 Cookie Persistence .....................................................................................................................35
9.4.1 Create Cookie Persistence Template .....................................................................................35
9.4.2 Apply Cookie Persistence Template to VIP ............................................................................36
9.4.3 Validating the Deployment ......................................................................................................37
9.5 Connection Reuse (TCP Offload) ...............................................................................................37
9.5.1 Create Connection Reuse Template.......................................................................................38
9.5.2 Create an IP Source NAT template.........................................................................................38
9.5.3 Apply Connection Reuse and SNAT to VIP............................................................................39
9.5.4 Validate the Deployment.........................................................................................................40
9.6 RAM Caching..............................................................................................................................40
9.6.1 Create RAM Caching Template..............................................................................................41
9.6.2 Apply RAM Caching Template on VIP....................................................................................42
9.6.3 Validate the Deployment.........................................................................................................42
9.7 Securing SharePoint via aFleX...................................................................................................43
9.7.1 Create aFleX Script.................................................................................................................43
9.7.2 Configure VIP with HTTP/Port 80 ...........................................................................................45

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9.7.3 Apply AFLEX Script to VIP......................................................................................................45
9.7.4 Validate AFLEX Service..........................................................................................................46
10 Summary and Conclusion...............................................................................................................47
11 Appendix .........................................................................................................................................48
11.1 AX Series CLI sample configurations: ........................................................................................48

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1 INTRODUCTION
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is the latest web application platform developed by Microsoft for small to large
businesses. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is designed as a centralized collaboration, content, and file
management application software. SharePoint provides many features for clients, such as support for
audio, video, and Silverlight applications, making it easy for users to build dynamic web sites. SharePoint
2010 also offers the new ribbon user interface that makes SharePoint easier to deploy, manage and
customize. In addition, SharePoint now offers easy-to-deploy templates that range from wikis to
workflows. SharePoint is a very scalable solution that can support thousands of customers and it can be
deployed in a multi-server environment. The AX Series Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) provide
advanced load balancing services for Microsoft SharePoint 2010.
2 DEPLOYMENT GUIDE OVERVIEW
This document shows how an A10 Networks AX Series device can be deployed with Microsoft
SharePoint 2010. The tested solution is based on an AX Series device load balancing two (2) SharePoint
Web Front End (WFE) servers. The WFE servers will be referred to as web servers (WS) in the next
chapters. Refer to Table 1: AX Deployment for SharePoint 2010 Server Roles, for the details of the server
roles within the deployment guide.
The deployment guide is divided into two sections namely: Basic AX configuration and Advanced AX
configuration for SharePoint. The Basic AX configuration is a bare minimum configuration that can be
used in a SharePoint deployment. To transition configuration from Basic to Advanced there are required
configuration to be change. Please refer to the configuration changes required in Error! Reference
source not found..
This deployment document does not apply to Microsoft SharePoint 2003 or 2007 Servers. This
deployment guide only applies to Microsoft SharePoint 2010 installations.

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3 DEPLOYMENT GUIDE PREREQUISITES
AX Series Requirements
The A10 Networks AX Series ADC must be running version 2.4.x
Microsoft SharePoint Requirements
The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 application was tested and deployed for internal and external
users to access the SharePoint service.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is required.
All Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Server Components are running on Windows 2008 (64-bit)
Enterprise Edition Server Operating System.
The deployment guide was tested based on:
AX Release: 2.6.1
Clients OS: 64-bit Windows 7 Operating System.
Client browsers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 8.0
Google Chrome Version 10.0
Mozilla Firefox Version 4.0.1
Note: If the Virtual IP (VIP) is accessed from an external client, the network topology needs to be
deployed on a routed mode. If the SharePoint services are accessed internally, the network has to be
deployed on a one-arm mode. If the SharePoint servers are accessed from internal and external clients,
the network topology has to be deployed in one-arm mode configuration.
Note: For additional deployment modes that the AX Series device can support, please visit the following
URL: http://www.a10networks.com/products/axseries-load-balancing101.php

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4 AX DEPLOYMENT FOR SHAREPOINT 2010 SERVER ROLES
Figure 1: Provides server description for the test environment:
Figure 1: SharePoint Server Role Matrix
5 ACCESSING THE AX SERIES LOAD BALANCER
This section describes how to access the AX Series device. The AX can be accessed either from a
Command Line Interface (CLI) or Graphical User Interface (GUI):
CLI –Text-based interface in which you type commands on a command line. You can access the
CLI directly through the serial console or over the network using either of the following protocols:
Secure protocol –Secure Shell (SSH) version 2
Unsecure protocol –Telnet (if enabled)
GUI –Web-based interface in which you click to access configuration or management pages and
type or select values to configure or manage the device. You can access the GUI using the
following protocol:

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Secure protocol –Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS)
Note: HTTP requests are redirected to HTTPS by default on the AX device.
Access information:
Default Username: “admin”
Default password is “a10”.
Default IP Address of the device is “172.31.31.31”
For detailed information how to access the AX Series device, refer to document “A10 Networks AX Series
System Configuration and Administration Guide.pdf”
6 SHAREPOINT 2010 RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
1. Prepare a list of servers that will be deployed in the topology. The required servers for SharePoint
are Application Server (AS), Web Front End (WFE), Database Server (DB), indexing/search
server, Active Directory (AD)/Domain Name Servers (DNS) server and optional Network Access
Storage (NAS).
2. Install base Windows OS (Windows 2010 64-bit) and install required software prerequisites.
Install SQL database and provision a SQL Admin account with the permission level needed to
create a database for SharePoint 2010 server.
3. Active Directory (AD) and DNS servers are required for network management and user
provisioning.
4. Install SharePoint 2010 server and configure the services based on server roles. This can be
done via the SharePoint Web Management GUI.
5. Configure an Alternate Access Mapping (AAM) on the web servers.
Note: For additional information on how to configure AAM refer to:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263208(office.12).aspx
6. Test the SharePoint site to verify that it is accessible, and then deploy the AX Series device.
Note: If you have an existing SharePoint 2010 Server already installed, you can skip the SharePoint 2010
recommended installation procedure above.

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7 ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW
Figure 2: SharePoint 2010 Deployment Topology

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8 BASIC AX CONFIGURATION FOR SHAREPOINT
This chapter explains how the AX Series is configured with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 server
implementation. This chapter provides instructions for installing the real servers, service group, virtual
services, and virtual servers in a basic Microsoft SharePoint configuration with no optimization.
Basic SharePoint Configuration
Figure 3: Basic SharePoint Configuration
The simplest configuration uses the AX series device to load balance SharePoint traffic using a secured
HTTPS connection. The WFE are the only servers that are load balanced by the AX. This is because
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 has its own built-in redundancy and load balancing mechanism on the
backend servers. For detailed information explaining why Applications Servers (AS) and other SharePoint
components cannot be load balanced with any load balancer, refer to the following URLs:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-CA/sharepoint2010setup/thread/f3ae16b1-8a3b-4ffa-a2e0-
e78a48889c71
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/spses/archive/2010/01/20/sharepoint-2010-shared-service-architecture-part-
1.aspx