KEMP Virtual LoadMaster

The KEMP Virtual LoadMaster is a version of the KEMP LoadMaster that runs as a virtual machine within a hypervisor and can provide all the features and functions of a hardware-based LoadMaster. The following instructions describe how to install a Virtual LoadMaster on a VMware ESXi environment.

The VLM is packaged with an .ovf for ease of deployment. This file can be freely downloaded from https://freeloadbalancer.com/download/ . Unzip the contents of the file to an accessible location. Time to deploy the OVF file.

Once setup is done, power on the virtual machine and select console tab.

The LoadMaster must now be configured to operate within the network configuration. Now point your browser to the IP address that was previously noted. If you are using the Online licensing method, fill out the fields and click License Now.

Click continue. The login screen appears, enter the bal user name and the password. If your machine has shipped with a temporary license you should get a warning informing you that a temporary license has been installed on your machine and for how long the license is valid.

You should now connect to the Home screen of the LoadMaster.

Go to System Configuration > Network Setup > Default Gateway in the main menu.

In the DNS Configuration, enter the IP address of the default gateway.

The Load-Master is now fully installed and ready to be used.

Note: Default Credentials for Load-Master
lb100 login: bal
password: 1fourall

Time to configure virtual server. I have already added virtual servers.

Click Modify, if you have already added Virtual IP. If not, click add new.

Here 172.XX.XX.139:8080 is my virtual IP. This IP will be my entry point from the client. That means, on client side, this IP will be used and in the following configuration, we will add two real IPs. Basically, these IPs are from 2 different computers. The concept is, if one Server (IP) is down, Load-Balancer will connect to second server (IP). Client will not notice this change. Similarly, based on Scheduling Method ( see above ), Load-Balancer will decide which way to go.

This is the simple Load-Balacer configuration. For more details, see official documentation from KEMP.

Testing Load Balancer from client: