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Deploy a virtual Kemp load-balancer appliance

  • October 2, 2018
  • 5 min read
IT and Virtualization Consultant. Romain is specializing in Microsoft technologies such as Hyper-V, System Center, storage, networking, and MS Azure. He is a Microsoft MVP and MCSE in Server Infrastructure and Private Cloud.
IT and Virtualization Consultant. Romain is specializing in Microsoft technologies such as Hyper-V, System Center, storage, networking, and MS Azure. He is a Microsoft MVP and MCSE in Server Infrastructure and Private Cloud.

Kemp provides a product called LoadMaster that provides a load balancer. Load Master is available in physical and virtual appliances. The virtual appliance is also called VLM (Virtual LoadMaster). LoadMaster can be deployed either in On-Prem and in Microsoft Azure. Today I wanted to show you how to deploy a VLM and the first configuration steps.

Download Virtual LoadMaster

Virtual LoadMaster can be downloaded for free from this website. A Kemp ID is required. Even though the download is free, most of the time a license has to be acquired to get support and paid features.

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VLM is available for most of enterprise hypervisor available on the market. In this topic, I’ll deploy VLM on a VMware vSphere infrastructure. Select your hypervisor and download the image.

Deploy the appliance

From a VMware vCenter (here HTML5, version 6.7u1), right click on a cluster / hypervisor and Deploy OVF Template. Select the OVF and VMDK files:

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Then specify a VM name and its location:

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In the next window, choose the cluster / hypervisor to host computer resource:

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Then just click on next.

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Next choose the datastore where you want to store the VM.

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Then specify the destination network:

  • Network: where your VLM will be reachable
  • Farm: For cluster usage (heartbeat etc.)

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Finally click on Finish to deploy VM.

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Initial configuration

First start the VM then open a remote console. The default login / password is bal / 1fourall.

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Once logged, specify an IP address in CIDR format.

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Next specify the gateway.

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Specify the DNS servers separated by space:

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Specify a HTTP proxy if required:

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Select Yes

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Now you can connect to Kemp through a Web Browser. Accept the license agreement.

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Once you have accepted the license agreement, you have to specify your Kemp ID to select the license:

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Choose to allow Call Home or not.

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Specify a password for bal account.

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Your VML is ready to be configured.

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Conclusion

A VLM appliance, either Hyper-V or VMware can be deployed quickly thanks to image. After the initial configuration, the Kemp LoadMaster is ready and can be configured to distribute traffics. It’s what I like with Kemp: the initial settings and advanced settings are accessible and don’t require to spend lot of time to learn and understand.

In this topic I deployed a standalone Kemp LoadMaster. Because LoadMaster distributes traffics for Exchanges, SharePoint, and other web applications, it is a highly critical component. Therefore, most of the time Kemp is deployed in cluster to ensure high availability. In a next topic, I’ll show you how to deploy an Active-Passive cluster and how-to backup restore the configuration.

Hey! Found Romain’s article helpful? Looking to deploy a new, easy-to-manage, and cost-effective hyperconverged infrastructure?
Alex Bykovskyi
Alex Bykovskyi StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance Product Manager
Well, we can help you with this one! Building a new hyperconverged environment is a breeze with StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance (VHCA). It’s a complete hyperconverged infrastructure solution that combines hypervisor (vSphere, Hyper-V, Proxmox, or our custom version of KVM), software-defined storage (StarWind VSAN), and streamlined management tools. Interested in diving deeper into VHCA’s capabilities and features? Book your StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance demo today!