Configuring NAT Load Balancing

To configure NAT load balancing, you must complete the following tasks:

Create address objects.

Create address group.

Create inbound NAT LB Policy.

Create outbound NAT LB Policy.

Create Firewall Rule.

Verify and troubleshoot the network if necessary.

To complete this configuration, perform the following steps:

Create Network Address Objects:

Go to the Network > Address Objects page in the Management GUI.

Create the network objects for both of the internal Web servers, and the Virtual IP (VIP) on which external users will access the servers.

Create an address group named www_group.

Add the two internal server address objects you just created.

Create an Inbound NAT Rule for the Group to allow anyone attempting to access the VIP to get translated to the address group you just created, using Sticky IP as the NAT method.

NOTE: Do not save the NAT rule just yet.

Set the LB Type and Server Liveliness Method:

On the Advanced tab of the NAT policy configuration control window, you can specify that the object (or group of objects, or group of groups) be monitored via ICMP ping or by checking for TCP sockets opened. For this example, we are going to check to see if the server is up and responding by monitoring TCP port 80 (which is good, since that is what people are trying to access).

You can now click on the OK button to save and activate the changes.

NOTE: Before you go any further, check the logs and the status page to see if the resources have been detected and have been logged as online. Two alerts will appear as Firewall Events with the message “Network Monitor: Host 192.160.200.220 is online” (with your IP addresses). If you do not see these two messages, check the steps above.

Create an Outbound NAT Rule for the LB Group to allow the internal servers to get translated to the VIP when accessing resources out the WAN interface (by default, the X1 interface).

Create a Firewall Rule for VIP to allow traffic from the outside to access the internal Web servers via the VIP.

Test your work: From a laptop outside the WAN, connect via HTTP to the VIP using a Web browser.

NOTE: If you wish to load balance one or more SSL VPN Appliances, repeat steps 1-7, using HTTPS instead as the allowed service.