F5 Add-on for Web Farm Framework

Gupreet over on the IIS.NET site posted a sample for integrating an F5 load balancer with the Web Farm Framework.  It works well, but isn't configurable.  I started adding my own configuration, but artisticcheese posted a project to CodePlex that already has this functionality.

To install, download the extension and perform the following: 

  1. Create pool on F5 load balanacer with exactly the same name on WFF. Do not add any farm members yet.
  2. Stop WFF service
  3. Create folder "%programfiles%\IIS\Microsoft Web Farm Framework\extensions" and put all files in distribution into that folder
  4. Modify "F5LoadBalancer.dll.config" file to point to active node of F5 loadbalancer and authentication credentials
  5. Copy "icontrol.dll" into "%programfiles%\IIS\Microsoft Web Farm Framework"
  6. Open "%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config" and edit XML node below by adding attribute in bold <webFarm name="DevWebFarm" enabled="true" primaryServer="webnode1" loadBalancerProvider="F5">
  7. Start WFF service

iControl.dll is an assembly provided by BigIP giving you a .NET API to control your F5 Local Traffic Balancer.

Now that you have it installed, WFF will automatically take nodes online & offline thru the F5 as needed.  This supports rolling deployments and more.

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