From within a Virtual Service you can create one or more ‘Sub Virtual Services’ (SubVS). A SubVS is linked to, and uses the IP address of, the ‘parent’ Virtual Service. The SubVSs may have different settings (such as health check methods and content rules) to the parent Virtual Service and to each other. This allows the grouping of related Virtual Services, all using the same IP address. This could be useful for certain configurations such as Exchange or Lync which typically are comprised of a number of Virtual Services.

Note: Users with the Virtual Services permission can add a SubVS.
Note: Users with the Real Server permission cannot add a SubVS.

To create a SubVS, within a Virtual Service configuration screen, expand the Real Servers section and click the Add SubVS button.

A message appears stating that the SubVS has been created.

Note: You cannot have Real Servers and SubVSs associated with the same Virtual Service. You can however, associate a Real Server with a SubVS.

When the SubVS is created, the Real Servers section of the Virtual Services configuration screen is replaced with a SubVSs section.

All the SubVSs for the Virtual Service are listed here. The Critical check box can be enabled to indicate that the SubVS is required for the Virtual Service to be considered available. If a non-critical SubVS is down, the Virtual Service is reported as up and a warning is logged. If a critical SubVS is down, a critical log is generated and the Virtual Service is marked as down. If the email options are configured, an email is sent to the relevant recipients. For further information on the email options, refer to the Email Options section. In all cases, if the Virtual Service is considered to be down and the Virtual Service has a sorry server or an error message configured, these are used.

To modify the SubVS, click the relevant Modify button. A configuration screen for the SubVS appears. This contains a subset of the configuration options available for a normal Virtual Service.

Note: In LoadMaster firmware version 7.2.52 and above, it is possible to set a Reencryption SNI Hostname at the SubVS level. If this is set in a SubVS, this overrides the parent Virtual Service value and/or the received SNI value.

The SubVSs can also be modified by clicking the relevant Modify button from within the main Virtual Services view. A Virtual Service with SubVSs is colored differently within the Virtual IP address section and the SubVSs are listed in the Real Server section. The SubVS details can be viewed by clicking the 'parent' Virtual Service to expand the view to include the SubVSs.

Duplicate SubVS

You can click Duplicate SubVS to create a duplicate SubVS within the same Virtual Service. All SubVS configuration settings are copied to the duplicate SubVS.

When you click Duplicate SubVS, a pop-up message appears like "SubVS duplicated, SubVS Id:4, RS Id: 3". Click OK to close the pop-up. A SubVS has both a Virtual Service ID (SubVS Id) and a Real Server ID (RS Id).

The SubVS Id in the message refers to the Virtual Service ID. You can see this ID in the heading at the top of the SubVS modify screen for the relevant SubVS.

The RS Id refers to the "Real Server" Id. For SubVSs, this Real Server Id is used to identify the SubVS in the SubVSs section of the Virtual Service modify screen.

SubVSs have two additional limit fields in the Basic Properties section of the SubVS modify screen:

  • SubVS Limit: The maximum number of connections that can be sent to this SubVS before it is taken out of rotation from the main Virtual Service. The maximum limit is 1000000.

  • SubVS Rate Limit: The maximum number of connections per second that can be sent to this SubVS before it is taken out of rotation from the main Virtual Service. The maximum limit is 1000000.

Note: The lowest of the possible limits (global, client, Virtual Service, and SubVS) that is reached first is enforced. Note that the global limit is for all Virtual Services, the Virtual Service limit is for the current Virtual Service with multiple clients, and the client limit can be applicable for all clients, multiple clients, or for a single client - depending on the configuration. Client limits are enforced regardless of what Virtual Service is in use.
Note: If you would like to remove a Virtual Service which contains SubVSs, you must remove the SubVSs first before you are able to delete the main service.
Note: SubVSs may have different ESP configurations than their parent Virtual Service, however care must be taken to ensure that the parent Virtual Service and SubVS ESP options do not conflict.