The above diagram depicts a typical load-balanced configuration. Load-balanced configurations include multiple application servers, a database server (or failover cluster), a file system server and a collaboration server. A network switch is used to handle communications from the client machines to the application servers and the collaboration server. A separate switch is used to handle a secure, private connection between the application servers and the file system and database servers. The database and file system must be on a secure, private network.

The LoadMaster is primarily used for load balancing and providing HA for the web/application servers and collaboration servers. The collaboration server can also be optionally load balanced. For more information on how to load balance the collaboration server, refer to this link: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator

The diagram above also shows integration with an LDAP server (or servers) to handle authentication and a Student Information System (SIS) to share data with Blackboard Learn™.