Adding Virtual Services can be both repetitive and prone to error when being performed over multiple LoadMasters. Progress Kemp have developed a general template mechanism that will allow consistency and ease of use when creating Virtual Services.

Using templates to set up and configure a Virtual Service is a two-stage process. Initially the templates must be imported into the LoadMaster. When imported, the templates can then be used when adding a new Virtual Service.

Templates can be imported and installed on the LoadMaster through the Manage Templates screen. For more information regarding this screen, please refer to the Web User Interface (WUI) Configuration Guide.

When adding a new Virtual Service, a template can be selected from the list of available templates in the Use Template drop-down list. Selecting a template may fill in the port and protocol of the Virtual Service. The values prepopulated by the template can be overridden, but may be ignored depending on the template. When the Add this Virtual Service button is clicked, the Virtual Service is created and a number of other attributes of the Virtual Service are automatically configured by the template. Once loaded, the Virtual Service may be modified in the same way as manually created Virtual Services.

Note: If you create another Virtual Service using the same template, ensure to change the Service Name to a unique name.
Note: When using SNMP monitoring of ESP-enabled Virtual Services that were created using a template, ensure to monitor each SubVS directly rather than relying on the master service. This is because the Authentication Proxy sub-service will always be marked as up and, as a consequence, so will the master service.

Download released templates from the following page: LoadMaster Templates.

It is also possible to create your own templates by exporting Virtual Service settings. To do this, go to Virtual Services > View/Modify Services, click Modify on the relevant Virtual Service and then click the Export Template button. The template is exported as a .txt file. It is possible to bundle multiple template files into one gzipped, tar file. This allows multiple templates to be imported at the same time.

Note: When exporting a Virtual Service template in which the Virtual Service uses a custom Cipher Set, the LoadMaster on which the template is imported must include the same custom Cipher Set.

When you export a Virtual Service as a template, it is provided with a default name and comment. If desired, the template text file can be modified to include a more useful name and comment. Template names can be up to 126 characters long. Template comments can be up to 1023 characters long.

There is a Kemp Certified column on the Manage Templates screen. The Certified column will indicate whether the template was supplied by Progress Kemp or not. If a template is certified, it has been provided by Progress Kemp. If a template is not certified, it might be a template created by you (by exporting a Virtual Service).