Before You Begin

This tutorial shows you how to create a load balancer in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for use with environments created in PeopleSoft Cloud Manager. This tutorial takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Load Balancing service provides automated traffic distribution from one entry point to multiple backend servers reachable from your virtual cloud network (VCN).

See Load Balancer in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure documentation.

Background

This is the sixteenth tutorial in the Install PeopleSoft Cloud Manager series. Read the tutorials in the order listed. The optional tutorials offer alternate methods for setup.

Step 1: Plan the Load Balancer Configuration

To create and configure a load balancer for a PeopleSoft environment:

  1. Create the load balancer in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute console.

    See Load Balancer Management in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure documentation.

    • Choose a public or private load balancer. With public access, the load balancer accepts traffic from the internet. With private access it connects to internal ports.
    • Choose a VCN, subnets, and security rules.
    • Choose how the load balancer will distribute traffic.
    • Specify names for backend sets, but do not specify the backends.
    • Specify names, ports, and protocol for the listener.
  2. In PeopleSoft Cloud Manager, associate the environment components with the load balancer.

    See the section Configuring Load Balancer Settings in the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager documentation. Select the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager page on the Oracle Help Center.

    • Choose a load balancer.
    • Choose a backend set and add web server domains or Kibana domains as backends.
    • Choose a listener.
    • Choose whether to use the listener for Kibana, PIA, or Integration Broker (IB) and Report Nodes.

The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Load Balancer documentation refers to backend servers as Compute instances. When you create a load balancer to use with PeopleSoft Cloud Manager, the term refers to instances created for mid-tiers with web server (PIA) domains or Kibana domains. Kibana is part of the Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana setup (the ELK stack).

You can use a load balancer for:

  • Full-tier environments with or without Kibana
  • Middle tiers with Appserver, Process Scheduler, and web server
  • Middle tiers with Appserver, Process Scheduler, web server, and Kibana
  • ELK stack tiers with Kibana

A backend set is comprised of a group of identical backends, such as a set of web server domains. When you associate the domains with the load balancer, the Kibana domains must be in separate backend sets from the web server (PIA) and IB/Report Node domains.

Step 2: Set Up a Virtual Cloud Network for a Load Balancer

Before creating the load balancer, create a virtual cloud network (VCN).

The VCN that is created as part of the Resource Manager stack for Cloud Manager does not include a subnet or security rules for the load balancer. If you prefer, you can add a subnet for the load balancer in the VCN created by the Resource Manager stack, and add extra security rules. If you prefer to create a VCN, or use an existing one, you can add the necessary security rules there.

Create a separate VCN, or update an existing one to use with the load balancer.

  • Use the same VCN for the load balancer and the PeopleSoft provisioned environments.
  • The subnet where the load balancer resides must allow incoming requests to the load balancer listening port. You specify the port for the listener when creating the load balancer.
  • The subnets where the web server domains and Kibana domains reside must allow incoming requests from the load balancer to the listener ports of the web server and Kibana nodes.
  • You can use either security rules on the subnets, or Network Security Groups (NSGs), to satisfy the networking requirements.
  • The firewall rules must allow the load balancer to connect to the required ports for the PeopleSoft environment components, and the environment components must be able to connect to load balancer ports.
  • Depending upon the environment setup, the required connections are:
    • Public or private load balancers need connection from the load balancer to the PIA or IB port.
    • Public or private load balancers need connection from the load balancer to the Kibana port.
    • Private load balancers need connection from the IB VM to the load balancer listener port (for private internal access to the load balancer).
    • Private load balancers need connection from the application server VM to the load balancer listener port (for private internal IB access to the load balancer).
    • Private load balancers need connection from the ELK/Kibana VM to the load balancer listener port (for private internal IB access through the load balancer).
    • Private load balancers need connection from Process Scheduler VM to the load balancer listener port (for private internal access for posting reports through the load balancer URL).

For sample subnets, and a list of the PeopleSoft component ports see the tutorial Plan the Virtual Cloud Network for PeopleSoft Cloud Manager (Optional).

Step 3: Create a Load Balancer in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console

To create a load balancer:

  1. Sign in to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and select Networking, then Load Balancers from the menu (Menu icon for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console) at the top left of the window.
  2. Select a compartment.
  3. Click Create Load Balancer.
    Load Balancers page
    Description of this illustration (create_load_balancer.png)
  4. Select Load Balancer as the type and click Create Load Balancer.
    Select Load Balancer Type page
    Description of this illustration (create_load_balancer_type.png)
  5. Enter a descriptive name. Make a note of the name you enter for use in Cloud Manager.
    Add Details page, Load Balancer Name
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_name.png)
  6. Select a visibility type.
    • Click Public if you want the load balancer to use a public IP address, which is open to the Internet, for incoming traffic.
    • Click Private if you want to use a private IP address for internal incoming VCN traffic.
    Create Load Balancer page, Choose visibility type section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_pub_priv.png)
  7. If you select a public IP address, choose one of these options:
    • Select Ephemeral IP Address to generate an IP address for the load balancer.
    • Select Reserved IP Address to create a new reserved IP address or select an existing reserved IP address.
  8. Select a shape from these options:
    • Select Flexible Shapes and specify the desired minimum and maximum bandwidth.
    • Select Dynamic Shapes and choose one of the available predefined shape sizes.
    Create Load Balancer page, Shapes section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_shape.png)
  9. Choose a compartment, and select an existing VCN and subnet.
    Create Load Balancer page, Choose Networking section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_networking.png)
  10. (Optional) Select the option Use network security groups to control traffic, and select one or more existing network security groups.
  11. Select one of these load balancing policies to determine how traffic is distributed among the backend servers.
    • Weighted Round Robin — distribute incoming traffic sequentially to each server in the backend set list. This is the recommended policy.
    • IP Hash — always direct requests from a particular client to the same backend server.
    • Least Connections — route incoming request traffic to the backend server with the fewest active connections.

    Create Load Balancer page, Specify a load Balancing Policy section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_policy.png)
  12. Do not select backend servers at this point. You will select the backend servers in Cloud Manager.
  13. Select a health check policy. Accept the defaults or change according to your preference.

    • Protocol
    • Port — Enter 0 (zero) to support multiple web server domain ports.
    • Interval in milliseconds (Optional)
    • Timeout in milliseconds (Optional)
    • Number of Retries (Optional)
    • Status Code (Optional) — If you are defining a load balancer for an ELK node with Kibana, enter 400 for the Status Code.
    • URL Path (URI)
    • Response Body RegEx (Optional)
    Create Load Balancer page, Specify Health Check Policy
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_healthcheck.png)
  14. Select the Show Advanced Settings link and enter a descriptive name for the backend set, such as pia_backendset.

    Make a note of the name you enter for use in Cloud Manager.

    Create Load Balancer page, Backend Set Name section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_backendset_name.png)
  15. Select the Session Persistence tab, and the Enable application cookie persistence option.
  16. Enter a cookie name.

    When you configure the Load Balancer for your provisioned environment, the configuration process uses this cookie name to update the web server (PIA) domain configuration.

    Create Load Balancer page, Session Persistence section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_appl_cookie.png)
  17. Click Next.
  18. To configure the listener, enter a name. Make a note of the name you enter for use in Cloud Manager.
  19. Select one of these types of traffic that the listener handles:
    • HTTPS
    • HTTP
    • HTTP/2
    • TCP
    Create Load Balancer page, Configure Listener section
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_listener.png)
  20. If you select HTTPS, HTTP/2, or TCP, supply an SSL certificate, Certificate Authority (CA) certificate, and private key. Browse to find the file on your computer, or copy and paste the contents.

    See SSL Certificates for Load Balancers in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure documentation.

    Enabling SSL is recommended. If you do not add the certificate at this point, you can add it to the listener after creating the load balancer, as mentioned in the following section.

    Configure Listener page, add SSL certificate
    Description of this illustration (create_ldbal_sslcert.png)
  21. Enter a port for the listener to monitor for ingress traffic.
  22. Click Next.
  23. On the logging page, accept the defaults and click Submit.

Add an SSL Certificate to a Listener in an Existing Load Balancer (Optional)

You can add an SSL certificate after you complete the load balancer creation. Add the certificate before you configure the environment in Cloud Manager.

  1. If necessary, sign in to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and select Networking, then Load Balancers from the menu at the top left of the window.
  2. Locate the load balancer and select View Details from the actions menu.
  3. On the details page for the load balancer, select Certificates from the Resources links on the left.
  4. Click Add Certificate.
  5. Enter a name for the certificate.
    Add Certificate page
    Description of this illustration (addcert_existing_ldbal.png)
  6. Supply an SSL certificate, Certificate Authority (CA) certificate, and private key. Browse to find the file on your computer, or copy and paste the contents.

    See SSL Certificates for Load Balancers in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure documentation.

  7. Click Add Certificate.
  8. On the details page for the load balancer, select Listeners from the Resources links on the left.
  9. From the action menu for the listener, select Edit.
  10. Choose the Protocol.

    If you select HTTPS or HTTP/2, the Use SSL option is selected. If you select TCP, the option is enabled, and you must select it.

    Edit Listener page
    Description of this illustration (addcert_edit_listener.png)
  11. Select the certificate and backend set.
  12. Click Save Changes.

Step 4: Configure the PeopleSoft Environment to Use the Load Balancer

Sign in to Cloud Manager to configure a PeopleSoft environment to use the load balancer. You complete the configuration on the Load Balancer Setting page for the environment.

Load Balancer Settings page in Cloud Manager
Description of this illustration (cldmgr_config_ldbal.png)

See the section Configuring Load Balancer Settings in the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager documentation for complete instructions on configuring the PeopleSoft environment. Select the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager page on the Oracle Help Center.

Next Steps

Create Defined Tags in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for PeopleSoft Cloud Manager (Optional)

Learn More