Creating an SLM peer group

An SLM peer group is a collection of DataPower® peers that exchange service level data to enforce SLM policies in the group.

About this task

An SLM peer group establishes a data sharing protocol. The traffic that each DataPower peer in the group processes is passed to the other peers to calculate whether a threshold is reached.

To exchange SLM data at periodic interval, peer members must meet the following conditions.
  • Have identical SLM configurations, including the members list.
  • Use the XML Management Interface to exchange data as SOAP over HTTPS. Update messages (SOAP over HTTPS) with the new information is aggregated in the information store of each peer member.
  • Be clock-synchronized. You can use the NTP service.
  • Use the same packet transmission method, either unicast or multicast.
Based on the platform, the available transmission methods differ.
Unicast
SLM unicast peering uses unicast packet transmission to update peers in a connected manner. SLM unicast peering is the only transmission method available when the platform is docker. Consider SLM unicast peering in the following situation.
  • The DataPower peers are not connected within the same subnetwork.
  • The rate of incoming data is low or moderate.
  • The data sharing interval equals to or is more than 1 second.
Multicast
SLM multicast peering uses IP multicast packet transmission to update peers in a connectionless manner. Multicast peering supports small threshold intervals and allows data sharing intervals of less than 1 second. SLM multicast peering in not available when the platform is docker. Consider SLM multicast peering in the following situation.
  • The DataPower peers are connected within the same subnetwork.
  • The rate of incoming data is high.
  • The data sharing interval is less than 1 second, and you require higher SLM peering accuracy.
  • The peering traffic and the data traffic use separate networks.

You create an SLM peer group by adding a DataPower Gateway as an SLM peer.

Procedure

  1. In the search field, enter peer.
  2. From the search results, click Peer Groups.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Define the basic properties - Name, administrative state, and comments.
  5. From the Type list, select the type of SLM peering for packet transmission.
  6. For SLM multicast peering, specify the IP multicast configuration and update interval to exchange data among peers.
  7. In the URL field, enter the URL of each peer, including the local DataPower Gateway, and click Add. For SLM multicast peering, the URL of the local DataPower Gateway must match the local interface of the referenced IP multicast configuration.
  8. Click Apply to save changes to the running configuration.
  9. Click Save to save changes to the persisted configuration.