On each realserver (web1 and web2), do the following:

1. If the server doesn’t already have Apache installed, install it:
   
     # apt-get install apache2
   
   If you haven’t installed the content files for your web site, you can do it now or after load balancing is set up.
   
2. Install iproute (a Linux networking package with more features than older utilities such as ifconfig and route):
   
     # apt-get install iproute 
   
3. Add these lines to /etc/sysctl.conf:
   
     net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore = 1 
     net.ipv4.conf.eth0.arp_ignore = 1
     net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_announce = 2
     net.ipv4.conf.eth0.arp_announce = 2 
   
4. Get the changes into the kernel:
   
     # sysctl -p
     net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_ignore = 1
     net.ipv4.conf.eth0.arp_ignore = 1
     net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_announce = 2
     net.ipv4.conf.eth0.arp_announce = 2 
   
5. Assuming that your realserver is a Debian system, edit the /etc/network/interfaces file, associating the VIP (70.253.15.42) with the loopback alias lo:0 :
   
     auto lo:0
     iface lo:0 inet static
         address 70.253.15.42
         netmask 255.255.255.255
         pre-up sysctl -p > /dev/null 
   
6.  Enable the loopback alias:
   
     # ifup lo:0 
   
7. Create the file /var/www/ldirector.html with the contents:
   
     I'm alive! 
   
8. On web1:
   
     # echo "I'm web1" > /var/www/which.html 
   
9. On web2: 
   
     # echo "I'm web2" > /var/www/which.html 
   
10. Start Apache, or restart it if it’s already running:
    
      # /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

The Apache access logs should not yet show any activity, because lb is not talking to them yet.

Please check back next week for the conclusion to this article.