Add real servers to a load balancing virtual server to provide the information the virtual server requires to be able to send sessions to the server. A real server configuration includes the IP address of the real server and port number that the real server receives sessions on. The FortiGate unit sends sessions to the real server’s IP address using the destination port number in the real server configuration.

When configuring a real server you can also specify the weight (used if the load balance method is set to weighted) and you can limit the maximum number of open connections between the FortiGate unit and the real server. If the maximum number of connections is reached for the real server, the FortiGate unit will automatically switch all further connection requests other real servers until the connection number drops below the specified limit. Setting Maximum Connections to 0 means that the FortiGate unit does not limit the number of connections to the real server.