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 Why does your company use the .org TLD?
Why do I need a load balancer?
Is a Loadbalancer.org appliance simple to configure?
Why are Loadbalancer.org appliances so reasonably priced?
What protocols do your appliances support?
Will I require any additional hardware in order to use the load balancer?
Is it difficult to add additional servers to the server farm after configuration?
What is a real server?
What is a VIP (Virtual IP) address?
What is a RIP (Real IP) address?
What is a floating IP address?
Does the Loadbalancer.org appliance support a variety of load balancing methods?
Can I load balance SAP, SIEBEL, ORACLE, PEOPLESOFT, etc?
Do I need a Layer 7 switch (Application Delivery Controler)?
Do I need SSL switching or acceleration?
Do I need Cookie/URL/SSL persistence?
Do I need GSLB (Global Server Load Balancing)?
Can't I just use Microsoft NLB (Network Load Balancing)?
Can I have 24*7 support?
Can I have on-site 4 hour response hardware maintenance?
Can I have next day hardware replacement?
Can I load balance two Internet connections?
How do I load balance Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS)?
How do I load balance Microsoft Terminal Services?
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Why does your company use the .org TLD? |
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Way back in 2002 when the company was formed, our founder - Malcolm Turnbull was primarily involved in research activities around loadbalancing technologies, so .org was chosen as the top level domain. Later, once products began to roll off the production line the name had stuck and remains the same today. Also, at the time, the domain squatter wanted $200,000 for loadbalancer.com. |
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Why do I need a load balancer? |
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Running an application on one server
gives you a single point of failure.
Utilizing a load balancer moves the point
of failure to the load balancer. At
Loadbalancer.org we advise that you only
deploy load balancers as clustered pairs
to remove this single point of failure. A load balancer will also increase performance by allowing you to utilize several commodity servers to handle the workload of one application. Furthermore, you can easily bring
servers on and off line to perform
maintenance tasks, without disrupting
your users. |
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Is a Loadbalancer.org appliance simple to configure? |
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Absolutely. All Loadbalancer.org solutions come with an easy-to-use web based wizard to get you up and running in minutes. Alongside this you will receive a detailed quick start guide, and for more complex configurations our highly experienced support team are always more than happy to help. Most customers can configure for their own environment in less than 10 minutes. |
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Why are Loadbalancer.org appliances so
reasonably priced? |
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Originally
we worked with large ISP partners who needed a simple cost effective
load balancer to re-brand and re-sell to their customers. We only use
Open Source technology to reduce development overheads. We strive to
keep low overheads with minimal marketing so that you get these great
appliances for half the price you would expect. |
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What protocols do your appliances support? |
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All Loadbalancer.org appliances will support any TCP or UDP based protocols. |
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Will I require any additional hardware in order to use the load balancer? |
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Depending on your specific configuration you may require additional switches. All Loadbalancer.org hardware solutions come with 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports; with the exception of the Enterprise MAX, which proivides 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. |
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Is it difficult to add additional servers to the server farm after configuration? |
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Not at all. Real servers can be easily added (or taken away) using the Loadbalancer.org Web interface. |
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What is a real server? |
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A real server is the actual physical server that sits behind the Loadbalancer.org appliance holding all the content or running the application that is ultimately served to the client. |
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What is a VIP (Virtual IP) address? |
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The VIP (Virtual IP) is the address that is used by the load balancer to access the load-balanced services (cluster). |
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What is a RIP (Real IP) address? |
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The RIP (Real IP) is the real IP address of the backend server in the cluster. |
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What is a floating IP address? |
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The floating IP address is shared by the master and slave load balancer when in a high-availability
configuration. The network knows that the master controls the floating IP address and all traffic will be sent to
this address. The logical VIP matches this address and is used to load balance the traffic to the application
cluster. If the master has a hardware failure then the slave will take over the floating IP address and
seamlessly handle the load balancing for the cluster. |
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Does the Loadbalancer.org appliance support a variety of load balancing methods? |
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With all Loadbalancer.org appliances you have a variety of load balancing options across Layer 4 and 7. The recommended method is Layer 4 direct routing, as it is very high perfromance with very little change to your exisitng infrstructure. We do, however, appreciate that this is not possible for all enviroments and our team of highly experienced technicians are always happy to advise on the best configuration for your environment. Please see our load balancing methods page for more information on our support load balancing methods. |
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Can
I load balance SAP, SIEBEL, ORACLE, PEOPLESOFT, etc? |
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You
can load balance ANY TCP or UDP packets, but you meant to say:
Will the
load balancer magically fix a poorly designed application?
No. If your application does not have a persistent backend storage
device (a database) then you only get increased performance, failover
will lose the session. THIS IS THE SAME FOR ALL LOAD
BALANCERS - NO PERSISTENCE IN THE APPLICATION = NO SESSION FAILOVER. Persistence
by source ip address is useful for: Terminal Services, Streaming Media
and HTTPS. Persistence is fully supported by every Loadbalancer.org
appliance. Loadbalancer.org appliances also support cookie insertion
and re-write. |
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Do
I need a Layer 7 switch (Application Delivery Controler)? |
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Loadbalancer.org
appliances fully support Layer 7 switching utilizing the high
performance Ha-Proxy. But, a layer 7
switch is basically a proxy server. Layer 7 switching is very slow.
Instead of switching by URL just switch at layer 4 using DNS. For
example instead of switching on /shop and /browse switch on
shop.mysite.com and browse.myshop.com.
Again we are being a bit
negative here, Layer 7 is very flexible and we are working closely with
Willy Tarreau to ensure our Layer 7 capabilities are better than the
competition. Performance isn't too bad either on the base R16 at 27,000
TPS for full cookie insertion.
BTW:
If anyone calls our product an Application Delivery Controler we get
very upset, or even worse Application Delivery Network! I can't believe
Wikkipedia has removed the page for Load Balancers and replaced it
with F5s ADC marketing garbage.
Don't believe the
marketing hype over a very simple and slightly pointless technology.
If you want to scale out a Layer 7 solution then take a look at Willy
Tarreau's excellent article. |
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Do
I need SSL switching or acceleration? |
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Loadbalancer.org
appliances fully support SSL termination using Pound.
This is to enable the load balancer to process SSL Layer 7 traffic
including cookies etc. If you want to scale a solution like this you
may want to invest in some cheap SSL accelerators.
I guess we shouldn't be so negative when our base R16 appliance can do
an impressive 750 SSL TPS (7 times faster than the more expensive Kemp
2000 load balancer.)
If you are working at Layer 4 as recommended you don't need to worry
about SSL acceleration, what the heck do you think you have a load
balancer for? Just add more SSL capable web servers.
NB. If anyone can explain what
possible use SSL switching is please let us know. |
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Do
I need Cookie/URL/SSL persistence? |
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Loadbalancer.org
appliances fully support Layer 7 switching and cookie persistence
utilizing the high performance Ha-Proxy.
But, you should never require
persistence on
your load balancers, that's just poor design.
If your application is so poorly coded that it needs persistence then
source ip persistence works fine, whereas cookie/url/SSL are client
dependent.
Persistence is sensible for something like Windows Terminal Server (to
keep the same session) or HTTPS (to avoid excessive re-negotiation of
keys). Remember, if you REQUIRE persistence you'll get NO FAILOVER!
HOW TO:
Configure ASP.NET for Persistent SQL Server Session State Management |
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Do
I need GSLB (Global Server Load Balancing)? |
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Nice idea, shame
it doesn't work. The only method that works is to use multiple DNS A
records and BGP which your ISP can sort out for you. GSLB is a
marketing gimmick and does not work.
Why DNS Based
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) Doesn’t Work.
Before you use GSLB for failover have you first made your primary site
indestructible? i.e.
2 x Internet feeds
2 x Switch fabrics
2 x Firewalls
2 x Load balancers
3+ x Web Servers
2+ x Database Servers
More sensible thoughts on GSLB:
http://blogs.sun.com/davew/entry/thoughts_on_global_server_load
http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/ksalchow/archive/2009/06/03/shame-on-gslb-shame-on-me.aspx
If you need an edge network for local cached image delivery check
out Amazon Cloud Front, its cheaper than you think.
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Can't
I just use Microsoft NLB (Network Load Balancing)? |
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Um,
it's expensive, CPU & network intensive and doesn't even
support application health checking. Microsoft explain for themselves
just how bad it is here. CISCO switches have a few issues with
NLB as well.
Don't forget the famous foot in mouth on page 2 of this office communications server document - 'A Note About NLB'
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Can
I have 24*7 support? |
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Yes,
our Premium support package is 24*7 with a 1 hour SLA. Send an email to
support@loadbalancer.org
and we will endeavor to answer your question as fast as we can. If you
prefer you can use the 24 hour call center to do exactly the
same thing. |
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Can
I have on-site 4 hour response hardware maintenance? |
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Yes. With Dell hardware you have the option of a worldwide 4 hour on site response. |
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Can
I have next day hardware replacement? |
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Yes,
we can offer next day hardware replacement in America & Europe,
with best effort in other locations. |
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Can
I load balance two Internet connections? |
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No.
That's called 'link balancing' try SmoothWall
or 'WAN
balancing'. try Riverbed. |
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How do I load balance Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS)? |
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No problem, have a look at our Load Balancing Microsoft OCS (Office Communications Server) Deployment Guide |
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How do I load balance Microsoft Terminal Services? |
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No problem, have a look at our Load Balancing Microsoft Terminal Services Deployment Guide |
