NLB Recommendations

Wed Jun 9 18:28:14 UTC 2004

We've used Foundry ServerIron's successfully in various configurations for the
last four years.

Keith

Keith Washington
The Weather Channel Interactive, TWCi
770-226-2685 office, 404-225-0221 pager
keithw.pager at 1weather.com text page

                      "John Neiberger"                                                                                         
                      <John.Neiberger at efir        To:       <nanog at merit.edu>                                                  
                      stbank.com>                 cc:                                                                          
                      Sent by:                    Subject:  Re: NLB Recommendations                                            
                      owner-nanog at merit.ed                                                                                     
                      u                                                                                                        

                      06/09/2004 01:57 PM                                                                                      

> I'm looking for recommendations for network load balancers. These, at
> this time, will primarily be used to attach to a cluster of
webservers
> although I would like a solution which can be repurposed to other
> applications later. I am looking at F5's Big IP, Cisco's SLB, and
> Foundry's ServerIron at this time.

We have Cisco 11503s and F5 Big IPs in our network. I bought the Big
IPs because I was getting rather fed up with the Cisco stuff. Each has
their quirks but I think I prefer the F5, especially for box-to-box
redundancy. That's really rough with the Cisco gear unless you want to
fork out a lot of cash for their ridiculously expensive ethernet modules
so you can get a direct box-to-box connection.

If you have load-balanced servers behind an F5 that also must be
available for direct connection, then the F5 is a huge pain, while that
is extremely simple with the Cisco gear. Other than that, I think I the
F5 is a better product and easier to manage once you get used to how it
works. If you've previously used the Cisco gear, you have to unlearn a
few concepts and terms in order to make sense of the F5 world.

Regards,
John
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