Beyond Testing
Four tips on load balancing
High-volume network applications are
driving the need for optimization
technologies.
by Lee Chen
Web transaction rates and throughput
continue to increase exponentially with
Internet-driven applications and media-rich
communications. In response, customers in
all verticals are considering deploying or
upgrading server load-balancing technology
to handle high-volume network applications.
Here are four tips for choosing the right
server load-balancing technology for your
Web applications.
1. Choose the right platform. In order to
address the need for higher online
transmission speeds, vendors continue to
move their single-CPU software solutions to
more powerful multi-CPU load-balancer
systems. To future-proof a load-balancer
upgrade or investment, determine whether the
vendor's platform is optimized for multicore
CPU systems. A properly designed multi-CPU
system will have maximum per-CPU
independence with almost no interference
among CPUs, making instructions run faster.
Server load balancers should
have high-performance SSL acceleration
and other security features to address
increasing requirements.
A key benefit of the multicore CPU
platform is that the server load balancer
performs as desired with numerous features
turned on, such as Layer 4, Layer 7, secure
socket layer (SSL) and advanced scripting
features, which are CPU intensive. The
advanced scripting features allow
administrators to solve traffic bottlenecks
before they occur. A recommended way to test
the vendor's platform is to deploy them into
the network and test the performance while
running the scripting feature to make sure
degradation is not significant.
Also, be careful with solutions that are
getting most of their Layer 4-7 acceleration
functions from hard-wired
application-specific integrated circuit
(ASIC) technologies. Getting simple feature
requests into the accelerating ASIC requires
18 months or more development time.
2. Acceleration, optimization and
security. Server load balancers should have
the architecture to accelerate and improve
Web application response times. When tuned
properly, customers can benefit from Web
site and application response times up to 10
times faster.
The solution should have the intelligence
to optimize and reduce bandwidth, space and
energy requirements. Customers' bandwidth
savings can increase while, at the same
time, reducing data center space and power
requirements by consolidating server
resources.
Server load balancers should have
high-performance SSL acceleration and other
security features to address increasing
security requirements for Web-based
transactions. Today, some vendors also
include advanced security features such as
high-performance secure e-mail and antispam
in the load-balancing platform. Security
features should be included in the base
system at no additional cost.
Additional considerations include
reliability, availability, ease-of-use and
ease-of-migration to lower operating
expenses.
3. Price/performance. Do not sacrifice
performance for value. Once a budget
estimate has been determined, be sure to ask
the prospective vendor how much performance
will be delivered for the price. Also,
request to see independent third-party
performance tests, and validate the vendor's
claims against the test results. The best
test is to install the server load balancer
to see how it performs with the
organization's applications.
The key tests to evaluate: Layer 4
connections per second (CPS); Layer 7
connections per second (CPS); Layer 7
transactions or requests per second (TPS or
RPS); SSL transactions per second (TPS); and
maximum throughput.
Ask the vendor if the list price includes
all the features, or if there are additional
licensing fees. Platform prices may vary
regarding performance, features, ports and
users.
4.
Vendor assessment. Choose a vendor with
networking expertise. Ask for references
regarding the vendor's expertise in Layer
2-3 and Layer 4-7 networking.
Finally, choose technologies that can
scale with changing business requirements.
Lee Chen is founder and CEO of A10
Networks, San Jose, Calif. Before founding
A10, Chen was co-founder of Foundry Networks
and Centillion Networks.
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