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@1weather.com text page "John Neiberger" <John.Neiberger@efir To: <nanog@merit.edu> stbank.com> cc: Sent by: Subject: Re: NLB Recommendations owner-nanog@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 --