"Wiley Computer Publishing."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Need for Load Balancing -- The Server Environment -- The Network Environment -- Load Balancing: Definition and Applications -- Load-Balancing Products -- The Name Conundrum -- Server Load Balancing: Basic Concepts -- Networking Fundamentals -- Switching Primer -- TCP Overview -- Web Server Overview -- The Server Farm with a Load Balancer -- Basic Packet Flow in Load Balancing -- Load-Distribution Methods -- Stateless Load Balancing -- Stateful Load Balancing -- Load-Distribution Methods -- Health Checks -- Basic Health Checks -- Application-Specific Health Checks -- Application Dependency -- Content Checks -- Scripting -- Agent-Based Checks -- The Ultimate Health Check -- Network-Address Translation -- Destination NAT -- Source NAT -- Reverse NAT -- Enhanced NAT -- Port-Address Translation -- Direct Server Return -- Server Load Balancing: Advanced Concepts -- Session Persistence -- Defining Session Persistence -- Types of Session Persistence -- Source IP-Based Persistence Methods -- The Megaproxy Problem -- Delayed Binding -- Cookie Switching -- Cookie-Switching Applications -- Cookie-Switching Considerations -- SSL Session ID Switching -- Designing to Deal with Session Persistence -- HTTP to HTTPS Transition -- URL Switching -- Separating Static and Dynamic Content -- URL Switching Usage Guidelines -- Network Design with Load Balancers -- The Load Balancer as a Layer 2 Switch versus a Router -- Simple Designs -- Designing for High Availability -- Active-Standby Configuration -- Active-Active Configuration -- Stateful Failover -- Multiple VIPs -- Load-Balancer Recovery -- High-Availability Design Options -- Communication between Load Balancers -- Global Server Load Balancing -- The Need for GSLB -- DNS Overview -- Local DNS Caching -- Using Standard DNS for Load Balancing -- HTTP Redirect -- DNS-Based GSLB -- Fitting the Load Balancer into the DNS Framework -- Selecting the Best Site -- Limitations of DNS-Based GSLB -- GSLB Using Routing Protocols -- Load-Balancing Firewalls -- Firewall Concepts -- The Need for Firewall Load Balancing -- Load-Balancing Firewalls -- Traffic-Flow Analysis -- Load-Distribution Methods -- Checking the Health of a Firewall -- Understanding Network Design in Firewall Load Balancing -- Firewall and Load-Balancer Types -- Network Design for Layer 3 Firewalls -- Network Design for Layer 2 Firewalls -- Advanced Firewall Concepts -- Synchronized Firewalls -- Firewalls Performing NAT -- Addressing High Availability -- Active--Standby versus Active--Active -- Interaction between Routers and Load Balancers -- Interaction between Load Balancers and Firewalls -- Multizone Firewall Load Balancing -- VPN Load Balancing -- Load-Balancing Caches -- Cache Definition -- Cache Types -- Cache Deployment -- Forward Proxy -- Transparent Proxy -- Reverse Proxy -- Transparent-Reverse Proxy -- Cache Load-Balancing Methods -- Stateless Load Balancing -- Stateful Load Balancing -- Optimizing Load Balancing for Caches -- Content-Aware Cache Switching -- Application Examples -- Enterprise Network -- Content-Distribution Networks -- Enterprise CDNs -- Content Provider -- CDN Service Providers -- The Future of Load-Balancing Technology -- Server Load Balancing -- The Load Balancer as a Security Device -- Cache Load Balancing -- SSL Acceleration.

Owing to their ability to scale server farms and improve the security and availability of networked applications, load balancers are expected to grow into a multibillion-dollar market in the next few years. Written from the unique perspective of an industry insider, this book explains how this critical technology can be used to solve several challenges in managing today's server farms, Web sites, firewalls, and caches. Chandra Kopparapu offers you a close look at how load balancers work and explores the ability of load balancers to solve a multitude of network and server bottlenecks in the Internet age -- from dramatic improvements in server farm scalability to removing the firewall as a network bottleneck. This book provides a technical discussion of this fast-growing market, covering the full spectrum of topics, from server and firewall load balancing to transparent cache switching to global server load balancing. In the process, he delivers insight into the way new technologies are deployed in network infrastructure and how they work.