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[MorHost]

Global Load Balancing

Looking for quick, easy global load balancing solution. This is actually for a temporary situation (we need to move to a new DC and need to make this seamless as possible). Linux solution preferred if possible.
What can we use to get this achieved?
How exactly does it work? does it need VPN between locations or is client redirected to a different IP somehow?
We would consider dedicated hardware solutions provided that we can get 2 pieces for under $2,000 total (ebay i guess).
Thanks!

[anatolijd]

well,
load balancing is used for high availability or performance boost.
You haven`t said here, what exactly you`are moving to new DC, so probably you should not expect for clear and correct answer.
Share more details about amount of servers and services running on it, and then somebody can give you correct advise.
Why do you think LB is your approach?

[MorHost]

forget about moving datacenters...we need a high availability system in place.
what is a good way to quickly do this in linux or with some cheap hardware?
We DO NOT want a DNS only solution, we have read enough about how they are not efficient.
Neither do we want a BGP solution, as we do not have that ability at this time.

[DigitalLinx]

If you want global balancing (not just HTTP) then going with a bgp solution would be best. For HTTP balancing I recommend HAProxy.





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[eth00]

You do not want BGP and you do not want a DNS solution, so what exactly do you want?
I believe those are the 2 primary methods out there right now, with BGP being the primary one. Yes if you go with this route you would need your own IPs and routing which means most datacenters won't be able to handle you unless you colo.
I would say you probably should look at a host that can do this, I don't know of any off hand, or simply look minimizing the downtime in the move.





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[Unquantifiable]

DNS solutions are actually quite reliable. If you need fast switches from defunct web servers to working ones do what most CDN's do and set up low (sub minute) TTLs.
If both DNS and BGP are out of the question only thing I can think of is a reliable central frontend (hardware or software) redirecting requests to the underlying webservers.

[MorHost]

Well i was thinking along the lines of each location having a front end that responds to DNS. The DNS returns ips for cluster in location 1 and 2. If any cluster later goes down, the browser will connect to the alternate IP. Each cluster would also be connected via VPN to each other and in case of a failure would REMOVE the bad DNS record temporarily. Is there any way to achieve this with linux ?

[Unquantifiable]

Yes it is doable but it would be a major headache to develop and test. How do you really know which if the 2 clusters is really failing? If the vpn connection drops then you need extra checks in place to figure out the point of failure just to make sure that both clusters will not remove themselves from the dns records.
Or you could just http://www.dnsmadeeasy.com/s0306/prod/dnsfosm.html

You may use LVS for load balancing.http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/c...en/pt-lvs.html
It does not need a VPN, but you may use it if you like. The concept is that you have an IP accessible by the users which is the IP of the load balancer box, then it load balances between 2 or more other IPs.

[plumsauce]

Quote:



Originally Posted by MorHost


Well i was thinking along the lines of each location having a front end that responds to DNS. The DNS returns ips for cluster in location 1 and 2. If any cluster later goes down, the browser will connect to the alternate IP. Each cluster would also be connected via VPN to each other and in case of a failure would REMOVE the bad DNS record temporarily. Is there any way to achieve this with linux ?


If you are willing to consider managed services, this has already been done and tested. The further advantage is that if the nodes are far apart, you can return the closest node address to the client for enhanced response times.
Oh, and never count on a browser to do the right thing because it counts on the client machine resolver to do the right thing which counts on the isp cache to do the right thing





__________________█ server uptime monitor and alert service - basicstate.com█ MSNBC.COM - Site of the Week█ managed dns global failover and load balance - edgedirector.com

[plumsauce]

Quote:



Originally Posted by gpme


You may use LVS for load balancing.http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/c...en/pt-lvs.html
It does not need a VPN, but you may use it if you like. The concept is that you have an IP accessible by the users which is the IP of the load balancer box, then it load balances between 2 or more other IPs.




The problem with *local* load balancers used with distributed nodes is that they become a single point of failure unless duplicated in a HA setup. And, even when in service, you get to pay for bandwidth twice. Once to reach back to the distant origin server and once to deliver to the client.





__________________█ server uptime monitor and alert service - basicstate.com█ MSNBC.COM - Site of the Week█ managed dns global failover and load balance - edgedirector.com

[BuffaloBill]

Quote:



Originally Posted by MorHost


forget about moving datacenters...we need a high availability system in place.
what is a good way to quickly do this in linux or with some cheap hardware?
We DO NOT want a DNS only solution, we have read enough about how they are not efficient.
Neither do we want a BGP solution, as we do not have that ability at this time.


You want to do this cheap.
You do not want to do this with DNS.
You do not have the money to do it with BGP.
Well I want 10 million dollars and my daughter wants a pony for her birthday. Neither of which is happening anytime soon.
You are out of luck my friend.