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Methods of server load balancing


Method Description
Virtual server load balancing
The WSM is configured to act as a virtual (logical) server and is given a virtual IP address or range of addresses for each collection of TCP/UDP services it distributes. The WSM supports up to 256 virtual servers, each server distributing up to eight different services (up to a total of 2048 services).
Each virtual server is assigned a list of the IP addresses or range of addresses of the real (physical) servers in the pool where its services reside. User stations requesting connections to a service communicate with a virtual server on the WSM. The WSM then binds the session to the IP address of the best available real server and remaps the fields in each frame from virtual addresses to real addresses. IP, FTP, RTSP, IDS, and static session Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) use virtual servers for load balancing.

Filter-based server load balancing
Filters allow, deny, or redirect traffic according to IP address, protocol, or Layer 4 port criteria. In filtered-based load balancing, a filter is used to redirect traffic to a real server group. If the group is configured with more than one real server entry, redirected traffic is load balanced among the available real servers in the group. Firewalls and WAN links use redirection filters to load balance traffic.
For more information, see:
Content-intelligent switching
Content-based load balancing uses Layer 7 application data (such as URL, cookies, and Host Headers) to make intelligent load balancing decisions. URL-based load balancing, browser-smart load balancing, and cookie-based preferential load balancing are a few examples of content-based load balancing.


See also:


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