Load Balancers for Linux?

scales asks: "We currently use the Dispatcher component of IBM's WebSphere Edge Server as a load balancer on some Red Hat boxes where I work, and the boss has asked me to look into OSS alternatives. I've already been pointed at Linux Virtual Server and Ultra Monkey, and I was wondering if any readers have had any experience with these packages, or had any opinions they could offer about other products." Ask Slashdot last visited a similar topic way back in 1999, so I think it might be time for an update.

Comments

Re:Ever had your load balancer fail?

[Alethes]

No matter what anyone else here says...

That's rather disingenuous of you, actually, to basically assume that your thoughts on this subject should take precident before all others. In response, I would say that there are many more avenues for support in an OSS solution than would exist with a proprietary application.

1) groups.google.com is an infinitely valuable resource.

2) The Linux Documentation Project maintains a searchable list of man pages, HOWTOs and other documentation.

3) Just about every OSS application in existence maintains mailing lists for developers and users alike for you to be able to receive and provide support for that particular application.

4) There are many consulting companies and individuals out there that provide support on an as-needed basis should you be unable to find your answer elsewhere.

The fact remains, that with an OSS solution, many more people (including developers on the project) are likely to have a better understanding of the application that are willing and able to provide knowledgable support just because of its openness, if that's, indeed, what you want. You may not actually be able to use the phone, but instead, you can send an email to a group of people that are actually passionate about the application, instead of trying to get help from poeple who either don't care, can't understand the application as well as the designers, or who are there to get their $10/hour for a few hours before they go home to finish their homework. When my boss is breathing down my neck about a problem, I'd much rather let him know I'm discussing the issue with one of the guys that designed the application rather than a highschool kid that reads a script to meet his inbound call quota.

Re:Ever had your load balancer fail?

[gengee]

That's terrible advice. Do you really want to to be on the phone with a Level I tech while your entire website is down? If a service is truly critical to you, and you're basing your decision on the speed of support, you've done something wrong in the design of your network.

A much better solution would be to make everything redundant and failover automatically.

Re:Ever had your load balancer fail?

[unixbob]

I'd have to agree with this. Having used one of the big names in load balancing and having dealt with their support, my experience is that they are not quick and they are not responsive and my project is slipping because they don't understand their product well enough.

The problem with support is that you assume because you are paying a lot of money to the company who created the product that whomever you contact in that organisation knows the product inside out and can answer your problem instaneously.

The truth of the matter is that they are unlikely to understand you environment, and are likely to waste the first 30 minutes going through a set of basic questions which you have already tried anyway. It is a fallacy that telephone support is quicker because you are dependant on the skill and experience of the person you are calling. More specifically you are dependant on their skill and experience with the particular product you are calling about (no one is an expert on everything) and you are then subsequently dependant on the knowledge of other team members in the same room or the quality of the knowledge base that the support engineer is typing your problem into.

If you ever had to ring up support for the worlds number one database vendor you would recognise this situation as they tell you they are typing your details into the system to see how other people with the same problem resolved it.

It won't give your manager the same warm feeling of comfort but OSS and Google is just quicker and easier to support. As long as you choose a well supported project.