7. Server Load Balancing || Load Balancing Terms and Terminology || F5 Big-IP LTM

Summary

In this F5 big-ip LTM tutorial, we explore server load balancing, a technology that efficiently distributes traffic across multiple servers for optimal performance. It covers global server load balancing (GSLB) and the importance of load balancing for scalability, reliability, and high availability. Key terms like client nodes, server pools, and virtual servers are explained, setting the stage for hands-on labs and emphasizing the role of each component in managing network traffic.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Server Load Balancing**: It's a technology that distributes traffic among several servers to ensure high performance and availability.
• 🌍 **Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB)**: Refers to the intelligent distribution of traffic across multiple geographic locations.
• 🏢 **Server Locations**: Servers can be located on-premises, in a private cloud, or in a public cloud.
• 🔄 **Load Balancer Function**: It intercepts traffic for a website and routes it through various servers to balance the load.
• 📈 **Load Balancing Algorithms**: These algorithms prioritize responses to client requests to ensure consistent application delivery.
• 💻 **Client Definition**: A client is a machine that sends connections or requests to the F5 load balancer to access web server pools.
• 📚 **Node Explanation**: A node is an individual server device in a server pool configured on an F5 load balancer.
• 🔑 **Multiple Server Pools**: A node can be a member of multiple server pools, running different services.
• 👥 **Pool and Pool Members**: A pool is a group of servers running specific services, and pool members are identified by their IP addresses and server ports.
• 🌐 **Virtual Server**: It's a hypothetical configuration on F5 load balancer where external clients send traffic for web services.
• 🔗 **Virtual Server Identification**: Identified by its IP address and service ports, used by clients to access internal services.

Q & A

What is server load balancing?

Server load balancing is a technology that distributes high traffic among several servers using network-based hardware or software defined appliances.

What is the difference between server load balancing and global server load balancing (GSLB)?

Server load balancing is done locally, whereas GSLB involves intelligent distribution of traffic across multiple geographic locations.

Where can servers be located in the context of load balancing?

Servers can be on-premises in a company's own data center, hosted in a private cloud, or in a public cloud.

What is the role of a server load balancer?

A server load balancer intercepts traffic for a website and routes that traffic through various servers to ensure high performance application delivery.

What are the benefits of server load balancing?

Server load balancing ensures scalability, reliability, and high availability of application delivery.

What is a client in the context of load balancing?

A client is a machine that sends connections or requests to an F5 load balancer to access a web server pool.

What is a node in server load balancing?

A node is an individual server device in a server pool configured on an F5 load balancer, which can be a member of multiple server pools.

What is a server pool?

A server pool is a group of servers configured in an F5 load balancer for certain services or applications.

What is a pool member?

A pool member is a node that is assigned to a specific server pool, identified by its IP address and server ports.

What is a virtual server?

A virtual server is a hypothetical configuration on an F5 load balancer where external clients send traffic to access web servers connected on the internal side of the load balancer.

Why is a virtual server IP used instead of a physical interface IP?

A virtual server IP is used to allow clients to access internal services without directly calling the servers' physical IP addresses, providing a layer of abstraction and flexibility that will be further explained in the next tutorial.

What are the key terminologies one must understand when working with F5 Big-IP LTM?

Key terminologies include client, node, server pool, pool member, and virtual server.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Introduction to Server Load Balancing

This paragraph introduces the concept of server load balancing, which is a technology that efficiently distributes high traffic across multiple servers using network-based hardware or software. It explains global server load balancing (GSLB) as the intelligent distribution of traffic across multiple geographical locations. The paragraph also discusses the role of load balancers in intercepting and redistributing traffic to ensure high performance and availability of applications. It introduces key terms such as client, node, and server pool, providing foundational knowledge for understanding the practical application of F5 Big-IP LTM in load balancing scenarios.

05:02

🔗 Understanding Load Balancer Components

This paragraph delves deeper into the components of load balancing, defining and explaining the roles of client nodes, server nodes (nodes), and server pools. It clarifies that a client is a machine that sends requests to access web servers through a load balancer, while nodes are individual servers configured on the load balancer. Nodes can be part of multiple server pools, which are groups of servers providing specific services or applications. The paragraph also introduces the concept of a pool member, which is a node assigned to a specific pool, identified by its IP address and server ports. Finally, it discusses virtual servers, which are hypothetical configurations on the load balancer that receive traffic from external clients and direct it to the appropriate internal services.

Keywords

💡Server Load Balancing

Server Load Balancing is a technology that efficiently distributes network traffic across multiple servers to ensure that no single server becomes overwhelmed. This is crucial for maintaining high availability and reliability of applications. In the context of the video, it is the primary focus, with the script explaining how it works by intercepting traffic for a website and redistributing it across servers to ensure consistent performance.

💡Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB)

GSLB is an extension of load balancing that distributes traffic across multiple geographic locations or data centers. It is mentioned in the script as a method for intelligently managing traffic distribution when load balancing is done across various sites. This ensures optimal user experience by directing traffic to the nearest or best-performing server.

💡On-Premises

On-Premises refers to servers or data centers that are physically located within a company's own facilities. The script mentions that servers can be on-premises, in a company's own data center, indicating one of the possible deployment scenarios for load-balanced servers.

💡Private Cloud

Private Cloud is a type of cloud computing that delivers similar advantages to public cloud, including scalability and self-service, but through a proprietary architecture. The script refers to private cloud as another potential hosting environment for servers involved in load balancing.

💡Public Cloud

Public Cloud is a cloud computing service offered over the Internet by third-party providers. The script includes public cloud as a hosting option for servers, highlighting the flexibility of server load balancing to work across various hosting environments.

💡Client Node

A Client Node is the machine that sends connections or requests to the load balancer to access web server pools. The script defines it as the starting point of the network traffic that the load balancer manages, with an example given of a client machine connected to the external interface of the F5 load balancer.

💡Node

In the context of the video, a Node is an individual server device within a server pool configured on a load balancer. It can be part of multiple server pools and is a fundamental component of the server load balancing setup, as explained in the script with examples of different nodes handling different types of connections.

💡Server Pool

A Server Pool is a group of servers configured in a load balancer to handle certain services or applications. The script explains that pools are identified by the service or application they run, such as a web server pool for handling web services.

💡Pool Member

A Pool Member is a server that is part of a specific server pool. The script clarifies that members are identified by their IP address and server ports, and they are the actual servers that handle the traffic distributed by the load balancer.

💡Virtual Server

A Virtual Server is a logical construct on a load balancer that receives traffic from external clients. The script explains that clients send traffic to this virtual IP address rather than directly to the physical servers, which allows the load balancer to manage and distribute the traffic effectively.

💡F5 Big-IP LTM

F5 Big-IP LTM is a specific load balancer product mentioned in the script that is used to manage server load balancing. It is the platform on which the concepts of client nodes, nodes, server pools, and virtual servers are configured and managed.

Highlights

Introduction to server load balancing technology

Definition of global server load balancing (GSLB)

Location of servers in load balancing: on-premises, private cloud, or public cloud

Role of server load balancer in intercepting and forwarding traffic

Explanation of load balancing algorithms

Benefits of server load balancing: scalability, reliability, and high availability

Importance of understanding key terms for hands-on labs

Definition of a client in the context of load balancing

Explanation of a node as an individual server device

Capability of a node to be a member of multiple server pools

Definition and identification of a pool

Role of pool members and their identification

Introduction to virtual server configuration

Virtual server's function in receiving external client traffic

Why clients use virtual server IP instead of physical interface IP

Encouragement to subscribe to the YouTube channel for more tutorials

Transcripts

hello everyone welcome to my YouTube

channel no Networks

in tutorial number six of F5 big-ip LTM

series we will see about server load

balancing

so server load balancing is a technology

that distributes higher traffic sites

among several servers using a network

based Hardware or software defined

appliances

and

just to add a note over here for your

information when the load balancing is

done across a multiple jio locations the

intelligent distribution of traffic is

referred to as a global server load

balancing gslb

so the servers can be on premises in

companies own data center or hosted in a

private cloud or the public cloud

server load balancer intercepts traffic

for a website and renodes that traffic

through servers as you can see over here

we have a load balancer so the traffic

which is coming through a user the

request which is coming through the user

is intercepted by the load balancer and

then forwarded to the web server and

then the response from the web server

goes to the lead a load balancer and

load balancer responds to the queries of

the users sitting outside

server load balancing provides Network

Services and content delivery using a

series of load balancing algorithms

which we are going to understand in the

coming tutorials

it prioritizes responses to the specific

request from clients over the network

server load balancing distributes client

traffic to server to ensure consistent

high performance application delivery

so in short server load balancing

ensures application delivery scalability

reliability and high availability

so guys there are few terms and

terminologies which you must understand

in the coming labs when we will be doing

a Hands-On Labs on the F5

big IP LTM at that time you will come

across these terms and terminologies

and it is

very much important for you people to

understand this

so let's understand one by one what is

client node whole board member and

virtual server starting with the client

what is client

client is the machine which send

connections or requests to F5 load

balancer to access web server pool

as per our Network

lab topology not Network as per our lab

topology we have a client machine right

which is connected to the external

interface of your F5 load balancer

this is the client which has a IP

address of 172 series as per our lab

topology

so it is connected to the external

interface

this is what this said that client is a

machine with send connection or request

to F5 load balancer to access the web

server pool

what is the node

node is the individual server device in

a server pool configured on a file load

balancer a node can be a member of

multiple server pool let's understand

this

see the node is a server node is

basically nothing but a server

configured on file load balancer if you

will see no you have Node 1 node node

three this we will be configuring on F5

load balancer how we'll configure we

will see when we will be doing a lab

so

over here the node one has FTP

connections

node 3 has web connections but this is

not the case with node 2 node to have

fpp connections as well as web

connections

and basically FTP connection so the node

which is has FTP connection is coming

under a full core FTP pool what is pool

we will understand in the

next term so we have designated Node 1

as is coming under FTP pole node 3 is

coming under web server pool but the

node 2 is a member of FTB pool as well

as web server pool

so basically a node can be a member of

multiple server pool so in short on

particular one node you can run multiple

services and you can make it a member of

multiple server pool

what is pool

is a group of servers

devices configured in a file load

balancer for certain services or

application we identify the poll on its

service or application

so

as you can see over here the pool is a

group of server a group of servers

running a specific services like all the

servers are running a web services so we

have designated it as web server pool

what is pool member it is very clearly

understood a group of pool will a member

which is in the specific pool will be a

pool member when a node be assigned to a

specific pool

then it become a member of that pool

members are identified on the basis of

its IP address and server ports

now as in this case you can see

that the node one

that is web server is a pool Member One

the web server with pool member 2 web

server with pool number three and they

are identified using IP address and the

server ports

and one of the important terminology is

a virtual server last but not the least

virtual server is hypothetically

configured on F5 load balancer and all

external site clients send the traffic

on this virtual server IP address for

web servers connected on internal side

of a file load balancer

it is identified with its IP address and

server supports

so as you can see let's say consider our

scenario where we have a client

connected to the external interface over

here

now this particular client want to re

access this web services

so for accessing this web services the

client which is sitting on the external

interface won't be calling the IP

address of this servers directly because

it is connected to the external

interface and basically what it will do

is it will

if it want to reach to the web server

pool it will all the services using a

virtual server IP why we are using a

virtual server IP and not the physical

interface IP that we will understand

when we will be doing a lab in the next

tutorial but just for your understanding

remember that whenever a client who want

to reach to the internal Services they

will be calling a service using a

virtual server IP address

and it the virtual server is identified

with its IP address and service ports

that's all guys in this tutorial if you

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and see you in the next tutorial