2. F5 Big IP LTM (Local Traffic Manager) || Load Balancer Explained
Summary
TLDRThis tutorial introduces load balancers, explaining their role in distributing tasks for efficiency and preventing server overload. It contrasts DNS-based load balancing with modern load balancers, which actively monitor server health and service availability. The video also covers load balancer types, including Layer 4 and Layer 7, and their benefits like improved performance, security, and reliability. The next tutorial will focus on installing an F5 load balancer in VMware.
Takeaways
- 🌐 Load balancing is a method of distributing tasks across resources to optimize processing efficiency.
- 🔄 Before load balancers, DNS servers were used for redundancy and load balancing by mapping domain names to IP addresses.
- 🚫 DNS servers have limitations as load balancers because they don't check for network errors or server outages.
- 👀 Load balancers provide visibility into server health and can direct traffic away from inaccessible or down servers.
- 🛡️ A load balancer acts as a reverse proxy, distributing traffic based on various parameters across multiple servers.
- 🔒 Load balancers add a layer of security by sitting between external clients and internal services, preventing direct access to applications.
- 🚦 Load balancers improve performance, security, and reliability by efficiently managing web traffic and server load.
- 🌟 Benefits of load balancers include increased scalability, reduced downtime, improved performance, and enhanced application capacity and reliability.
- 📈 Layer 4 load balancers distribute connections based on network and transport layer protocols like IP, TCP, UDP, FTP.
- 🌐 Layer 7 load balancers distribute connections based on application layer protocols such as HTTP.
Q & A
What is a load balancer?
-A load balancer is a device that distributes network or application traffic across multiple servers based on various parameters to ensure maximum speed and capacity utilization while preventing any single server from becoming overwhelmed.
What is the purpose of load balancing?
-The purpose of load balancing is to optimize response time, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overloading any single server, which can lead to decreased performance.
How was load balancing handled before load balancers?
-Before load balancers, DNS servers were used for redundancy and load balancing by directing multiple DNS records for one hostname to various IP addresses.
What are the limitations of using DNS for load balancing?
-DNS servers have limitations as load balancers because they do not check for network or server errors or outages, and they always return the same set of IP addresses for a domain.
Why is it problematic if DNS directs traffic to a server that is down?
-If DNS directs traffic to a server that is down, it can cause errors or outages, leading to a poor user experience and potential loss of service.
How does a load balancer differ from a DNS server?
-A load balancer actively monitors server health and service availability, ensuring that traffic is only sent to servers that are up and running properly.
What is a reverse proxy and how does it relate to a load balancer?
-A reverse proxy is a type of proxy server that retrieves resources on behalf of a client from one or more servers. A load balancer often acts as a reverse proxy, distributing client requests across servers to improve performance and security.
What security benefits does a load balancer provide?
-A load balancer provides security by sitting between external clients and internal services, preventing direct access to applications and protecting against web vulnerabilities.
What are the benefits of using a load balancer?
-Benefits of using a load balancer include increased scalability, redundancy, reduced downtime, improved performance, efficient failure management, increased flexibility, and enhanced application capacity and reliability.
What are the two categories of load balancers mentioned in the script?
-The two categories of load balancers mentioned are Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancers, which distribute connections based on data found in the network/transport layer protocols and application layer protocols, respectively.
What will be covered in the next tutorial of the series?
-The next tutorial will cover the installation of F5 load balancer in VMware.
Outlines
🌐 Introduction to Load Balancers
The video script begins by introducing the concept of load balancing, which is a method of distributing tasks across resources to enhance efficiency. It explains that before load balancers, DNS servers were used for redundancy and load distribution, functioning like a phone book by mapping domain names to IP addresses. However, DNS servers have limitations as they do not check for network errors or server outages and may direct traffic to inaccessible servers. Load balancers, on the other hand, constantly monitor server health and service availability to ensure traffic is routed efficiently and effectively. They act as a reverse proxy, distributing network or application traffic based on various parameters across multiple servers, providing an additional layer of security and control.
🛡️ Benefits and Types of Load Balancers
The second paragraph delves into the benefits of using load balancers, such as increased scalability, redundancy, reduced downtime, improved performance, and enhanced security. Load balancers protect internal services by sitting between external clients and internal servers, preventing direct access to applications. They also help maintain seamless web traffic flow and server efficiency. The paragraph concludes by categorizing load balancers into two types: Layer 4, which distributes connections based on network and transport layer protocols, and Layer 7, which distributes connections based on application layer protocols like HTTP. The script ends with a teaser for the next tutorial, which will cover the installation of an F5 load balancer in VMware.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Load Balancer
💡DNS Server
💡Redundancy
💡Reverse Proxy
💡Optimization
💡Scalability
💡Downtime
💡Performance
💡Layer 4 Load Balancer
💡Layer 7 Load Balancer
💡Cybersecurity
Highlights
Load balancing is a process of distributing tasks over resources to optimize processing efficiency.
Load balancing optimizes response time and prevents overloading some compute nodes while others are idle.
Before load balancers, DNS servers were used for redundancy and load balancing.
DNS servers work like phone books by managing name to IP mappings.
DNS load balancing has limitations, such as not checking for network or server errors.
DNS servers may direct traffic to inaccessible or down servers.
Load balancers monitor server health and service availability.
Load balancers act as reverse proxies to distribute traffic based on various parameters.
A reverse proxy requests network resources on behalf of a client.
Load balancers add a layer of security by sitting between clients and servers.
Load balancers protect web server identity and strategically forward requests.
Load balancers improve server efficiency, ease of maintenance, and provide additional cybersecurity.
Load balancers increase scalability and redundancy, reduce downtime, and improve performance.
Load balancers manage failures, increase flexibility, and improve application capacity and reliability.
There are two categories of load balancers: Layer 4 and Layer 7.
Layer 4 load balancers distribute connections based on network and transport layer protocols.
Layer 7 load balancers distribute connections based on application layer protocols.
Next tutorial will cover the installation of F5 load balancer in VMware.
Transcripts
hello everyone welcome to my YouTube
channel node Networks
in the second tutorial of F5 big-ip
series we will be discussing what is
load balancer
a Computing load balancing is a process
of Distributing a set of tasks over a
set of resources
with the aim of making their overall
processing more efficient load balancing
can optimize the response time and avoid
unevenly overloading some compute nodes
while other compute nodes are left idle
let's understand what was before load
balancer
before load balancer we were using DNS
server for redundancy and load balancing
purpose
as we all know the role of a DNS server
DNS server contains the entries for name
to IP mapping as you can see over here
DNS system works much like a phone book
by managing the mapping between names
and numbers
DNS server translate a request from name
into IP address controlling which server
and end user will reach when the type of
domain name into the web browser when
the end user type a domain name to the
web browser
so this requests are called queries
simply direct multiple DNS record for
one hostname toward the various IPS
serving web service request traffic is
routed at the DNS level so there is no
additional server configuration changes
to make and no software to install
as you can see over here the client
requests are being sent and over here
the DNS server is
resolving the queries for the user
but due to no limitation we no more use
DNS as a load balancer
most unotably DNS always return the same
set of IP address for a domain because
it does not check for Network or server
errors or outages
so at times it may direct traffic
towards servers that are inaccessible or
down
so most probably what will happen guys
uh the end user sitting over here when
very for any of the requests when they
type the domain name the DNS load
balancer will resolve the query but it
doesn't have a detailed overview or you
can say a visibility of this particular
DNS servers
so in this case there is a higher
possibility even the server is down it
will try to reach over here since this
particular DNS I mean the DNS server
which is acting as a load balancer
doesn't have insights or you can say a
retail overview of the health of that
particular server
so this may cause some errors or outages
and there is a high possibility that it
may direct traffic towards that
particular server which is inaccessible
or down
and here is where the load balancer
comes into the role
the major difference uh when we say
between the load balancer and the DNS
server is that load balancer always
monitor whether the servers are up and
working or not
service is running on the specific
device is properly running or not
load balancer also monitor the content
what the user expect to see so there
would be a put balance over here open
load balancer instead of the DNS server
it will not only monitor this particular
servers are up or not even it will
monitor this
service is running on this specific
devices
and it also take as that what type of
content the user is see when we will
move on in uh for that
tutorials we will understand these
things very much clearly
so guys how the load balancer works
it is a device that acts as a reverse
proxy
a distribute networks or application
traffic evenly on the basis of different
parameters across a number of servers
let's understand this point one by one
a reverse proxy so what is a reverse
proxy a reverse proxy is a type of proxy
server that requests network resources
on behalf of a client from one or more
destination server as you can see over
here
the load balancer is also doing exactly
the same thing
a reverse proxy provides an additional
level of abstraction and control to
ensure the smooth flow of network
traffic between clients and servers
so as you can see a load balancer is
also accepting a request from this kind
the load balancer is accepting a request
from all these clients
forwarded a servers
I can fulfill it return the server
request all this server requests are
then returned
declined
adding a welcome layer of security a
load balancer is effective in protecting
system against web vulnerabilities
the load balancer sits between the
external client and your internal
Services the load currency is sitting
between the external client and your
services
thus preventing anyone from directly
accessing your applications
so as seen over here a load balancer
ultimately forward the user or a web
browser request to web server as you can
see over here
however the load balancer protects the
web server's identity it also moves a
request
strategically on behalf of web server
typically to help increase performance
security and reliability
load balancer
helps to keep a web traffic flowing
seamlessly
along with improving server efficiency
and ease of Maintenance they also
provide an important layer of additional
cyber security
so in short a load balancer acts as a
traffic cop sitting in front of your
servers and routing client request
across all servers capable of fulfilling
those requests in a manner that
maximizes speed and capacity utilization
and ensures that no one server is
overworked which could degrade the
performance
so what are the benefits of load
balancer
it increases scalability a redundancy is
one of the benefit A reduced downtime
increased performance efficiently
manages failures increases the
flexibility
it increases capacity
and reliability of applications it
improves the overall performance of
application by decreasing the burden on
servers
so coming to the load balancer
categories
there are two categories of a load
balancer
the layer 4 and layer 7
when we talk about a layer 4 layer 4
load balancer distributes connection
based upon data found in the network and
transport layer protocols
such as iptcp UDP FTP and so on
layer 7 load balancer the one on the
right side distribute connections based
upon data found in application layer
protocol such as http
that's all in this tutorial in the next
tutorial we will see the installation of
F5 load balancer in VMware
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tutorial
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