Should BIG IP replace webserver to app server load balancing

Hi Bob,

 

In my situation I am actually doing both, which entirely depends on the Web App behavior and the number of shared environments you have. The best way we determine which works is simply to test it under load before it hits production.

 

Sometimes you have a Web Application that behaves in harmony with it’s App server that the app server is load balanced by inheriting the balancing on the Web server. Unfortunately for me :-), I am seeing less and less of this.

 

However, this goes entirely out the door when the app server has multiple instances for other applications. This is because the business is looking to do more items for even less infrastructure and one of the key ways is to share systems and basically squeeze every last drop of CPU, memory and storage to fully realize their investment. This means you have have to load balance at both app and web layers.

 

Of course this means you have to be even more careful on how structure your tiers. For example I keep app servers and web servers on different load balancing VLANS.

 

 

Hopefully you found my story interesting and I am sure there will be plenty of other stories many other people can share .

 

Thanks for reading,

 

CB