Latest
How to set up and manage an F5 in the ADC Portal
As an F5 engineer, they asked me to test the product and share my honest thoughts.
Insights from the load balancer experts
Storage
Load balancing Weka is no longer optional — the new normal is 100X faster
Within the space of a few years our customers are demanding increases in performance and capacity — not just 10X, but 100X!..
Healthcare
Help! Our legacy modalities are awesome — but they don't understand DNS!
Connecting remote sites to central data centers necessitates GSLB. But implementation for legacy modalities isn't straightforward...
GSLB
Complete guide to DNS load balancing: Choosing the right method for your applications
DNS is a naming convention that translates human-readable web addresses into IP-addresses, and vice versa...
Storage
Load balancing: The driving force behind successful object storage
Do you know that your Kindle is spying on you? It knows how fast you read a book, how many pages you read, at which point you stopped reading and which passages you have bookmarked...
Print
Microsoft Windows print spooler and any other Windows service health check
If you haven’t already deployed print servers with high availability, please don't fret. It is a relatively simple and straightforward process,..
Comparisons
How should you compare load balancers?
I didn't ask anything about the load balancer's features, because we already know the market is mature and I have no unusual requirements. I also didn't ask about the load balancer's maximum performance...
AWS / Azure / GCP
Choosing the best load balancer for AWS: Cloud conundrums
You’re moving over to Amazon Web Services (AWS), where you know you’ll find a broad set of global cloud-based services. These services help organizations like yours to move faster, lower IT costs, and scale...
Comparisons
What are the best load balancing methods and algorithms?
The primary function of a load balancer is to keep your application running with no downtime. It is an invaluable tool for systems architects, and it has the benefit of being pretty simple to understand...
Open source
Anatomy of a partnership: Working and learning with Smoothwall
We were delighted last week to host Smoothwall for a day with our team. Fuelled by coffee and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, our discussions helped us learn from one another so that we can work together even more effectively...
Security
SACK Panic: What is it, and is it actually time to panic?
Four closely related vulnerabilities regarding TCP handling in the Linux and FreeBSD kernels were publicly disclosed on 17 June 2019...
Security
Huawei root access is BAD! VERY, VERY BAD: Or, how we reasoned ourselves out of root access by default
As you probably know, the notorious Chinese tech company was blacklisted OK, so Trump didn't actually say that about Huawei. But, given his recent declaration, it wouldn't surprise me if he did...
How-tos
How do I secure my load balancer with Active Directory, LDAP or RADIUS?
I’ve noticed a lot more of our customers are asking to use their Active Directory login details with the load balancer appliance. And it can get a bit fiddly, so I wanted to explain the process in more detail...
Healthcare
HIMSS and ECR 2019: Working together for better healthcare data solutions
An incorrect frame length check could result in a read-past-bound which can cause a crash...
Security
FTPS Implicit vs FTPS Explicit: Who will win?
Implementation of FTP and configuration of your firewalls can be cumbersome, especially when it comes to being secure during your file transfer...
Application Management
Load Balancing Exchange 2016
Exchange 2016 is Microsoft's latest enterprise level messaging and collaboration server...
HAProxy
How to write an external health check script for HAProxy
Loadbalancer.org were the original sponsors of the external health check mechanism in HAProxy. We think it's an invaluable tool when you need something a bit special...
WAF
Why use a WAF? Because what doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Our helpdesk often encounters confusion about Web Application Firewalls, or WAFs - what they are, how to use them, and what issues they can potentially cause...
Print
Printing without pain: How to scale print environments and avoid downtime
Print environments often bring together multiple technologies and applications, which can present challenges. There’s the issue of planned downtime: end-users may need to make manual changes to their network when print services fail, taking servers out of production for maintenance or updates.....
HAProxy
New year, new vulnerability: HAProxy critical security update
An incorrect frame length check could result in a read-past-bound which can cause a crash...
Direct Server Return
15 years later, we still love DSR: Why Layer 4 DR mode rocks
For the uninitiated, Direct Server Return is a clever trick which entails directly routing packets to the chosen real server...
Events
RSNA 2018: Future tech and present problems
Last month we made our annual visit to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference in Chicago...
High Availability
Can you load balance multiple applications at the same time? The pros and cons
Performance is not generally an issue when load balancing multiple applications - but maintenance is...
WAF
Brute force login: Simple protection techniques with the ModSecurity WAF
The web-based login to your application is a juicy target for hackers. And once they get past the login, they can cause you some serious pain...
Healthcare
The need for load balancing in medical imaging
Load balancing provides a fast, highly available and scalable architecture for the transfer, storage and retrieval of medical images...
WAF
Darktrace: A deep dive review
An engineer at a business using Darktrace, confessed that many IT staff ignored the pricey security software because it sent so many false alerts...
Healthcare
It all turned out OKI
This demonstrated to OKI that no matter how their customers' network infrastructure is configured, we have the deployment options to suit their needs...
HAProxy
HAProxy critical security update — to avoid simple(ish) DoS attack (20 September 2018)
A critical security issue has been found in HAProxy, leaving certain systems vulnerable to remote attack. We want to keep you informed, and we understand that this news might cause you some anxiety. But be reassured - most of our customers won’t be affected...