R3204P16-HP Load Balancing Module System Management Configuration Guide-6PW101

Overview

HP load balancing (LB) module, a leading LB product of HP, is designed for data centers of carriers,

portal websites, large and medium-sized enterprises, and industries.

The LB module can be installed on an HP A7500/A9500/A12500 series switch or A8800 router, and

can be deployed at the distribution layer or core layer of a data center. The LB module equally distributes

clients' access requests to the servers in the data center, thus ensuring the data center's response speed

and service continuity.

The LB module perfectly integrates application with switching devices. By using the powerful routing and

switching capabilities of the switch or router, the LB module is able to provide load balancing in various

complicated networks. The LB module identifies applications on the switch or router, and performs health

and performance monitoring of the data center, thus efficiently distributing various access requests to the

servers in the data center based on scheduling algorithms. Thus the LB module improves the access

speed of the data center, ensures the service continuity, and enhances the capability to accommodate

application access requests, while reducing the expense on the device and service maintenance and

enhancing the flexibility and scalability of the data center.

You can configure most functions of the LB module in the web interface and some functions in the

command line interface (CLI). Each function module specifies clearly whether the function is configured

through web or CLI.

Figure 1 Appearance of the LB module

Features

LB modules can fully implement the forwarding mechanisms of Layer 3 network devices, and can be used

in the popular multi-layer switching networks. They provide load balancing services and network security

for enterprises and carriers by using their rich load balancing algorithms and security features. The

following are their features and benefits:

• Advanced multi-core hardware architecture and fast forwarding technology, which enables the LB

module to reuse the result of one calculation for traffic forwarding, providing high-performance

load balancing and security functions. LB modules can process application requests at high speeds

without affecting the services of the network devices hosting the modules.

• Interface for future service expansion. The LB module provides two GE interfaces and two GE

combo interfaces for service expansion in the future, and is connected to the network device

through an inner high-speed 10GE interface. The back module of the HP network device has a

wire-speed forwarding capability to ensure smooth data exchange with the service module.