Virtual Load Balancers: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Chris Heggem
Posted on Sep 20, 2017 9:46:47 AM

More specifically, virtual load balancers are just legacy load balancers trying to find a home in your data center or the cloud.

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Topics: Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer, Elastic Load Balancing, Hardware

Application Delivery | The Importance of Design

Ted Ranft
Posted on Sep 12, 2017 12:56:40 PM

This week I came across my still functioning iPod Classic “click wheel”. This was my exercise companion for many years and I still marvel at the engineering innovation (holds thousands of songs!) and simple elegance of the intuitive user interface (click wheel!). In today’s consumer society we expect our electronics to be intuitive. When announced in 2003 the “click-wheel” was years ahead at a time most electronics still came with detailed instruction manuals. Launching a consumer product with a click wheel was a radical approach, pushing the end-user experience to the very limits of engineering.

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Topics: Architecture, Application Delivery Controller, Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer, Application Architectures, Elastic Load Balancing

Smart Load Balancer | Avi Networks Video Series

Chris Heggem
Posted on Aug 10, 2017 1:51:46 PM

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and the same is true of video. This week we decided to parody Apple’s famous “Get A Mac” ad campaign by applying it to the load balancing and ADC industry.

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Topics: Software Load Balancer, software-defined load balancing, software load balancing, Hardware, video

WAKE UP CALL! It’s Time to Rethink Load Balancing

Chris Heggem
Posted on Aug 2, 2017 9:50:04 AM

This message is as much for people who buy load balancers as it is for those who sell them.

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Topics: ADC, Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer, Elastic Load Balancing, Hardware

Christmas in July: How Avi Networks Powers the North Pole

Chris Heggem
Posted on Jul 18, 2017 9:22:05 AM

Nothing demonstrates the need for elasticity and scale like the Holiday Season. Manufacturing, distribution, and eCommerce companies experience a huge spike in their business, but nobody feels the pressure more than the big guy up North. You know—the jolly fellow, red suit, white beard—ring a (jingle) bell? It’s Santa Claus!

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Topics: Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer, Case Study, Ludicrous Scale, Elastic Load Balancing

Smart vs. Dumb Load Balancers | Expect More From Your Load Balancer

Chris Heggem
Posted on Jul 6, 2017 11:35:20 AM

We haven’t expected much from our load balancers in the past. And why should we? Traditional load balancers had a relatively simple job (e.g. distribute traffic, SSL, some content switching), and functioned relatively well. End of story.

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Topics: Software Defined Networks, Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer, TCO, Elastic Scale, Elastic Load Balancing, Hardware

F5 BIG-IP LTM Better Than A Software Load Balancer? Think Again

Swarna Podila
Posted on Jun 23, 2017 7:08:00 AM

Last week, my colleague Chris wrote about his "buyer's remorse" (not!). If you are an F5 BIP-IP LTM (or a Citrix NetScaler SDX or MPX) customer, I would like to get you thinking about software load balancers.

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Topics: Software Load Balancer, TCO, Elastic Scale

F5 vs. Avi Networks: 9 Reasons Why Hardware Is Better Than Software

Chris Heggem
Posted on Jun 14, 2017 9:34:01 AM

I originally joined Avi Networks because I believed they had a robust, software-defined application delivery solution. It could do everything F5’s physical load balancers could do… or so I thought. After one week on the job, I’ve realized that Avi Networks only cuts costs by up to 70% only because you aren’t paying for hardware—hardware that can do a lot of things that Avi Networks just can’t do.

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Topics: Software Defined Networks, Load Balancing, Software Load Balancer

The Hardware Tax | The Downsides of ADC Hardware

Ted Ranft
Posted on Jun 13, 2017 9:03:18 AM

Unlike other countries, all U.S. citizens residing out of the country are required to pay their normal Federal taxes back to the “mother-ship.” This became painfully clear during my two tours of duty living in the United Kingdom. To make matters worse, the U.S. tax year has a different timing cycle than the U.K. tax year. Because of the offset tax years (and my domicile alternating twice between London and New York) I have spent the last six years filing taxes in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Not fun or easy to deal with.