7.1.1 Available solutions

A likely solution is to employ an IP sprayer to distribute HTTP requests to any number of active Web servers.

We prefer such a solution over active/passive clustering solutions where each Web server would have a passive standby node, monitoring the active one and taking over from it in case it experiences an outage. The reason for this is that an IP sprayer is very likely to be utilized for highly frequented sites, providing both High Availability and better performance, and saving hardware costs for passive standby nodes.

IBM WebSphere Edge Components provide a software-based Load Balancer as part of IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V6. There are a number of software or hardware-based solutions available from other vendors, too, for example:

• Astaro
• Barracuda Networks
• CAI Networks
• Cisco
• Citrix
• Coyote Point Systems
• Crescendo Networks
• DBAM Systems
• Elfiq Networks
• FatPipe Networks
• F5 Networks
• Foundry Networks
• jetNEXUS
• JuniperŪ Networks
• KEMP Technologies
• Nortel
• Radware
• Zeus Technology
• Sentral Systems Ltd

In this book, we describe how to use IBM WebSphere Edge Components Load Balancer for WebSphere Commerce. As IBM WebSphere Edge Components are bundled with IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, many of our customers use them rather than buying an extra third-party solution.

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