Brocade Communications Systems ServerIron ADX 12.4.00 Manuale Utente

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ServerIron ADX Global Server Load Balancing Guide
53-1002437-01
Global Server Load Balancing overview
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If the local DNS server does not have an address record for the requested server, the local DNS 
server makes a recursive query. When a request reaches an authoritative DNS server, that DNS 
server responds to this DNS query. The client’s local DNS server then sends the reply to the client. 
The client now can access the requested host. 
With the introduction of redundant servers, a domain name can reside at multiple sites, with 
different IP addresses. When this is the case, the authoritative DNS server for the domain sends 
multiple IP addresses in its replies to DNS queries. To provide rudimentary load sharing for the IP 
addresses for domains, many DNS servers use a simple round robin algorithm to rotate the list of 
addresses in a given domain for each DNS query. Thus, the address that was first in the list in the 
last reply sent by the DNS server is the last in the list in the next reply sent by the DNS server. 
This mechanism can help ensure that a single site for the host does not receive all the requests for 
the host. However, this mechanism does not provide the host address that is “best” for the client. 
The best address for the client is the one that has the highest proximity to the client, in terms of 
being the closest topologically, or responding the most quickly, and so on. Moreover, if a site is 
down, the simple round robin mechanism used by the DNS server cannot tell that the site is down 
and still sends that site’s host address on the top of the list. Thus, the client receives an address 
for a site that is not available and cannot access the requested host.
The ServerIron ADX GSLB feature solves this problem by intelligently using health checks and other 
methods to assess the availability and responsiveness of the host sites in the DNS reply, and if 
necessary exchanging the address at the top of the list with another address selected from the list. 
GSLB ensures that a client always receives a DNS reply for a host site that is available and is the 
best choice among the available hosts. 
Basic concepts
The GSLB protocol is disabled by default. You must enable the GSLB protocol on each site 
ServerIron ADX. After you enable the GSLB protocol, the GSLB ServerIron ADX finds the site 
ServerIron ADXs using their IP management addresses, which you specify when you configure the 
remote site information. The GSLB controller ServerIron ADX front-ends the authoritative DNS 
server and provides the optimal IP address for the querying clients. Some or all of the IP addresses 
in the DNS response reside on site ServerIron ADX switches. The GSLB controller communicates 
with these ServerIron ADX switches designated as "site ServerIron ADX switches" in order to 
exchange and obtain information needed to evaluate IP addresses contained in the DNS 
responses. 
The GSLB protocol is disabled by default on site ServerIron ADX switches. After you enable the 
GSLB protocol on site ServerIron ADX switches and configure the IP addresses of the site 
ServerIron ADX switches on the GSLB ServerIron ADX, then the GSLB ServerIron ADX establishes 
communication with the site ServerIron ADX switches.
The GSLB ServerIron ADX uses the GSLB protocol to learn the following information from the site 
ServerIron ADXs:
The VIPs configured on the site ServerIron ADXs and the health of the VIPs —The site 
ServerIron ADXs report VIP additions and deletions asynchronously. Each time a VIP is added 
to a site ServerIron ADX, the ServerIron ADX sends a message to the GSLB ServerIron ADX to 
inform the GSLB ServerIron ADX of the change.