The LoadMaster is an advanced server load balancing and Layer 7 content switching appliance with integrated ASIC-based SSL Acceleration and advanced Application Delivery and Optimisation (ADC) features. The LoadMaster intelligently and efficiently distributes user traffic among application servers so that your users get the best experience possible.
The LoadMaster is an essential component of high availability, clustering and fault tolerance, all of which provide the infrastructure for reliable Internet sites and large corporate intranets.
KEMP's LoadMaster load balancers support a wide array of web and productivity applications from leading technology vendors including Microsoft, VMware, Oracle and IBM.
LoadMaster also provides high availability and traffic acceleration for custom .Net applications and web services built on IIS, Apache and other web platforms.
Ensures each user gets the best application experience possible.
Provides 99.999% high-availability of application servers and removes SLB as single point of failure.
Guarantees user requests will be directed to only "available" severs AND "available" applications.
Ensures that users maintain continuous connections with the specific server where "their" transactional data is available – even if the IP address changes during session.
Enables site administrators to optimise server traffic according to content type (images, multi-media, apps).
Optimized server performance and user experience for encrypted application content.
Reduces latency associated with internal network while further optimising performance over existing ISP link.
Helps thwart application-level threats, even with SSL- encrypted traffic.
The Load Balancer is optimised for use in MS Exchange 2010 and 2013 applications.
KEMP's LoadMaster provides a comprehensive solution for load balancing workloads such as Microsoft Exchange, Lync and Sharepoint, as well as most any web applications. The LoadMaster includes all the features you would expect in a application delivery controller, along with additional features such as the Edge Security Pack (ESP), which offers Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) replacement features, and the Application Firewall Pack (AFP), which enables web application firewall (WAF) capabilities.
Exchange 2010 and 2013 have taken advantage of many new innovations that Microsoft has developed. Database Availability Groups, Client Access Server Arrays, Shadow Redundancy and simplification of how sessions are handled have all made the platform more robust and reliable. The additional requirement for an external load balancer has also improved the high availability of the platform by leaving load balancing to a virtual or physical appliance that knows how to handle it best.
When the new features of Exchange are combined with an intelligent application-centric load balancer the deployment is far more scalable and accessible than ever before. KEMP's entire line of LoadMaster load balancers are optimized for Exchange 2010 and 2013. Included deployment guides, templates, configuration wizards and sizing tools all help to make the deployment or migration of Exchange infrastructures seamless.
While Windows Network Load Balancing is included with Windows server platforms, it is a Layer 4 load balancer and as such has no awareness of application or server health and can only use the source IP address as a session identifier. The lack of awareness of application and server status can lead to traffic being forwarded to a server that is overloaded or a server where the application is not available to service requests.
Using a LoadMaster to replace WNLB not only provides the server and application status awareness for smarter load balancing, but also removes the overhead of WNLB from application servers and WNLB unicast broadcasts from the network.
The LoadMaster's application-level awareness of RDS communication flows ensures that RDP connections are treated properly and users get the best experience possible. With RDS functions enabled on LoadMaster users are able to maintain persistence even in the absence of a Session Broker or Connection Broker. Adaptive agent-based load balancing monitors resource consumption on RD Session Hosts to ensure that servers are not overloaded with connections. This is determined based on the tasks being completed in each remote desktop instance as opposed to strictly the number of connections to a host, helping to ensure that users performing resource-intensive tasks get the resources they need.
The LoadMaster was the first load balancer to deliver RDP-based Layer 7 load balancing and client session reconnect. KEMP's solution helps organizations maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their networks even when the application requirements are complex.
As authentication services such as active directory (AD) extend beyond the corporate data centre to cloud services such as Azure and Office 365, there is need to add resilience in these services.
Core to any business continuity plan is the ability to rapidly recover in the event of a service outage with minimal impact on service users. As authentication is a fundamental building block for application access, services such as Active Directory (AD) need to survive and recover rapidly from outages.
Historically, many Microsoft applications such as Exchange, Lync, SharePoint and IIS-based web services were deployed with Microsoft's Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) to meet these requirements and provide a way to securely publish applications in Internet Facing deployments. With TMG having reached its end of sale and mainstream subscription support drawing to a close, customers are continuing to evaluate alternative solutions for replacing TMG.
In order to address this need, KEMP Technologies continues to expand on the comprehensive features offered by the Edge Security Pack (ESP) which enhances the LoadMaster load balancer's ability to secure public-facing applications and improve user experience by creating a reverse proxy solution.
Organizations that process credit card details are required to comply with the Payments Card Industry (PCI) standards. The process and requirements vary, but even the most basic PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) identifies a requirement in section 6.6 to assess vulnerabilities on an ongoing basis at least annually and after any changes. This is an extremely onerous requirement if the application code has to be reviewed for vulnerabilities.
Thankfully, the PCI Security Standards Council permit the use of a WEB application firewall as an alternative to manual verification or using automated tools for PCI compliance assessment. Free LoadMaster includes a web application firewall engine that can be configured with custom rules to meet the requirements of the PCI SAQ.
High availability and disaster recovery are of highest importance for application infrastructures since other important factors such as capacity and performance are negated if service either is not available or cannot quickly be recovered in the event of an instance failure or degradation.
While the Azure platform provides native, basic application load balancing capabilities, KEMP's LoadMaster greatly enhances and complements these capabilities by delivering true layer 7 Application Delivery. When LoadMaster for Azure is combined with KEMP's GSLB functionality known as GEO, high availability across on premise and cloud based application pools and intelligent global traffic distribution across multiple private cloud infrastructures and Azure becomes possible to support highly resilient, scalable and smart application deployments.
Our award-winning team can advise your business on best-fit solutions for system management, virtualisation, business continuity and security.
Working closely with industry partners such as Microsoft, HP, Dell, Kemp and VMWare, we can identify and implement the right solutions for your business's needs.
Follow Systech for the latest news regarding Kemp Load Balancers.
Systech IT Solutions Systech IT Solutions © 2014. Company Registration Number 08523360. Registered in England and Wales.