EV1 has a 2 server load balancing option: here is my scenerio:We are running ain informercial and need to be abel to have a server solution that can handle high bandwidh and traffic.

All that will run on the serevers is a web site with a php/mysql e-commerce web site.

I was contemplatoing the following 2 otions:

1-Just use the 2 server load balanced servers in plain RHE and have that serve up the web applicaiton and database, ftp, http.

Then have another 3rd, non load balanced server that runs Ensim and runs our email...that way our customer can login to setup their emails without having to know SSH, etc.


2-Option 2: Setup 3 servers behind that load balancing router and just have all 3 setup to do everything...meaning web app, mysql, email.

If I went with option 3, I am told that we can use Plesk to manage them.

Is that true????

Im here all night..thnaks for your help!

I'd go with option two, but I'd consider getting a Plain RHEL box for webservices and another for databases (Dual Xeon perhaps?, how much traffic are we talking about?) and the third box for your customers to set up their accounts

in case you still consider load-balancing, put mysql databases on a different hard disk than the web content for less iowait load

regards

Not sure on how much traffic. No way of knowing yet.

The client wants to be able to sleep at night knowing that this server is up and selling his product.

The infomercial will run on weekends, and we will see a nice spike in traffic (or at least that's the plan).

Thanks for your feedback.

I would go with that as well but you normally need to order load balanced servers in pairs. I think you need a custom rack or half rack to get your own loadbalancer if you need to start doing that which is more expensive. As such you might be better off getting a pair of Dual Xeons and add loads of RAM. I don't know what sort of traffic you are talking but a pair of Dual Xeons would be able to push a lot of traffic.

Alex

Thanks Alex-

Are you available for server support and management?

I have been strategically partnered with great server admin for the past 5 years to help our staff manage a dozen servers for our company and our clients. But I am always looking to add to our cast of elite admin to help in the crunch :-)

That said, I may need to have someone retained for future endeavours. If you are interested, please drop me an email.

regards-
ST

Load balancing is non trivial. You need to break down your operations into various functions, database, web, email, file transfer, etc.

In addition, if you have web applications that have "state" such as shopping carts, you then have extra issues. Either the load balancer or the application must be able to properly re-route/maintain state. If a visitor hits server A and starts to order and then comes back in 10 minutes and they go to server B, will their shopping cart be there? Depending on the load balancing method and/or your application there could be issues.

Also note that load balancing does not protect you from critical upstream network failures.

For database driven applications, you often have to setup master/slave type realationships between the databases.

Before launching into this, I would develop a plan of your operations.
What are the essential tasks that could possibly be high-load, thus requiring a load balancer?

What tasks need high uptime, thus requiring load balancing or even possibly round-robin DNS with a server at another facility?

How intensive are the database operation? Do you need to isolate database tasks to a better system with SCSI drives and min 2GB of RAM?

If you have a cluster of servers, how is inter-server traffic going to be handled? Are there security concerns about the data being passed between the servers?


There are many questions and possibilites for building a cluster farm. I have found in most cases, EV'1 load balancing solutions to no meet the needs of a robust, scalable operation. The load balancer is great for simple sites but for larger operations, you will find either co-location or private racks provide you with greater flexibility.

Thnaks for the reply.
It's a very simple site: Query one: Display all products.

Insert order into database

Send email to admin and customer.


One domain, one site...nothing to server intensive.

As for the state management, we will be sure to properly manage it. The DB will actually be on its on server, while the 2 load balanced duel xeons will handle the e-commerce site load.

Thanks!

I would suggest using a mysql cluster to keep the database on both servers and keep your sessions in mysql. That way customers can switch servers although it should be noted that most clients will stay on the same server for the entire of their transaction.

Alex