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At 7:19 AM -0500 12/20/99, Suzanne Swift wrote:
Re: Load Balancing
From: Men & Mice Support
Date: Tuesday, December 21, 1999
Time: 2:25:00 am
>I've configured load balancing on my server and I have a couple of questions:
>
>1. When would it be necessary to change the port number from 523 to
>another port #?
This might be necessary if the usual port is assigned to something else on the DNS server, or if that port is blocked by a firewall. It will almost never be necessary, but it is better to have the option than not.
>2. In the instructions, there is a line which says "enter the host name of
>the Web server". There is no corresponding field in my configuration. Is
>this from an older version of QuickDNS (I'm running 2.2.1)?
There are two versions of the plug-in, WebSTAR QuickDNS Responder (ships with QuickDNS Pro), and WebSTAR QuickDNS Load Balancer (ships with WebSTAR 4).
The older plug-in only handles one hostname per web server. The newer plug-in handles all hostnames configured in the Virtual Hosts settings of WebSTAR, plus the default name of the server. For this reason, the older version needs to know what name to use, while the newer one does not.
You're using the newer plug-in.
>3. Which is better? dyamic or fixed load balancing. What are some of the
>reasons for using one over the other?
Dynamic load balancing should, in theory, give more traffic to faster servers. Fixed preference values give a fixed ratio of traffic to each server, no matter how much work they actually have.
Of course, if a server becomes unavailable, it will be removed from the rotation no matter which method is used.
>4. How do I test this to see that it is in fact working?
There is an application in the QuickDNS Pro distribution for this. It's located in the WebSTAR QuickDNS Responder folder and is called Load Balance Testing. If you have trouble with the app, as some have had, try giving it a much greater memory allocation, as its default size is apparently too low. A full megabyte should suffice.
Alternatively, you can use DNS Expert's DNS Query tool (or any other such tool, like nslookup on any good *nix system) to ask your server for A records of the load balanced name. Repeat several times. If you get a response containing all listed addresses, then you'll know that it is *not* working properly. If you get only one address, then it is working; if that address changes between queries, you'll know that all (or at least some) servers are properly communicating with QuickDNS Pro.
____________________________________________________________________
Chris Buxton cbuxton@menandmice.com
Men & Mice http://www.menandmice.com
Makers of: QuickDNS Pro
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