Network Load Balancing Switch

I posted this to find out if their were any products people would recommend, obviously cisco would say that the 11501 switch is the obvious route. A co-worker and myself have come up w/ a product that will do the job, turns out we've decided not to go w/ Cisco.

I really appreciate the time and effort that you put into your exstensive and highly detailed reponse Bob. Seems to me it was delivered in a mocking manner. I was on the phone w/ Nortel and Cisco yesterday for about an hour a piece.

If you talk to the usual outlets that sell a lot of network gear, they may let out a clue what would be a clone of the Cisco/Nortel product. But what I've learned is to plug in the Cisco box, configure it and go home. It's a lesson you learn after this much time.

Best of luck,

Bob

How could I infer 'mocking' in so few words?

I'm sharing my insight after 2+ decades of networking. If you don't value it, then that's OK. But I will treat you with respect anyway and wish you happy hunting.

Bob

I apologize Bob I obviously misinterpreted your response. I appreciate your response and I also appreciate your expertise in this area. I did in fact call cisco and although they did provide me w/ some answers they quickly transferred my questioning to an engineer that provided me w/ less information then their sales team did. Cisco is a valued product in the networking world but I was shocked at how limited their responses were to my questions. Maybe I got the wrong person on the phone, I'll give it a shot again tomorrow.

On a separate note Bob I was wondering if a solution that we have created would work:

Their will be an internet connection coming into a failover switch. That switch is connected to Webserver 1 and Webserver 2. Each of those webservers is then connected to a second failover switch which is then connected to database 1 and 2. I have recently learned that it doesn't matter which database server the information is written to because we will be using replication software for that purpose. Could you possibly forsee any problems with the flow of information on a small solution of this type. Much thanks again!

Cliff

You can read further what Microsoft has noted at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/itsolutions/ecommerce/deploy/duwwsr.mspx Specifically they mention "Cisco LocalDirector, F5 Networks's BIG-IP, and Alteon Websystems ACEdirector"

The limited responses (from Cisco) are due to an overload of people asking questions to those that will respond. Even my responses are often short due to the facts that:
a. I don't get paid for this.
b. I expect people to research as much as they can.
c. I am not going to shop for anybody. That's your work, not mine.

Item c may inflame you but item a explains it.

-> I've learned not to cheap out or overanalyze switchs and network hardware. I also learned never to get a power supply or UPS just big enough to do the job.

To recap: Be sure you are not overdoing it. Too many times I've found:

a. The person was building a supertanker to transport 5 gallons of content.
b. The person has a gigibit serving server, but connected to a kilobit connection.
c. It wasn't their line of business.

More about item c. Just a fews months ago I finished a consult with a business. They were growing and having severe machine pains. What I discovered was the company's owner's son was building the machines. From server to desktop. It was fine when there was just a handful of machines but now it was out of control with each machine a masterpiece of what was out that week. We tossed the server down to the pit and put in a Dell server and started acquiring simple Dell machines as we needed for the users. This cured that in nothing flat. Point? Their business was not building PCs. They needed to return to doing what they did best.

The same problem existed with their website. They had consults that were more than willing to help them build web servers, get high speed connections and write the code to make it all go. Again, we tossed that out and went with a web server company. They are now online at some 100 bucks a month. At first they thought the monthly fee was high until we put it on a spreadsheet with 1 and 2 years projected costs for the do it yourself solution.

Point? Is building a web server your business?

Bob