With the increasing size and importance of corporate Internet and intranet applications, network performance, reliability and quality of service (QOS) issues in mind, Cabletron Systems has released its Server Array Controller, designed to provide consistent access and reliability to network servers.
The Server Array Controller is an intelligent, load-balancing device for local Internet sites or data centres. Situated between the network`s routers and server array, the system monitors all local servers to ensure that they are available and performing correctly, and then automatically routes incoming Internet and intranet service requests to the most available server.
Up to 255 physical servers can be configured behind the Server Array Controller, and external users only see specified IP addresses for HTTP and other network services.
"The Server Array Controller system ensures the quality of the static and dynamic Web content generated by backend applications and databases," explains Cabletron Systems SA country manager, Martin May.
"The system actively queries individual servers at the application level, so that when your server and application are working properly - but users are still receiving error messages - the system will redirect requests to other applications that are responding properly.
"The Server Array Controller will also automatically detect when the problem has been corrected, and will then begin sending requests to that application again."
Cabletron`s Server Array Controller manages and distributes Internet, intranet and extranet/e-commerce user requests across redundant arrays of network servers, regardless of platform type or combination.
It supports a wide variety of network applications such as Web, e-mail, news, LDAP, telephony, streamed multimedia and other IP protocol traffic; database access; and NFS, FTP, firewall, cache and VPN server traffic to provide high availability for end-user connections.
In a related move, Cabletron has integrated server load balancing functions into its SmartSwitch Router (SSR) family of switch routing products to provide an integrated, high-performance, low cost server connectivity solution.
The Smart Load Balancer provides a high-capacity solution for large scale Web hosting by enterprise data centres or content providers and comes in two configurations - the SLB-1000, with 24 10/100 Ethernet ports and two 1000BASE-SX multi-mode fibre ports; and the SLB-2000, with eight 1000BASE-SX multi-mode fibre ports.
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