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F5 Networks Big-IP HA+ Controller 3.3 is an excellent appliance-based load-balancing solution. It offers the most robust Layer 7 rule set in our review. With its C-like syntax, creating and managing rules with Big-IP is a trivial matter. Rules can be nested within each other to provide a finer granularity of control than that offered by the AceDirector, the Hydra2500 and the Web Server Director Pro.

From a performance perspective, Big-IP proved to be more than adequate. Like Alteon's AceDirector, Big-IP improved its transactions per second under a load of 2,000 clients (from 96 transactions per second at Layer 4 to 101 transactions per second at Layer 7), but it also increased transaction time (from 7.22 seconds at Layer 4 to 10.54 seconds at Layer 7).

Like Alteon's AceDirector and Radware's Web Server Director Pro, Big-IP offers a stateful failover feature. All three products mirror session information between the primary and secondary devices, so sessions are not lost in case of failure. Failover is accomplished via the network and allows both active-standby and active-active configurations.

Configuration was painless, though some aspects left us confused. The layout of the buttons in the Web-based GUI seems backwards. The "submit" or "apply changes" button is on the right, but we kept wanting to submit changes using the left-hand button. Perhaps we've been brainwashed by Windows applications that always place "OK" on the left and "cancel" on the right. In other respects, the GUI is robust and offers the capability to perform all management and configuration functions, but we prefer the more intuitive interface of Radware's ConfigWare.

Big-IP HA+ Controller 3.3, F5 Networks, $24,250 (includes one year of support and installation), (888) 88-BIGIP, (206) 505-0800; fax (206) 505-0801. www.f5.com

HydraWeb Hydra2500

While HydraWeb Hydra2500 offers only two load-balancing algorithms, it provides excellent control over the parameters for its proprietary algorithm, PLA (Multiplexer Load Average). We were able to configure weighted values for a number of tasks running on the server, amount of limited resources in use (virtual memory, system table slots), CPU utilization and time needed for the service to respond to queries.

This level of control is similar to the use of SNMP statistics in creating user-defined algorithms found in Radware's Web Server Director Pro. None of the other products tested offers this level of control over load-balancing variables.

While the Hydra2500 had an average showing in our performance tests, you might need to study Latin to configure this product. With a plethora of non-industry-standard nomenclature, such as "factotum," HydraWeb's term for a server, we found this product powerful but confusing. Sometimes we found it just powerfully confusing. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur ("whatever is said in Latin, sounds profound").

Performance at Layer 4 was excellent, providing 301 transactions per second and an average transaction time of about five seconds.

Using Layer 7 rules to control distribution degraded performance drastically, dropping the average transactions per second to 32 and raising the average transaction time to about 20 seconds--well above the acceptable five-second rule. The Hydra2500 provides for routing based on URL or any header content, unlike the Alteon WebSystsems AceDirector, which is restricted to a search of the URL.

Hydra2500, $25,239 (includes one year of support and installation), HydraWeb, (888) 380-6100, (408) 434-4600; fax (408) 570-0960. www.hydraweb.com

CyberIQ Systems HyperCommerce

The HyperCommerce provides no support for Layer 7 load-balancing beyond cookies and SSL session ID. With the changes to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5+, which requires that the browser renegotiate SSL sessions every two minutes, the only usable Layer 7 support this product offers is cookies.

A plus for the HyperCommerce is its easy configuration. With very few options, the CLI provides an easy-to-navigate system. Unfortunately, the same system is used for management, and it lacks some basic functionality, such as historical distribution statistics, which is offered by the competition. We were pleased with the 10/100-Mbps Ethernet management port, a plus in addressing security concerns.

HyperCommerce's performance was adequate. Because of the HyperCommerce's limitations, we were unable to conduct the same test used for the rest of the products. We were forced to use cookies as our Layer 7 test. At Layer 4, the HyperCommerce supported 99 transactions per second, compared with 90 transactions per second at Layer 7. Unfortunately, the average transaction rate began high, 13.76 seconds at Layer 4, and increased to 14.51 seconds at Layer 7.

An advantage of the HyperCommerce is SSL acceleration features. While some products, such as Big-IP, offer an add-in, and others, such as AceDirector, offer separate products to support this feature, the HyperCommerce provides it in the base product.

HyperCommerce, $26,995 (includes one year of support and installation), CyberIQ Systems, (888) 380-6100, (408) 369-4600; fax (408) 377-0288. www.cyberiqsys.com

Send your comments on this article to Lori MacVittie at lmacvittie@nwc.com.