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F E A T U R E

Web Server Director Comes Out on Top of the Pile

February 5, 2001
By Lori MacVittie

Executive Summary

Content- Aware Load-Balancers

As e-business initiatives push forward, the need to provide high-availability Web infrastructure grows more important. Content-aware load-balancing devices are an emerging method for maintaining quality and performance within the e-business infrastructure. Content-aware load-balancers can ensure that SLAs (service-level agreements) are met and provide top-notch service to premium customers.

This high level of performance comes at a price, however. Our testing of content-aware load-balancing solutions shows that the performance of your e-business site may degrade with Layer 7 switching functionality. So until content-aware products mature and the industry standardizes Layer 7 terminology, beware. Layer 7 capabilities encompass a wide array of features--from URL and HTTP header parsing, to cookie and SSL session ID persistence. A product that claims Layer 7 support may not offer the specific function you need.

Our Editor's Choice award goes to Radware's Web Server Director Pro. It edged out the competition thanks to its customizable load-balancing algorithms and clear logic syntax.