Rule creation is more complex than it is with some of SI 100's competitors, but it's by no means difficult. Rules are called "policies" and can be nested, making it easy to configure even a complex Layer 7 load-balancing scenario. A policy can include a default, which allows rule chaining.
Client Tests
Once I configured the real servers, I fired up a WebAvalanche to emulate clients, and I performed several tests in the Layer 4 configuration. The SI 100 was able to process 13,000 HTTP 1.1 gets per second.
Next I reconfigured the device for Layer 7 SLB by creating three separate groups--one for text (HTML), one for images and one for CGI-based content. Industry-standard Layer 7 options are available, including switching based on cookies, SSL session ID and host name, and by URL. The Layer 7 configuration binds servers to groups and lets a server be bound to multiple groups. Therefore, you can bind a real server to a range of groups and have the option of configuring a maximum of 2,048 real servers and 1,024 groups. This should be more than acceptable for a midsize enterprise.
Changing Layers
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