How IBM is using Real User Monitoring and DNS to deliver premium Global Server Load Balancing for business-critical applications 

Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) isn’t for everyone. If your business operates at a local or regional level, regular load balancing will probably meet your needs.   

Yet, for some larger enterprises or businesses with a worldwide user footprint, GSLB is an essential service. Having a “load balancer for load balancers” keeps your traffic distributed in an efficient way and ensures the performance that your customers expect from an internet-enabled application.  

The promise and pitfalls of in-line load balancers 

Just about every GSLB solution on the market today is an in-line solution. Whether it’s a traditional on-prem box, a SaaS solution, or something else, the architecture is basically the same.  

Routing all your traffic through a load balancer may be convenient architecturally, but it does introduce some significant downsides. First, there’s the problem of choke points. If your load balancer goes down, so does your application. You can add more resilience by tacking on more load balancers, but that’s merely diffusing the problem instead of solving it. 

In-line load balancers also lack visibility into the sources of inbound traffic. Since they only control pathways from the endpoint to back-end resources, in-line load balancers can’t see the impact of “last mile” traffic on latency and application performance. That connection is often the most important piece of the puzzle when you’re trying to deliver a consistent application experience across different geographies, device types and local network conditions. 

The role of DNS and RUM data in GSLB 

Even though the Domain Name System (DNS) is the underlying technology used by most in-line load balancers, there’s often a disconnect between DNS and GSLB when it comes to how most network teams structure their operations. Authoritative DNS and load balancing are often handled by separate teams with very little overlap in functional responsibility. 

IBM® concluded that this separation between DNS and GSLB is counterproductive. DNS holds the keys to a more effective, more resilient, and even less expensive GSLB. 

Authoritative DNS has always been able to control traffic across the entire connection pathway by removing points of failure introduced by the architecture of in-line GSLB solutions. Its out-of-band nature makes DNS an ideal solution to the challenge of resilience, all without the need to purchase and deploy more appliances or endpoints. 

“Last mile” latency is the second piece of the puzzle and it requires more than just the ability to steer traffic. It needs data to inform applications about the best way to connect to back-end workloads at any given moment.   

Real User Monitoring (RUM) data provides instant information about user experiences directly from devices and can form the basis of steering decisions that route traffic around deprecated resources or congested connections. The result: faster connections, better user experiences, and more resilience. 

Disrupting load balancing with IBM NS1 Connect GSLB 

It’s almost strange that authoritative DNS and RUM data aren’t the solution of choice for GSLB.  IBM NS1 Connect® GSLB is going to significantly disrupt the load balancing market and change how in-line load balancers are viewed forever. Even better, DNS-based GSLB is far less expensive than in-line offerings currently on the market. 

SaaS authoritative DNS solutions like IBM NS1 Connect don’t involve the expense (and operational headache) of deploying boxes or buying more endpoint licenses. The additional cost of running authoritative DNS for load balancing is a tiny fraction of what most companies charge – regardless of your solution. 
 
The applications we use for work and play every day deserve better connectivity. We as consumers demand it, and organizations need the best connectivity during their shining moments. With greater resilience, faster connection performance, and a dramatically lower cost, it’s a win for both consumers and network teams. 

Join our webinar and download our eBook to see how DNS and RUM are a perfect combination for strategic traffic steering and application connectivity.  

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