[geeks] Re: [rescue] Re: Sad end to SGI Power ChallengeXLstory

[Kurt Huhn]

> > We've got a pair of BigIPs at Exodus.  Those things ROCK!  I recently
> 
> you have a pair, and yet you say most likely?  shame on you. :)
> 

I only say "most likely" 'cause they don't look exactly like mine.  I
know F5 makes a host of other products, like caching content servers,
streaming media crap (or something), and stuff that just doesn't apply
to my infrastructure.  I have no idea what those look like...

Figure I'd say "most likely" in case they were actually 3DNS servers or
something :)


> i actually prefer the Cisco LocalDirector, and at less than a third of the
> cost.  the BigIP has the nice feature of doing SSL for you so you don't have
> to on the web servers, but a cheap SSL accelerator and a pair of LD boxes would
> cost less than a single BigIP.
> 

Well, I chose the BigIPs for several reasons - failover, multiprotocol
support, SSL accelleration (no need to do SSL on the webservers), ease
of use, based on an *actual* OS that can do SSH for command line admin
(if I so wish) and any number of softwares (DNS, time, mail gateway,
etc).  Also I get *fucking awsome* support from F5.  If one of those
machines so much as burps, I send an email to F5 support, enable their
account, and the SSH inand fix it (some of you may be uncomfortable with
this, but I got better stuff to do than chase ghosts in a system under
support contract).

Plus, in a redundant array, these things can totally take over for each
other - even maintaining connection state.  That's just awsome...

Kurt


Kurt