Dns response processing, Traffic distribution specifications – Brocade Virtual ADX Global Server Load Balancing Guide (Supporting ADX v03.1.00) User Manual

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Brocade Virtual ADX Global Server Load Balancing Guide

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Advanced GSLB configuration for IPv6

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DNS response processing

When the weighted site metric is enabled, the GSLB Brocade Virtual ADX selects an IP address
belonging to a particular site to be the best IP address in the DNS reply to a client. The client
subsequently makes an SLB request to that IP address.

Using the weighted site metric, the GSLB algorithm calculates a relative weight for each IP address
and selects the IP address with the least relative weight. The GSLB Brocade Virtual ADX uses the
following criteria to calculate the relative weight of an IP address:

The number of times the GSLB Brocade Virtual ADX selected the IP address as the best IP
address to reply to a client

The number of eligible IP addresses to be evaluated by the weighted site metric, and the
weights of sites to which they belong

A calculated weight assigned to an IP address, based on the following criteria:

If the IP address is a real server, then the calculated weight is zero

If the IP address is a virtual IP (VIP), the weight is calculated based on the site the VIP belongs
to, the weight of the site, and the number of candidate VIPs belonging to the site and being
evaluated by the weighted site metric

If an IP address has a relative weight of zero, or if an IP address belongs to a site that does not have
an assigned weight, the IP address is not selected as the best IP address for a client. Note that all
real servers have a relative weight of zero, as do VIPs that belong to sites with no assigned weights.

If two or more IP addresses have the same relative weight, or if all of the IP addresses have a
relative weight of zero, all of the IP addresses with the same relative weight are passed on to the
next step in the GSLB algorithm, where the process of selecting the best IP address continues.

Traffic distribution specifications

In general, DNS response selection counters are maintained per IP address, per domain name. For
example, suppose you configure three GSLB sites with assigned weights. All three sites host the
application www.example1.com and sites New York and London also host ftp.example1.com, as
illustrated below.

www.example1.com

VIP 2001:db8::1 belongs to San Jose with a weight of 50

VIP 2001:db8::2 belongs to New York with a weight of 30

VIP 2001:db8::3 belongs to London with a weight of 20

ftp.example1.com

VIP 2001:db8::2 belongs to New York with a weight of 30

VIP 2001:db8::3 belongs to London with a weight of 20

Suppose that ten DNS requests are made to www.example1.com. By viewing the selection counters
(using the show gslb dns zone command), you would see that San Jose is selected five times
(50%), New York is selected three times (30%), and London is selected two times (20%).

Now suppose that five DNS requests are made to ftp.example1.com. In this case, New York
receives three requests (60%), and London receives two requests (40%). This is because counters
are maintained per IP address per domain name.

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