ronenha
asked on
F5 loadbalancer support websokets
does F5 load-balancer supports HTML5 websockets, if there is anything specific i need to know about F5 in conjunction with Websocets? and what are the importent points i need to know when working with websockets/F5.
giltjr
Your best bet is to ask BigIP. I can't find anything on their site that says the support it. There are only a few (2 or 3) references to websockets on devcentral.
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ASKER
"The only consideration you will need to have depend on the application itself, whether or not it requires persistence/stickiness"
can you please elaborate on this subject?
thanks
ronen.
can you please elaborate on this subject?
thanks
ronen.
If your application requires the load balancer to maintain session state, not all applications do, then you will need to create a presistence profile. Usually cookie persistence.
ASKER
i dont fully understand
websocket is presistence protocol... that means when a connection open it is remains presistence to the specific instance?
websocket is presistence protocol... that means when a connection open it is remains presistence to the specific instance?
Websocket creates a persistent connection but persistence on the load balancer is something different. Websockets allows multiplex two-way communication over a single TCP connection that will stay open for an entire session (persistent connection). But if you are load balancing a server farm and on a subsequent session the same user needs to be returned to the same server it previously had a connection with, then that requires a persistence mechanism on the load balance to make sure the load balancer returns the user to the same server.
If an application is correctly designed then the load balancer shouldn’t need to maintain persistence, a returning user can connect to any server in the farm, but the reality is not all developers design their applications with a load balancer in mind.
If an application is correctly designed then the load balancer shouldn’t need to maintain persistence, a returning user can connect to any server in the farm, but the reality is not all developers design their applications with a load balancer in mind.
Persistent and Persistence, What's the Difference?
https://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2008/07/11/3443.aspx
Hopefully this helps.
https://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2008/07/11/3443.aspx
Hopefully this helps.
Regarding Persistence. The Big IP will load balance all incoming connections based on the settings on the pool, persistence profiles and any associated iRules. Connections could be round robin, or sticky based on Cookie or source IP address. Websockets create a communications channel between the browser and the end web server. You should make sure that your virtual server (VIP) does not have the one-connect profile enabled at it will reuse connections, also you may want to alter the TCP connection timeout by applying a profile to the VIP.