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In Part 1 of our Scaling for the Holidays series, we touched on load balancing as a way to scale horizontally. Now, as promised, we delve deeper into load balancing. A Cloud Load Balancer is a virtual networking device specialized to distribute traffic for maximum site availability. When using a Cloud Load Balancer with a public-facing IP address, this address essentially becomes the IP address of your website. As traffic is received, it’s routed to your web servers using the pre-defined, load-balancing algorithm that you configure.  The Cloud Load Balancer then acts as a crossing guard for web traffic, directing traffic to the path of least congestion so that your site is available whether you have two hundred or two hundred thousand concurrent visitors. Rackspace offers load-balancing solutions that can be implemented as a dedicated, or as a cloud-based service launched on-demand.

You’ll know it’s time to implement or re-assess your load balancing solution when you’re reviewing site traffic reports and seeing an increase in the number of connections refused during peak traffic times. That’s the first sign that your serving capacity is too small for the amount of traffic that your site is receiving. The next sign will probably be visitors calling or emailing to complain that they can’t access or transact on your site.

The number of load balancers you deploy is determined by your traffic and performance goals, there is no magic formula. It’s important that you take the time to evaluate and stress test your system to ensure the load balancers work properly before traffic begins to spikes. In the middle of a spike, it may be too late to mitigate the impact of increased traffic by adding a load balancer, and you’ll be forced to tap more expensive solutions, such as dynamically resizing your server, or risk site outages and a diminished customer experience.

Some other things to keep in mind about load balancers:

• There is a feature that can be configured on the Cloud Load Balancer to allow for session persistence.  This will direct incoming traffic from a given address to the same webserver node behind the Cloud Load Balancer. This prevents the customer from having to re-authenticate on your site if their traffic would have been sent to a different webserver in the pool. For SSL encrypted websites employing a Cloud Load Balancer, the Session Persistence feature will not work. In this instance, it would be advisable to use a database to store your session information.

• Balancing multiple SSL sites behind a single load balancer is not recommended. There are ways around it using Server Name Identification (SNI) or creating separate pools with load balancers for each site.  Please consult with one of our Cloud Support specialists for more details on this particular solution.

• For optimal performance, it’s not recommended to exceed more than 24 nodes behind a single Cloud Load Balancer.

View other posts in the Holiday Scaling Series
View more load balancer resources in the Knowledge Center

Click here to download these 10 Questions in PDF format.

Enterprises are finding more and more reasons to consider the cloud for storage and other data retention purposes. Often, CIO’s point to performance optimization, risk reduction, and cost efficiency as major drivers for considering the cloud. If you’re exploring the cloud for data storage, here are ten things to ask of your organization and of a prospective provider before handing over your data.

1.    What Kind of Data Are You Storing?

The answer here should drive where you start your search for a provider. If you’re storing non-essential data, like publicly available reports or archived sales flyers, you may not need to be as concerned about compliance and security. However, if you’re storing sensitive data or processing credit cards, you may be required to maintain certain requirements to gain necessary certifications. Keep in mind that just because you can store unlimited data, that doesn’t prevent transmission issues and limits in the capacity of network connections from creating challenges in accessing and interacting with large data stores.  There may be work needed on your end before implementing a cloud solution.

2.    What Kind of Storage Do I Need?

Some types of data need the security and performance of dedicated infrastructure; however, you typically don’t need expensive SAN or NAS solutions for simple data backups. Map out the data you have and the regulations that apply to the different classes of your data. With that, you can begin to look at solutions that fit the security and performance requirements of your different classes of data. As you assess needs, attempt to forecast from existing system data what your data stores might look like down the road. This can help you figure out which solutions make sense for the long haul and keep you from revisiting the storage conundrum again next year.  For help on assessing your storage options read, “Picking the Right Option for Hosted Storage” white paper. Your various data types may require a mix of different storage technologies, NAS, SAN, and Cloud to achieve your desired results.

3.    What is Your Service Level Agreement (SLA)?

And, more importantly, what is the penalty for breaking it. An SLA is an agreement between you and the service provider that specifies their guarantee of service, usually expressed in 9s, and other important things like, bandwidth constraints, file size limitations, support expectations, and how changes to the SLA are handled. In this conversation, some providers are open to negotiating some aspects of the SLA, but at the end of the day, what you sign is what your provider is legally obligated to deliver.

4.    What Certifications Do You Hold?

This can usually be gleaned off of a provider’s website, but always ask before you jump. If you’re in a highly regulated industry, even storing archival data may require adherence to government or industry guidelines to stay in business. Also, inquire about the company’s audit schedule and what recourse you have if they fail to maintain compliance on their end.

5.    Who Owns My Data?

Hosted storage means putting your data in someone else’s hands. There should be a level of logical portioning that ensures that customer data doesn’t mix. Make sure you ask and are satisfied with the answers about the provider’s responsibility in case of a subpoena or data breach. As most providers offer some type of backup, also be clear on who owns those backups and how quickly they can be restored.

6.    Where Is My Data?

Your data’s legal protection is driven by where it’s physically located. If you locate data in an unfamiliar country, even if your provider’s offices are located in your home country, you may not have the rights you think you have. Your provider should be able to tell you where your data is being held and prime you on whether or not there are legal considerations. Some providers with multiple data centers can offer you the option of only storing data in certain areas if it’s an issue.

7.    Who Can Access My Data?

This question should encompass the vetting process for data center personnel, as well as how access is controlled to the physical data center and the data that resides there. Background checks, biometric access, and certifications may be required for the data center employees, but don’t forget to ask about the cleaning crew, IT and facilities contractors, or other related technology providers that interact with your information. Confirm that your data is being encrypted during storage and transmission.

8.    Do You Use My Data?

Most providers track generic information on all customers for billing and performance logging purposes – not what’s actually in your files. Before you find out the hard way, make sure that’s all they’re doing with your data. The fine print may give them the right to sell your contact information for marketing purposes or give them access to make account changes based on data utilization.

9.    How Do I Migrate My Data In to or Out of Your System?

Before you sign on the dotted line, ask for migration details. You may find that your systems need to undergo major updates, even full conversions, in order to move your data into the new data center’s infrastructure. If the process requires more expertise than you have, does your provider offer migration support or will you be on your own? Most providers have migration strategies that can help move even the largest data stores either through physical media or other means. Also, know how to get your data out if your business needs change or you become unhappy with the service. Ask about the implications of moving licenses for applications and operating systems between environments so you can move your data without changing existing software, schedules, or processes.

10.    How Do You Support Us?

It’s 3 a.m., your file server isn’t displaying your home page banner image. Who do you call? Some providers don’t offer any live support meaning there’s no one to call, only an email address or voicemail to report an issue and wait for a response. Confirm that you have an immediate line to a support team with alternative contact methods, like chat or email. Also, look for self-help resources to help you educate yourself on and troubleshoot the system if necessary.

Click here to download these 10 Questions in PDF format.

X.commerce Innovate Developers Conference 2011: An Early Look at the Future of Commerce

When developers get together to launch products, trade ideas, and check out each other’s work, it’s like getting a sneak peek at the future. These aren’t just new tools coming down the pike—they’re cloud- and mobile-based capabilities that will soon transform and enhance every aspect of our daily lives. We all need to get involved in shaping these changes.

That’s why we’re looking forward to the X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Oct. 12-13. At the event, the newest division at eBay Inc., X.commerce which connects developers and merchants through commerce technology, will debut its open commerce operating system. You can find us at Booth #4 as the Platinum sponsor.

Consumers now use a broad range of cloud-based and other technology-driven trends to do their shopping. In this new world, it’s up to developers, technology companies and merchants to create new tools and capabilities that offer consumers a seamless commerce experience. That’s the goal of this event.

We’ll do our part to make it easier for you to get there. Register for the conference using SPONSOR200 and you’ll get $200 off the fee.

“So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, 
I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that 
I will be able to get along without any software that is not free.”

Since that 1983 announcement, the project has spawned some major technology milestones:

• Facilitated the emergence of Linux which serves as a viable Windows alternative, now running on 82% of the top supercomputers in the world, powering the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider for subatomic research, and serving as the platform of choice for Google and the code beneath Android, the dominant mobile OS.

• Propelled Firefox, from the source code opened up by Netscape to fight the proliferation of IE, to the number one web browser with a 42% market share

• Supported the early Internet boom with the freely-available source code implementation of an HTTP (Web) server application called Apache, now powering 152 milion web pages, making it easier for ISPs to do things like host multiple websites on a single server box that proprietary software didn’t allow

• Laid the foundation for the multi-platform office productivity suite, OpenOffice, with common desktop applications, like word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, available in over 65 supported languages

• Ushered the open standards philosophy behind projects like the OpenStack project to make data center technology as open and available for collaboration and development as the source code for GNU licensed software

So, blow out 28 candles for the announcement that sparked a revolution and stay tuned for the next era of openness.

View the actual announcement from Stallman here.

Learn more about GNU here.

Read about the OpenStack project sponsored by Rackspace and over 125 other tech companies.