This chapter briefly introduces readers to the principles of load balancing. The goals of load balancing are discussed, and some common terminology. Ethernet port channeling and MSTP configuration options are reviewed. Routing protocols, VRRP and GLBP are examined in the context of IP. FC port channeling, FSPF and per-VSAN FSPF configuration options are covered. iSCSI connection-level and session-level techniques are explored. FCP session-level load balancing is compared to iSCSI. FCIP connection-level and tunnel-level options are discussed. Finally, end node configurations using DMP software are discussed. |