Chapter 3 Stateless Server Load Balancing - Brocade

Chapter 3 

Stateless Server Load Balancing 

This chapter describes Server Load Balancing configuration options that are “stateless”. Stateless SLB does not 

use session table entries for the TCP and UDP sessions between the ServerIron ADX and clients or real servers. 

These configuration options are useful if you want to deploy multiple ServerIron ADXs to provide service for the 

same VIPs or applications but the network topology cannot ensure that server responses will pass back through 

the ServerIron ADX. 

NOTE: The Direct Server Return (DSR) feature allows you to deploy a single ServerIron ADX in a network where 

the server responses do not pass back through the ServerIron ADX. Compare the configuration example for 

SwitchBack with the examples in this chapter to determine which type of configuration is applicable to your 

network. See “DSR” on page 2-146. 

NOTE: ServerIron ADX does not support Stateless SLB with aliased ports, such as shown in the following 

configuration: 

server virtual-name-or-ip v3 10.176.7.23 

port dns 

port dns stateless 

bind dns rs1 7777 real-port dns 

Stateless TCP/UDP Ports 

You can configure a TCP application port to be “stateless”. When an application port is stateless, the ServerIron 

ADX does not create session table entries for the port. Configuring an application port to be stateless provides 

the following benefits: 

• The server responses for the application can use alternate paths back to the client. For example, the 

ServerIron ADX and real servers can be connected through a network that provides multiple return paths to 

the client. Since the port is stateless, the ServerIron ADX does not assume that the application is unhealthy if 

the server’s response does not flow back through the ServerIron ADX. 

• The ServerIron ADX has more session resources available for application ports that need them. For example, 

if your server farm provides non-secure web content in addition to secured transaction processing using SSL, 

you can use the ServerIron ADX to maintain state information for the SSL connections while allowing the 

HTTP (web) connections to be stateless. The SSL connections flow back through the ServerIron ADX but the 

HTTP connections use any available path as determined by a real server’s gateway and other routers back to 

the client. 

June 2009 © 2009 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. 3 - 1

ServerIron ADX Server Load Balancing Guide 

NOTE: The SwitchBack feature also allows server responses to take paths that do not pass back through the 

ServerIron ADX. However, SwitchBack still uses session table resources because the ServerIron ADX creates a 

session table entry for the connection from the client to the real server. 

NOTE: ServerIron software currently supports stateless TCP/UDP only for stateless application protocols such 

as HTTP (TCP port 80). 

How the ServerIron ADX Selects a Real Server for a Stateless 

Port 

The ServerIron ADX does not use the standard SLB load-balancing methods when selecting a real server for a 

stateless application port. Instead, the ServerIron ADX uses hash values to select a real server. The ServerIron 

ADX calculates the hash value for a given client request based on the request’s source IP address and source 

TCP/UDP port. 

The ServerIron ADX has up to 8192 hash buckets (the default is 256) and divides the number of buckets evenly 

among the real servers. When the ServerIron ADX forwards a client’s request for a stateless application port to 

the real server that corresponds to the calculated hash value, the ServerIron ADX does not change the source 

address of the client’s request, but does change the destination address from the requested VIP into the real 

server’s IP address. 

For example, when a ServerIron ADX receives a request for TCP port 80 (HTTP) on VIP (192.168.4.69) from 

client 209.161.1.88, the ServerIron ADX calculates a hash value based on 209.161.1.88 and 80, then forwards the 

request to the real server that has the calculated hash value. The request packet is in the following format: 

• Source IP: client’s IP address 

• Source application port: port number selected by client’s application 

• Destination IP: real server’s IP 

• Destination application port: port number requested by client 

If client 209.161.1.88’s Web browser sent the request from TCP port 8080, and the ServerIron ADX’s hash 

calculation resulted in selection of real server 10.10.10.2, the packet would have the following address values: 

• Source IP: 209.161.1.88 

• Source application port: 8080 

• Destination IP: real server’s IP 10.10.10.2 

• Destination application port: 80 

Since the client’s request contains the client’s IP address and application port, the real server can send the packet 

back to the client by any valid routing path. The request does not need to pass back through the ServerIron ADX 

that forwarded the request. In fact, the ServerIron ADX that forwards the requests to the transparent VIP does not 

create session table entries for the requests. 

Since the ServerIron ADX does not maintain state information for the requests for the stateless application port, 

the ServerIron ADX does not care whether the server response for a stateless port passes back through the 

ServerIron ADX on the way to the client. For a normally configured VIP, the server’s response passes back though 

the ServerIron ADX. For a transparent VIP, the response does not necessarily pass back through the ServerIron 

ADX. 

NOTE: Since the ServerIron ADX does not create session table entries for requests to the stateless application 

port, you cannot use ServerIron ADX features that use information in the session table. For example, you cannot 

use source NAT, port translation, and so on. 

3 - 2 © 2009 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. June 2009

Configuring the Stateless Hash Table Size 

You can configure the size of the stateless hash table as shown in the following: 

ServerIron(config)#server real R1 10.10.10.1 

ServerIron(config-rs-R1)#server stateless-hash-table-size 1024 

Syntax: [no] server stateless-hash-table-size 


The variable can be set to any of the following values: 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, or 8192. 

The default value is 256. 

Configuring a Stateless Application Port 

To configure an application port to be stateless, enable the stateless parameter on the port in the virtual server. 

Here is an example: 


ServerIron(config-rs-R1)#port http 

ServerIron(config-rs-R1)#exit 


ServerIron(config-rs-R2)#port http 

ServerIron(config-rs-R2)#exit 

ServerIron(config)#server virtual-name-or-ip StatelessHTTP 192.168.4.69 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessHTTP)#port http stateless 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessHTTP)#bind http R1 http 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessHTTP)#bind http R2 http 

Syntax: [no] port stateless 

The parameter specifies the application port you want to make stateless. 

Disabling the Stateless SLB Hashing Algorithm for UDP Ports 

By default, stateless SLB uses a hashing algorithm to select a real server. The ServerIron ADX calculates a hash 

value for a given client request based on the request’s source IP address and source TCP/UDP port. The request 

is sent to a real server corresponding to this hash value. 

For UDP connections consisting of one client packet and one server response packet, you can disable the 

stateless SLB hashing algorithm. When the stateless SLB hashing algorithm is disabled for UDP ports, the 

ServerIron ADX uses the round-robin load balancing method to select a real server for the request. In this case, 

the ServerIron ADX load balances UDP packets destined for the VIP without creating a session and without 

calculating hash values based on UDP port number and source IP address. 

DNS is an example of a UDP port where this feature can be used. The advantage of disabling the stateless SLB 

hashing algorithm is that a new real server can be selected immediately after it is brought up. 

For example, to disable the stateless SLB hashing algorithm for the DNS port (UDP port 53), enter commands 

such as the following: 

ServerIron(config)# server virtual-name-or-ip Stateless 192.168.4.69 

ServerIron(config-vs-Stateless)# port dns stateless no-hash 

Syntax: [no] port stateless no-hash 

Configuring a Port To Be Both Stateless and Stateful 

You can use the stateless option when configuring an application port on a virtual server to make that port 

stateless. By default, the port is stateless for both TCP and UDP. You can specify the protocol for which you want 

the port to be stateless. For example, you can configure port DNS to be stateless for TCP while remaining stateful 

for UDP, by entering commands such as the following: 

ServerIron(config)# server real R1 10.10.10.1 

ServerIron(config-rs-R1)# port http 

ServerIron(config-rs-R1)# exit 



ServerIron(config)# server real R2 10.10.11.1 

ServerIron(config-rs-R2)# port http 

ServerIron(config-rs-R2)# exit 

ServerIron(config)# server virtual-name-or-ip StatelessDNS 192.168.4.69 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessDNS)# port dns stateless tcp 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessDNS)# bind dns R1 dns 

ServerIron(config-vs-StatelessDNS)# bind dns R2 dns 

Syntax: [no] port [stateless [tcp | udp] [no-hash]] 

The parameter specifies the application port you want to make stateless. 

The stateless parameter configures the port to be stateless. 

The tcp | udp parameter restricts stateless operation to the specified protocol (TCP or UDP). 

The no-hash parameter disables the SLB hashing mechanism for the port (and protocol, if specified). When 

hashing is disabled, the ServerIron uses the round-robin load balancing method to select a real server for each 

request.

Chapter 3 Stateless Server Load Balancing - Brocade

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