Cisco LocalDirector
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cisco LocalDirector is a server load balancing appliance, discontinued in 2002, based on the Network Address Translation (NAT) technology Cisco Systems acquired when they bought Network Translation, Inc. Brantley Coile, who had developed the PIX firewall for NTI and later Cisco, also developed the concept that later became the LocalDirector. As a result of the NTI acquisition by Cisco Systems in late 1995, Brantley hired a team of four long-time associates who were developers: Richard Howes, now at SteelBox, and Pete Tenereillo worked for NTI prior to the Cisco acquisition, and Jim Jordan and Tom Bohannon, also at SteelBox, were hired immediately after the acquisition. Together the four developed the code for the Finesse OS and LocalDirector (Finesse was also used in the Cisco version of the PIX). The majority of the LocalDirector code was shared with the early PIXes.
Though F5 and Cisco started development of a load balancing product around the same time, F5 needed to re-staff and re-develop after the first attempt. The LocalDirector was the industry's first load balancer. It first shipped to a customer in April 1996, only four months after development started, beating the next earliest competitors, F5 and HydraWeb, to market by a full year.
Load balancing provides three important functions. It provides server availability, server scalability and the ability to manage server by bringing them on and off line.
All LocalDirector models were built with Intel-based/Intel-compatible motherboards, along with Intel and Rockwell/Conexant network chipsets. The LocalDirector utilizes a proprietary operating system that Cisco calls Finesse. The PIX firewall today uses a derivative of the same operating system. All systems boot from flash memory.
Contents |
[edit] History and hardware/software specifications
| Model | LocalDirector 47-3158-01 |
410 | 415 / CA-LDIR | 416 | 417 | 417G | 420 | 430 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduced | 2Q96 | 1997 | ? | 1999 | ? | ? | 1998 | 1999 |
| Discontinued | ? | ? | 1998 | 2002 | 2003 | 2003 | ? | 2002 |
| CPU type | Intel Pentium | Intel Pentium Pro | Intel Pentium Pro | Intel Celeron (SL3BA) | Intel Pentium III | Intel Pentium III | Intel Pentium II | Intel Pentium II |
| CPU speed | 133 MHz | 166 MHz | 200 MHz | 433 MHz | 600 MHz | 600 MHz | 300 MHz | 450 MHz |
| Chipset | Intel 430HX | Intel 440GX | Intel 440FX | Intel 440BX | ? | ? | Intel 440BX | Intel 440BX |
| Default RAM | 16 MB | 32 MB | 32 MB | 32 MB | 512 MB | 512 MB | 128 MB | 384 MB |
| Boot flash device | Daughtercard | Daughtercard | Daughtercard | Daughtercard | Onboard | Onboard | Daughtercard | Daughtercard |
| Default flash | 2 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 2/4 MB | 16 MB | 16 MB | 2 MB | 2/4 MB |
| Default interfaces | 2 | ? | ? | Three LD-FE | ? | ? | Three LD-FE | One LD-QUADFE |
| Max interfaces | 4 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Fixed interfaces | No | No | No | No | Six 10/100baseT | Two 1000baseSX and two 10/100baseT | No | No |
| Expansion cards supported | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Floppy drive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Some | No | Yes | Yes |
| Failover supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Model | 410 | 415 | 416 | 417 | 417G | 420 | 430 |
[edit] List of PCI and ISA expansion cards for the LocalDirector
- Flash Memory cards
- LDIR-2MB-Flash - 2MB ISA flash memory card for all LocalDirectors except the 417/417G. Identical to the 2MB flash card used in early PIXes.
-
- PEP upgrade card - 4MB ISA flash upgrade card for the LD 416/430, so named because it, like all of the flash cards used in the PIX/LocalDirector/SSG6510 devices, was manufactured by Productivity Enhancement Products, or PEP. Uses two AMD AM29F016D chips for flash memory, and the BIOS resides on an AMD AM29F010b chip. Description printed on the card itself indicates that it was designed as a 16MB flash card, but six of the eight possible locations silkscreened on the PCB for the 29F016D chips are not populated. It is not comparable to any card used in the PIX, nor does the PIX OS recognize its flash chips. Mentioned in the 3.2 release notes [1].
- Network interface cards
- LD-FDDI - 32 bit/33 MHz dual port PCI FDDI card based on the Interphase 5511 FDDI card (PB05511-002).
- LD-FE - 32 bit/33 MHz single port 10/100 Fast Ethernet card. Based variously on the Intel 82557, 82558, or 82559 chipsets.
- LD-GE - PCI Gigabit Ethernet (1000baseSX) PCI card. Based on the Rockwell/Conexant chipset. Does not support autonegotiation of speed or duplex. Mentioned in the version 3.2.1 installation guide[2]. Identical to the PIX-1GE card.
- LD-QUADFE - 32 bit/33 MHz Four port 10/100 Fast Ethernet card. PCI card based on the Rockwell/Conexant chipset. Does not support autonegotiation of speed or duplex.
- NI-2FE - PCI dual-port 10/100baseTX Ethernet card.
