Major Enhancements For Array’s Load Balancers Released

May 26, 2021

Recently, Array released software version 8.6.1.37 of our ArrayOS for the APV Series application delivery controllers. This new version offers a number of major new features and enhancements, which will help customers and partners expand load balancing capabilities to new use cases.

First and foremost, APV 8.6.1.37 adds custom-tailored support for Oracle Tuxedo. Tuxedo (Transactions for Unix, Extended for Distributed Operations) is middleware that is widely used in the banking, telecommunications and other industries worldwide, and supports applications written in C, C++, COBOL, Python, PHP, Ruby and Java. It is commonly used to support legacy applications that are being re-platformed from mainframe to virtual or cloud environments, or for newer applications that for various reasons use multiple code bases of different types.

In Array’s latest ADC software version, new CLI commands have been added to support load balancing between the Tuxedo workstation client (WSC) and the workstation listener (WSL) in the appropriate Tuxedo group, based upon configured mapping policies and table. The mapping table is automatically updated on the APV appliance based upon the response from the workstation handler (WSH). This new software version not only simplifies Tuxedo deployment and setup, by eliminating the need for complex and error-prone scripting, but also improves overall performance.

Load balancing Tuxedo traffic supports high availability and scalability by evenly distributing loads across servers, monitoring server health, and seamlessly routing around servers that have become overburdened or unresponsive. With Array load balancing, user experience and productivity are enhanced.

In addition to Tuxedo support, APV 8.6.1.37 also adds support for Layer 2 bridging, an implementation of IEEE 802.1D transparent bridging which allows the APV Series appliance to be added to the network without requiring any network segment changes. Array’s implementation includes the ability to define filter rules to separate traffic for delivery to different destinations. In an SSL interception use case, for example, SSL-encrypted traffic can be decrypted by the APV Series, forwarded to security appliances such as a next-generation firewall, IDS/IPS or deep packet inspection for further evaluation, then re-encrypted before being distributed to application servers. Traffic that does not match the filter rules will be forwarded transparently out of the bridge.

Additional minor enhancements to the default global root CA certificate list, global server load balancing, and high availability features of the APV Series are also included in this latest software release.

More information on APV 8.6.1.37 is available on Array’s support portal, or through your Array sales representative or authorized Array reseller.

Roland Hsu