This is a question from our June 2 GWC webcast titled "Simplify Connectivity at the Edge of the Enterprise and Beyond with WebSphere DataPower".

What is the difference between XI50, XI52, etc.?

The XI50, XI50B, XI50z and XI52 offer similar functional capabilities.  Each model offers different non-functional characteristics to suit multiple environments.

Hi,

Can anybody help me to point step-by-step approach to setup Datapower in Load balancing environment?

I beilieve the difference in the xi50 and xi50z is that the z model is a blade model for use in the blade center H chassis, and the xi50 is the standard 1u form factor.  The xi52 i think is a hardware refresh, with some more ram, and some additional hardware specs, i think maybe some more local storage. I think there is a model that has more than 4 fastethernet ports, like 10 or something, i'm not sure which model that one is tho, it might be the 52.

As for the load balancing, what type of load balancing are you reffereing to? Have you purchased the AO option feature pack? If so, what type of load balancing, on the frontend or the backend? If the frontend the datapower is capable of 'self-balancing' requests between two or more boxes, you need to set up a standby group on all the devices in the failover group, and create them in the same group, enable 'self-balancing', and then assign them as part of the same vip.

I don't have any hand-on experience with backend load-balancing.

Hello Evan,

Does it mean I do not require a LB in front of 2 Datapower appliances.? I can have 2 Datapower boxes and they do the self balancing between them for all the requests(web service and non web service) that come to both the boxes . in my case i have a cluster of message broker at th back end to do message transformations and routing.

Regards
Deepak