Redline Networks

Want to give your sluggish Web site a tuneup so it hums along at a faster clip? Try out a device called a Web front-end. These babies include TCP offload, caching and compression, as well as newer features such as URL rewriting and content balancing.

Redline’s E|X 3250 excelled in our compression and TCP offload tests, and addressed important compatibility details. Additionally, Redline’s powerful – albeit complex – OverDrive technology allows for highly customizable rewriting of inbound and outbound data, which can be used to improve security, make sites more adaptable to changes, and even improve performance with cache control.

The Redline E|X was built for Web acceleration and is concentrated on realistic details – such as browser compatibility – that might be encountered with a public-facing Web site.

Installation and initial configuration is similar to that of the other devices tested: You set up basic network configuration via a serial connection and then perform further configuration via a Web interface or a Secure Shell connection.

While Redline provides a clean Web interface that offers some nice monitoring statistics, many features cannot be addressed via the Web interface. It covers basic network and cluster configuration, but ultimately you have to access the command line to tap into the more advanced features such as setting compression details or enabling caching features.

From the load-balancing perspective, Redline’s default load-balancing method is that new requests go to the back-end server with the fewest outstanding HTTP requests. Redline engineers point out that by focusing on HTTP requests, literally every request made is considered a health check for the Web server.

Like the other products tested, the Redline unit offers TCP connection buffering and management as well as SSL offload and acceleration. However, one area in which the Redline unit really shines is in HTTP compression. The Redline E|X was very aware of edge case issues with browser support for compression, and even opted to use deflate over standard Gzip compression for improved compatibility with browsers, given that some browsers have bugs that only occur with Gzipped content.

Redline provides more control over the degree of compression you can use than the other devices tested, even if you have to use command-line interface in this case.

Redline OverDrive’s AppRule language lets an administrator write powerful rules to filter and rewrite HTTP requests and responses. We were very impressed with this feature when we applied a rule to change the name of one company to another in a set of test HTML files.

Redline’s new “3G” caching feature lets developers create a cache on the unit and write AppRules to hold content in the cache depending on file extension, response code or whatever metric seems appropriate. Once the object is cached, future requests for it will be serviced by the Redline box, thereby freeing the origin server from the request.

The Redline E|X is clearly designed from the HTTP layer downwards. The product excels in HTTP compression, application-level redirection and balancing, and request and response rewriting. The 3G caching feature does not live up to its fancy name (implying it’s seasoned code), although it can be useful if properly employed.

For the full report, go to https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/1025rev.html