Re: Question re: load balancers as a security device

Hi..
In short, PURE load balancers are NOT security devices. So, you are
correct. Lets see more below...

On 22 Jan 2008 15:05:28 -0000, <dan.tesch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm new to a company that has a large number of sites parked on managed servers at a hosting facility - the servers, firewalls and load balancers are exclusive to our use but managed by the ISP.


In reviewing our site design I have seen that the VPN between our LAN and the hosting facility permits all IP traffic in both directions - effectively making these public facing servers part of our LAN in my opinion.


For obvious reasons I'm looking to change this. Nobody is lobbying against the change but a senior developer that was involved in the original design points out that because of the load balancers in front of the servers, the world at large is not able to touch the machines and thus the potential for compromise is limited.

your question started with the change in the design related to LAN-ISP
connecting VPN. Then how come load balancers are coming into picture.
I am saying this assuming that load balancers are for Internet facing
traffic. I may be missing something then or u explianed in hurry.
however, whatever it may be, load balancer are for, well, balancing
load :) One thing you may check if the load balancer has some in-built
security mechanism, like the one from Redware.

-Sanjay


Could I get some comments from this community about how vulnerable or not this type of setup might be? I'm looking for specific info related to the load balancers not commentary about the corporate LAN in this situation - even if the combination of the firewalls and load balancers provide 99.9% protection I think it is a bad idea and would most likely not pass PCI scrutiny.


Thanks

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