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Re: Question re: load balancers as a security device

Subject: Re: Question re: load balancers as a security device
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:22:26 +0530
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@comcast.net> 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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Computer Security Learner

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