A Linux Virtual Server (LVS) is a cluster of servers which appears to be one server to an outside client. This apparent single server is called here a “virtual server”. The individual servers (realservers) are under the control of a director (or load balancer), which runs a Linux kernel patched to include the ipvs code. The ipvs code running on the director is the essential feature of LVS. Other user level code is used to manage the LVS (set rules for services handled, handle failover). The director is basically a layer 4 router with a modified set of routing rules (i.e. connections do not originate or terminate on the director, it doesn’t send ACKs etc, it’s just a router).
via 2. LVS: What is an LVS? Can I use an LVS?.
The director uses 3 different methods of forwarding.
- LVS-NAT based on network address translation (NAT)
- LVS-DR (direct routing) where the MAC addresses on the packet are changed and the packet forwarded to the realserver
- LVS-Tun (tunnelling) where the packet is IPIP encapsulated and forwarded to the realserver.