Note: As of the Dell ObjectScale 4.0 release, the ECS and ObjectScale products have been unified under the ObjectScale brand. For further details, refer to the following Dell article: ECS rebranding to ObjectScale.

For documentation on the Progress® Connection Manager for ObjectScale product, refer to the following page: Progress® Connection Manager for ObjectScale.

The DELL EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) is a rack-based, flexible, and expandable object storage solution. The ECS is configured through a Web Management Interface frontend (HTTPS). In combination with a Progress Kemp load balancer, an ECS can provide object storage using the protocols S3, Atmos, SWIFT, and Network File System (NFS) in addition to the Web Management Interface. Other protocols such as CAS are also possible but are published without load balancers.

Document Purpose

This deployment guide provides instructions on how to configure the LoadMaster to load balance Dell EMC ECS services using LoadMaster application templates. This guide should only be used as a reference for the load balancing configuration of ECS services because each environment is unique and may have different requirements. This guide outlines the load balancing configuration using custom ECS ports in the LoadMaster application templates, but default ports can also be leveraged based on the environment.

This guide outlines the configuration of Virtual Services (VSs) based on best practices. There are two approaches when publishing Dell EMC ECS through the LoadMaster:

Layer 4: When SSL/TLS offloading is not required, Layer 4 may be used to pass the traffic back to the ECS nodes. Transparency is automatically enabled when using Layer 4. This sends the original source IP address to the Real Servers. For more information, see the Transparency Feature Description. Using Layer 4 has the following requirements:

  • The LoadMaster must be set up in a two-arm configuration.
  • ECS nodes must use the LoadMaster as the default gateway.
  • All connections to the ECS environment must be initiated from a different subnet.

Layer 7: When using SSL/TLS offloading or when the above requirements may not be met, you can leverage Layer 7. Layer 7 by default does not use transparency and therefore the IP address of the LoadMaster is used when accessing the ECS environment. The X-Forwarded-For header is leveraged to provide the original source IP address in the ECS logs for troubleshooting purposes. When a secure connection is used, a certificate must be installed on the LoadMaster to decrypt the traffic for the X-Forwarded-For header insertion. This traffic can then be re-encrypted or offloaded depending on the security requirements.

Contact Progress Kemp Support for any questions regarding configuration options.