Case Studies
High Availability and Disaster Recovery Infrastructure for Public Institutions, Powered by PAS-K GSLB
- Customer
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“In the past, service outages were a major concern during system failures, but after adopting PAS-K GSLB, we’ve been able to maintain stable service operations. As a result, overall service reliability and quality have significantly improved.”
- Challenges
- As a public institution providing essential services to citizens, unexpected system failures or service interruptions could critically damage the institution’s public image and trust. In severe cases, users might even migrate to competing services.
To minimize these risks, the institution built a Hot Standby–based Active–Standby dual data center environment between its main data center in Busan and the DR site in Seoul. Under normal conditions, the Busan center handles user traffic. When a failure occurs, traffic is immediately switched to the DR center to maintain service continuity.
The institution also considered adopting a high-performance L4 switch capable of performing traffic load balancing at the top layer of the infrastructure while simultaneously providing GSLB (Global Server Load Balancing). This was a strategic choice aimed at achieving not only redundancy but also operational efficiency and flexible infrastructure design.
- Solution
PIOLINK’s PAS-K provides an integrated solution capable of load balancing for diverse L4/L7 traffic.
It performs SLB(Server Load Balancing) in front of servers, FWLB(Firewall Load Balancing) in front of firewalls, and also offers GSLB(Global Server Load Balancing) to intelligently manage multi–data center environments.
The GSLB function evaluates each data center’s availability and network metrics to distribute traffic by region and route users to the optimal data center.
If the primary center experiences a failure, GSLB automatically redirects user traffic to the DR (Disaster Recovery) center, ensuring a stable and seamless user experience without service interruption.
PAS-K provides all these functions without requiring additional license purchases, making it extremely cost-efficient to deploy and operate. It also reduces the complexity and management burden that typically arise when multiple devices are introduced separately, enabling a simpler and more flexible multi-layer load balancing architecture.
At the customer’s site, GSLB was configured so that during normal operations, users are directed to the Busan main center. If a line failure or outage occurs at the Busan center, GSLB automatically switches user traffic to the Seoul DR center, ensuring uninterrupted service.
In particular, the GSLB device at the DR center also operates in Active mode, performing the same failure monitoring and traffic handling. This eliminates any single point of failure within the data center and ensures stable service operations.
Through this setup, the customer successfully integrated FWLB and GSLB to build a more flexible, resilient dual-data-center environment.
- Benefits
- After implementing PAS-K GSLB, the institution achieved a near-zero-downtime recovery system across its dual data center architecture.
• Enhanced Service Continuity :
The Busan main data center processes user requests under normal conditions, while traffic is automatically switched to the Seoul DR center during failures, minimizing service downtime.
• Intelligent Traffic Management :
GSLB continuously monitors service availability at each center and immediately updates DNS routing upon detecting failures. This ensures optimal access paths and maintains stable service quality.
• Improved Operational Efficiency :
By integrating FWLB and GSLB, the institution improved operational efficiency without needing additional devices or complex network design.
• Cost Savings and Scalability :
With integrated load balancing functions and no need for additional licensing, deployment and operational costs were reduced. The infrastructure also now supports flexible expansion in the future.
As a result, the institution achieved meaningful improvements across three key areas: service stability, operational efficiency, and cost optimization.
