The free version of KEMP Technologies’ LoadMaster application load balancer is now available for unlimited use, making it easy for IT developers and open source technology users to benefit from all the features of a full commercial-grade product at no cost.
The free version of LoadMaster provides all of the core functionality available in the commercial version of the product at zero cost.
While many free and open source load balancers have a loose coupling between the underlying operating system and the actual load balancer, KEMP’s free LoadMaster is an optimized and hardened virtual appliance. This keeps required host configuration to a minimum as well as allays concerns related to ensuring that the overall solution is configured correctly for protection against threats. Since application architecture and protocol usage can vary widely, a load balancer that has diverse capabilities is also important during mid-stage development.
Often times, open source and even entry-level commercial load balancers lack support for protocols other than HTTP/HTTPS and do not have the full breadth of capabilities that go along with modern application load balancers. Free LoadMaster includes ALL of the core functionality expected from a commercial load balancer to enable full testing and validation of application interaction, including global site load balancing via KEMP’s GSLB functionality, authentication and single sign-on with the Edge Security Pack, and verification of custom web application firewall (WAF) rules prior to rolling them into production with the KEMP Web Application Firewall Pack (AFP) – all at no cost.
KEMP’s well-documented REST API (LMAPI) provides access to ~95% of all functionality inside of the product for workflow automation and scripting. Powershell and Java API wrappers provide flexibility for the language used to instantiate, instrument and integrate Free LoadMaster into common development and testing scenario workflows, and there are also plans to deliver a Puppet module in a future version. Community-driven and led support provides a venue for developer-centric collaboration and innovation on new use cases and methodologies in KEMP’s Help Center.
“In line with our core values, we are making application delivery technology even more accessible to the IT community with this free version of our flagship LoadMaster product,” stated Peter Melerud, co-founder and CMO for KEMP. “We are looking forward to increased community engagement with this release and are happy to be able to contribute to the move to iterative application development models being adopted by organizations that are embracing DevOps principles.”
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