A.0 Support for L4 Switches

Layer 4 (L4) is used to make switching decisions, which means that a switch considers the information in Layer 4 when routing a packet. For example, an L4 switch can decide where to send the packet based on the port numbers. Layer 4 information is used to direct application sessions to different servers and prioritize and queue certain packet types, such as database or application server traffic. An L4 switch requires every device along its path to be together. These switches are useful for WAN and LAN/WAN boundaries.

Each L4 switch has a slightly different method and terminology for the sticky bit or persistence bind, which allows a client that has established a session to be directed to the same Primary Server for all requests sent during the session.

If you choose to deploy Primary Servers behind a L4 switch;

  • Ensure that all such Primary servers are running on the same HTTP and HTTPS ports.

  • Ensure that you open the administrative and client management ports in the L4 switch. For example, open the 7443 and 443 ports for agent and server communication with ZENworks.

  • And if you have specified DNS name for L4 switch in ZCC, ensure that the specified DNS name is resolvable by all the Primary servers behind L4.

For pull deployment in ZENworks to work efficiently, you must enable the sticky bit with the sticky age set to 30 minutes. After the deployment task is finished, the sticky bit configuration is not required and can be removed.

The following table lists supported and unsupported scenarios if L4 switching is used in ZENworks:

Supported

Not Supported

Pull deployment (Sticky bit set)  

Push deployment

Regular managed device activity (Bundles and policy assignments, remotely controlling the devices, etc.)

Content Satellite

Authentication to user sources

Collection Satellite

Authentication Satellite

NOTE:System updates of managed devices, Patch Management, and Imaging scenarios have not been tested.