Barracuda Load Balancer ADC vs. Wireshark

Barracuda is an inexpensive solution for load balancing web traffic of all kinds and works as a reverse proxy if you need one. It is efficient and has been a very stable solution. If you need extremely granular configuration for your load balancing traffic, then you may need to go with one of the bigger brands. Barracuda will more than handle regular small and medium business use and do so at a greatly reduced price point.

Incentivized

I don't know of any other tool that works as well as Wireshark for packet capture an inspection. It's extremely easy to get up and running, and even with little to no knowledge of how to use the tool, you can be looking at all the traffic coming off a network interface.

Incentivized

• Excellent Load Balancing.
• Flexible configuration - It's very simple to configure and powerful enough to handle many more websites than just our exchange site.
• Continuously updated - Barracuda makes fairly frequent updates to address issues and improve features.

Incentivized

• Light-weight software - Does not require high end specifications; also runs smoothly on Legacy systems
• Filter function - Lets you filter you packets from thousands to tens so as to find your target much easily
• Simultaneous capturing on all the network adapters - You can capture packets from all the Network Interface Cards (NIC's) at once.

• Overall, there are no issues. It just runs.

Incentivized

• A more user-friendly interface would be nice, but then again it is not really designed for those who are not quite comfortable with this type of software.
• Changes to functionality on updates - this can sometimes happen unexpectedly and can be an annoyance.
• More powerful data processing would be welcomed

Incentivized

It is a product we plan on continuing to use.

Incentivized

It is fairly easy to learn after support helps you set it up and shows you how things work. Which they will do.

Incentivized

I give Wireshark a 10 for usability because it is very usable. Just about anyone can capture packets within a few seconds of opening the program. The analysis is a science but as far as just using Wireshark; it's very easy.

Incentivized

It did well for basic needs but would not deliver for all our services.

Incentivized

I don't believe Wireshark has "true" support as the software is open source. However, there is an active & friendly community around Wireshark that are more than happy to help answer questions. From a comprehensive Wiki and FAQ section on the site to the Ask a Question forum and bug tracker section, there's plenty of support options to make sure your questions and issues are addressed.

Incentivized

Simple and easy setup.

Incentivized

We also had looked at Kemp and F5. The Kemp and F5 had a lot of horsepower and advanced configuration and functionality. When we looked at our workload and how we were planning on using the load balancers, we really didn't need all those extra bells and whistles. Barracuda provided all the standard functionality we needed and were looking for and did so at a greatly reduced price point.

Incentivized

Wireshark is a free tool that came highly recommended by one of our former network security consultants. Using the tool he was able to resolve all of our higher tier network tickets, so we observed first hand why we needed to add Wireshark into our toolset. We received in-depth instruction and training scenarios that demonstrated the effectiveness and power of the product, so we didn't spend any time reviewing competing products.

Incentivized

• It has allowed us to maintain a very high level of uptime.
• It has allowed us to perform server updates without the downtime of services.
• It has provided a consistent user experience by properly balancing service loads across servers.

Incentivized

• Identifying bugs in the network has never been smooth and near-perfect.
• Wireshark has made sure our equipment and software is working properly via analyzing network data.
• Analysis of IP packets and Sip call flaws has saved us a lot of time and confident result.

Incentivized