Array APV vs PureLB
Array APV
arraynetworks.com
PureLB
purelb.ioSide by side
| Figure | Array APV | PureLB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 0 |
| Spec score · Load Balancing Software | 7.6 (#5) | 6.8 (#18) |
| Intended users | Array describes its solutions as serving banking, healthcare, manufacturing, government, education, and service providers. | PureLB is designed for operators running Kubernetes clusters on bare-metal Linux nodes who need external reachability for LoadBalancer services. |
| Purpose | APV Series application delivery controllers provide application availability, scalability, performance, security, and traffic control. | PureLB provides Kubernetes LoadBalancer services for bare-metal deployments by allocating IP addresses from configured pools and announcing them through Linux networking or optional BGP. |
| Security | The APV Series can disable SSL renegotiation or enable rate limiting when it detects an SSL renegotiation attack. | The allocator runs as non-root UID 65534 with a read-only filesystem, while the node agent and k8gobgp run as root with networking capabilities and host networking. |
| Support | Array directs product usage issues to Customer Support and lists [email protected] for feedback or suggestions in the vAPV administration guide. | The project lists its Kubernetes Slack #purelb-users channel and GitHub Issues as ways to get help. |
In their own words
Array APV
Array APV is an application delivery controller series for managing application availability, scalability, performance, security, and traffic. It balances server traffic across Layers 2, 3, 4, and 7, with health checks, persistence, clustering, and failover. Administrators can configure Layer 7 policies in the WebUI or CLI and combine them for customized traffic management. APV includes SSL/TLS acceleration and offloading, connection multiplexing, caching, and compression, along with certificate and key management. The x850 datasheet describes WebWall web application security and DDoS protection. Listed integrations include OpenStack Load Balancing-as-a-Service, VMware Cloud Orchestrator, and Microsoft System Center standards. Deployment options include physical or virtual appliances, hyper-converged infrastructure, and cloud platforms; vAPV documentation names VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, Citrix XenServer, Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Management options include secure CLI, WebUI, SSH remote management, role-based administration, and real-time monitoring. Array identifies banking, healthcare, manufacturing, government, education, and service providers among the sectors it serves. Pricing is on request.
PureLB
PureLB is a Kubernetes Service LoadBalancer for bare-metal Linux clusters. It allocates external IP addresses from configured pools and announces them through Linux networking, with optional BGP for remote addresses. ServiceGroups use exactly one pool type: local, remote, or Netbox. Local addresses are attached to host interfaces, and a Kubernetes Lease election chooses which node announces each address; another node can take over if that node fails. Remote addresses are placed on a dummy interface on every node and advertised through BGP, allowing an upstream router to distribute traffic with ECMP. Pools can contain IPv4, IPv6, or both for dual-stack deployments. Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions configure pools and node agents. Installation uses kubectl manifests or Helm, with Helm recommended for production. PureLB requires a Kubernetes cluster with an operational CNI and Linux nodes. It is free, open source, Apache 2.0 licensed, and self-hosted. Prometheus metrics are exposed on port 7472 at /metrics. NetBox integration is documented but currently unsupported and may not work with recent versions.