Chapter 1. Overview of load balancing in Satellite
You can configure your Satellite environment to use a load balancer to distribute host requests and network load across multiple Capsule Servers. This results in an improved performance on Capsule Servers and improved performance and stability for host connections to Satellite. In a load-balanced setup, Capsule functionality supported for load balancing continues to work as expected when one Capsule Server is down for planned or unplanned maintenance.
1.1. Components of a load-balanced setup
A load-balanced setup in a Satellite environment consists of the following components:
- Satellite Server
- Two or more Capsule Servers
- A load balancer
- Multiple hosts
A host sends a request to the TCP load balancer. The load balancer receives the request and determines which Capsule Server will handle the request to ensure optimal performance and availability.
Figure 1.1. Components of a load-balanced setup

1.2. Services and features supported in a load-balanced setup
A load balancer in Satellite distributes load only for the following services and features:
- Registering hosts
- Providing content to hosts
- Configuring hosts by using Puppet
Other Satellite services, such as provisioning, virt-who
, or remote execution, go directly through the individual Capsules on which these services are running.
1.3. Additional maintenance required for load balancing
Configuring Capsules to use a load balancer results in a more complex environment and requires additional maintenance.
The following additional steps are required for load balancing:
- You must ensure that all Capsules have the same content. If you publish a content view version on Satellite, synchronize it to all Capsule Servers.
- You must upgrade each Capsule in sequence.