Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 27, 2026

IP Virtual Server

IPVS implements transport-layer load balancing, usually called Layer 4 LAN switching, as part of the Linux kernel. It's configured via the user-space utility ipvsadm(8) tool.

Last revised
May 27, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
147 w
Citations
2
Source
Wikipedia ↗
ipvsadm
Stable release
1.3.1 / December 24, 2019 (2019-12-24)
Operating systemLinux kernel
PlatformNetfilter
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitewww.linuxvirtualserver.org/software/ipvs.html
Repositorygit.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/kernel/ipvsadm/ipvsadm.git/

IPVS (IP Virtual Server) implements transport-layer load balancing, usually called Layer 4 LAN switching, as part of the Linux kernel. It's configured via the user-space utility ipvsadm(8) tool.

IPVS is incorporated into the Linux Virtual Server (LVS), where it runs on a host and acts as a load balancer in front of a cluster of real servers. IPVS can direct requests for TCP- and UDP-based services to the real servers, and make services of the real servers appear as virtual services on a single IP address. IPVS is built on top of Netfilter.1

IPVS is merged into versions 2.4.x and newer of the Linux kernel mainline.1

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "IPVS Software - Advanced Layer-4 Switching". linuxvirtualserver.org. 2011-02-08. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
External links