The BIG-IP Administrator needs to load balance a pool of web servers. Load balancing should consider the number of connections that are active on…

The requirement is to distribute traffic based on the current load of each server, specifically the number of active connections. The "Least Connections (member)" load balancing method is designed for this exact purpose. It tracks the number of active connections for each pool member (a specific IP address and port combination) and directs new connections to the member with the fewest active connections at that moment. This ensures an even distribution of traffic among servers based on their real-time load.

B. Round Robin: This method distributes connections sequentially to each pool member in a circular order, without considering the current connection load.

C. Ratio (member): This method distributes connections based on a static, administrator-defined weight or ratio, not on the dynamic number of active connections.

D. Ratio (node): This is similar to Ratio (member) but applies the static ratio to the entire node (server) rather than a specific service port.

F5 Networks. (2021). BIG-IP LTM Local Traffic Manager: Concepts, 16.1. "Load Balancing Pools," Section: Load balancing methods. This section explicitly describes the "Least Connections" method as one that distributes connections to the pool member that has the lowest number of active connections.

F5 Knowledge Base. (2022). K8986: The BIG-IP LTM load balancing methods. This article provides a detailed description of each method, stating that Least Connections (member) "selects the pool member that currently has the least number of active connections."