# alibaba/LVS

A distribution of Linux Virtual Server with some advanced features. It introduces a new packet forwarding method - FULLNAT other than NAT/Tunneling/DirectRouting, and defense mechanism against synflooding attack - SYNPROXY.

Repository: https://github.com/alibaba/LVS
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/lvs
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2019-07-02T02:59:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4810, "days_push": 2619, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2042, forks 680 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:08.668163+00:00)

## What it is
Alibaba's distribution of Linux Virtual Server (LVS) adding advanced features to the kernel IPVS load balancer. It introduces the FULLNAT packet forwarding method and a SYNPROXY defense module against SYN flood attacks.

## Use cases
- load balance TCP traffic across backend servers in different VLANs
- protect servers against SYN flooding attacks
- build a high-performance software load balancer on Linux
- forward packets between LVS and real servers on different networks
- scale web services with layer-4 load balancing

## When to choose
- you need FULLNAT mode so real servers only need internal network access
- you run Linux kernel 2.6.32-based infrastructure and need IPVS enhancements
- you want built-in SYN flood protection in your load balancer

## When to avoid
- you need a userspace or cloud-managed load balancer
- you run modern kernels where upstream LVS or other proxies like HAProxy/NGINX may suffice
- you need active maintenance, recent releases, or a clear license

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: networking, proxy, security, load-testing
- domain: networking, infrastructure-as-code, self-hosted, security
- platform: c
- tags: load-balancer, ipvs, fullnat, synproxy, kernel-module, lvs, linux

## Member repositories
- alibaba/LVS (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:08.668163+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:58:17.464383+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/alibaba/LVS (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:08.668163+00:00, sha c0101fa8f0de)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.