Practical Load Balancing: Ride the Performance Tiger

C H A P T E R  7

Load Balancing Basics

Load balancing means the ability to spread the load of processing for an application over a number of separate systems for an overall performance increase in processing incoming requests. This seems very simple; just splitting up the load helps it all gets done quicker. But although the concept is simple enough, there are a number of factors that can add heavy levels of complexity. Anyone who has ever managed a large group of people can attest to this.

This chapter explains the complexities in a load balanced environment. The information here should give you an introduction to the core concept of what load balancing is about. Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to progress into the later chapters ...