Load balancing
In computing, load balancing is a technique used to spread work load among many processes, computers, networks, disks or other resources, so that no single resource is overloaded.
Load balancing can be also considered as distributing items into buckets:
- data to memory locations
- files to disks
- tasks to processors
- packets to network interfaces
- requests to servers
Its goal is even distribution.
Contents
Network Load Balancing
Layer-2 Load Balancing
The layer-2 load balancing, also known as link aggregation or trunking, is to bond two or more links into a single, higher-bandwidth logical link. Aggregated links also provide redundancy and fault tolerance if each of the aggregated links follows a different physical path. Link aggregation may be used to improve access to public networks by aggregating modem links or digital lines. Link aggregation may also be used in the enterprise network to build multigigabit backbone links between Gigabit Ethernet switches.
The Linux kernel has the Linux bonding driver, which can aggregate multiple links for higher throughput or fault tolerance.
