Webfarms II: Balancing The Load. Okay, so you understand webfarms now. What's the magic that actually distributes the load, and how does it determine how the distribution is handled?
At ORCS Web we use the Foundry Server Iron products to perform our webfarm load-balancing. If one of them fails, the other instantly takes over (In our testing, it had sub-second fail-over!)
So what is this "Server Iron" thing? In simplest terms, it's a layer 4-7 switch. It has multiple network ports on it and can be used literally like other types of switches. But, it can also load-balancing and traffic distribution. A VIP (virtual IP) can be assigned to the SI (Server Iron) and it then handles all traffic sent to that address/VIP. Further configuration is done to tell the SI what to actually do with the traffic sent to the VIP address.
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The Bottom Of The Food ChainI have nothing against a company trying to make an honest dollar in exchange for a useful service. After all, that is why companies are in existence.
Those internet companies which provided free services and based their existence on supporting those services with advertising are having a tough time right now. The advertising model is based upon network television's success at providing free programming in exchange for the viewing of advertisements.
The most significant issue with this model (on both television and the internet) is the fact that the customer is not the viewer or user. The customer is the advertiser. The actual user of the service is the commodity which is being sold. That's why the Neilson ratings are so important to the network stations - they determine how many viewers are watching so that commercial time can be sold. The higher the rating, the more likely sales are to occur and the higher the rates can be.
The model gets even more convoluted with services such as GeoCities and Egroups. You see, the model normally has three components: the company selling the advertising (such as Yahoo), the advertisers (the real customers), and the users (the viewers of the ads). Egroups and GeoCities adds a forth grouping.
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