Web server workload management
If your environment uses multiple Web servers, then a mechanism is needed to allow servers to share the load. The HTTP traffic must be spread among a group of servers. These servers must appear as one server to the Web client (browser), making up a cluster, which is a group of independent nodes interconnected and working together as a single system. This cluster concept should not be confused with a WebSphere cluster.
As shown in Figure 1-3, a load balancing mechanism called IP spraying can be used to intercept the HTTP requests and redirect them to the appropriate machine on the cluster, providing scalability, load balancing, and failover.
Figure 1-3 Web server workload management
WebSphere is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
IBM is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.