IMAGE CREDIT: DANIEL PENNEY

The same thing happens on servers. Even though a web/application server is likely only running a few critical applications, the more connections and requests it tries to process the more compute resources it consumes and the slower it executes. That slow execution results in poor application performance.

The solution is to free up resources. That’s typically done by adding a second server and a load balancing, thereby distributing the total load across two or more servers. This means each server is doing less work, which translates into faster execution times and thus better application performance. The load balancer can also take performance into consideration when deciding which server should respond to a request. By keeping track of the response times of each application, the Load balancer can use an algorithm known as “fastest response time” to choose which server should respond. This distributes requests based on how fast a server responds and thus should improve overall application performance.

This technique runs contrary to current consolidation initiatives, however, where the goal is to reduce the total number of physical servers in an effort to reduce associated operating expenses. Load balancing still helps improve performance in this situation, even if there is only one server being used to serve an application, because it can free up resources by offloading some of the tasks typically associated with serving applications. SSL processing, cookie encryption/decryption, compression, and caching are just a few of the ways in which “load balancing” frees up resources on servers – physical or virtual – and thus reduces the burden on servers that is causing slow execution and poor application performance.

Introducing a load balancer into an architecture isn’t necessarily a panacea, but it does offers options to network and application architects looking for the means to improve application performance.

WILS: Write It Like Seth. Seth Godin always gets his point across with brevity and wit. WILS is an ATTEMPT TO BE concise about application delivery TOPICS AND just get straight to the point. NO DILLY DALLYING AROUND.

Related blogs & articles:

• WILS: The Concise Guide to *-Load Balancing
• WILS: Network Load Balancing versus Application Load Balancing
• WILS: InfoSec Needs to Focus on Access not Protection
• WILS: Applications Should Be Like Sith Lords
• WILS: Cloud Changes How But Not What
• WILS: Application Acceleration versus Optimization
• WILS: Automation versus Orchestration
• If Load Balancers Are Dead Why Do We Keep Talking About Them?