Load balancing
A load balancer is a useful tool when clustering. You can define a load balance as a device that helps to distribute network or application traffic within and across the cluster servers, and to improve the responsiveness of the application.
In implementation, a load balancer is placed between the client and the servers. It helps to balance multiple application requests across multiple servers. In the other words, a load balancer reduces individual server time and prevents application server failure.
How does it work?
A load balancer works to make sure that an application's server is available. If one application's server is unavailable, the load balancer redirects all new requests to the available servers, as illustrated in the following diagram:
In the preceding diagram, you can see a load balancer in its typical environment, where a system accepts multiple requests from different sources over the internet, which are then managed from multiple servers by the load balancer.
