Database Load Balancing - LVSKB. From LVSKB Introduction Open Source Solutions.
Load balancing (computing) For Internet services, the load balancer is usually a software program that is listening on the port where external clients connect to access services.
The load balancer forwards requests to one of the "backend" servers, which usually replies to the load balancer. This allows the load balancer to reply to the client without the client ever knowing about the internal separation of functions. It also prevents clients from contacting back-end servers directly, which may have security benefits by hiding the structure of the internal network and preventing attacks on the kernel's network stack or unrelated services running on other ports. Computer cluster. A computer cluster consists of a set of loosely or tightly connected computers that work together so that, in many respects, they can be viewed as a single system.
Unlike grid computers, computer clusters have each node set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software.[1][better source needed] The components of a cluster are usually connected to each other through fast local area networks ("LAN"), with each node (computer used as a server) running its own instance of an operating system. In most circumstances, all of the nodes use the same hardware[2] and the same operating system, although in some setups (i.e. using Open Source Cluster Application Resources (OSCAR)), different operating systems can be used on each computer, and/or different hardware.[3] They are usually deployed to improve performance and availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability.[4]
Research Papers.