Network load balancing (NLB) project

This project is used in software organizations in different services where there

is heavy traffic in communication. Mainly this application is useful in VoIP
services, chatting, mailing, websites where data flow is high. Main
functionality of this system is to handle traffic at server stage and allow other
servers to share load when main server is affected with high load.
This change in server is not known to user and this process will improve
affiance of service, redundancy and reliability. This is a software application
which will calculate load of each server and take decisions on routing to other
server.
A Network load balancer acts as a reverse proxy and distributes network or application traffic
across a number of servers. Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users)
and reliability of applications. They improve the overall performance of applications by
decreasing the burden on servers associated with managing and maintaining application and
network sessions, as well as by performing application-specific tasks.
Load balancers are generally grouped into two categories: Layer 4 and Layer 7. Layer 4 load
balancers act upon data found in network and transport layer protocols (I P, TCP, FTP, UDP).
Layer 7 load balancers distribute requests based upon data found in application layer
protocols such as HTTP.
Requests are received by both types of load balancers and they are distributed to a particular
server based on a configured algorithm. Some industry standard algorithms are:
Round robin
Weighted round robin
Least connections
Least response time
Layer 7 load balancers can further distribute requests based on application specific data such
as HTTP headers, cookies, or data within the application message itself, such as the value of a
specific parameter.
Load balancers ensure reliability and availability by monitoring the "health" of applications
and only sending requests to servers and applications that can respond in a timely manner.

Abstract
Network Load Balancing, a clustering technology enhances the scalability and availability of
mission-critical, TCP/I P-based services, such as Web, Terminal Services, virtual private
networking, and streaming media servers. To scale performance, Network Load Balancing
distributes I P traffic across multiple cluster hosts. I t also ensures high availability by detecting
host failures and automatically redistributing traffic to the surviving hosts.
I ntroduction
I nternet server programs supporting mission-critical applications such as financial
transactions, database access, corporate intranets, and other key functions must run 24 hours
a day, seven days a week. And networks need the ability to scale performance to handle large
volumes of client requests without creating unwanted delays. For these reasons, clustering is
of wide interest to the enterprise. Clustering enables a group of independent servers to be
managed as a single system for higher availability, easier manageability, and greater
scalability.
Network Load Balancing provides scalability and high availability to enterprise-wide TCP/I P
services, such as Web, Terminal Services, proxy, Virtual Private Networking (VPN), and
streaming media services. Network Load Balancing brings special value to enterprises
deploying TCP/I P services, such as e-commerce applications, that link clients with transaction
applications and back-end databases.
Network Load Balancing servers (also called hosts) in a cluster communicate among
themselves to provide key benefits, including:
Scalability. Network Load Balancing scales the performance of a server-based
program, such as a Web server, by distributing its client requests across multiple
servers within the cluster. As traffic increases, additional servers can be added to the
cluster, with up to 32 servers possible in any one cluster.
High availability. Network Load Balancing provides high availability by automatically
detecting the failure of a server and repartitioning client traffic among the remaining
servers within ten seconds, while providing users with continuous service.
Network Load Balancing distributes I P traffic to multiple copies (or instances) of a TCP/I P
service, such as a Web server, each running on a host within the cluster. Network Load
Balancing transparently partitions the client requests among the hosts and lets the clients
access the cluster using one or more "virtual" IP addresses. From the client's point of view,
the cluster appears to be a single server that answers these client requests. As enterprise traffic
increases, network administrators can simply plug another server into the cluster.


Main things to be considered??
1. Platform-linux
2. Attributes to classify- ip,port, protocol?
3. Per servers or per processors
4. Language c
5. Block diagram
6. Flowchart (algorithm)
Many software and system developing companies have their own load balancing
application; E.g. Microsoft has NLB integrated with windows server operating
system.
Other most popular NLB on the current market include:
F5 BI G-I P Load Traffic Manager (LTM)
Cisco:-Every Cisco I OS-based router product has load balancing capabilities
Radware AppDirector OnDemand Switch Series
Barracuda Load Balancer:-The Barracuda Load Balancer includes standard load balancer
features, plus intrusion prevention.
CoyotePoint Equalizer Appliances