What is Global Server Load Balancing?

Many companies opt to maintain clusters of servers in more than one location. This could be in an effort to provide a highly available application or to plan for the event of power outage or disaster.  The practice of maintaining clusters in more than one location has created the need for global server load balancing, which works to distribute network traffic across multiple clusters. It does not matter if the servers are on premises or hosted in the cloud for the technology to work. Two common strategies for distributing traffic between clusters is Active/Passive and Active/Active.

Using an Active/Passive strategy, an active server site handles the majority of the traffic, while the passive site remains on standby. Data on the servers at the passive site is synchronized less frequently and by batch. In this scenario, if the active site fails, the global load server load balancer would then redirect the network traffic to the passive site. This approach is commonly used for disaster recovery.

In the second strategy, Active/Active, all clusters work simultaneously to handle the network traffic. Data is synchronized across all sites in real time. This strategy ensures all resources are being fully used.

Global server load balancing offers significant benefits to your business. Depending on the implementation strategy you select (Active/Active or Active/Passive), global server load balancing can offer the following:

Efficiency & Reliability

Global server load balancing can improve the availability and reliability of your application. When one server farm is affected by an outage, traffic can automatically be directed away to a separate cluster.

Improved Performance

Global server load balancing does more than simply distribute traffic between clusters.  It can also detect the location of the user making the request and select the server cluster nearest the user to respond. This reduces latency and minimizes network errors.

Compliance with Security Regulations

When you are working in an industry that requires regulation like defense, telecommunications, or health care, global server load balancing will allow your company to serve a global client base while still staying within regulations.

Location Based Content

For users in other countries, it is essential that they receive content that is relevant to them. By utilizing their location, global server load balancing can customize the content that a user will view.

Global Server Load Balancing Solutions

Resonate understands that your servers can either work for or against the success of your company. With us, your company is receiving the best global server load balancing solution that will save you time and money. Contact our team today to learn more about the products we offer.