IPVS

The utility you will be using to balance your server loads is called IPVS, short for Internet Protocol Virtual Server. The primary purpose of IPVS is to provide one single “face” for your web server and to handle incoming requests. These requests are then sent to each of the individual HTTP servers for processing and response. IPVS itself is an application embedded within the Linux kernel itself, which allows it to function with little overhead and increase performance.

IPVS functions by setting up one or a series of Virtual Services, assigning worker servers to this service and creating a Linux Director for each service. The Linux Director takes incoming requests to the server and then distributes the workload of each request to one of the many worker servers it maintains as part of the Virtual Service. These workers then perform the tasks required; the more worker servers added to the Virtual Service, the less each individual server has to do as the Director assigns requests.