HTTP Load Balancer Plug-in

The HTTP load balancer plug-in accepts HTTP/HTTPS requests and forwards them to application server instances in a cluster. If an instance fails, becomes unavailable (due to network faults), or becomes unresponsive, the load balancer redirects requests to existing, available machines. The load balancer can also recognize when a failed instance has recovered and redistribute the load accordingly. GlassFish Communications Server provides the load balancer plug-in for the Sun Java System Web Server and the Apache Web Server, and Microsoft Internet Information Server.

By distributing workload among multiple physical machines, the load balancer increases overall system throughput. It also provides higher availability through failover of HTTP requests. For HTTP session information to persist, you must configure HTTP session persistence.

For simple, stateless applications a load-balanced cluster may be sufficient. However, for mission-critical applications with session state, use load balanced clusters with replicated persistence.

Server instances and clusters participating in load balancing have a homogenous environment. Usually that means that the server instances reference the same server configuration, can access the same physical resources, and have the same applications deployed to them. Homogeneity assures that before and after failures, the load balancer always distributes load evenly across the active instances in the cluster.

For information on configuring load balancing and failover for the HTTP load balancer plug-in, see Chapter 5, Configuring HTTP Load Balancing.