Load balancing is the technique taking place in a multihomed host. It distributes network load across multiple links (ISDN, DSL, cable, leased lines, etc ...) in order to get better bandwidth by utilizing all links simultaneously. Load balancing also makes the network more fault tolerance by failover feature.

There are two kinds of load balancing: outbound load balancing (OLB) which is the focus of Routeskeeper, and inbound load balancing (ILB).

Inbound Load Balancing

Inbound Load Balancing operates by processing traffic activity from remote users who are requesting information from your local network. Multiple communication channels are utilized for increased bandwidth to accommodate numerous sessions by remote users accessing the network and retrieving requested information. ILB provides tremendous benefits for networks that operate as primary information centers such as web hosting, E-Mail services, FTP servers, online web stores, or any networking application that serves numerous incoming requests to a network.

Server load balancing is a hot topic when you consider that most Web sites are overworked and old server configurations are unlikely to handle the load. Multiple servers are required, some that perform specialized tasks, so the job of a server load balancer is to receive incoming traffic and send that traffic to available servers or servers that are most appropriate for a particular task.

Outbound Load Balancing

Outbound Load Balancing efficiently uses the local network's available bandwidth to best serve its users that request information from other networks. Most networks with load balancing capabilities benefit their local users when processing outbound information requests. read more ...