In the input of work to a cluster of nodes from network client sources, the cluster, whether it be real or virtual, is seen by the requesting clients as a single machine even though it is made up of several individual computers or servers, each being a cluster node. The cluster controlling server distributes the IP addresses (i.e., the service addresses of the distributed workload) across all of the nodes in Network Node Balancing wherein input from clients are shared among a plurality or even all of the nodes. Each node may have its own copy of an application, the work of which is distributed and share a database common to the cluster. Network load balancing is particularly significant in high demand Web sites on the Internet. However, Network Workload Balancing, particularly that of the present invention, is just as applicable to NAS services (CIFS or NFS) as well as, for example, FPT, HTTP and iSCSI. Such balancing distributes the current workload as evenly as possible across all of the cluster nodes. Each of the nodes may maintain its own copy of the network site so that if one of the nodes goes inactive, its workload may be redistributed to the other nodes in the cluster. Similarly, if the workload to the cluster increases, more nodes may be added to the cluster and workload from the existing nodes redistributed to the new nodes.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds