System administrators have always thought about IP services loading issues. Before load balancing products like WebMux were available, the solutions were either continually upgrading to bigger servers, or using multiple servers with multiple IP address access points. Different clients could be assigned to different server, even though the contents or services provided are the same.
The availability of the load balancer has eased load balancing issues, but migrating the existing system, with minimal interruption, still proves a challenge to many.
In a single server setup with one IP address, it is easy and straightforward to add a load balancer and extra servers. However, for multiple servers with multiple IP addresses, this task is harder.
One solution is mapping all the domains to one IP address/port called port mapping. FTP, email, and most of the Internet are accessed using domain names. Other IP applications, like many UDP services, are often accessed through hard-coded IP address/port. This causes a major service interruption, as clients have to ask other clients to re-program the IP address.
A better solution is setting up multiple virtual farms that will all map to a group of servers. Existing clients do not need to make any changes to enjoy the benefits of load balancing and failover protection. WebMux’s full flexibility allows any server/port to associate with any virtual farm, which makes this solution simpler than with another load balancer. Without the flexibility, you may have to reprogram hard-coded setup, which wastes time resources, services, and money.