LSMAC and LSNAIT: Two Approaches for Cluster-based Scalable Web Servers

Authors

Xuehong Gana, Microsoft Corporation
Trevor Schroeder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Steve Goddard, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Byrav Ramamurthy, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2000

Comments

Published in ICC 2000. 2000 IEEE International Conference on Communications, 2000. Copyright 2000 IEEE. Used by permission.

Abstract

Server responsiveness and scalability are more important than ever in today’s client/server dominated network environments. Recently, researchers have begun to consider cluster-based computers using commodity hardware as an alternative to expensive specialized hardware for building scalable Web servers. In this paper, we present performance results comparing two cluster-based Web servers based on different server infrastructures: MAC-based dispatching (LSMAC) and IP-based dispatching (LSNAT). Both cluster-based server systems were implemented as application-space programs running on commodity hardware. We point out the advantages and disadvantages of both systems. We also identify when servers should be clustered and when clustering will not improve performance.