settingup load balancer server in IBM Websphere environment

Question

I am using websphere network deployment. I have written an application that is deployed on two different nodes on the same cell. Now I want to load balance the two servers with sticky session option. Is there a way we can create load balancer server within the websphere environment? I have seen an option called On demand routing, is that equal to load balancer? Your help on this is much appreciated. Btw I am using websphere 8.5.x. thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, the On Demand Router is the native load balancer for a WebSphere cell. Then you simply use the "weight" feature to control the distribution of requests.

Setting Weight - In the admin console, go to "Servers > Clusters > [your cluster type] > [your cluster name]" then under the "Additional Properties" heading click "Cluster members".

Set their "configured weight" to equal values and then ripplestart the cluster (or cycle individually). Note, "runtime weight" takes effect immediately but is reset to configured weight whenever the server is started.

Requests are allocated by a simple formula: (weight of Member X) / (Sum of all member weights)

so if server A has a weight of 20 and server B has a weight of 1, then server A should get 20 / (20+1) or 95.3% of all requests.

In your case, just set them to the same weight.

Answer 2

The most basic HTTP load balancer is the included Apache-based webserver (IHS) and the WAS WebServer Plug-in. Network Deployment also includes a low-level IP sprayer to allow a cluster of webservers to be managed safely.