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Date:      Tue, 14 Nov 1995 10:28:06 -0700 (MST)
From:      Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
To:        jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com (Joe Greco)
Cc:        terry@lambert.org, luigi@labinfo.iet.unipi.it, hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Multiple http servers - howto ?
Message-ID:  <199511141728.KAA20264@phaeton.artisoft.com>
In-Reply-To: <199511141700.LAA28800@brasil.moneng.mei.com> from "Joe Greco" at Nov 14, 95 11:00:19 am

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> > #1.  Via DNS.  The requesting hosts are rotored through a list of the
> > addresses.
> > 
> > It isn't a very good scheme, mostly because caching exists.
> 
> Which is why you lower the TTL  :-)  or maybe just not worry about it,
> because when you start examining the Bigger Picture, you realize that a site
> large enough to require multiple servers is receiving zillions of requests,
> and different data will be cached by each domain server, still effectively
> spreading the load over multiple servers.

*My* cache doesn't have to honor *your* TTL.  In fact, if my  provider
is Sprint or one of serval others, it *won't* honor your TTL.

You're still doing round-robin address assignment, which expects that
clients will behave statistically identical to one another.  And they
won't, even if the TTL is honored.

> The case where you might lose is if a hundred workstations at the same site
> suddenly decide to all run Netscape on a particular URL at once, all hundred
> workstations receive the same cached answer from the local domain server,
> and they proceed to pound the box into oblivion.  This is the "University
> Intro to CS class" problem.  It's worse if they are pounding on your news
> server  :-(  which HAS happened to me.

Or one of several server boxes with 40 X terminals hanging off it.


					Terry Lambert
					terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.



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