Term of the Moment
Kraken
Definition: virtual server
(1) See server virtualization. Contrast with virtual host.
(2) A virtual machine environment from Microsoft for Windows servers. See Microsoft Virtual Server.
(3) Multiple servers that appear as one system image to the operating system or to the network administrator. See network virtualization.
(4) One instance of a Web or application server running in a single computer that is hosting multiple Web or application servers. See Web hosting.
(5) Multiple servers that appear as one server for load balancing. For example, all clients use the IP address of the virtual server, which uses address translation to point to a real server based on its load balancing algorithm.
Load Balancing
(2) A virtual machine environment from Microsoft for Windows servers. See Microsoft Virtual Server.
(3) Multiple servers that appear as one system image to the operating system or to the network administrator. See network virtualization.
(4) One instance of a Web or application server running in a single computer that is hosting multiple Web or application servers. See Web hosting.
(5) Multiple servers that appear as one server for load balancing. For example, all clients use the IP address of the virtual server, which uses address translation to point to a real server based on its load balancing algorithm.
For load balancing, all clients use the address of the virtual server, which is substituted with the address of one of the real servers. The selection algorithm could be simple round robin or based on the current load of the servers. See round robin.