Cloud Computing: Will the next generation of Linux Containers knock load balancers off kilter?

Grazed from CloudTech. Author: Richard Davies.

Modern IT infrastructure needs to be highly flexible as the strain on servers, sites and databases grows and shrinks throughout the day. Cloud infrastructure is meant to make scaling simple by effectively outsourcing and commoditising your computing capacity so that, in theory, you can turn it on and off like a tap.

However, most approaches to provisioning cloud servers are still based around the idea that you have fixed-size server “instances”, offering you infrastructure in large blocks that must each be provisioned and then configured to work together. This means your infrastructure scaling is less like having a handy tap and more like working out how many bottles of water you’ll need…

There are traditional approaches to ensure all these individual instances work efficiently and in unison (so that those bottles of water don’t run dry or go stagnant); one of the more popular tools for cloud capacity management today is the load balancer. In fact, load balancers are quite often bought alongside your cloud infrastructure…

Read more from the source @ http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2015/may/19/will-next-generation-linux-containers-knock-load-balancers-kilter/