Independent Load Balancing for Servers

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for receiving, from a remote node in a communication network, a request message for a particular service;
• means for determining a load metric that indicates a current processing load at the apparatus;
• means for determining a response delay time, for responding to the request message, based on the load metric;
• and
• means for sending, after the response delay time, a response message that indicates the apparatus is able to provide the particular service for the remote node.

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface that is configured for communicating a data packet with a packet-switched network;
• logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and, when executed, operable for:
• receiving, from a remote node in the packet-switched network, a request message for a particular service;
• determining a load metric that indicates a current processing load at the apparatus;
• determining a response delay time, for responding to the request message, based on the load metric;
• and
• sending, after the response delay time, a response message that indicates the apparatus is able to provide the particular service for the remote node.