Combining application and data tiers on different platforms to create workload distribution recommendations

Apparatus for providing improved load balancing of workload connection requests directed to application instances and data sharing members that are each supported in first and second sites, and wherein each of the first and second sites has its own copy of the application instances and data sharing members, comprising:

• one or more hardware processors;
• computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the hardware processors and operative to:
• associate together, as a combined workload group, the application instances and the data sharing members;
• receive metrics associated with application instances and the data sharing members that together comprise the combined workload group;
• dynamically determine a total number of available application instances and data sharing members;
• generate a distribution policy for workload connection requests to access the application instances, the distribution policy being derived from the received metrics and the total number of available application instances and data sharing members dynamically determined;
• provide the distribution policy to a load balancer that has responsibility to select which of the first and second sites receives a particular workload connection request;
• receive and execute, by the load balancer, the distribution policy, wherein execution of the distribution policy includes the load balancer receiving a new workload connection request and delivering the new workload connection request to one of the first and second sites according to the distribution policy;
• wherein the application instances are hosted in an application tier in a first operating system environment, and wherein the data sharing members are hosted in a data tier in a second operating system environment, the first and second operating system environments being distinct from one another.

A computer program product in a non-transitory computer readable medium for use in a data processing system for providing improved load balancing of workload connection requests directed to application instances and data sharing members that are each supported in first and second sites, and wherein each of the first and second sites has its own copy of the application instances and data sharing members, the computer program product holding computer program instructions executed by the data processing system and operative to:

• associate together, as a combined workload group, the application instances and the data sharing members;
• receive metrics associated with application instances and the data sharing members that together comprise the combined workload group;
• dynamically determine a total number of available application instances and data sharing members;
• generate a distribution policy for workload connection requests to access the application instances, the distribution policy derived from the received metrics and the total number of available application instances and data sharing members dynamically determined;
• provide the distribution policy to a load balancer that has responsibility to select which of the first and second sites receives a particular workload connection request;
• and
• receive and execute, by the load balancer, the distribution policy, wherein execution of the distribution policy includes the load balancer receiving a new workload connection request and delivering the new workload connection request to one of the first and second sites according to the distribution policy;
• wherein the application instances are hosted in an application tier in a first operating system environment, and wherein the data sharing members are hosted in a data tier in a second operating system environment, the first and second operating system environments being distinct from one another.