Dynamic network load balancing using roundtrip heuristic

In a cluster of servers, a method comprising:

• selecting by a first server of the cluster, a second server of the cluster for load balancing with the first server using a tree-based, recursive algorithm;
• measuring, by a first server, a first time for the first server to handle a packet set comprising at least one packet, the first time measured as a difference between a timestamp associated with a response to the packet set sent by the first server and a timestamp associated with receipt of the packet set by the first server;
• determining, by the first server, a second time for a second server to handle another packet set comprising at least one packet, the second time determined as a difference between a timestamp associated with a response to the packet set sent by the second server and a timestamp associated with receipt of the packet set by the second server, wherein each of the first server and the second server comprises a packet handing selection mechanism and each of the packet handling selection mechanism includes a plurality of values in which each value is used to determine whether to handle an incoming request based on a hash of an IP (Internet Protocol) address associated with that incoming request;
• and
• assigning responsibility for handling incoming network traffic to the first server and the second server, by the first server, based upon the first and second times by altering values of the packet handling selection mechanism of the first server and the second server.

In a cluster of servers that share handling of network traffic load, a computing device comprising:

• a first server comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory storing a load balancing component that:
• selects a second server for load balancing with the first server using a tree-based, recursive algorithm;
• measures a packet handling time of the first server as a difference between a timestamp associated with a response to a packet set sent by the first server and a timestamp associated with receipt of the packet set by the first server and determines a packet handling time of the second server as a difference between a timestamp associated with a response to the packet set sent by the second server and a timestamp associated with receipt of the packet set by the second server;
• determines a relative load between the first server and a second server of the cluster based on the packet handling times taken by those servers, wherein each of the first server and the second server comprises a packet handing selection mechanism and each of the packet handling selection mechanism includes a plurality of values in which each value is used to determine whether to handle an incoming request based on a hash of an IP (Internet Protocol) address associated with that incoming request;
• and
• the first server load balances the network traffic load between the servers based on the relative load by altering values of the packet handling selection mechanism of the first server and the second server.