Replica-aided load balancing in overlay networks

In recent years, there have been rapid advances in network infrastructure and technologies for end-user communication. However, because of network dynamics and resource limitation, providing scalable end-user communication services is challenging when the applications are utilized on a large-scale. To address this challenge, a replica-aided load balancing scheme (RALB) is proposed for enabling the nodes in an overlay networks to support the communication applications for a large number of users. This paper makes three unique contributions. First, we study the existing load balancing schemes and identify their weakness in handling time-varying workloads with frequent load fluctuations. Second, we introduce a sophisticated cost model for load balancing cost estimation, which captures the dependencies between the factors (e.g., the load, message number, and link latency). Third, we propose a performance tuning technique to minimize the load balancing cost. The extensive experiments show that RALB effectively reduces the load imbalance and eliminates the load balancing cost when compared to the existing load balancing schemes.