Setting up a load balancer for a web site

How to setup multiple linux servers to support a single website

[czamora]

Hi,
I have a growing website that needs to move from its current single-server setup to using a cluster of servers to deliver its dynamic pages.

My current host does not support load balancing among its servers, so I'm left to configure that on my own. Round-rovin DNS doesn't work for me as I'll need certain http requests to always go to the central server (the one with the master database).

My distro is Redhat 9, and I only access the server remotely through SSH. I'm using Apache 2 (and PHP and Mysql).

Any ideas on the simplest way to do this?
I've read a bit about LVS (http://www.linuxvirtualserver.org/) but it seems to require a kernel recompile, which is way beyond the things I would dare to try...

Thanks a lot.

[linsys]

I don't want to come off like an eliteist (like OMG this is soo easy), but the first time I had to compile my own kernel I didn't think I was capable, however over its acutally quite eazy once you've done it a few times.

I would suggest get a spare box, install linux and do a few recompiles on it...

After that its a snap, most applications which require you to recompile your own kernel generally have good documentation..