A Comprehensive Study on Load Balancing Algorithms in Cloud Computing Environments

Abstract

Aim of this paper is to study the various load balancing algorithms used in cloud computing environments. Cloud computing is a new paradigm and has become a conventional method of computation and communication over the internet. This new technology is attracted well by the internet community. Cloud computing offers various services on demand with nominal charges. With cloud computing, end users are free from installation, maintenance and licensing hurdles. Thus cloud computing has become an important way of disseminating information and providing computational services over the network. Day by day, the volume of information stored and retrieved on clouds is increasing rapidly. With huge number of requests, both storage and retrieval, flowing to the cloud, it is important to balance the load among existing servers. Load balancing gives user satisfaction and allows best utilization of resources. Hence this study provides an overview on the basics of load balancing techniques used in cloud environments. The paper also presents various performance metrics used to evaluate the load balancing algorithm.