RFC 3074 (rfc3074) - Page 1 of 10

DHC Load Balancing Algorithm

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Network Working Group                                            B. Volz
Request for Comments: 3074                                      Ericsson
Category: Standards Track                                      S. Gonczi
                                                   Network Engines, Inc.
                                                                T. Lemon
                                                  Internet Engines, Inc.
                                                              R. Stevens
                                                      Join Systems, Inc.
                                                           February 2001


                      DHC Load Balancing Algorithm

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document proposes a method of algorithmic load balancing.  It
   enables multiple, cooperating servers to decide which one should
   service a client, without exchanging any information beyond initial
   configuration.

   The server selection is based on the servers hashing client Media
   Access Control (MAC) addresses when multiple Dynamic Host
   Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers are available to service DHCP
   clients.  The proposed technique provides for efficient server
   selection when multiple DHCP servers offer services on a network
   without requiring any changes to existing DHCP clients.  The same
   method is proposed to select the target server of a forwarding agent
   such as a Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) relay.

1.  Introduction

   This protocol was originally devised to support a specific load
   balancing optimization of the DHCP Failover Protocol [FAILOVR].  The
   authors later realized that it could be used to optimize the behavior
   of cooperating DHCP servers and the BOOTP relay agents that forward
   packets to them.  The proposal makes it possible to set up each



Volz, et al.                Standards Track
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