Web Farm
A web farm is a multi-server scenario. So we may have a server in each state of US. If the load on one server is in excess then the other servers step in to bear the brunt.
How they bear it is based on various models.
1. RoundRobin. (All servers share load equally)
2. NLB (economical)
3. HLB (expensive but can scale up to 8192 servers)
4. Hybrid (of 2 and 3).
5. CLB (Component load balancer).
How to implement webfarms in .Net:
Go to web.config and
Here for mode = you have 4 options.
a) Say mode=inproc (non web farm but fast when you have very few customers).
b) Say mode=StateServer (for webfarm)
c) Say mode=SqlServer (for webfarm)
Whether to use option b or c depends on situation. StateServer is faster but SqlServer is more reliable and used for mission critical applications.
Web Garden
A web garden is a multi-processor setup. i.e., a single server (not like the multi server above).
How to use webgardens in .Net:
Go to web.config and
Change the false to true. You have one more attribute that is related to webgarden in the same tag called cpuMask.
