Abstract
Load management at the object level is considered in this dissertation. Object level content-based load management is used to address some of the existing and anticipated problems with web servers, such as the need to include diverse hardware and software server platforms, the ability to manage huge spikes in workload, and the need to provide a range of service in web applications based on some piece of information either internal or external to the application. Current TCP/IP load balancing does not easily allow for differentiation of services on the web, but using objects as the remoting unit for load distribution provides intelligent behavior to manage workload and services. In addition, the technology on the web is changing and some of the standard load distribution techniques do not take advantage of the new technologies. The architecture proposed in this dissertation is important because it solves the problems discussed previously utilizing the latest technologies that are either standard or becoming standard in the web environment. The CORBA Architecture is used to address the issues caused by heterogeneity and Java is used in combination with CORBA to take advantage of features that will allow the processing power on the client host to be used for executing server functions. Objects are used to address the complexity issues of distributed processing as well as to provide intelligent behavior to the load balancing system through the objects' ability to be both network and client aware.This dissertation proposes the CORBA Object Load Distributor in Java (COLD Java), which is a set of Java Interfaces in combination with an Object Request Broker and a web server. The COLD Java Architecture is designed to distribute objects across heterogeneous networks in such a fashion as to utilize the available processing power of the system, enable differentiation of services on the web, and make effective use of the client system for server workload distribution.