Load-Balancing on the Cheap?
Is it possible to do load-balancing on the cheap?
Background: We have two dedicated servers (one Web, one DB) at a commercial hosting place, which ain't cheap. But high traffic is maxing out the Web server. If we get another Web server at the hosting place and load-balance there, the already-high hosting price will double.
Is it possible to load-balance to an external Web server hosted at a cheaper location, like in-house? Would it be possible to install load-balancing hardware at the dedicated host location to load-balance to an external server? (All this assumes their cooperation. Also, we host the DNS for the site already.) Or is our only real option to install another Web server at the host and load-balance there?
In short, are there any cheap ways to load-balance a professionally hosted site, or are you stuck with just paying more to the hosting provider for a much more expensive and more robust system there?
Thanks in advance...
