Article Original Creation Date: 2010-12-03

Overview

The WebLogic load balancing algorithm has been set to Random for application server threads and it has been noted that sometimes, during heavy traffic events, the in-use threads are not equally balanced across the available application servers.

Can the load balancing algorithm be changed to Round-Robin to more equally distribute the load across the available application servers?

Environment

Root Cause

On several occasions in the past, application server load balancing issues at client sites have been addressed by changing the WebLogic load balancing algorithm from Round-Robin to Random. It is not clear at this point if this remains an issue with WebLogic 9.2 MP3.

Resolution

As it is not possible to accurately reproduce certain client-specific environmental behaviors internally the best means to test this would be to make the change and observe the behavior. If the results are not satisfactory the change is easily reverted.

In a case with a customer, the WebLogic load balancing algorithm was changed to Round-Robin for several days with no negative side effects reported.