A Review of Load Balancing Techniques in Cloud Computing

No limit of emphasis can adequately explain the role of cloud computing today. Businesses and companies ranging from small enterprises to the largest conglomerates have found this apex form of IT as the bedrock for all aspects of their operations. A recent assessment of internet connectivity shows a geometric reduction in the digital divide as more internet users’ surface across the globe daily. The load balancing used in allocating the cloud resources to tasks (user requests) is an important component of cloud computing. The activities of the cloud service providers and the cost involved in delivering their services to the users are mainly dependent on the load balancing algorithms’ efficiency. Moreover, the satisfaction and utility derived by users from the services is determined by the load balancing technique’s effectiveness. This paper reviews some of the known balancing algorithms in literature. The review targets key matters such as classes of load balancing algorithms, the core metrics used in evaluation, and the environment where performances occur. We evaluated the performance of the selected algorithms for a specific analysis using response time as a key metric