In terms of scalability, this architecture compares favorably to existing approaches where a front-end node performs content-based distribution. In our architecture, the expensive operations of TCP connection establishment and handoff are distributed among the back-ends, rather than being centralized in the front-end node. Only a minimal additional latency penalty is paid for much improved scalability.
We have implemented this new architecture, and we demonstrate its superior scalability by comparing it to a system that performs content-aware distribution in the front-end, both under synthetic and trace-driven workloads.