You can load balance traffic to existing server topologies without changing the physical configuration of the machines or how clients will connect to your site.
The figure below shows a physical representation of the site using an Ethernet network configuration.
The Dispatcher machine can be installed without making any physical changes to the network. After a client request is directed to the optimal server by the Dispatcher, the response is then sent directly from server to client with no involvement by the Dispatcher.
Read Types of cluster, port, and server configurations for Dispatcher for examples of the different types of configurations you can use with Load Balancer.
The figure below illustrates a site in which all servers are on a local network. The Dispatcher component is used to forward requests, and the Metric Server is used to provide system load information to the Dispatcher machine.
In this example, the Metric Server daemon is installed on each back end server. You can use Metric Server with the Dispatcher component.
For more information on Metric Server refer to Getting advice with Metric Server.