We have a fairly large member site set up on AWS using a medium high-CPU server. Most of the time it runs at very low capacity (~3%), but once a week we send out a newsletter to our members with opportunities. In the minutes after the newsletter the server load shoots up (sometimes to over 100%) with members trying to access the site.
In the long term, we will be restructuring the system, but for now, I’d like to add an overflow server that will serve a ‘try back in a few minutes’ page to users while this is occurring.
I haven’t been able to find any good how-tos on setting up routing for this type of thing. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Why not use Elastic Load Balancing along with Auto Scaling instead?
That would allow you to match the number of servers to your actual usage. Most of the week, you would not be paying for 97% unused capacity, and during the newsletter periods, you will have enough capacity for everyone to log on and buy something from you.