Can mod_rewrite make www1.mysite.com look like www.mysite.com to users?

I am looking to use redirection as a way to distribute load across
different web servers. By this I mean that the first user who types
www.mysite.com will be redirected to www1.mysite.com, the second will
be redirected to www2.mysite.com, the third to www3.mysite.com and so
on.

Can I use mod_rewrite so that even though the user is connected to
www1.mysite.com, the URL which is displayed (in address bar) or
bookmarked is www.mysite.com ?

Are there general concerns about using redirection to distribute Web
server load?

Are there any problems with mod_rewrite and redirections?

Are there any problems with hosting similar URLs, e.g., www1.mysite.com
and www2.mysite.com through different hosting companies with different
datacenters?

"RaysOfSearch" <RayMan6@gmail.com> wrote in news:1137008973.231534.182020
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> I am looking to use redirection as a way to distribute load across
> different web servers. By this I mean that the first user who types
> www.mysite.com will be redirected to www1.mysite.com, the second will
> be redirected to www2.mysite.com, the third to www3.mysite.com and so
> on.
>
> Can I use mod_rewrite so that even though the user is connected to
> www1.mysite.com, the URL which is displayed (in address bar) or
> bookmarked is www.mysite.com ?
>
> Are there general concerns about using redirection to distribute Web
> server load?
>
> Are there any problems with mod_rewrite and redirections?
>
> Are there any problems with hosting similar URLs, e.g., www1.mysite.com
> and www2.mysite.com through different hosting companies with different
> datacenters?

You might want to try round robin DNS records, instead:

www.example.com -> 192.168.1.3
www.example.com -> 192.168.1.4
www.example.com -> 192.168.1.5

This will probably give you better load balancing, since the requests will
go directly from the client to the alternate server. You can monitor the
logs to see how this plays out in practice. And, yes, there is a chance
that complex sites will experience issues with this arrangement. Any
attempt to load balance has a different set pros and cons for each
location. At least this arrangement is likely to keep a client on the same
server for as long as the DNS lookup is cached.