+h2(#load_balancing). Load balancing controllers (optional)
+
+In order to handle high loads and perform rolling upgrades, the controller service can be scaled to a number of hosts and the installer make this implementation a fairly simple task.
+
+First, you should take care of the infrastructure deployment: if you use our Terraform code, you will need to set up the @terraform.tfvars@ in @terraform/vpc/@ so that in addition to the node named @controller@ (the load-balancer), a number of @controllerN@ nodes (backends) are defined as needed, and added to the @internal_service_hosts@ list.
+
+We suggest that the backend nodes just hold the controller service and nothing else, so they can be easily created or destroyed as needed without other service disruption.
+
+The following is an example @terraform/vpc/terraform.tfvars@ file that describes a cluster with a load-balancer, 2 backend nodes, a separate database node, a shell node, a keepstore node and a workbench node that will also hold other miscelaneous services:
+
+<pre><code>region_name = "us-east-1"
+cluster_name = "xarv1"
+domain_name = "xarv1.example.com"
+# Include controller nodes in this list so instances are assigned to the
+# private subnet. Only the balancer node should be connecting to them.
+internal_service_hosts = [ "keep0", "shell", "database", "controller1", "controller2" ]
+
+# Assign private IPs for the controller nodes. These will be used to create
+# internal DNS resolutions that will get used by the balancer and database nodes.
+private_ip = {
+ controller = "10.1.1.11"
+ workbench = "10.1.1.15"
+ database = "10.1.2.12"
+ controller1 = "10.1.2.21"
+ controller2 = "10.1.2.22"
+ shell = "10.1.2.17"
+ keep0 = "10.1.2.13"
+}</code></pre>
+
+Once the infrastructure is deployed, you'll then need to define which node will be using the @balancer@ role and which will be the @controller@ nodes in @local.params@, as it's being shown in this partial example:
+
+<pre><code>NODES=(
+ [controller.${DOMAIN}]=balancer
+ [controller1.${DOMAIN}]=controller
+ [controller2.${DOMAIN}]=controller
+ [database.${DOMAIN}]=database
+ ...
+)
+</code></pre>
+
+Note that we also set the @database@ role to its own node instead of just leaving it in a shared controller node.
+
+Each time you run @installer.sh deploy@, the system will automatically do rolling upgrades. This means it will make changes to one controller node at a time, after removing it from the balancer so that there's no downtime.
+