In today’s post, I will be talking about load balancing.
We all know web server overload is not good for business. It will negatively impact your services and even lead to poor user experience. Not only this, but a slow network also causes waits and lengthy delays that decrease productivity.
This is where load balancing comes in handy. Read on to know everything about load balancing.
What is Load Balancing?
Load balancing is a process of distribution of incoming network traffic across multiple backend servers. It is to make sure no server bears more demand than it can. When the work is spread across different serves, the responsiveness of apps improves. This will increase the availability of websites and applications.
Nowadays, modern websites and applications cannot run properly without load balancers. This is because websites might have hundreds of requests from users at a time and websites must return the correct application data, text, video, and image in the most reliable and fast way. To meet the high demands, adding more servers is a good practice.
How does Load Balancer Work?
When it comes to load balancer, consider it as a traffic cop for servers as Supfort Texas suggests. It will direct the users’ requests across the servers that can fulfill those requests efficiently. The load balancers have to ensure no server is overworked as this will adversely affect their performance.
When a server stops working, the load balancer will route the traffic to the remaining working servers. Moreover, when new servers are added, the load balancer will automatically direct traffic towards it.
Load Balancing Types
There are different types of load balancers. Depending on your needs, you can choose the one the suits you the best.
- Hash- it will distribute traffic according to the key you define. For instance, based on the request URL or IP address of the user.
- Round Robin- this is capable of directing traffic in a sequence across multiple servers.
- Least Time- it will fulfill requests by sending it to the server that is selected through a formula.
- Least Connections- a request is sent to a server that has fewer connections.
- Random with Two Choices- it will choose two servers randomly and select one using the least connections algorithm.
- IP Hash- using the IP address of users it is determined which server will receive the request.
Why Load Balancing is Important?
In recent times, applications have become complicated, user demand is growing, and traffic is increasing, all this makes load balancing essential. With load balancers, you can create a flexible network, which is capable of meeting challenges without risking performance, service, and security.
Therefore, load balancing is vital for every organization to provide exceptional end-user experience and improve productivity. A load balancer will send traffic to online servers, increasing reliability and availability. It can distribute network traffic across a group of servers, making sure the network is overworked. The balancers are flexible in adding or removing servers, depending on demand.
Do you have a load balancer? How was your experience? Share it with us in the comments below.
