Technology Fundamentals
Load Balancer
Definition
A load balancer is a device or software that acts as a "traffic cop" sitting in front of your servers. It distributes network or application traffic across a number of servers.
Why It Matters
Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users) and reliability of applications. By distributing the load, they ensure that no single server becomes overwhelmed, which improves responsiveness and prevents downtime.
Contextual Example
A popular website might have ten identical web servers. A load balancer sits in front of them, and as user requests come in, it distributes them evenly across the ten servers, ensuring fast response times for everyone.
Common Misunderstandings
- Load balancers are a key component for building scalable and highly available systems.
- They can use various algorithms to distribute traffic, such as "round robin" (sending each new request to the next server in line).