Load balancers

– Digital systems face challenges with fluctuating service requests during high and low activity periods.

– Load balancers manage traffic by distributing network traffic across multiple lines of activity instead of one pipeline.

– This distribution ensures optimal performance and high availability, reducing the risk of bottlenecks.

– Load balancers optimize resource utilization by effectively distributing traffic.

– Cloud computing allows access to computing resources online without hardware acquisition, operating on a pay-for-play model.

– Demand for digital systems varies daily, making load balancing essential.

– Example: A high-traffic ticket-selling site experiences surges in activity when an artist is announced, requiring load balancing to manage variance.

– Load balancing helps manage the cost of computer resources by paying only for what is needed.

– Resource needs increase with high demand and decrease with low demand.

– Effective load balancing may involve using different servers to process user requests or tasks.

– Load balancers are critical in modern network architecture, acting as intermediaries to distribute traffic across servers hosting virtual machines (VMs).

– In the ticket-selling example, VMs perform the task of selling concert tickets.

– A user request is passed through the load balancer, which routes it to the appropriate virtual machine in the backend pool.