Load Balancing is a method of distributing network or computational resources across multiple servers or system components to optimize performance, increase availability, and ensure application reliability. Load balancers help prevent individual servers from becoming overloaded and ensure an even distribution of traffic.

Key Aspects of Load Balancing:

Traffic Distribution:

• Load balancers direct incoming traffic to available servers, evenly distributing workloads.
• This reduces the risk of overloading specific servers and enhances overall system performance.

High Availability:

• If one server fails, the load balancer can redirect traffic to other operational servers.
• This improves application availability and minimizes downtime.

Scalability:

• Load balancing allows easy addition or removal of servers based on changing business requirements.
• This is particularly useful for cloud applications that may experience fluctuating workloads.

Monitoring and Analytics:

• Load balancers can monitor server health and application performance, enabling administrators to make informed decisions.
• Monitoring systems can identify bottlenecks and help optimize performance.

Variety of Load Balancing Methods:

Several load balancing methods are available, including:

• Round Robin: Distributes requests evenly across servers in a sequential manner.
• Least Connections: Directs requests to the server with the fewest active connections.
• IP Hash: Uses the client’s IP address to determine which server should handle the request.

Examples of Load Balancing Use Cases:

• Web Applications: Distributing HTTP requests among multiple web servers.
• Database Systems: Using load balancers to distribute read requests across database replicas.
• Cloud Services: Leveraging cloud load balancers to distribute traffic across virtual machines.