How request balancing works
Request balancing can be implemented in various ways, including the use of software (for example, load balancers) and hardware solutions. The methods can vary by the criteria used to distribute requests, for example by the number of active connections, server response times or randomization algorithms.
Load can be distributed by means of DNS Round Robin or with the help of a reverse proxy server. The main goals of balancing are:
- Higher performance: distributing the load helps avoid overloading individual servers, which makes it possible to handle more requests at once.
- Resilience and availability: if one of the servers fails, the balancer can route requests to other working nodes, which improves the reliability of the system.
- Easier scaling: it is simpler to add new servers to the system and distribute the load among them.
- Optimized resource usage: balancing helps spread the load more evenly, which can reduce resource costs.
