Let’s see one analogy. Imagine you have a single worker at your office. This worker can write and answer around 10 emails per hour. When there are 2-3 emails per hour, he or she is doing more than fine. But, if there is a sudden work surge because of a problem, this person will start to receive more emails that he or she can handle well. He or she will start suffering, and eventually, the traffic of emails will be so strong that the person won’t be able to do the job completely. That could be avoided if there were more workers that could balance the load. Here comes the load balancing.
What is Load balancing?
Load balancing is a technique to manage tasks or traffic between a group of servers. The tasks/traffic will be distributed between the multiple servers, and none of the servers will have to process all of it. As a result, there will be less stress on the individual servers and a more resilient network that can manage large traffic volumes.
The Difference Between DNS load balancing and Hardware load balancing
Why does Load balancing matter?
Load balancing matters because, without it, the whole system can crash easier. Every system has its limits. Too many tasks or traffic can completely overwhelm it and lead to a crash. That can lead to extended downtime and many lost opportunities. So if you want to keep your business online, this service can really help.
It is worth having a load balancing mechanism so there is no single device that gets overworked. Any element, like a server, for example, can get too substantial traffic, and this will push it to its limits. When a computer works at its maximum, it will generate a lot of heat, and a long period of heat can damage different components.
Load balancing can divide tasks and traffic based on different algorithms. For example, it can manage the traffic based on the geolocation of the visitors, based on servers’ occupation, or simply redirect the traffic, equally between the available servers.
It can also redirect the traffic in case of a server failure. Yes, load balancing really matters as downtime prevention. Different load balancing automatically detects when a server is down and redirects the traffic to another one. Combined with a good monitoring service, it is possible that the server can indicate when it gets back online and unite to the group task.
In addition, it can save you from attacks like DDoS. If you have a vast network of servers, even if the DDoS attack is strong, the traffic will still be within the network’s ability, and none of the servers will go down.
Conclusion
A load balancing mechanism is a smart way to divide traffic or tasks. It can reduce the stress on the system and prevent a single point of failure. A better-managed network is more resilient to changes in traffic and attacks. The more servers you have in your load balancing, the stronger traffic you can manage. If you are considering this service, be sure it offers enough servers for your needs and that they are located where you need them.