
Tech Glossary
Load Distribution
Load distribution is the process of evenly distributing incoming requests or workloads across multiple computing resources to ensure optimal performance, minimize latency, and prevent system overload. It is a crucial concept in high-traffic applications, cloud computing, and large-scale distributed systems. Load distribution enhances fault tolerance and helps maintain system stability by preventing any single server or resource from becoming a bottleneck.
Methods of Load Distribution:
Hardware Load Balancers: Dedicated physical devices that efficiently distribute network traffic across multiple servers.
Software Load Balancers: Programs like Nginx, HAProxy, or AWS Elastic Load Balancer that manage traffic routing based on various algorithms.
DNS-Based Load Balancing: Uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to distribute requests among different server instances.
Application-Level Load Balancing: Microservices and container-based architectures, such as Kubernetes, dynamically distribute workloads among service instances.
Common Load Balancing Algorithms:
Round Robin: Assigns each incoming request to the next available server in a rotating order.
Least Connections: Directs traffic to the server handling the fewest active connections.
IP Hashing: Assigns clients to specific servers based on their IP addresses, ensuring session persistence.
Weighted Load Balancing: Allocates more traffic to higher-capacity servers based on predefined weights.
Benefits of Load Distribution:
Improved Performance: Reduces latency and prevents server overloading.
High Availability: Ensures that no single point of failure disrupts service.
Scalability: Enables dynamic scaling to accommodate traffic fluctuations.
Efficient Resource Utilization: Optimizes the use of CPU, memory, and network bandwidth.
Load distribution is fundamental for building resilient, high-performance applications that can handle varying levels of demand efficiently.