IT industry is one of the fastest growing industries across the globe. Big thanks to cloud computing due to which a large quantity of data is generated and interchanged over the network for better capitalization of companies significant investments.
Cloud has allowed enterprises to take the benefits of computing resources which are usually shared in a virtualized environment. Most of the companies have now switched over to cloud-based services.
Cloud Computing brings up the concept of load balancing, which is important to be known by all those who are using cloud computing or about to turn into it.
What Is Load Balancing In Cloud Computing?
Thousands of users have accessed a website at a particular time. It is challenging for applications to manage the load that comes from all these requests at a time. Sometimes, it may result in a breakdown of your entire system.
Load balancing in cloud computing is the process in which workloads and computing resources are distributed across more than one servers. The workload is divided among two or more servers, network interfaces, hard drives and other computing resources which result in better utilization and system response time.
High traffic web site requires highly efficient load balancing for a smooth operation of their business. Load balancing helps in maintaining system firmness, performance and protection against system failures.
Working Of Load Balancing?
Firstly, I would like to clear that load in load balancing refers not only to website traffic but also comprises of memory capacity, network and CPU load on the server. The primary function of load balancing technique is to ensure that each system of the network is equipped with the same amount of work. It means neither of the system goes overloaded or underutilized.
The load balancer equally distributes the data depending on how busy the server is. Without load balancer, the client would wait long to process their data that might be frustrating for them.
During this load balancing process, information like job arrival rate and CPU processing rate are exchanged among the processors. Any failures in the application of load balancers can head to some severe consequences such as data loss.
Various companies use different load balancers along with multiple load balancing algorithms. One of the most commonly used methods or algorithms is the "Round Robin" load balancing.
Importance of Load Balancing
1. Better Performance
Load balancing techniques are less expensive and easy to implement as compared to its counterparts. Organizations can work on their client's applications much more faster and deliver better performance at relatively lower costs.
2. Maintain Website Traffic
Cloud Balancing provides scalability to control website traffic. With the help of effective load balancers, you can easily manage high-end user traffic with the presence of servers and network devices.
Cloud balancing plays a crucial role for e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart, who are dealing with millions of visitors every single second. Load balancers help them distribute and manage workloads at the time of promotional and sale offers.
3. Handle Sudden Traffic Burst
Load balancers have this ability to handle any sudden traffic received at a particular time. For example, a College or University website can shut down during result declaration due to too many requests arrivals at the same time.
If they are using load balancers they do not have to worry about any amount of traffic burst. No matter how big is the traffic, load balancers equally divide entire website load into different servers for maximum results in a minimum response time.
The main objective of using a load balancer is to protect the website from a sudden mishap. When the workload is distributed among a number of network units or servers, even if one node fails, the load could be shifted to another node. This shows scalability, flexibility and the handling ability of traffic.
I think this post is enough to provide you a complete information about load balancing in cloud computing which is an essential part of server management. Today every organization is using load balancers for a smooth functioning of their websites and if you are planning to create your website as well, your first task should be to find perfect load balancers.