Load balancing is an essential technique used in cloud computing to optimize resource utilization and ensure that no single resource is overburdened with traffic. It is the process of distributing workloads across multiple computing resources, such as servers, virtual machines, or containers, to achieve better performance, availability, and scalability. Load balancing can be implemented at various levels, including the network layer, application layer, and database layer.
A load balancer is a device that sits between the user and the server group and acts as an invisible facilitator, ensuring that all resource servers are used equally. Load balancing directs and controls internet traffic between the application servers and their visitors or clients, improving an application’s availability, scalability, security, and performance.
Cloud load balancing is defined as the method of splitting workloads and computing properties in a cloud computing environment. It enables enterprises to manage workload demands or application demands by distributing resources among numerous computers, networks, or servers. Cloud load balancing includes distributing traffic, workloads, and computing resources evenly throughout a cloud environment to deliver greater efficiency and reliability for cloud applications.
The most common load balancing techniques used in cloud computing are network load balancing and application load balancing. Network load balancing balances the network traffic across multiple servers or instances, while application load balancing balances the workload across multiple instances of an application. It is important to carefully plan and implement load balancing to ensure that it works effectively and does not introduce additional risks.