Performance of websites along with assured availability of applications play key role in determining success of any online venture. One of the most obvious reasons for slow websites is the shortage of computing resources since there are multiple data workloads to be handled. This calls for smart distribution of workloads across a vast pool of computers to boost performance.

Load balancing and its relevance

Requirement of computing resources is always on the rise due to large data volumes being generated and required to be handled by networks on leading to over burdening of nodes. Load balancing is based on cloud computing technology since it leverages large pools of networked computers to make sure that workload distribution is evenly spread out.

In many situations, we can simply achieve greater resource utilization by evenly distributing loads across all nodes because some of the resources are under-utilized. The process of sharing workloads by large computer networks is generally referred to as load balancing.

Load balancing can also be used as a failover mechanism to ensure seamless performance of the system in case of failure of any of the nodes. Interestingly, end users do not notice any performance issues because the load balancing mechanism makes sure that the website continues to operate without any interruptions in spite of any issues.

Although, load balancing can be executed with help of software, it is preferably accomplished by leveraging hardware resources for catering to demands for a faster solution. There are multiple types of load balancing algorithms and the commonest method to be adopted is that sending across a request over the entire cluster and is known as round robin method.

Load balancing methodologies

In the web jargon, we need to understand that the term ‘load’ as in load balancing is used to describe a variety of attributes of servers in addition to the site traffic. Load is also related with network or CPU load in relation with overall memory capacity of any server in the network.

Primary responsibility of a load balancer is to assign workloads to available nodes by analyzing the current status of nodes. If the load balancing technique is not used, then end users will be required to wait for an excruciatingly long period before their request is processed. Data or workload distribution is performed by a load balancer by studying load on every node.

Advances in cloud computing technology have helped create sophisticated ways for load balancing by analyzing number of queued requests, CPU usage, and number of packets that are lost.

More recently, Anycast method of load balancing is being adopted for better speed as well as reliability. This method consists of an addressing strategy, which is usually followed in DNS for multi-location hosts use a singular IP address. Workload balancing is more effectively achieved by routing of the requests to the host that is closest in proximity.

However, the commonest method of load balancing is Round Robin Load Balancing and is used by majority of organizations. The process is executed by forwarding client’s request to every node in the network and is repeated again after the last node is reached. Round Robin Load Balancing is the easiest technique in terms of simplicity of implementation. Performance Additional advantage of this method is continuous checking of the system for any performance issues.

Cloud load balancing- major attributes

Flexibility and continuity-  Load balancing techniques are not only aimed at even distribution of loads to address performance issues, but are also useful for securing websites from unplanned outages for a guaranteed business continuity.

Seamless redundancy- Cloud load balancing provides additional redundancy by shifting of excess burden to other nodes that take over the job of handling requests. Therefore, load balancing techniques are proving to enhance redundancy, scalability, and flexibility of website operations in the face of growing events of traffic spikes.

Enhanced application performance- In contrast to the legacy methods available for on-site use, cloud load balancing techniques are more cost efficient ad can be executed without any hassles. Organizations can look forward to offer an enhanced user experience since the applications can deliver faster performance metrics without significant cost escalation.

Improved scalability- Cloud based applications are inherently designed to offer seamless scalability and cloud load balancers are no exception to this. High performance load balancers help deal with heavy traffic issues and unexpected traffic surges with smart distribution excess traffic across a myriad of server nodes.

In conclusion

Cloud load balancers are of great help during sales promotion activities and during seasonal traffic spikes. In short, cloud load balancers improve site performance by mitigating chances of downtime for excellent business continuity.

Leading providers of cloud load balancing services use state of the art hardware in terms of the latest versions so that businesses are offered guaranteed website performance with highly available website resources. These are also backed by round the clock technical assistance that strives for a near hundred percent uptime.

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