Load balancing software distributes incoming network traffic and workloads across multiple servers by using algorithms such as round-robin or least connections. The result is efficient resource utilization and high availability.
High traffic websites and applications use load balancers to dynamically allocate requests to servers, prevent server overload, and reduce response time. Load balancing solutions also feature server health monitoring techniques to spot underperforming servers and reroute traffic accordingly.
E-commerce, media, entertainment, finance, education, and healthcare institutions rely on network load balancing software to handle varying traffic loads, avoid downtime, maintain service levels for complex applications, and ensure rapid response times. Network administrators and IT managers rely on load balancer products to maintain system availability in case of failovers.
Without load balancing software, companies with high-volume traffic and those with rapidly fluctuating traffic flows would waste resources and potentially damage server equipment. Inefficient resource usage could cause poor functionality, and damaged infrastructure hardware could cause complete site or application failure.
Load balancer software features capabilities like auto-scaling, health monitoring, secure sockets layer (SSL) offloading, and session persistence. Auto-scaling enables companies to automatically assign resources necessary for handling fluctuating traffic load, while health monitoring ensures service availability by checking server status and sending traffic to available servers. Users also benefit from SSL offloading which ensures efficient encryption and decryption while freeing servers for crucial tasks. Session persistence ensures requests from a user are routed to the same server, which is vital for applications like online banking that require continuous service continuity. Some load balance software also feature DDoS protection capabilities to protect servers from malicious attacks.
To qualify for inclusion in the Load Balancing category, a product must:
Monitor web traffic and distribute resources
Scale infrastructure workloads to match traffic
Provide or integrate with failover and backup services
