How Does It Pick the Server?

About this interactive

The lesson's three methods: Fixed (static) assignment: base the choice on something about the client, such as its IP address, its MAC address or who it is, so that client always uses the same server. It is not typical, because it never adapts. Round robin: each new client goes to the next server in turn. In the lesson's experience it is the most used, and it is simple. Because each client uses a different amount of CPU and bandwidth, the servers drift apart over time. Some sources group round robin with the static methods for that reason, since it ignores load; here it is its own method, as in the lesson. Dynamic: the balancer watches connections, CPU or bandwidth on each server and sends the next client where there is most room. It is more complex, and the load stays more even. A load balancer also checks each server's health and stops sending clients to one that is down.

What you'll learn

Tell the three ways a load balancer chooses a server, a fixed assignment, round robin and dynamic load balancing, apart, along with the trade-off of each

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

3.4 Explain the importance of resilience and recovery in security architecture.

Key terms

Load Balancer: A device or software that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure availability and performance.
Dynamic Load Balancing: A load balancing method that monitors real-time server metrics such as CPU usage, bandwidth, and active connections to intelligently direct each new client to the least-burdened server.
Scalability: The ability of a system to handle increased load by adding resources without degrading performance.

Topics

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