What is Load Balancing and why is it crucial for web scalability?

System Design
Medium
Flipkart
133.1K views

This question explores distributing traffic across multiple servers to ensure reliability. It tests knowledge of system availability and performance optimization.

Why Interviewers Ask This

Scalability is key for handling peak traffic like Big Billion Days sales. Interviewers ask this to see if you understand how to distribute load evenly and handle failures. It demonstrates your ability to design resilient, high-availability systems.

How to Answer This Question

Define load balancing as traffic distribution. List algorithms like Round Robin, Least Connections, and IP Hash. Explain benefits: fault tolerance, reduced response time, and horizontal scaling. Mention hardware vs software load balancers.

Key Points to Cover

  • Traffic distribution definition
  • Algorithms (Round Robin)
  • Fault tolerance
  • Horizontal scaling

Sample Answer

Load balancing distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server becomes a bottleneck. It improves responsiveness and availability by routing requests to healthy nodes. Algorithms li…

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Focusing only on hardware
  • Ignoring sticky sessions
  • Not mentioning health checks

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