What you will learn
- Compare L4 and L7 load balancing
- Explain reverse proxies
- Pick a balancing algorithm
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The basics, in plain English
One server can only handle so many users. A load balancer sits in front of several servers and spreads incoming traffic across them, so no single machine gets overwhelmed and the site stays fast.
- Load balancer
- A traffic director that splits incoming requests across multiple servers.
- Backend
- One of the actual servers doing the work behind the load balancer.
- Proxy
- A middle-man server that forwards traffic on behalf of someone else.
- Reverse proxy
- A proxy that sits in front of your servers and receives requests for them.
- Why it matters
- It lets you handle more users, survive a server dying, and update servers without downtime.
01
Spreading load
A load balancer fronts many backends. Layer 4 balances on TCP, Layer 7 understands HTTP and can route by path or host.
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