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Networking Intermediate

What is Load Balancer?

A device or software that distributes network traffic across multiple servers to ensure reliability and performance.

Load balancers distribute incoming requests across a pool of backend servers. This prevents any single server from becoming overwhelmed, improves response times, and provides redundancy.

Algorithms include round-robin, least connections, weighted, and IP hash. Popular solutions include Nginx, HAProxy, AWS ELB, and F5. Load balancers operate at Layer 4 (transport) or Layer 7 (application).

Related Terms

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
A protocol that maps IP addresses to physical MAC addresses on a local network segment.
IPv6
The latest version of the Internet Protocol with 128-bit addresses, designed to replace IPv4 and solve address exhaustion.
TCP vs UDP
Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.
SDN (Software-Defined Networking)
An approach that separates the network control plane from the data plane, enabling centralized, programmable network management.
Firewall
A network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing traffic based on predetermined rules.
Reverse Proxy
A server that sits between clients and backend servers, forwarding client requests and returning server responses on their behalf.
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