Load-Balancing

Round robin is the default, but it’s rarely the best choice. Here’s when to use each algorithm and why. The Algorithms Round Robin 1 2 3 4 5 upstream backend { server 192.168.1.1:8080; server 192.168.1.2:8080; server 192.168.1.3:8080; } Requests go 1→2→3→1→2→3. Simple, fair, ignores server load. Use when: All servers are identical and requests are uniform. Problem: A slow server gets the same traffic as a fast one. Weighted Round Robin 1 2 3 4 5 upstream backend { server 192.168.1.1:8080 weight=5; server 192.168.1.2:8080 weight=3; server 192.168.1.3:8080 weight=2; } Server 1 gets 50%, server 2 gets 30%, server 3 gets 20%. ...

A practical guide to load balancing — algorithms, health checks, sticky sessions, and patterns for keeping your services up when traffic spikes.