What is a load balancer in Security+?
D3 · Architecture · CompTIA Security+ SY0-701A load balancer distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server becomes overloaded, improving availability, performance, and fault tolerance.
Load balancing algorithms: round-robin (sequential), least connections (fewest active sessions), IP hash (same client → same server), weighted (based on server capacity).
Security benefits: hides internal server topology, can terminate SSL/TLS, mitigates some DDoS attacks, enables seamless failover.
Load balancing algorithms: round-robin (sequential), least connections (fewest active sessions), IP hash (same client → same server), weighted (based on server capacity).
Security benefits: hides internal server topology, can terminate SSL/TLS, mitigates some DDoS attacks, enables seamless failover.
Load balancers improve availability (reducing single points of failure) and can add security (SSL termination, DDoS mitigation). Active-active = multiple servers all handle traffic simultaneously. Active-passive = primary handles traffic; secondary activates only on failure.