Definition
Application clustering is a deployment technique that distributes several identical copies (nodes) across different servers or computers. This makes the application more reliable, available and scalable, ensuring uninterrupted service even if there is high demand or the hardware fails.
How Does Application Clustering Work?
- The load balancer manages all the incoming traffic and routes requests to different servers based on availability, server load or a predefined algorithm.
- If, for some reason, one node in the cluster fails or encounters a problem, the load balancer reassigns the request or task to another node, which minimizes downtime.
- The load balancer also ensures that tasks and requests are distributed evenly among all servers to ensure no server overloads that could affect performance.
- If the current number of nodes cannot handle the existing requests effectively, you can add more nodes to improve performance.
- Application clustering may involve complex data synchronisations between nodes especially if they rely on shared data like databases.
Application Clustering Uses
- Digital streaming platforms: Online streaming platforms are always available because they use application clustering to provide uninterrupted viewing or listening.
- Banking and Finance services: Bank systems, especially online banking platforms, use application clustering to respond to the millions of user requests and reduce downtime.
- E-Commerce websites: Large online stores like eBay and Amazon handle large requests per minute, so they use clustering to avoid crashes.