Computing systems often face heavy workloads, and this also applies to cloud technologies. To optimize performance and meet user needs, the systems are expanding. Innovative software resources are applied to adjust performance to customer needs. Scaling is considered to be the most effective technology.
In this article, we will define what cloud scalability is and describe the types of technology.
Cloud scalability: a definition of what it is
Server scalability is a way to improve system performance by adding computing resources. This applies to both hardware and software modifications. For this, the existing code is rewritten.
Some companies believe that scaling should be resorted to if the overall performance metric of the cloud server becomes ineffective for workflows. But even with stable operation, problems may periodically arise due to the increase in user traffic.
Overload resistance can be checked with special testing utilities. An increase in the flow of users to the server is artificially created. After launching the application, you need to evaluate 2 indicators:
- total number of requests;
- how many requests are executed at the same time.
RPS is displayed – the number of requests per second, based on which the probability of a server system failure is estimated.
Cloud scalability options
Scaling cloud resources is the best solution when there is no way to change the configuration and optimization of the server. Done with:
- Vertical scaling. The overall capacity of processes is increased by improving the efficiency of the functioning of internal resources. These are hardware methods: memory, processors, disks.
- Horizontal scaling. Increase computational resources by adding additional nodes. This scaling option is necessary when the digital load and traffic is rapidly growing, in the case where the underlying architecture cannot cope with the increase in requests and fails.
- Diagonal scaling. This is an innovative method used when the stability and efficiency of internal processes cannot be ensured by horizontal scaling. Simultaneous double-sided enlargement is performed – horizontally enlarged nodes are vertically built up.
How to create maximum scalability? You can improve system performance using clustering, which is a very resource efficient method. The technology is aimed at distributing and combining servers into containers and clusters. Also pay attention to caching. Because horizontal scaling cannot perform simple caching of multiple components, optimization is performed using highly secure stores.
Conclusion
So what exactly is server scalability in the cloud? This is the best way to improve system performance. Achieved by adding computing resources (software and hardware).
Unihost is a hosting service where you can select the necessary servers for projects of varying complexity, including getting professional help in server scaling. Renting a cloud server at Unihost is an opportunity to significantly improve the performance indicators of the entire company. On the site you can see the tariffs for all vps servers.