What is the difference between load balancing and clustering?

Question

Accepted Answer

**Load Balancing** — distributing traffic. **Clustering** — multiple servers working together.

**Load Balancing:**
- Distributes incoming requests.
- Routes to available servers.
- Algorithms: Round Robin, Least Connections.
- Single entry point.

```
Load Balancer:
  Request → LB → Server A (30%)
              → Server B (30%)
              → Server C (40%)
```

**Clustering:**
- Multiple servers as one system.
- Shared state or independent.
- Failover capability.
- High availability.

```
Cluster:
  [Node 1] ←→ [Node 2] ←→ [Node 3]
  (Working together, failover)
```

**Key differences:**
- **Load Balancing** — traffic distribution.
- **Clustering** — working together.
- **Load Balancing** — performance.
- **Clustering** — availability.

Systems Analyst: What is the difference between load balancing and clustering?