Weighted Routing
Weighted routing is a load balancing technique that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers or endpoints based on assigned weights, which represent the proportion of traffic each should handle. It allows administrators to allocate more requests to higher-capacity or more reliable servers, optimizing resource utilization and performance. This method is commonly used in web applications, microservices architectures, and cloud environments to manage traffic flow efficiently.
Developers should learn weighted routing when building scalable systems that require fine-grained control over traffic distribution, such as in A/B testing, canary deployments, or handling servers with varying capacities. It is particularly useful in cloud-native applications using Kubernetes or service meshes like Istio, where it helps implement gradual rollouts and improve fault tolerance by directing traffic away from underperforming instances.