What is horizontal scaling & vertical scaling
Horizontal scaling and vertical scaling are two different ways to improve the performance and scalability of a system.
Horizontal scaling involves adding more nodes to a system. Each node is a separate server that shares the workload. This can be done by adding more physical servers or by using cloud computing to add more virtual machines.
Vertical scaling involves adding more resources to a single node. This can be done by adding more CPU cores, RAM, or storage.
Horizontal scaling is generally more scalable than vertical scaling. This is because horizontal scaling can be scaled to almost any level by adding more nodes. Vertical scaling, on the other hand, is limited by the amount of resources that can be added to a single node.
Here is a diagram that illustrates the difference between horizontal scaling and vertical scaling:
Horizontal scaling is often used for applications that experience a lot of traffic, such as web servers and email servers. Vertical scaling is often used for applications that require a lot of computing power, such as database servers and video processing servers.
Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of horizontal scaling and vertical scaling:
Horizontal scaling
Advantages:
More scalable than vertical scaling
Can be used to achieve very high performance levels
More fault-tolerant than vertical scaling
Disadvantages:
Can be more expensive than vertical scaling
More complex to manage and maintain than vertical scaling
Vertical scaling
Advantages:
Less expensive than horizontal scaling
Easier to manage and maintain than horizontal scaling
Disadvantages:
Less scalable than horizontal scaling
Has a limit on the amount of performance that can be achieved
Less fault-tolerant than horizontal scaling
Which type of scaling you choose will depend on the specific needs of your application. If you need a highly scalable and fault-tolerant system, then horizontal scaling is the best option. If you need a system that is less expensive and easier to manage and maintain, then vertical scaling may be the better option.
I hope this helps!