Final answer:
Load balancing is the process of distributing traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server is overwhelmed, which optimizes response times and reliability for high-traffic websites and applications.
Step-by-step explanation:
Load balancing is an automatic distribution of traffic over multiple links or processors to optimize response. This technique is essential in managing large volumes of incoming network traffic across multiple servers, ensuring no single server becomes overwhelmed, which could lead to decreased performance or downtime. Load balancers can distribute traffic based on various criteria, such as server capacity, the number of active connections, or server response time.
In practical terms, load balancing helps maintain smooth operation of websites and applications by evenly distributing user requests. For instance, when a website with high traffic uses load balancing, each user's request is directed to a different server in the network, thus ensuring that no single server is overloaded. This results in faster response times and increased reliability.