A load balancer is any software or hardware device that facilitates the load balancing process for most computing appliances, including computers, network connections and processors. It enables the optimization of computing resources, reduces latency and increases output and the overall performance of a computing infrastructure.
A load balancer is primarily implemented in computer networking processes that distribute and manage loads across several devices, resources and services to increase network performance.
A load balancer is implemented through software and hardware. A software load balancer may be a DNS load balancing solution, software-based switch or router that evenly balances network traffic between different devices and network connections. Similarly, hardware-based load balancers are in the form of physical switches, routers or servers that manage the workload distribution within several devices to reduce or normalize overall load.