EXERCISE
1The simplest distribution method. Requests cycle through servers in order: Server 1, Server 2, Server 3, back to Server 1. Fair and predictable.
Setup: You have 3 identical servers behind load balancer.
Request Flow:
Request 1 → Server 1
Request 2 → Server 2
Request 3 → Server 3
Request 4 → Server 1 (cycle repeats)
Request 5 → Server 2
Request 6 → Server 3
Pattern continues forever. Each server gets equal requests.
Uniform Distribution: Over time, each server receives approximately the same number of requests.
Simplicity: No complex calculations. Just cycle through the list.
Predictability: You know exactly which server handles the next request.
Identical Servers: All servers have same CPU, memory, and configuration.
Similar Requests: All requests take roughly the same time to process.
Stateless Applications: No need to route specific users to specific servers.
Example: Static content delivery. Serving images or CSS files. Each request is quick and similar.
CDN (Content Delivery Network): Serving static assets like images. All servers identical. All requests similar. Round robin distributes load perfectly.
Netflix uses round robin for video thumbnails across their edge servers.
Assumes Uniformity: If one server is slower or busier, round robin keeps sending requests anyway.
No Intelligence: Does not consider health or current load.
These limitations lead us to smarter algorithms...
