Load balancing is a technique implemented to prevent a server from being overloaded with traffic. When load balancing measures are in place, workloads and traffic requests are distributed across the range of server resources to provide higher resilience and availability. The need for load balancing became evident in the early days of the internet when single servers were unable to handle high-traffic situations. Regardless of how powerful it was, simultaneous service requests from large volumes of traffic easily overpowered a single server. Load balancing has proven to be a major help to this problem.
 
In a typical load balancing sequence, the first part is the arrival of traffic to your website, wherein visitors to the site send requests to the server via the internet. Second, the traffic is distributed across server resources. Here, the load balancing hardware or software cuts off each request and sends it to the appropriate server node. Thirdly, the node receives the request and can efficiently accept and respond to it due to not being overloaded with requests. In the fourth and final step, the server returns the request. The above steps can only be carried out if there are multiple resources such as a server, network, or virtual resources, that have been established. Otherwise, the workloads are distributed to the same place regardless.
 
There are many benefits of load balancing. For one, in preventing a server from becoming overloaded, it also allows every server node to operate more efficiently. Recently, load balancing has become a larger part of a broad class of technology known as Application Delivery Controllers. ADCs provide multiple advanced load balancing features to aid in workload balancing and bolster the overall quality of application delivery. Beyond this, load balancing also benefits security and productivity. ADCs are commonly used to help protect against threats such as Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. As for productivity, load balancing involves the duplication of content and application workloads, allowing for more than one copy of a resource to be accessed at a time.
 
Depending on the features that are most important to you, there are several types of load balancing setups to choose from. These include server load balancing, network, global server load balancing, container load balancing, and cloud load balancing. In server load balancing, the goal is to distribute workloads across the server’s range of resources. In network load balancing, traffic flow is distributed across IP addresses, switches, and routers to maximize availability. These configurations are made at the transport layer. Global server load balancing, or GSLB, involves an operator handling the workload balancing across a globally distributed load. This configuration also features ADC assets at the global and local levels.
 
Container load balancing offers virtual, isolated instances of applications and is also enabled via load balancing clusters. Perhaps the most popular approach is the Kubernetes container orchestration system, which is capable of distributing loads across container pods to help balance availability. Lastly, cloud load balancing operates within a cloud infrastructure where there are often multiple options for load balancing. This type of load balancing can also include both network and application balancing.
 
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Modern digital devices are multimedia, meaning that they record data in multiple formats, such as both audio and video. With a wide range of devices including cameras, capture cards, microphones, and more utilizing multimedia data storage and transmission and being used by both home and business-oriented PCs, it is important to understand how these devices work.
 
Webcams are simple digital cameras that can take video or still images and transmit them over the Internet. Unlike digital cameras, webcams have no storage capacity. Most plug into a USB port, but some also use IEEE 1394 or parallel ports. Webcams are typically used in live chat situations, or face-to-face video calling, and offer resolutions ranging from sub-VGA to up to 2 million pixels. Some offer autofocus and zoom features to improve image quality, and have built-in microphones.
 
Digital cameras have largely replaced conventional film cameras for both amateur and professional photography. These cameras use CMOS or CCD sensors to record images onto internal or card-based flash memory form factors such as compact flash, SD, memory sticks, xD-picture cards, and smart media. These images can be transferred to computers for emailing, printing, or storage via flash memory card readers or direct USB port connections.
 
Musical instrument digital interface, or MIDI music is created from digitized samples of musical instruments that are stored in the ROM or RAM of a MIDI device such as a sound card, and played under the command of a MIDI sequencer. MIDI sequences are then stored as files for future playback, and can be transferred between sound cards and MIDI-enabled devices such as keyboards via the MIDI port.
 
Sound cards are typically used to record and play back analog audio, but are also used to play back digital audio sources as well. When recording analog sources such as CDs, sound cards digitize the audio at varying sample rates and store files in uncompressed forms like WAV, or compressed forms like WMA and MP3. Most cards support 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio.
 
Video capture cards are used to capture live video from sources like analog camcorders, TV, and more. Most recent capture cards with video capture capabilities are multi-purpose cards that include other functions like TV tuner and video capture functions, graphics cards with video-in/video-out S-video or composite video ports, and USB devices. Videos are stored in a variety of formats, such as MPEG, AVI, and more.
 
At ASAP IT Technology, owned and operated by ASAP Semiconductor, we can help you find all the multimedia devices and parts, paired with an unrivaled supply chain network that delivers some of the fastest shipping in the industry. We’re always available and ready to help you find all the computer hardware parts and equipment you need, 24/7-365. For a quick and competitive quote, email us at sales@asap-ittechnology.com or call us at 1-714-705-4780.

Announced in March 2015, Amazon.com Inc. will begin providing an unlimited storage plan for their Amazon Cloud Drive. The plan will start at $59.99 per year. An alternate plan of photo-only with 5 GB for other file types will cost $11.99 per year. Currently, the only other service offering an unlimited storage plan to a broader consumer segment is Microsoft’s unlimited OneDrive storage exclusively for Office 365 subscribers. Although Microsoft intends to offer an unlimited plan more broadly in the upcoming months, unlimited storage offerings have traditionally been reserved for business or enterprise operators.

Other competitors in the cloud storage market include Dropbox (which offers unlimited storage only to its enterprise customers on Dropbox for Business) and Google (which offers an unlimited option in its Drive for Work cloud storage product). For individual consumers, Dropbox and Google provide a capped amount of space, with the former selling 1 terabyte for $99 annually and the latter selling 1 terabyte for $99.99 per year, making Amazon’s new Unlimited Everything plan the least expensive option. Amazon’s web storage application debuted in 2011. Amazon Cloud Drive is accessible across devices including desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. In addition, the Cloud Drive can be accessed on Amazon’s Fire TV and the Amazon Instant Video app for certain TVs and gaming consoles. Both Amazon and Google also offer other cloud service products for alternate storage uses for data that is infrequently accessed (known as cold storage services). Amazon’s version, part of their Amazon Web Services, is called Glacier. The company also maintains a data warehousing service, called Redshift. Google’s version, Cloud Storage Nearline, was recently introduced in March of 2015.

Via our proprietary website ASAP IT Technology, ASAP Semiconductor is a leading supplier of IT technology products. Prospective customers can browse our inclusive inventory of hard-to-find obsolete and current parts at www.asap-ittechnology.com. If you are interested in a part, please feel free to contact our knowledgeable sales staff at sales@asap-ittechnology.com or +1-714-705-4780 for a quote.