Skaalitavus

Skaalitavus refers to the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth. In computing, it often relates to how well a system can scale up or scale out to meet increased demand. Scaling up involves adding more resources to an existing node, such as increasing the CPU or RAM of a server. Scaling out, on the other hand, involves adding more nodes to a distributed system, like deploying more servers to handle a larger workload.

The concept of skaalitavus is crucial for designing robust and efficient systems, especially in the context of the internet and cloud computing where user loads can fluctuate dramatically. A system that lacks skaalitavus may experience performance degradation, increased latency, or even complete failure when subjected to higher loads.

There are generally two main types of skaalitavus: vertical and horizontal. Vertical skaalitavus (scaling up) is limited by the maximum capacity of a single machine. Horizontal skaalitavus (scaling out) is often considered more flexible and cost-effective for handling massive growth, as it allows for the addition of more commodity hardware.

Key considerations when designing for skaalitavus include managing resources efficiently, ensuring distributed systems can communicate effectively, and implementing load balancing to distribute incoming requests across available resources. The goal is to maintain consistent performance and availability as the demands placed upon the system increase.