autoskaalauksia

Autoskaalauksia, a Finnish term, translates to "automatic scaling" or "autoscaling" in English. It refers to a mechanism used in cloud computing and distributed systems that automatically adjusts the number of computing resources, such as servers or virtual machines, allocated to an application or service based on demand. The primary goal of autoscaling is to ensure that applications remain available and performant without manual intervention, even during fluctuations in user traffic or workload.

The process typically involves monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) like CPU utilization, memory usage, network traffic, or queue lengths. When these metrics exceed predefined thresholds, the autoscaling system triggers an action to increase the number of resources (scale-out). Conversely, when the demand decreases and the metrics fall below certain thresholds, the system reduces the number of resources (scale-in) to optimize costs.

Autoscaling helps in achieving high availability by preventing performance degradation or service outages caused by overload. It also contributes to cost efficiency by ensuring that resources are not over-provisioned during periods of low demand. Different cloud providers offer their own autoscaling services, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Auto Scaling, Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets, and Google Cloud autoscalers. These services allow users to configure scaling policies based on various metrics and schedules.