Horizontal Scaling Versus Vertical Scaling
Problems from scalability are common in the management of IT systems and technologies in every organization. The rates for which the individual application grows, storage is used, or bandwidth is consumed, are very difficult to predict. When the applications outgrow the current infrastructure, for example, data servers, Operating system power, etc., every IT manager needs to evaluate how the organization should scale while keeping or improving efficiency and performance (Beaumont & Beaumont, 2020). Cloud computing provides a better way to scale up and quickly in cases where the organization experienced rapid growth unexpectedly. Cloud computing also provides a temporary scale-up caused by seasonal demand shifts. While it is beneficial to the company when implemented right, it can be a liability if the IT manager does not manage it properly. While it is easier to purchase the additional infrastructure, the manager should understand the scaling options available before deciding on which one to implement. There are two options to scale, that is, vertical scaling and horizontal scaling, each serving different purposes and meeting various business needs, as explained below.
When the application changes, infrastructure scalability comes in to either remove the already existing resources or add resources statically to meet new demands (Beaumont & Beaumont, 2020). Besides the infrastructure scaling, however, the organization decides either scale up (vertical scaling) or scale-out (horizontal scaling). Vertical scaling involves enriching the already existing system with extra resources so that it performs to the required standard. When SLAs needs arise, for example, the system requires the organization to add in more resources into the web servers and databases. Other additional requirements to achieve the desired performance level could as well include the addition of more memory, more storage, more compute, etc. (MAHMOOD, 2016).
Another instance to achieve vertical scaling up is by increasing the cache size of the database, adding more threads, and connections to the software. Vertical scaling moves applications to more powerful environments and could retire the initial servers if they are transferred to different hosts. Vertical scaling is suitable for middle-sized companies that want to implement middle ranged products/ components.
Horizontal scaling, on the other hand, involves implementing distributed architectures to achieve the current business needs caused by changing demands. Horizontal scaling adds more physical machines more processing units to the database or server and reduces the responsibilities of each node by increasing the client’s endpoint connections. There are two ways of achieving horizontal scaling. Firstly, the organization can invest in additional infrastructure by adding prepackaged block nodes such as hyper-converged. Secondly, the organization can implement independent distributed services to retrieve the user’s data without the help of other services (Beaumont & Beaumont, 2020). Horizontal scaling is suited to Cloud service providers who prefer charging or billing their clients on a pay-as-you-go basis (MAHMOOD, 2016). The first option of horizontal scaling (hyper-verged infrastructure) is suited for private-cloud entities. At the same time, the independent distributed service is used by large organizations that could require scaling for each component independently. Loosely distributed service horizontal scaling allows for deploying created software products singly as well as in groups or modules (Beaumont & Beaumont, 2020). To sum up, horizontal scaling is more suitable for big companies whose nodes are overloaded. This is the reason why big companies such as Facebook, Amazon, eBay, and Google use horizontal scaling.
References
Beaumont, D., & Beaumont, D. (2020). How to explain vertical and horizontal scaling in the cloud – Cloud computing news. Cloud computing news. Retrieved 19 April 2020, from https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2014/04/09/explain-vertical-horizontal-scaling-cloud/.
MAHMOOD, Z. (2016). CLOUD COMPUTING. SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PU.