What is the main purpose of load balancing in a network?

The primary function of load balancing in a network is to distribute incoming traffic evenly across multiple servers. This ensures that no single server becomes overwhelmed with requests, which can lead to performance degradation and service interruptions. By optimizing the utilization of resources, load balancing enhances the overall efficiency of system performance and improves response times for users. Additionally, effective load balancing can lead to increased availability of applications, as if one server fails, traffic can be rerouted to the remaining operational servers, thereby maintaining service continuity. This resource optimization is crucial for handling large volumes of traffic and ensuring a smooth user experience across applications and services hosted within a network.