Hardware Load Balancing Device (HLD)

Definition - What does Hardware Load Balancing Device (HLD) mean?

A hardware load balancing device (HLD) is a physical device that enables network load management and optimization. It serves as an intermediate device between an internal and external network and balances incoming and outgoing network requests, traffic and all network communication.

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Techopedia explains Hardware Load Balancing Device (HLD)

Hardware load balancing provides a service solution geared toward operating computer network communication with optimal performance. This is achieved through several devices, such as routers, switches and/or computing servers, in certain cases.

Typically, hardware load balancing relies on the capabilities of a hardware device and its internal architecture for network load balancing services. These capabilities may include a specialized network operating system (OS), firmware or a powerful processor that can perform rapid network path computations and support for most network mediums and associated ports. Such a device also directly connects with a host network or Web server(s) and can quickly adapt to and provide failover capabilities.