Setup load balance even with one server

Question

My site is currently still ok with one server. But from other people experience big traffic can come suddenly and basically from one server you need to become 4 servers (1 load balancer, 2 web servers, and 1 for Database).

Setting up all that wfter big traffic happens is not desirable. What you guys think of setting up 3 server (1 load balancer, 1 web server, 1 database) already at first? and when needed I can just a another web server.

Anyone done this before?.. is it a good idea?..

Answer 1

I don't know that I'd go to that extent unless you've got a spare server just sitting around and nothing else to do with your time. I.e., it will get you nothing in the short term but it will certainly be a good learning experience and you'll avoid having to work in panic mode if you ever need it.

That said, you can't be sure you'll ever get that traffic, and even if you do, you can't be sure that your web server will be the bottleneck. (It might be the database.) Still, even in this case, you'll at least have learned how to do it, and that's never a bad thing.

tl;dr - It's not a very solid business decision, but it will be a good learning experience.

Answer 2

While it's possible, and desired, to split into 2 servers: Web and Database. It's pointless to load balance a single server. What load balancing does is decide which server to use based on some criteria (typically load). You could have a load balance installed, but it wouldn't be serving any purpose.

Another major reason for multiple servers isn't load balancing, but redundancy. So it's not always about load, but if one server dies what happens to your site? You don't want it down.