Hosting · Website glossary

Scalability

Quick answer · What is Scalability?

The ability of a system to accommodate changing workload by adjusting resources or architecture.

IN PRACTICE

Scalability: an example

A growing application separates image delivery from request processing to expand those parts independently.

KEEP IN MIND

Adding capacity cannot guarantee improvement if a different dependency remains the bottleneck.

Put the idea to work

Frequently asked questions

What is a practical example of Scalability?

A growing application separates image delivery from request processing to expand those parts independently.

Will adding capacity always improve performance?

Adding capacity cannot guarantee improvement if a different dependency remains the bottleneck.

Which concepts should I read alongside Scalability?

Cloud hosting: Hosting delivered using pooled, provisioned computing infrastructure instead of a single fixed hosting arrangement.
Load balancer: A component that distributes incoming work among multiple backend servers or instances.