What is the difference between session affinity and sticky session in context of load balancing servers?
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session
load-balancing
I've seen those terms used interchangeably, but there are different ways of implementing it:
I would suspect that sticky might refer to the cookie way, and that affinity might refer to #2 and #3 in some contexts, but that's not how I have seen it used (or use it myself)
They are the same.
Both mean that when coming in to the load balancer, the request will be directed to the server that served the first request (and has the session).
As I've always heard the terms used in a load-balancing scenario, they are interchangeable. Both mean that once a session is started, the same server serves all requests for that session.
This article clarifies the question for me and discusses other types of load balancer persistence.
Dave's Thoughts: Load balancer persistence (sticky sessions)
Sticky session means to route the requests of particular session to the same physical machine who served the first request for that session.
Sticky session means that when a request comes into a site from a client all further requests go to the same server initial client request accessed. I believe that session affinity is a synonym for sticky session.
They are Synonyms. No Difference At all
Sticky Session / Session Affinity:
Affinity/Stickiness/Contact between user session and, the server to which user request is sent is retained.
Source: Stackoverflow.com