Description: Ingress Rate Limiting is a technique used to control the amount of traffic sent to a service to prevent overloads. This practice is essential in microservices environments and container orchestration, such as Kubernetes, where multiple services can receive requests simultaneously. Rate limiting allows setting a maximum threshold of requests that a service can handle within a given time period, helping to maintain system stability and availability. By implementing this technique, situations of saturation that could lead to slow response times or even service outages can be avoided. Additionally, rate limiting can be configured to apply different policies based on user type or the nature of the request, allowing for more granular traffic management. This technique not only protects system resources but also enhances user experience by ensuring that all clients receive an adequate level of service, even during peak demand.
History: Rate limiting as a concept has existed since the early days of computing and networking, but its implementation has become more prominent with the rise of microservices architectures and the need to manage traffic in distributed environments. As web applications began to scale, the need to protect server resources and ensure reliable service became evident. With the development of technologies like API Gateway and traffic management tools, rate limiting has become a standard practice in the software industry, especially in platforms that facilitate container orchestration.
Uses: Rate limiting is primarily used in API management, where it is crucial to control the number of requests a client can make within a specific time frame. This is especially useful for preventing abuse, such as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and ensuring that server resources are not overloaded. In container orchestration environments, it can be implemented through Ingress Controllers that allow defining rate limiting rules for different routes and services. It is also used in applications to manage traffic during massive events, ensuring that all users have equitable access to resources.
Examples: An example of rate limiting in a cloud-native application is using NGINX as an Ingress Controller, where rules can be defined to limit the number of requests per second for a specific API. For instance, it can be configured to allow only 100 requests per minute per IP address, helping to prevent abuse and maintain service stability. Another practical case is in streaming platforms, where access to content can be limited based on user subscription, ensuring that premium users have priority access during traffic spikes.
