Description: Session Affinity is a feature that ensures that a client’s requests are sent to the same instance in a container environment, such as Kubernetes or other orchestration platforms. This is crucial for stateful applications, where user information or session data must remain consistent across multiple interactions. Session affinity is achieved through the use of cookies or unique identifiers that allow the load balancer to direct the client’s requests to the same instance, thereby ensuring that the session context is maintained. This feature is particularly relevant in microservices architectures, where services can scale and change dynamically. Without session affinity, a client could be directed to different instances on each request, which could lead to an inconsistent user experience and loss of temporary data. The implementation of this feature can vary by platform but is generally configured in the load balancer or ingress controller, allowing developers and system architects to optimize user experience and overall system efficiency.
