Table 1 A comparison of advantages and drawbacks of horizontal and vertical scaling
Scaling | Advantages | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|
Horizontal scaling | âž” Increases performance in small steps as needed | âž” Software has to handle all the data distribution and parallel processing complexities |
âž” Financial investment to upgrade is relatively less | âž” Limited number of software are available that can take advantage of horizontal scaling | |
âž” Can scale out the system as much as needed | ||
Vertical scaling | âž” Most of the software can easily take advantage of vertical scaling | âž” Requires substantial financial investment |
âž” Easy to manage and install hardware within a single machine | âž” System has to be more powerful to handle future workloads and initially the additional performance in not fully utilized | |
âž” It is not possible to scale up vertically after a certain limit |