The Role of Load Balancers in E-commerce Network Architecture

A.

The correct answer is A. Routers and the web servers.

In a typical network architecture used for e-commerce, a load balancer is a device that distributes network traffic across multiple servers to prevent any single server from becoming overwhelmed with requests. Load balancers are commonly used to enhance the availability and scalability of web-based applications, such as e-commerce websites.

The load balancer is typically placed between the routers and the web servers, which are responsible for serving web pages to users. By distributing the network traffic among multiple web servers, the load balancer can improve the response time and reduce the risk of downtime due to server overload or failure.

The mail servers and repositories are not directly involved in e-commerce transactions, so option B is incorrect. Similarly, option C is incorrect because external gateways typically provide access to the Internet, while the load balancer is used to distribute traffic within the organization's internal network. Option D is incorrect because databases are not typically involved in serving web pages to users; they are used to store and manage data.

In summary, the load balancer is typically found between the routers and the web servers in a typical network architecture used for e-commerce.