To ensure redundancy and high availability in an IaaS setup, how should the administrator configure the database servers?

In an IaaS environment, ensuring redundancy and high availability is critical for maintaining seamless service and minimizing downtime. Configuring the database servers to use a load balancer with a virtual IP address is particularly effective because it allows multiple database servers to be routed efficiently depending on the incoming requests.

A load balancer can distribute traffic across several database instances, which reduces the load on any single server and enhances responsiveness. With a virtual IP address, the clients connect to a single endpoint that the load balancer manages. If one database server fails or experiences high load, the traffic can be directed to another instance without interrupting service.

This approach not only improves fault tolerance but also supports scalability; as demand grows, additional database servers can be added to the pool seamlessly without requiring changes to the client configuration. Overall, it maximizes uptime and optimizes resource utilization across the infrastructure.