Rate Limiting
Rate limiting is a technique used to control the rate of requests sent or received by a system, API, or network resource. It prevents abuse, ensures fair usage, and protects against denial-of-service attacks by imposing limits on how many requests a client can make within a specific time window. This is commonly implemented in web applications, APIs, and network infrastructure to maintain stability and performance.
Developers should implement rate limiting to secure APIs and services from excessive traffic that could lead to downtime or degraded performance, such as in public-facing APIs or user authentication systems. It is essential for preventing brute-force attacks, managing resource consumption, and ensuring equitable access in multi-tenant environments, like cloud services or SaaS platforms. Learning rate limiting helps in designing scalable and resilient systems that comply with usage policies and service-level agreements.