Creating a new node in a distributed cluster to meet increasing demand is an example of which of the following concepts?

Elasticity refers to the ability to automatically scale resources up or down in response to demand, but it is a broader concept that horizontal scaling helps achieve.

Load balancing distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server is overwhelmed, but it is a mechanism used in conjunction with scaling, not the scaling method itself.

Horizontal scaling, also known as scaling out, involves adding more instances or nodes to a distributed system to distribute the workload and handle increased demand. This approach enhances capacity and performance by distributing processing across multiple, often smaller, resources rather than increasing the power of a single resource.

Vertical scaling, or scaling up, involves increasing the resources (e.g., CPU, RAM) of an existing single node, rather than adding new nodes to the system.