[id='request-balancing_{context}']
= Request Balancing
Hot Rod Java clients balance requests to {brandname} Server clusters so that read and write operations are spread across nodes.

Clients that use `BASIC` or `TOPOLOGY_AWARE` intelligence use request balancing for all requests.
Clients that use `HASH_DISTRIBUTION_AWARE` intelligence send requests directly to the node that stores the desired key.
If the node does not respond, the clients then fall back to request balancing.

The default balancing strategy is round-robin, so Hot Rod clients perform request balancing as in the following example where `s1`, `s2`, `s3` are nodes in a {brandname} cluster:

[source,java,options="nowrap",subs=attributes+]
----
include::code_examples/RequestBalancing.java[]
----

.Custom balancing policies

You can use custom `FailoverRequestBalancingStrategy` implementations if you add your class in the Hot Rod client configuration.

.ConfigurationBuilder
[source,java,options="nowrap",subs=attributes+,role="primary"]
----
include::code_examples/HotRodCustomRequestBalancing.java[]
----

.hotrod-client.properties
[source,options="nowrap",subs=attributes+,role="secondary"]
----
include::properties/hotrod-custom-balancing.properties[]
----

[role="_additional-resources"]
.Additional resources
* link:../../apidocs/org/infinispan/client/hotrod/FailoverRequestBalancingStrategy.html[org.infinispan.client.hotrod.FailoverRequestBalancingStrategy]
