Basic Load Balancing for a Web System on DigitalOcean

In this article we’ll build a simple and inexpensive load-balanced web setup on DigitalOcean . The architecture is intentionally minimal: 1 DigitalOcean Load Balancer 2 small droplets A lightweight web app running with Docker + PHP + Nginx The goal is to show how quickly you can build a basic scalable web entry point without complex infrastructure. Architecture diagram created with savnet.co : Creating the first server Go to your DigitalOcean account and create a small droplet. Configuration used in this guide: Image: Docker latest on Ubuntu 22.04 Region: choose the closest to your users Authentication: SSH recommended (Password also works) Hostname: WebServer-1 Once the droplet is ready, connect to the server. Preparing the server 1. Create a user adduser web_app usermod -aG sudo web_app sudo usermod -aG docker web_app su - web_app This user will run the application and manage Docker. 2. Create the application folder mkdir -p ~/app cd ~/app 3. Create the application files index.php A