---
title: "Scaling and performance"
slug: "scaling"
updated: 2025-12-05T09:28:21Z
published: 2025-12-10T14:08:19Z
canonical: "docs.grassfish.com/scaling"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.grassfish.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Scaling and performance

Scalability and performance in the Grassfish system depend on the architecture.

## Container setup (standard)

In the container setup, scaling is largely automatic. Performance is primarily achieved through horizontal scaling. This works as follows:

****Vertical scaling****

Vertical scaling for more CPU/RAM per node or SQL instance is done manually via Azure.

****Horizontal scaling****

Horizontal scaling of services is performed automatically via:

- **Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA)**: By default based on CPU load, and in the future also based on request rate or queue lengths.
- **Kubernetes Event-Driven Autoscaling (KEDA)**: For special cases such as highly load-dependent services like [Data Calculator](/grassfish/docs/grassfish-backend-server-services#backend-services), which reacts to open changes in the database.

****Application Gateway****

The Application Gateway distributes HTTP(S) traffic across multiple pods or instances (Layer 7 load balancing).

****SQL Managed Instance****

The SQL Managed Instance is manually scaled as needed via the service's scaling levels.

## **VM setup (legacy)**

In the VM setup, scaling is largely done manually. Performance is handled in a more traditional way. This works as follows:

****Vertical scaling****

Vertical scaling is achieved through larger VMs or database instances.

****Horizontal scaling****

Horizontal scaling is achieved via additional servers that are manually added behind the load balancer.

****Planned scaling****

There is no automatic scaling of the database or application. Scaling in this case depends on the planning and project.

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is a standardized protocol for transmitting data between clients and servers on the internet. The client sends an HTTP request to the server using a standard set of methods such as GET to specify the action it wants to perform on a specific resource.