MuleSoft Certified Integration Architect – Level 1 — Question 50

An organization uses a four (4) node customer-hosted Mule runtime cluster to host one (1) stateless API implementation. The API is accessed over HTTPS through a load balancer that uses round-robin for load distribution. Each node in the cluster has been sized to be able to accept four (4) times the current number of requests.
Two (2) nodes in the cluster experience a power outage and are no longer available. The load balancer detects the outage and blocks the two unavailable nodes from receiving further HTTP requests.
What performance-related consequence is guaranteed to happen, on average, assuming the remaining cluster nodes are fully operational?

Answer options

• A. 100% increase in the number of requests received by each remaining node
• B. 100% increase in the average response time of the API
• C. 50% reduction in the throughput of the API
• D. 50% increase in the JVM heap memory consumed by each remaining node

Correct answer: A

Explanation

With two out of four nodes down, the remaining two nodes will have to handle all requests, effectively doubling the load on each. Therefore, each active node will experience a 100% increase in the number of requests they handle. The other options do not accurately reflect the guaranteed impact of the reduced number of nodes on request distribution.