Which strategy best facilitates the handling of heavy web traffic to prevent downtime?

Load balancing is the strategy that best facilitates the handling of heavy web traffic to prevent downtime. This approach involves distributing incoming network traffic across multiple servers or resources, ensuring that no single server becomes overwhelmed with requests. By effectively managing the load, organizations can maintain performance levels and availability even during periods of peak traffic.

When load balancing is implemented, it enhances reliability and redundancy, as multiple servers can share the workload. If one server experiences issues or requires maintenance, the load balancer can redirect traffic to the remaining operational servers, thus preventing downtime and ensuring a seamless user experience.

In contrast, while server clustering can also improve availability by linking multiple servers together, it doesn't specifically focus on the distribution of traffic in the same manner. Static IP assignment is more about network configuration than traffic management, and regular traffic audits are essential for monitoring and analyzing traffic patterns but do not directly prevent downtime during heavy traffic periods.

Therefore, load balancing stands out as the most effective strategy to ensure that servers can handle significant web traffic without interruption.