What is the term for the period that allows new instances to fully initialize before serving traffic?

The term "Instance Warm-up" refers to the phase where newly created instances undergo a preparation process before they begin serving user traffic. This period is crucial because it allows the instances to load necessary configurations, applications, and data into memory, ensuring they’re fully ready to handle requests effectively. During the warm-up phase, various initialization tasks such as software loading, environment setup, and health checks are performed to minimize the risk of errors when the instances start processing actual user traffic.

This practice contributes to improved performance and a better user experience since it helps prevent potential issues that can arise from immediately sending production traffic to an instance that is not yet fully prepared. By allowing time for the instance to warm up, organizations can ensure more reliable service delivery and maintain higher availability under load.