Introduction

Load balancing in simplest terms refers to dynamically distributing application incoming network traffic across a group of backend nodes. It helps to maintain high availability, scalability, fault-tolerance of your application and gives a smooth experience to the application users because applications are serving hundreds of thousands, or millions, of concurrent requests from users or clients and return the correct response as per request. To cost-effectively scale to meet these high volumes, modern computing best practice generally requires adding more servers.

A load balancer acts as a single point of contact for the application. It helps to manage your application servers and to route users/client requests across all servers capable of fulfilling those requests in a manner that maximizes speed and capacity utilization and ensures that no one server is overworked, which could degrade performance. If a single server goes down, the load balancer redirects traffic to the remaining online servers. When a new server is added to the server group, the load balancer automatically starts to send requests to it.

Load distribution decision is based on the configured process and the traffic that is coming to the application. It checks connection requests from clients, using the protocol and port that you configure for front-end (client to load balancer) connections. It forwards requests to one or more registered backend nodes using the protocol and port number that you set for back-end (load balancer to backend nodes) connections.

• Essential characteristics of Load balancer

• You have the flexibility to add and remove backend nodes from your load balancer to handle traffic load based on requirement changes without interrupting the flow of user requests to your application.

  • Registering Nodes adds them to the load balancer, which starts routing requests to them.
  • Deregistering Nodes removes them, and they stop receiving traffic, though they remain running. You can re-register them as needed.

• When you create a load balancer, you must choose between an internal load balancer (private IP) and an external load balancer (public IP).

  • External load balancers route Internet traffic to backend nodes.
  • Internal load balancers route traffic over private subnets.

• E2E Load balancers support various load balancing algorithms, each with specific benefits depending on your needs.

• Monitoring provides real-time health insights and metrics of load balancer operations on the MyAccount portal. Learn more about Monitoring

• Alerts can be configured to notify you about critical load balancer health changes via email. Learn more about Alerts

• Reserved IP can be attached as either:

  • An add-on IP associated with the load balancer's primary network interface.
  • A primary public IP for the load balancer interface. Learn more about Reserved IP

E2E Load Balancer Features

• Dynamic Traffic Distribution

  • Effectively distributes incoming network traffic across backend nodes, optimizing speed, capacity utilization, and overall resource management.

• Automatic Scaling

  • Seamlessly adjusts the number of backend nodes based on fluctuating traffic demands, ensuring optimal load distribution and efficient resource management.

• Fault Tolerance

  • In the event of a server failure, the load balancer automatically redirects traffic to remaining operational nodes, ensuring uninterrupted availability and minimizing downtime.

• Flexible Node Management

  • Backend nodes can be registered or deregistered without disrupting ongoing user requests, ensuring continuous service availability.
  • Nodes can be re-registered as needed when scaling or when previously removed nodes are ready to handle traffic again.

• Protocol and Port Configuration

  • Provides customizable configuration options for both front-end (client to load balancer) and back-end (load balancer to server) connections, offering greater flexibility in traffic management.

• Internal vs. External Load Balancing

  • External Load Balancer: Routes internet traffic to backend nodes using a public IP address.
  • Internal Load Balancer: Directs traffic over private subnets, ideal for internal network applications requiring no public exposure.

• Support for Multiple Load Balancing Algorithms

  • Offers a variety of load balancing algorithms, such as Round Robin, Least Connections, and Source IP Hash, to optimize traffic distribution based on specific workload requirements.

• Monitoring

  • Real-time health insights and metrics of load balancer operations are available via the MyAccount portal.

• Alerts

  • Alerts can be configured to notify you of critical load balancer health changes via email.

• Reserved IP Features

  • Add-on IP: A reserved IP can be attached to the load balancer’s primary network interface for enhanced flexibility.
  • Primary Public IP: A reserved IP can be designated as the primary public IP for the load balancer interface, ensuring stable and consistent routing.

• Health Check

  • The load balancer performs health checks on the specified web application configurations to ensure optimal functionality and performance.

• BitNinja Protection

  • Integrated BitNinja security modules defend against cyberattacks, providing easy installation, minimal maintenance, and immediate protection for the load balancer.

• Timeout Configurations

  • Configurable timeout settings, including connection timeout, client timeout, server timeout, and HTTP keep-alive timeout, offer flexibility in traffic management to suit application needs.

Key Benefits of using E2E Load Balancer

• High Availability

  • By distributing traffic across multiple backend nodes, the E2E Load Balancer ensures consistent application availability, even in the event of server failure.

• Scalability

  • The load balancer dynamically adjusts backend nodes to accommodate varying traffic demands, enabling businesses to scale efficiently without compromising service quality.

• Resilience

  • With built-in fault tolerance, the system reroutes traffic to healthy nodes if one or more backend servers become unavailable, minimizing service disruptions and enhancing reliability.

• Customizability

  • E2E Load Balancers allow users to configure load balancing algorithms and traffic routing settings, ensuring tailored performance based on specific application requirements.

• Proactive Monitoring

  • Continuous health monitoring and real-time performance metrics enable quick identification and resolution of potential issues, ensuring optimal performance.

• Private and Public Traffic Management

  • With both internal and external load balancing options, E2E Load Balancer ensures traffic is routed according to the application’s specific architecture, whether on public or private networks.

• Efficient IP Management

  • Reserved IPs offer greater flexibility in managing the load balancer’s network interfaces, contributing to consistent and reliable network performance.

Types of Load Balancer

Application Load Balancer

Routes HTTP/HTTPS traffic at the application layer (Layer 7).

Network Load Balancer

Routes TCP traffic at the transport layer (Layer 4).

Plans

Committed LB

Longer the commitment more will be the saving