--- title: "Monitor a load balancer" description: "Follow an E2E load balancer's status, graphs, alerts, live statistics, action logs, billing logs, and activity timeline in MyAccount." content_type: "how-to" product: "load-balancer" platform: "MyAccount" url: "/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/monitor-a-load-balancer/" topic: ["operate"] relationships: {"requires":["/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/create-an-application-load-balancer/"]} --- # Monitor a load balancer Follow a load balancer from the **Load Balancers** list and its tabs, which show its status, the health of its servers, alerts, live traffic statistics and graphs, and a record of every action and charge. To keep request logs, send access logs to a bucket; see [Save access logs to a bucket](/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/save-access-logs-to-a-bucket/). ## Before you begin - You have a load balancer. See [Create an Application Load Balancer](/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/create-an-application-load-balancer/). - The load balancer reads **Running** or **Backend Connection Failure**, if you want to use the **Monitoring**, **Alerts**, **Stats**, and **Prometheus Stats** tabs. **Backend Mapping** is available once the load balancer has left **Creating**, **Deploying**, or **Deleting**. **Action Logs**, **Billing Logs**, and **Activity Timeline** are available in every status. ## Find the load balancer in the list In MyAccount, under **Compute**, click **Load Balancers**. The list shows the load balancers of the current project and region, five to a page to start with, with: - **LB Name**, marked as encrypted when the load balancer is encrypted, with its tags under the name. - **LB Type**: **External** or **Internal**. - **Mode**: the frontend protocol, such as **HTTP** or **BOTH**, or **TCP** for a Network Load Balancer. - **Public IP**, which reads **Not Assigned** when there is none, and **Private IP**. - **Status**, and **Actions**. You can search and filter by name, public IP, private IP, and status, filter by tag, refresh the list, and show 5, 10, 20, or 50 load balancers to a page. You can also manage each load balancer's tags from the list. Click a load balancer to open its tabs below the list. ## Read the status | Status | What it means | | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Creating** | The load balancer is being created for the first time. With **Mode** at **HTTP** or **TCP**, this takes about four to seven minutes. | | **Deploying** | Your saved change is being applied: an edit on **Info**, **Backend Mapping**, or **ACL**, a VPC change, a scale group change, or an upgrade. | | **Running** | The load balancer is up, and every backend server passes its checks. | | **Backend Connection Failure** | At least one server fails its checks, and the others keep serving. It can also show while every server passes, when MyAccount receives no health data for the load balancer; see [The load balancer shows Backend Connection Failure](/myaccount/load-balancer/troubleshooting/load-balancer/#the-load-balancer-shows-backend-connection-failure). | | **Powered off** | The load balancer is off and serves no traffic. It keeps its settings, and is still billed. | | **Upgrading** | The load balancer is moving to a larger plan. | | **Deleting** | The load balancer is being removed. | | **Error** | The settings could not be applied. You can still change the settings and save, which applies them again. | For what to check when the status reads **Backend Connection Failure**, see [The load balancer shows Backend Connection Failure](/myaccount/load-balancer/troubleshooting/load-balancer/#the-load-balancer-shows-backend-connection-failure). **Actions** and the **Info** edits become available again once the load balancer leaves **Creating**, **Deploying**, or **Upgrading**. MyAccount estimates two to three minutes for **Deploying** in the list, and five to 10 minutes in the message after you save a change. If a status lasts far longer, see [The load balancer stays on Creating, Deploying, or Upgrading](/myaccount/load-balancer/troubleshooting/load-balancer/#the-load-balancer-stays-on-creating-deploying-or-upgrading). ## Check the servers' health Open the **Backend Mapping** tab. It lists each server with its name, IP, and port, and marks the ones the load balancer reports **DOWN**. See [Manage backend groups and servers](/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/manage-backend-groups/). ## Read the graphs Open the **Monitoring** tab to follow the load balancer over time. It shows **CPU Load**, **CPU Utilization**, **Disk Read Operation**, **Disk Write Operation**, **Disk Utilization**, **Memory Utilization**, and **Network Traffic**. The graphs cover the period you pick: **Last Hour**, **Last 6 Hours**, **Last 12 Hours**, **Last 24 Hours**, or **Last 1 Week**. The graphs fill in once the load balancer has run for a while. ## Set up alerts On the **Alerts** tab, click **Create Alert**, and choose what to watch: **Processor Load**, **Consumed Memory**, or **Free Disk Space**. Then set the operator, the threshold, the severity, and the alert groups to notify, as for a node; see [Set up alerts on a node](/myaccount/node/how-to/set-up-alerts-on-a-node/). To change your existing alerts, click **Monitoring Dashboard** on the **Alerts** tab. It opens **Manage Alerts**, which lists every alert with **Edit**, **Pause** or **Resume**, and **Delete**. Deleting the load balancer deletes its alerts too. ## Read the live statistics The **Stats** tab shows live tables from the load balancer: **http-in** for HTTP traffic, **ssl-in** for HTTPS traffic, and one table for each backend group. Each lists the queue, sessions, bytes, denied requests, errors, and warnings. In a backend group's table, the **Server** columns include each server's **Status** and **LastChk**. The sessions total also counts the responses by status: **HTTP 1xx responses**, **HTTP 2xx responses**, **HTTP 4xx responses**, **HTTP 5xx responses**, and **other responses**. Click **Refresh LB Stats** to load the latest figures. The **Prometheus Stats** tab charts the same kind of figures over time. Under **Select Graph**, choose what to chart: - **Backend**, the default, charts the backend group you pick under **Select Backend Group**: its responses, bytes, queued connections, sessions, errors, and server status. - **Frontend** charts the load balancer's HTTP listener: its responses, sessions, request errors, denied requests, and bytes. Pick a period under **Select Interval**, from **Last Hour** to **Last 1 Week**. You can read these metrics only in MyAccount, on **Stats** and **Prometheus Stats**. ## Read the logs - **Action Logs** lists the actions taken on the load balancer, with **Event**, **Client IP**, **Details**, and **Timestamp**. Request logs go to your bucket instead; see [Save access logs to a bucket](/myaccount/load-balancer/how-to/save-access-logs-to-a-bucket/). - **Billing Logs** lists the load balancer's charges, for prepaid and postpaid accounts alike. **Name** describes the charge, and **Transaction Type** is **CREDIT** or **DEBIT**. Then come **Amount** and **Deducted at**. With no charges, the tab says **Currently No Logs are present.** - **Activity Timeline** lists the actions taken on the load balancer in the month you pick under **Select Month**. Each shows its event name, such as **CREATE**, **UPDATE**, **POWER_OFF**, or **UPGRADE_PLAN**, its **Timestamp** in IST, its **Details**, who did it with their IP address, and **Success** or **Failure**. A month with nothing in it says **No timeline found for the selected month and year.** If the status reads **Backend Connection Failure** or **Error**, see [Troubleshooting Load Balancer](/myaccount/load-balancer/troubleshooting/load-balancer/).