---
title: "Create a Load Balancer"
description: "Create a TIR Load Balancer for web traffic, pick its capacity and protocols, and watch it start until it shows Running."
content_type: "how-to"
product: "tir-load-balancer"
platform: "TIR"
url: "/tir/tir-load-balancer/how-to/create-a-load-balancer/"
topic: ["create"]
---

# Create a Load Balancer

Create a Load Balancer to give your web app one address and spread its traffic across your backends.
A new Load Balancer gets a hostname ending in .e2enetworks.net and a public IP address, and shows
**Running** when it is ready.

## Before you begin

- Permission to create Load Balancers in the project. See [TIR Access Control](/tir/tir-iam/).
- (Optional) A security group to attach. To make one, see [Create a security
  group](/tir/tir-security-group/how-to/create-a-security-group/).

The form creates one type of Load Balancer: a web Load Balancer, **Web Traffic (HTTP/HTTPS)**, that is
reachable from the public internet.

## Open the form

In the side menu, under **Compute**, select **Load Balancer**, then **Create Load Balancer**.

## Fill in the form

1. In **Name**, keep the suggested `lb-` name or enter your own.
   A name takes lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, starts with a letter, and has at most 50
   characters. It must be unique in the project.
2. In **Capacity**, choose a plan for the project's region. The plan sets the request rate limit and
   the number of simultaneous connections, and has a price per hour. For prices, see [E2E Networks
   pricing](https://www.e2enetworks.com/pricing).
3. **High availability** is on by default. Leave it on or turn it off; you can choose either with
   any plan. The **Overview** tab later says which one you have, under **Redundancy**.
4. In **Frontend Protocol**, tick **HTTP** (port 80), **HTTPS** (port 443), or both. **HTTPS** alone
   is the default, and at least one must stay ticked.
   - With **HTTPS** ticked, the Load Balancer is secured on its e2enetworks.net address, with the
     certificate included. You can add your own domain later, from the **Domains** tab; see
     [Use a custom domain and certificate](/tir/tir-load-balancer/how-to/use-a-custom-domain-and-certificate/).
   - With both ticked, you can turn on **Redirect HTTP to HTTPS**.
5. (Optional) In **Backends**, select **Add backend group** to set up a group of backends now, and
   **Add another backend group** for more, or **Remove group** to take one out. The first group is named
   `default-pool` and later ones `backend-group-2`, `backend-group-3`, and so on; you can rename
   them. Each group needs at least one backend. An empty group stops the creation, so add a
   backend to it or remove it. The fields of a group are in [Create a backend
   group](/tir/tir-load-balancer/how-to/create-a-backend-group/). You can also skip this section and
   add groups later from the Load Balancer's page.
6. (Optional) Open **Advanced Settings**.
   - **Security Group** takes one security group. To make one first, select **Click here**.
   - **Timeouts** has four fields in seconds, each starting at 60. **Connection** is the longest time
     to open a connection to a backend before the request fails. **Client** is the longest idle time
     the Load Balancer waits for data from the client before it closes the connection. **Server** is
     the longest idle time it waits for data from a backend before it drops the request. **HTTP
     Keep-alive** is the longest time an idle persistent HTTP/1.1 connection to a backend stays open.
7. Select **Create Load Balancer**.

Before it creates anything, TIR checks that a capacity is chosen, that each backend group has a
valid port, and that each backend group has at least one backend. It then creates the Load Balancer
and adds the backend groups one by one.

## Watch it start

The new Load Balancer's page opens and follows the setup: TIR creates the Load Balancer, configures
its routing rules if it has any, assigns a public IP, and creates its DNS record. The status is one
of these:

- **Initializing** means the Load Balancer is being created.
- **Running** means creation has finished. The **Domain** and the **Public IP** are on the
  **Overview** tab.
- **Failed** means creation failed, and the page gives the reason.

TIR assigns the public IP while the Load Balancer starts. If the IP takes longer than 240
seconds, creation fails. A Load Balancer that failed stays in the list as **Failed**. Delete it from its page,
then create a new one.

If a backend group fails to be added after the Load Balancer is created, the Load Balancer still
exists, and you finish its backends on its details page. If the create itself fails to start,
nothing is created, and TIR gives the error.

A Load Balancer answers every request with a 503 error until it has a rule.
Once the status is **Running**, [add a backend group](/tir/tir-load-balancer/how-to/create-a-backend-group/)
if you still need one, then [add a rule](/tir/tir-load-balancer/how-to/add-a-rule/) to send traffic to it.
For help with a message, see [Troubleshooting TIR Load
Balancer](/tir/tir-load-balancer/troubleshooting/tir-load-balancer/).