An L4 load balancer distributes traffic at the network layer using transport details such as protocol and port. In Kubernetes, a Service of type LoadBalancer provides an external IP and balances traffic across selected Pods. It supports TCP, UDP, and SCTP, but HTTP-specific routing and HTTPS handling remain your responsibility. section 7.2
Use an L4 load balancer when:
- You need to publish a service using a chosen transport protocol and port. section 7.2
- You want one external IP to distribute traffic across Pods selected by Service labels. section 7.2
- You expose HTTP but can manage TLS termination yourself and do not need path- or host-based routing. section 7.2
Kubernetes Service exposure
Configure a Service with type LoadBalancer, protocol TCP, and a port. Kubernetes provisions an external IP that distributes connections to the matching Pods. Separate externally exposed Services require separate load-balancer IPs. section 7.2
