Load balancer
A load balancer is a hardware or software component that distributes incoming network traffic or requests among multiple destinations, such as servers or service instances.
Google Anthos in Action
A network load balancer is a Layer 4 load balancer that distributes TCP traffic using network-level forwarding and addresses.
- How it is used
- Exposes Kubernetes Services to external or VPC clients and provides reachable VIPs for hybrid-cluster traffic.
- How deep it goes
- Traces VIP-to-NodePort-to-Pod forwarding and details provisioning choices, address planning, and manual backend requirements.
- Examples
- Uses an annotated internal LoadBalancer Service, on-prem VIP planning, and a Seesaw creation command.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure it by choosing internal, external, bundled, or manual deployment and preparing the required Service, VIP, and backends.
Bootstrapping Microservices, Second Edition: With Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and Terraform
A load balancer is a network component that distributes incoming traffic across multiple service instances or endpoints.
- How it is used
- Exposes Kubernetes microservices externally while distributing requests across replicas for testing and production continuity.
- How deep it goes
- Explains request sharing, failover, and Kubernetes configuration, but defers detailed balancing algorithms and performance tuning.
- Examples
- Uses an Azure LoadBalancer Service, a video-streaming deployment, and three gateway replicas as concrete configurations.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure a Kubernetes Service that exposes a microservice and routes traffic across replicated instances.
Related concepts
- blue-green deploymentused by · Blue-green deployment is a release pattern that maintains separate active and replacement environments and switches traffic between them after the replacement is validated.
- replicauses · A replica is a copy of data or state, or an equivalent running instance of a component, maintained alongside others in a replicated system.
- serveruses · A server is a computer system or software process that receives requests from clients or other systems and provides resources, data, or services in response.
- load balancingkind of · Load balancing is the distribution of requests or computational work across multiple resources to manage demand, reduce workload imbalance, and improve utilization or availability.
- servicekind of · A Kubernetes Service is an API resource that provides stable network access and service discovery for a changing set of Pods or other specified destinations.
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