GLBs act as a transparent network gateway (a single entry and exit point for all traffic) and distribute traffic while scaling your virtual appliances with the demand. In contrast, the AWS ALB operates at Layer 7, the application layer, and redirects traffic based on the content of the request. The ALB analyzes the URL path, headers, and query strings of incoming requests and routes traffic accordingly.
ALB costs more but handles application-layer tasks that would otherwise require extra compute resources. NLB is cheaper per hour but might push complexity (and costs) to your application servers. NLB handles what ALB can’t – UDP traffic and static IP addresses. You can centralize your SSL certificates at the ALB level instead of managing them on each backend server.
You can define rules to route common traffic to an entire group. For example, you can create a target group for general requests and other target groups for requests to the microservices for your application. Network Load Balancer is designed to work within a single availability zone. If one availability zone goes down, NLB will route traffic to other available zones.
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If your users are humans clicking around your website or mobile app, ALB’s intelligent request routing will serve you better. ALB’s additional processing layer (where all that smart routing happens) introduces slight performance overhead. But unless every microsecond counts, you probably won’t notice. Get started with load balancing on AWS by creating an account today. An ALB terminates the client connection and then establishes a new connection, acting as a proxy. An NLB also terminates the client connection and makes a new one on behalf of the client.
AWS Application Load Balancer vs Network Load Balancer
When authentication is configured for specific ALB listeners, the load balancer will always authenticate requests before routing traffic to targets. By implementing authentication at the load balancer level, you can focus more on business logic in your target instances. These load balancers are client contact points and help improve application scalability with secure management. You can choose one or multiple load balancers and configure them when you’re setting up ELB for your cloud environment. Terminating the flow enables load balancers to perform additional traffic management functions, such as SSL termination, session persistence, and content-based routing. The NLB monitors the health of its registered targets and routes traffic only to the healthy targets.
What’s the difference between application, network, and gateway load balancing?
The OSI model is a conceptual framework that facilitates communication between different computing systems by segmenting them into seven layers. NLB supports integration with AWS PrivateLink, enabling private connectivity (without data leaving the AWS network) with other VPCs (consumer VPCs) or third-party services. To enable AWS PrivateLink integration, you need to create a VPC endpoint service pointing to your Network Load Balancer and a VPC interface endpoint in the consumer VPC. While there are many similarities between ALB and NLB, both load balancers have significant differences that are important to understand when choosing the right one for your use case. Let’s now take a closer look at these differences to help you decide which one to choose. TLS termination refers to the process where encrypted traffic from clients is terminated or decrypted at the load balancer level.
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Ever wondered why your load balancer chokes during peak hours? Both load balancers automatically scale with your traffic needs, but they handle it differently. When you need smarter request handling, ALB is your go-to load balancer. Unlike its NLB cousin, ALB actually examines your HTTP traffic and makes routing decisions based on what’s inside. The load balancer decision seems simple until you realize it’s the linchpin of https://limefx.name/ your entire application’s reliability.
But, if you’re working with microservices and containerized applications or need advanced routing capabilities, ALB is the better option. With content-based routing, multiple target groups, and deeper AWS service integration, ALB offers greater flexibility and scalability for modern cloud-native environments. A GLB is ideal when you’re balancing on the network gateway level. For example, a GLB works well if you manage traffic between cloud and on-premises environments or across different regions.
After the load balancer receives a connection request, it selects a target from the target group for the default rule. It attempts to open a TCP connection to the selected target on the port specified in the listener configuration. Each individual TCP limefx scam connection is routed to a single target for the life of the connection. Similarly, you can also route a UDP flow consistently to a single target throughout its lifetime. For example, if you have multiple database servers with duplicate data, the NLB routes traffic based on predetermined server IP addresses or server availability.
Ideal Use Cases for NLB Implementation
The load balancer you choose today needs to handle tomorrow’s traffic too. ALB scales automatically with your traffic and supports advanced traffic shaping—perfect if you’re expecting rapid growth or plan to implement blue/green deployments. You can stack multiple conditions and create priority-based rule chains. This means you could route mobile users to optimized servers or premium customers to high-performance instances. ALB supports AWS Web Application Firewall to block incoming requests based on specific rules. For example, you can create a rate-limiting rule that allows a maximum of 500 requests from a specific IP address within 5 minutes, after which any additional requests will be blocked.
Its features—such SSL termination, session persistence, and content-based routing—enable it to offer assistance with complex routing scenarios. The ALB has a listener component that checks for connection requests from clients. You can define rules for a listener that determine how the load balancer routes requests to its registered targets.
It can peek inside HTTP requests and route traffic based on paths, headers, or query strings – perfect for microservices architectures. Certain application architectures may require zonal isolation. For example, single-AZ web applications may need traffic to be distributed only within a specific availability zone to minimize latency and avoid data transfer costs.
I would use NLB for any application where pure TCP/UDP traffic needs to be load balanced, providing extremely low latency, high performance and supporting unpredicted traffic spikes. Choosing between an Application Load Balancer and a Network Load Balancer doesn’t have to be daunting if you break it down into what each one offers. Remember, aligning your load balancer choice with your specific application needs is crucial for optimum performance. Don’t forget to evaluate operational requirements like traffic types and expected load before making your call. Your app architecture practically screams which load balancer it needs. ALB was built for these modern setups, with path-based routing that directs traffic to the right service.
An NLB supports TCP, UDP, and TLS protocols, which covers network-level traffic distributions. Finally, a GLB covers IP-based routing, handling any IP-based protocols. Choosing the right load balancer for your AWS architecture requires understanding the distinct capabilities of both NLB and ALB. Network Load Balancers excel in high-performance scenarios requiring TCP/UDP traffic handling, static IP addresses, and ultra-low latency. I would use ALB for almost any web application where HTTP/S traffic needs to be distributed to different targets like EC2 instances, IP addresses, or Lambda functions.
- If you have an existing application that was built within the EC2-Classic network, then you should use a Classic Load Balancer.
- However, NLB additionally supports routing traffic to another ALB.
- You can select the appropriate load balancer based on your application needs.
- NLB supports integration with AWS PrivateLink, enabling private connectivity (without data leaving the AWS network) with other VPCs (consumer VPCs) or third-party services.
By choosing the right load balancer, you can optimize traffic distribution and system efficiency. With a GLB, you can deploy, manage, and scale virtual appliances, such as intrusion detection and prevention, firewalls, and deep packet inspection systems. It creates a single entry and exit point for all appliance traffic and scales your virtual appliances with demand. You can also use it to exchange traffic across virtual private cloud (VPC) boundaries. Financial services and healthcare often require end-to-end encryption or specific security compliance.
- For example, you can create a target group for general requests and other target groups for requests to the microservices for your application.
- With a GLB, you can deploy, manage, and scale virtual appliances, such as intrusion detection and prevention, firewalls, and deep packet inspection systems.
- An NLB is best for high-performance, low-latency, and scalable network-level balancing.
Performance and Latency Differences
For unpredictable workloads with extreme peaks, NLB won’t break a sweat. Path-based routing makes ALB perfect for container deployments where different services handle different API endpoints. Your clients connect directly to your backend instances through the NLB, preserving source IP addresses. This gives your applications visibility into who’s actually connecting, which can be crucial for security and analytics.
For PCI DSS or HIPAA compliance, document your load balancer choice as part of your security architecture. NLB supports preserving client IP addresses and works with AWS PrivateLink—crucial for regulated environments. ALB offers more granular security controls but terminates SSL connections. It can scale from zero to millions of requests per second in seconds flat.
Network Load Balancer operates at layer 4 (transport layer), which means it routes traffic based on IP protocol data, TCP/UDP ports, and IP addresses. Unlike ALB, it doesn’t inspect the actual content of your packets—it just forwards them. Almost all protocols differ between ALB and NLB and are used for different use cases.
Once you’ve set up an AWS ALB, you can access its advanced configuration settings within the AWS Management Console. After going to the Load Balancer section on the EC2 home page, you can create and modify load balancers as needed. It’s easy to configure, making it a popular choice among AWS engineers who are familiar with its capabilities. If your environment consists of clearly defined services mapped to specific addresses, then the Classic ELB is the logical choice. A fundamental difference between AWS ELB and ALB is how they handle and route requests, which is best understood through the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
The main difference lies in how the load balancers are built. ALB operates at the application level (OSI Layer 7), while NLB operates at the network level (OSI Layer 4). This means ALB must inspect and process the content of HTTP/HTTPS requests and additionally decrypt and re-encrypt HTTPS traffic (see TLS Termination). When comparing latency between the two load balancers, NLB is the clear winner. However, it’s important to note that for most web-based applications, the latency provided by ALB is perfectly sufficient. But if you require extremely low latency for real-time applications, such as gaming, video streaming or financial transactions, NLB is the better choice.
This slashes your management overhead and keeps your architecture cleaner. This is perfect when you’ve got microservices or containerized apps where different services handle different parts of your application. If one AWS zone fails, your NLB instances in other zones keep operating independently, providing true high availability without cross-zone failures. If your infrastructure consists of separate services, each mapped to a distinct URL, and you need basic load balancing, then the Classic ELB is a solid choice.