Choosing between an AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) and a Network Load Balancer (NLB) involves understanding each's key features and use cases. Your decision will largely depend on your application's requirements in terms of scalability, protocol support, and the level of control needed over routing and load distribution.
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AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB)
โ๏ธ Use Case: Ideal for HTTP/HTTPS traffic, ALB is designed to handle advanced request routing, including routing based on the request's content. This makes it perfect for modern application architectures, including microservices and container-based applications.
โ๏ธ Features:
1๏ธโฃ Supports path-based and host-based routing.
2๏ธโฃ Can route requests to multiple services or containers.
3๏ธโฃ Offers native HTTP/2 and WebSocket support.
4๏ธโฃ Integrates with AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) for added security.
5๏ธโฃ Provides detailed metrics and logging capabilities.
โ๏ธ Decision Factors:
1๏ธโฃ You need application-level (Layer 7) load balancing.
2๏ธโฃ Your application requires content-based routing.
3๏ธโฃ You're utilizing microservices or serverless architectures.
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AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB)
โ๏ธ Use Case: NLB is suitable for TCP, UDP, and TLS traffic where high performance, low latency, and the handling of volatile workloads are required. It operates at the connection level (Layer 4), making it a good fit for load-balancing TCP traffic, achieving high throughput and ultra-low latencies.
โ๏ธ Features:
1๏ธโฃ It can handle millions of requests per second.
2๏ธโฃ Supports static IP or Elastic IP addresses for each Availability Zone.
3๏ธโฃ Operates at the transport layer, offering connection-based load balancing.
4๏ธโฃ Provide health checks to ensure traffic is only routed to healthy targets.
โ๏ธ Decision Factors:
1๏ธโฃ Your application needs transport-level (Layer 4) load balancing.
2๏ธโฃ High performance and low latency are critical requirements.
3๏ธโฃ You need to work with non-HTTP protocols or require direct access to the IP protocol data.
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Making the Decision
Your choice between ALB and NLB should consider the specific needs of your application, including the protocols used, the level of control and routing specificity required, and performance considerations. ALB will be the way to go for applications heavily reliant on HTTP/HTTPS with complex routing needs. On the other hand, for applications that demand high performance, low latency, and support for protocols other than HTTP/HTTPS, NLB is the better choice.
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