Load Balancer
Distributes incoming network traffic across multiple backend instances to improve availability and scale.
Description
Each cloud splits load balancing into layer-4 (TCP/UDP) and layer-7 (HTTP) variants — AWS Network Load Balancer vs Application Load Balancer, GCP Cloud Load Balancing tiers, Azure Load Balancer vs Application Gateway. The functional core (health checks, failover, TLS termination, request routing) is comparable; differences lie in regional vs global scope, the routing and rules features at layer 7, and how each ties into the provider's DNS, CDN, and firewall. Appliance or on-prem load balancers offer the same role with self-managed capacity. To the best of our knowledge the choice is driven by scope (regional vs global) and routing sophistication rather than raw throughput.
Capabilities
- Spread traffic across healthy backends
- Health checks and automatic failover
- TLS termination
- Layer 4 (TCP) or Layer 7 (HTTP) routing