The load balancer works according to the rules configured. There is no predefined limit to the number of rules you can create on a load balancer: the number is determined by the possible combinations of the four available parameters.
You cannot configure multiple rules on the same load balancer port.
Each rule consists of 4 parameters:
- Algorithm
Defines the criteria used by the load balancer to route traffic to the instances, i.e. how it chooses which machine to forward a request to. You can choose between two main algorithms:
- LeastConn
- Directs traffic to the available instance with the fewest active connections.
- It is a dynamic algorithm designed to balance the workload across machines in real time.
- It is suitable for persistent connections using HTTP and HTTPS.
- It cannot be used if the machines or clients do not accept cookies (required for session tracking).
- Source
- Routes requests based on a hash of the source IP address and port, ensuring that the same client is always mapped to the same machine.
- It is suitable for persistent connections using TCP.
- It is not recommended for HTTP/HTTPS, as it does not ensure optimal distribution for web sessions.
- Protocol
Specifies the communication protocol to be handled:
- Balancer port
The port on which the load balancer receives incoming requests: only one rule can be defined for each load balancer port.
- Machine port
The port on the machine to which the load balancer forwards the request.