?? Mastering Azure Load Balancer

Azure Load Balancer ?

It is an essential service in cloud computing, designed to ensure high availability and optimal performance for your applications. Whether you're hosting FTP servers, Web servers, Database servers, or File servers, Azure Load Balancer is here to distribute network traffic efficiently. ??

?? Placement

Azure Load Balancer sits in front of your application servers, acting as the first point of contact for incoming traffic. Think of it as the traffic controller that keeps things running smoothly.

?? Purpose

• Azure Load Balancer works at Layer 4, managing IP addresses and ports. It ensures no single server is overwhelmed, guaranteeing availability and reliability. ??
• Traffic Routing: For instance, if a request for www.example.com arrives, the azure load balancer will routes this request to one of the backend application servers on its load-balancing algorithm - without inspecting the traffic content, making routing fast and efficient. ??

?? Benefits

1. High Availability: By spreading traffic across servers, it ensures that your applications remain accessible even during peak loads. ??
2. Improved Performance: Faster routing and optimal utilization of resources lead to a seamless user experience. ??
3. Scalability: Easily manage traffic spikes without manual intervention. ??
4. Resiliency: Handle server failures gracefully by rerouting traffic to healthy servers. ??

?? Prerequisite: Availability Set

?? Ensure that your Virtual Machines (VMs) are created under an Availability Set. This setup acts like a cluster and is crucial for configuring Azure Load Balancer effectively.

?? Steps to setup & use Azure Load Balancer

Follow this step-by-step guide to set up Azure Load Balancer and optimize your application traffic.

1. Create a Virtual Network (VNet) ??
2. Set up one Subnet for Virtual machines ??
3. Configure Subnet NSG (Network Security Group) with inbound rules: Allow Port 22 ?? Allow Port 80 ?? Deny all other traffic ?
4. Deploy two Virtual Machines (VMs): Ensure both VMs are in the same VM subnet and Availability Set. Install Nginx web server on both VMs??.
5. Create Azure Load Balancer:

Testing accessing both Web server via Azure Load Balancer public IP from browser :

Accessed from different browsers :

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?? Configuring Inbound NAT Rule on Azure Load balancer?

Take SSH connections to 2 web servers behind the Azure Load Balancer using:

• The Load Balancer's Public IP ??
• Frontend port mapped to the backend pool's port ??

ssh -i prv.pem -p 6000 [email protected]

ssh -i prv.pem -p 7000 [email protected]

?? Key Takeaway from this article

Azure Load Balancer is the backbone of a robust and reliable cloud architecture, ensuring high availability, optimal performance, and efficient traffic distribution for your applications. Whether you're running web servers, file servers, or database systems, it simplifies network management and boosts resilience—all while operating at lightning speed at Layer 4! ???