Introduction to AWS Elastic Load Balancers (with hands-on demo)

Introduction

This tutorial provides a comprehensive guide to AWS Elastic Load Balancers (ELB), covering the four main types: Classic Load Balancer, Application Load Balancer, Network Load Balancer, and Gateway Load Balancer. You'll learn their unique features and how to deploy an Application Load Balancer through a hands-on demonstration. This knowledge is invaluable for managing traffic and ensuring high availability in your AWS environment, making it particularly useful for those preparing for AWS certification exams.

Step 1: Understand the Types of Elastic Load Balancers

Familiarize yourself with the four types of AWS Elastic Load Balancers:

• Classic Load Balancer

  • Best for simple load balancing of traffic across multiple EC2 instances.
  • Operates at both the request and connection levels.

• Application Load Balancer

  • Ideal for HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
  • Works at the application layer (Layer 7) and allows for routing based on request parameters (like URL path or host).

• Network Load Balancer

  • Suitable for TCP traffic where extreme performance is required.
  • Operates at the transport layer (Layer 4) and can handle millions of requests per second.

• Gateway Load Balancer

  • Combines a transparent network gateway and load balancing.
  • Designed for deploying, scaling, and managing virtual appliances.

Step 2: Set Up Your AWS Environment

Before deploying an Application Load Balancer, ensure you have the necessary AWS environment set up:

• Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
• Create a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) if you don't have one.
• Set up at least two subnets in different availability zones for high availability.
• Launch EC2 instances in these subnets that will receive traffic from the load balancer.

Step 3: Deploy the Application Load Balancer

Follow these steps to deploy an Application Load Balancer:

1. Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard

   • Open the AWS Management Console.
   • Click on "EC2" and then select "Load Balancers" from the left sidebar.

2. Create a Load Balancer

   • Click on “Create Load Balancer.”
   • Choose “Application Load Balancer.”

3. Configure Basic Settings

   • Enter a name for your load balancer.
   • Select the scheme (Internet-facing or Internal).
   • Choose the VPC and at least two subnets.

4. Configure Listeners and Routing

   • Set up listeners (default is HTTP on port 80).
   • Create a target group to route traffic to the EC2 instances:
     • Choose a name for the target group.
     • Select “Instances” as the target type.
     • Register your EC2 instances in the target group.

5. Configure Health Checks

   • Set up health check settings to determine if instances are healthy.
   • Specify the protocol and path to check (e.g., HTTP and /).

6. Add Tags (Optional)

   • Optionally, you can add tags for resource management.

7. Review and Create

   • Review your configurations and click “Create” to launch the load balancer.

Step 4: Test Your Load Balancer

After deploying the Application Load Balancer, perform the following tests:

• Access the load balancer's DNS name provided in the EC2 console.
• Monitor traffic distribution across your EC2 instances.
• Check health check status in the target group to ensure instances are healthy.

Conclusion

By understanding the different types of AWS Elastic Load Balancers and following these steps to deploy an Application Load Balancer, you can effectively manage traffic and enhance availability in your AWS architecture. This knowledge not only aids in your AWS certification preparations but also equips you with essential skills for real-world cloud management. For further practice, consider exploring the additional resources linked in the description, and stay tuned for more tutorials!