Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Azure Load Balancer Basic SKU

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Posted Nov 1, 2024

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To create an Azure Load Balancer Basic SKU, you'll need to follow a few straightforward steps.

First, navigate to the Azure portal and sign in with your account credentials.

Next, search for "Load Balancers" in the search bar and click on it to open the Load Balancers page.

On the Load Balancers page, click on the "Create" button to begin the process of creating a new load balancer.

In the next step, choose the "Basic" SKU option from the list of available SKUs.

The Basic SKU is a cost-effective option that's suitable for small to medium-sized applications.

It's worth noting that the Basic SKU has a fixed set of features, which are outlined in the Azure documentation.

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Azure Load Balancer Basics

An Azure Load Balancer is a crucial component of a high-availability solution, allowing you to distribute incoming traffic across multiple virtual machines.

To set up an Azure Load Balancer, you'll need to configure several key components, including the frontend IP configuration, which is the point of contact for clients, and the backend pool, which is a group of virtual machines that receive the incoming requests.

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The load balancer also uses health probes to determine if a backend resource is healthy and able to receive traffic, and load balancer rules to specify how the incoming traffic should flow and be distributed to the backend pool.

Here are the main components of a Load Balancer:

  • Frontend IP configuration
  • Backend pool
  • Health probes
  • Load Balancer rules
  • High Availability Ports (optional)
  • Inbound NAT rules (optional)
  • Outbound rules

Components

A load balancer is a crucial component of a scalable and reliable infrastructure. It helps distribute incoming traffic across multiple virtual machines (VMs) to ensure no single VM is overwhelmed.

To set up a load balancer, you'll need to configure its frontend IP configuration, which is the IP address clients use to contact the load balancer. This is the point of contact for clients.

The backend pool is a group of virtual machines that receive incoming requests from clients. This pool is where the load balancer directs traffic.

Health probes are used by the load balancer to determine if a backend resource is healthy and can receive traffic. This ensures that only healthy VMs receive traffic.

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Load balancer rules tie the frontend to the backend by specifying how incoming traffic should flow and be distributed to the backend pool. This is done using a five-tuple hashing algorithm that considers source IP, source port, destination IP, destination port, and protocol type.

Optional settings for high availability and scale include High Availability Ports and Inbound NAT rules. These settings are used in critical scenarios where a large number of ports need to be used.

Outbound rules configure outbound NAT for virtual machines in the backend pool, enabling them to communicate with the Internet.

Here are the key components of a load balancer:

  • Frontend IP configuration
  • Backend pool
  • Health probes
  • Load Balancer rules
  • High Availability Ports (optional)
  • Inbound NAT rules (optional)
  • Outbound rules

Use Case

A load balancer is essential for high availability, and Azure Load Balancer is a great solution for this problem. It allows us to utilize a pool of servers that can receive inbound client traffic, avoiding a single point of failure.

High availability is crucial, and a load balancer solves this problem by routing traffic to healthy resources in its backend pool. This ensures that clients can always access the workload, even if one or two virtual machines fail.

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A client would lose access to the workload on a single Azure Virtual Machine if it fails, as shown in Figure 1. This is a common issue, and a load balancer helps to mitigate it.

However, with a load balancer, clients can still access the workload on any remaining virtual machine that's still up and available, even if one or two fail, as shown in Figure 2. This provides a high-availability solution.

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NAT Gateway

A NAT gateway is essential for providing outbound internet access for resources in the backend pool. This allows them to communicate with the internet.

To create a NAT gateway, you'll need to follow a specific process. This is mentioned in the article section "Create NAT gateway".

A NAT gateway enables resources in the backend pool to access the internet, but it doesn't provide inbound internet access. This is a key difference to keep in mind.

By creating a NAT gateway, you're essentially creating a secure and controlled way for your resources to connect to the internet. This is a crucial step in setting up Azure Load Balancer.

Creating the Load Balancer

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To create an Azure load balancer, you'll need to log in to the Azure Portal. Make sure you have a subscription before proceeding, and if you don't know how to get one, click on the Azure Free Trial Account link for more information.

You'll start by searching for Load Balancer in the search bar at the top of the portal and selecting it from the results. This will take you to the Create load balancer page.

In the Basics tab of this page, you'll need to enter or select the following information: subscription, resource group, name, region, type, SKU, public IP address, and public IP address name. The defaults for the remaining settings will be accepted, and then you'll select Review + create.

Here is a summary of the required information:

  • Subscription: Select your subscription.
  • Resource group: Select Create new and type LBresourcegroup in the text box.
  • Name: Enter myLoadBalancer.
  • Region: Select East US.
  • Type: Select Public.
  • SKU: Select Basic.
  • Public IP address: Select Create new.
  • Public IP address name: Type myPublicIP in the text box.

Task 1:

To create an Azure load balancer, you'll need to log in to the Azure Portal. Make sure you have a subscription before starting, and if you created a free account, you'll already have a FREE TRIAL subscription for 1 month.

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To get started, search for Load Balancer in the top search bar and choose Load Balancer. This will take you to the Create load balancer page.

On this page, you'll need to fill in some basic information. In the Basics tab, select your subscription and create a new resource group named LBresourcegroup. Enter the name myLoadBalancer and select East US as the region.

You'll also need to select the type of load balancer you want to create, which in this case is Public. Choose the Basic SKU and create a new public IP address named myPublicIP.

Here's a summary of the settings you'll need to fill in:

  • Subscription: Select your subscription.
  • Resource group: Select Create new and type LBresourcegroup in the text box.
  • Name: Enter myLoadBalancer.
  • Region: Select East US.
  • Type: Select Public.
  • SKU: Select Basic.
  • Public IP address: Select Create new.
  • Public IP address name: Type myPublicIP in the text box.

Once you've filled in all the required information, click on Create to create your load balancer. After a few moments, you should see a confirmation that your load balancer has been created.

Task 3:

A backend address pool contains the IP addresses of the virtual NICs connected to the load balancer. You'll need to add these IP addresses to create a backend pool.

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To create a backend pool, go to the Settings section and select Backend pools, then click Add. In the Add a backend pool page, enter the necessary information and select Add.

The backend pool will contain the IP addresses of the virtual NICs connected to the load balancer. This is where you'll define the backend pool's settings.

Public IP

To create a public IP, use the az network public-ip create command. This will give you a single IP for outbound connectivity.

You can also create a zonal redundant public IP address in a specific zone, such as Zone 1, using the same command but specifying the zone.

Creating a public IP is a crucial step in setting up your load balancer, as it allows for external access to your resources.

Configuring the Load Balancer

To configure the load balancer, you'll need to create load balancing rules to define how traffic is routed. These rules determine which backend pool receives incoming traffic.

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Load balancing rules can redirect traffic into the backend pool, and you can also enable session persistence, which directs a client's IP address to the same backend virtual machine. This ensures that the client's traffic is always routed to the same VM.

To create a load balancer rule, you'll need to define the frontend IP configuration, backend IP pool, and required source and destination ports. You can do this using the Azure CLI command `az network lb rule create`.

Here's a summary of the required information for creating a load balancer rule:

  • Frontend IP configuration for the incoming traffic
  • Backend IP pool to receive the traffic
  • Required source and destination port

Once you've created the load balancer rule, you'll also need to create a health probe to ensure that all virtual machine instances can send network traffic. A health probe checks the virtual machines and removes any that fail the probe check, adding them back in when the failure is resolved.

Balancing Rules

Load balancing rules define how to route traffic when it arrives on the load balancer. You can use these rules to redirect traffic into the backend pool and enable session persistence, which directs a client's IP to the same backend virtual machines.

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You can create a load balancer rule to define how traffic is distributed to the VMs. The rule requires frontend IP configuration for incoming traffic, a backend IP pool to receive the traffic, and the required source and destination port.

A load balancer rule is used to specify a pool of backend resources to route traffic to, balancing the load across each instance. This is different from inbound NAT rules, which are used to specify a backend resource to route traffic to.

Here are the key components of a load balancer rule:

  • Frontend IP configuration for the incoming traffic
  • The backend IP pool to receive the traffic
  • The required source and destination port

The Health Probe

A health probe is a crucial component of a load balancer, ensuring that all virtual machine instances can send network traffic.

It checks each virtual machine instance to confirm they're functioning correctly.

A virtual machine with a failed probe check is automatically removed from the load balancer.

The failed virtual machine is re-added to the load balancer once the issue is resolved.

You can create a health probe using the command az network lb probe create.

Virtual Network and Resources

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To create an Azure load balancer, you'll first need to set up a virtual network that provides connectivity for the resources that need to communicate on the network. This involves creating a new resource group to contain all the resources used in the deployment.

The virtual network is given the name "IntLB-VNet" and is deployed to the East US region. It's configured with an IPv4 network address space of 10.1.0.0/16. The backend and frontend subnets are then configured with address ranges taken from the virtual network's IPv4 address space.

The backend subnet is set to 10.1.0.0/24 and the frontend subnet is set to 10.1.2.0/24. This allows for separate address ranges for the backend and frontend resources.

The Virtual Network

To create a virtual network, you'll need to use the az network vnet create command. This will create the virtual network and subnet that will contain the resources deployed later in this article.

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The virtual network will provide connectivity for the Azure resources that need to communicate on the network. This is crucial for the deployment of VMs and testing of the load balancer.

A virtual network can be created in the East US region, as seen in the example where the virtual network was given the name "IntLB-VNet". It's essential to configure the virtual network with an IPv4 network address space, such as 10.1.0.0/16.

The virtual network's IPv4 address space can be divided into subnets, like the backend subnet (10.1.0.0/24) and frontend subnet (10.1.2.0/24). These subnets will have address ranges taken from the virtual network's IPv4 address space.

To access the virtual network, you'll need a public IP address, which can be enabled for the load balancer. This will allow you to access your web app on the Internet.

Review Deployed Resources

To review deployed resources, start by signing in to the Azure portal.

Select Resource groups from the left pane, and then choose the resource group you created earlier. The default resource group name is the project name with -rg appended.

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Next, select the load balancer, whose default name is the project name with -lb appended.

You can then copy the IP address part of the public IP address and paste it into the address bar of your browser. The browser will display the default page of the Internet Information Services (IIS) web server.

To see the load balancer distribute traffic across all three VMs, force a refresh of your web browser from the client machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Azure Basic and Standard load balancer?

The main difference between Azure Basic and Standard load balancer is that the Basic tier is limited to a single resource, while the Standard tier can span multiple resources across a virtual network. This allows for more flexibility and scalability with the Standard tier.

What does SKU mean in load balancer?

In the context of Azure Load Balancer, SKU stands for Stock-Keeping Unit, referring to a specific product variant with unique features and pricing. Understanding the different SKUs can help you choose the right load balancer for your specific needs.

Ann Predovic

Lead Writer

Ann Predovic is a seasoned writer with a passion for crafting informative and engaging content. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for research, she has established herself as a go-to expert in various fields, including technology and software. Her writing career has taken her down a path of exploring complex topics, making them accessible to a broad audience.

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