> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usenubis.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Load Balancers Overview

> Distribute traffic across multiple instances

## What are Load Balancers?

Load balancers distribute incoming traffic across multiple instances to ensure high availability and optimal performance. They automatically route requests to healthy instances.

## Features

* **Automatic Failover**: Route traffic away from unhealthy instances
* **SSL Termination**: Handle HTTPS at the load balancer
* **Health Checks**: Continuously monitor instance health
* **Sticky Sessions**: Route users to the same instance
* **Multiple Algorithms**: Round robin, least connections, IP hash

## How It Works

<Accordion title="Traffic Flow">
  1. User sends request to load balancer IP
  2. Load balancer checks health of backend instances
  3. Request is routed to a healthy instance
  4. Response is returned to user
  5. Unhealthy instances are marked and bypassed
</Accordion>

## Use Cases

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="High Availability">
    Distribute traffic across multiple instances to avoid downtime
  </Card>

  <Card title="Auto-Scaling">
    Automatically add instances when traffic increases
  </Card>

  <Card title="SSL Offloading">
    Handle SSL termination at the load balancer
  </Card>

  <Card title="Geographic Routing">
    Route users to nearest datacenter
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Configuration Options

### Health Checks

Configure checks to monitor instance health:

* **HTTP**: Check specific endpoint (e.g., `/health`)
* **TCP**: Basic connectivity check
* **Interval**: How often to check (5s - 60s)
* **Timeout**: Response timeout (2s - 5s)

### Load Balancing Algorithm

Choose how traffic is distributed:

* **Round Robin**: Evenly distribute across instances
* **Least Connections**: Route to instance with fewest connections
* **IP Hash**: Route based on source IP for session stickiness

## Creating a Load Balancer

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create Load Balancer">
    Navigate to Networking → Load Balancers → Create
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add Backend Instances">
    Select instances to distribute traffic across
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure Health Checks">
    Set up monitoring for your applications
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assign Reserved IP">
    Optional: Use a static IP address
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Pricing

* **Standard**: $10/month + $0.02/GB processed
* **Enterprise**: $50/month + $0.015/GB processed (includes DDoS protection)

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Create Load Balancer" icon="plus" href="/networking/load-balancers/create">
    Set up your first load balancer
  </Card>

  <Card title="SSL Configuration" icon="lock" href="/networking/load-balancers/ssl-termination">
    Configure SSL certificates
  </Card>
</CardGroup>