load-balancing-patterns

Name: load-balancing-patterns
Author: ancoleman

45installs59forks

How to install load-balancing-patterns?

ancoleman/ai-design-components/load-balancing-patterns

$npx -y skills add ancoleman/ai-design-components --skill load-balancing-patterns

Installs into the current project.

Summary

When distributing traffic across multiple servers or regions, use this skill to select and configure the appropriate load balancing solution (L4/L7, cloud-managed, self-managed, or Kubernetes ingress) with proper health checks and session management.

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# Load Balancing Patterns
2
3	Distribute traffic across infrastructure using the appropriate load balancing approach, from simple round-robin to global multi-region failover.
4
5	## When to Use This Skill
6
7	Use load-balancing-patterns when:
8	- Distributing traffic across multiple application servers
9	- Implementing high availability and failover
10	- Routing traffic based on URLs, headers, or geographic location
11	- Managing session persistence across stateless backends
12	- Deploying applications to Kubernetes clusters
13	- Configuring global traffic management across regions
14	- Implementing zero-downtime deployments (blue-green, canary)
15	- Selecting between cloud-managed and self-managed load balancers
16
17	## Core Load Balancing Concepts
18
19	### Layer 4 vs Layer 7
20
21	Layer 4 (L4) - Transport Layer:
22	- Routes based on IP address and port (TCP/UDP packets)
23	- No application data inspection, lower latency, higher throughput
24	- Protocol agnostic, preserves client IP addresses
25	- Use for: Database connections, video streaming, gaming, financial transactions, non-HTTP protocols
26
27	Layer 7 (L7) - Application Layer:
28	- Routes based on HTTP URLs, headers, cookies, request body
29	- Full application data visibility, SSL/TLS termination, caching, WAF integration
30	- Content-based routing capabilities
31	- Use for: Web applications, REST APIs, microservices, GraphQL endpoints, complex routing logic
32
33	For detailed comparison including performance benchmarks and hybrid approaches, see `references/l4-vs-l7-comparison.md`.
34
35	### Load Balancing Algorithms
36
37	\| Algorithm \| Distribution Method \| Use Case \|
38	\|-----------\|-------------------\|----------\|
39	\| Round Robin \| Sequential \| Stateless, similar servers \|
40	\| Weighted Round Robin \| Capacity-based \| Different server specs \|
41	\| Least Connections \| Fewest active connections \| Long-lived connections \|
42	\| Least Response Time \| Fastest server \| Performance-sensitive \|
43	\| IP Hash \| Client IP-based \| Session persistence \|
44	\| Resource-Based \| CPU/memory metrics \| Varying workloads \|
45
46	### Health Check Types
47
48	Shallow (Liveness): Is the process alive?
49	- Endpoint: `/health/live` or `/live`
50	- Returns: 200 if process running
51	- Use for: Process monitoring, container health
52
53	Deep (Readiness): Can the service handle requests?
54	- Endpoint: `/health/ready` or `/ready`
55	- Validates: Database, cache, external API connectivity
56	- Use for: Load balancer routing decisions
57
58	Health Check Hysteresis: Different thresholds for marking up vs down to prevent flapping
59	- Example: 3 failures to mark down, 2 successes to mark up
60
61	For complete health check implementation patterns, see `references/health-check-strategies.md`.
62
63	## Cloud Load Balancers
64
65	### AWS Load Balancing
66
67	Application Load Balancer (ALB) - Layer 7:
68	- Use for: HTTP/HTTPS applications, microservices, WebSocket
69	- Features: Path/host/header routing, AWS WAF integration, Lambda targets
70	- Choose when: Content-based routing needed
71
72	Network Load Balancer (NLB) - Layer 4:
73	- Use for: Ultra-low latency (<1ms), TCP/UDP, static IPs, millions RPS
74	- Features: Preserves source IP, TLS termination
75	- Choose when: Non-HTTP protocols, performance critical
76
77	Global Accelerator - Layer 4 Global:
78	- Use for: Multi-region applications, global users, DDoS protection
79	- Features: Anycast IPs, automatic regional failover
80
81	### GCP Load Balancing
82
83	Application LB (L7): Global HTTPS LB, Cloud CDN integration, Cloud Armor (WAF/DDoS)
84	Network LB (L4): Regional TCP/UDP, pass-through balancing, session affinity
85	Cloud Load Balancing: Single anycast IP, global distribution, backend buckets
86
87	### Azure Load Balancing
88
89	Application Gateway (L7): WAF integration, URL-based routing, SSL termination, autoscaling
90	Load Balancer (L4): Basic and Standard SKUs, health probes, HA ports
91	Traffic Manager (Global): DNS-based routing (priority, weighted, performance, geographic)
92
93	For complete cloud provider configurations and Terraform examples, see `references/cloud-load-balancers.md`.
94
95	## Self-Managed Load Balancers
96
97	### NGINX
98
99	Best for: General-purpose HTTP/HTTPS load balancing, web application stacks
100
101	Capabilities:
102	- HTTP reverse proxy with multiple algorithms
103	- TCP/UDP stream load balancing
104	- SSL/TLS termination
105	- Passive health checks (open source), active health checks (NGINX Plus)
106	- Cookie-based sticky sessions (NGINX Plus)
107
108	Basic configuration:
109	```nginx
110	upstream backend {
111	least_conn;
112	server backend1.example.com:8080 weight=3;
113	server backend2.example.com:8080 weight=2;
114	keepalive 32;
115	}
116
117	server {
118	listen 80;
119	location / {
120	proxy_pass http://backend;
121	proxy_set_header Host $host;
122	proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

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load-balancing-patterns

45installs59forks

View on GitHub

How to install load-balancing-patterns?

ancoleman/ai-design-components/load-balancing-patterns

$npx -y skills add ancoleman/ai-design-components --skill load-balancing-patterns

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# Load Balancing Patterns
2
3	Distribute traffic across infrastructure using the appropriate load balancing approach, from simple round-robin to global multi-region failover.
4
5	## When to Use This Skill
6
7	Use load-balancing-patterns when:
8	- Distributing traffic across multiple application servers
9	- Implementing high availability and failover
10	- Routing traffic based on URLs, headers, or geographic location
11	- Managing session persistence across stateless backends
12	- Deploying applications to Kubernetes clusters
13	- Configuring global traffic management across regions
14	- Implementing zero-downtime deployments (blue-green, canary)
15	- Selecting between cloud-managed and self-managed load balancers
16
17	## Core Load Balancing Concepts
18
19	### Layer 4 vs Layer 7
20
21	Layer 4 (L4) - Transport Layer:
22	- Routes based on IP address and port (TCP/UDP packets)
23	- No application data inspection, lower latency, higher throughput
24	- Protocol agnostic, preserves client IP addresses
25	- Use for: Database connections, video streaming, gaming, financial transactions, non-HTTP protocols
26
27	Layer 7 (L7) - Application Layer:
28	- Routes based on HTTP URLs, headers, cookies, request body
29	- Full application data visibility, SSL/TLS termination, caching, WAF integration
30	- Content-based routing capabilities
31	- Use for: Web applications, REST APIs, microservices, GraphQL endpoints, complex routing logic
32
33	For detailed comparison including performance benchmarks and hybrid approaches, see `references/l4-vs-l7-comparison.md`.
34
35	### Load Balancing Algorithms
36
37	\| Algorithm \| Distribution Method \| Use Case \|
38	\|-----------\|-------------------\|----------\|
39	\| Round Robin \| Sequential \| Stateless, similar servers \|
40	\| Weighted Round Robin \| Capacity-based \| Different server specs \|
41	\| Least Connections \| Fewest active connections \| Long-lived connections \|
42	\| Least Response Time \| Fastest server \| Performance-sensitive \|
43	\| IP Hash \| Client IP-based \| Session persistence \|
44	\| Resource-Based \| CPU/memory metrics \| Varying workloads \|
45
46	### Health Check Types
47
48	Shallow (Liveness): Is the process alive?
49	- Endpoint: `/health/live` or `/live`
50	- Returns: 200 if process running
51	- Use for: Process monitoring, container health
52
53	Deep (Readiness): Can the service handle requests?
54	- Endpoint: `/health/ready` or `/ready`
55	- Validates: Database, cache, external API connectivity
56	- Use for: Load balancer routing decisions
57
58	Health Check Hysteresis: Different thresholds for marking up vs down to prevent flapping
59	- Example: 3 failures to mark down, 2 successes to mark up
60
61	For complete health check implementation patterns, see `references/health-check-strategies.md`.
62
63	## Cloud Load Balancers
64
65	### AWS Load Balancing
66
67	Application Load Balancer (ALB) - Layer 7:
68	- Use for: HTTP/HTTPS applications, microservices, WebSocket
69	- Features: Path/host/header routing, AWS WAF integration, Lambda targets
70	- Choose when: Content-based routing needed
71
72	Network Load Balancer (NLB) - Layer 4:
73	- Use for: Ultra-low latency (<1ms), TCP/UDP, static IPs, millions RPS
74	- Features: Preserves source IP, TLS termination
75	- Choose when: Non-HTTP protocols, performance critical
76
77	Global Accelerator - Layer 4 Global:
78	- Use for: Multi-region applications, global users, DDoS protection
79	- Features: Anycast IPs, automatic regional failover
80
81	### GCP Load Balancing
82
83	Application LB (L7): Global HTTPS LB, Cloud CDN integration, Cloud Armor (WAF/DDoS)
84	Network LB (L4): Regional TCP/UDP, pass-through balancing, session affinity
85	Cloud Load Balancing: Single anycast IP, global distribution, backend buckets
86
87	### Azure Load Balancing
88
89	Application Gateway (L7): WAF integration, URL-based routing, SSL termination, autoscaling
90	Load Balancer (L4): Basic and Standard SKUs, health probes, HA ports
91	Traffic Manager (Global): DNS-based routing (priority, weighted, performance, geographic)
92
93	For complete cloud provider configurations and Terraform examples, see `references/cloud-load-balancers.md`.
94
95	## Self-Managed Load Balancers
96
97	### NGINX
98
99	Best for: General-purpose HTTP/HTTPS load balancing, web application stacks
100
101	Capabilities:
102	- HTTP reverse proxy with multiple algorithms
103	- TCP/UDP stream load balancing
104	- SSL/TLS termination
105	- Passive health checks (open source), active health checks (NGINX Plus)
106	- Cookie-based sticky sessions (NGINX Plus)
107
108	Basic configuration:
109	```nginx
110	upstream backend {
111	least_conn;
112	server backend1.example.com:8080 weight=3;
113	server backend2.example.com:8080 weight=2;
114	keepalive 32;
115	}
116
117	server {
118	listen 80;
119	location / {
120	proxy_pass http://backend;
121	proxy_set_header Host $host;
122	proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

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6 picks

Type