This section describes the approaches to balancing incoming traffic in Deckhouse Kubernetes Platform (DKP):

  • NLB (Network Load Balancer) — operates at the network level, routing traffic based on IP addresses and ports without inspecting request contents.
  • ALB (Application Load Balancer) — operates at the application level, analyzing HTTP(S) headers, paths, and domains. It supports SSL termination and content-based routing.

Network-level load balancing (NLB)

NLB-based load balancing can be implemented in two ways:

  • Using an external load balancer provided by a cloud provider.
  • Using the built-in MetalLB balancer, which works in both cloud and bare-metal clusters.

Application-level load balancing (ALB)

For application-level traffic balancing, DKP provides two solutions: