Adding or Removing Backend Servers (Dedicated Load Balancers)

Scenarios

When you use ELB, ensure that at least a healthy backend server is in the backend server group associated with your load balancer. If incoming traffic increases, you need to add more backend servers.

After a backend server is removed, it cannot receive requests from the load balancer. You can add it back to the backend server group when the traffic goes up again.

If the load balancer is associated with an AS group, instances in the AS group are automatically added to the backend server group associated with the load balancer. If instances are removed from the AS group, they will be automatically removed from the backend server group.

Adding Backend Servers

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper left corner of the page, click and select the desired region and project.
  3. Hover on in the upper left corner to display Service List and choose Network > Elastic Load Balancing.
  4. Locate the load balancer and click its name.
  5. On the Backend Server Groups tab page, click Add Backend Server under Backend Servers.
  6. Perform the following operations based on the type of the backend servers:

Removing Backend Servers

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper left corner of the page, click and select the desired region and project.
  3. Hover on in the upper left corner to display Service List and choose Network > Elastic Load Balancing.
  4. Locate the load balancer and click its name.
  5. Click Backend Server Groups, locate the backend server group, and click its name.
  6. In the Basic Information area, locate the target backend server and click Remove in the Operation column. To remove multiple backend servers, select the backend servers you want to remove and click Remove above the server list.
  7. Click Yes.

Adding a Backend Server Group

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper left corner of the page, click and select the desired region and project.
  3. Hover on in the upper left corner to display Service List and choose Network > Elastic Load Balancing.
  4. Locate the load balancer and click its name.
  5. Under Backend Server Groups, click Add Backend Server Group.
  6. In the Add Backend Server Group dialog box, configure the parameters.

    Configure the parameters based on Table 1 and Table 2.

    Table 1 Parameters for adding a backend server group

    Parameter

    Description

    Example Value

    Name

    Specifies the name of the backend server group.

    server_group-sq4v

    Backend Protocol

    Specifies the protocol used by backend servers to receive requests.

    The backend protocol can be TCP, UDP, HTTP, or HTTPS.

    HTTP

    Load Balancing Algorithm

    Specifies the algorithm used by the load balancer to distribute traffic. The following options are available:

    • Weighted round robin: Requests are routed to different servers based on their weights, which indicate server processing performance. Backend servers with higher weights receive proportionately more requests, whereas equal-weighted servers receive the same number of requests.
    • Weighted least connections: In addition to the number of active connections established with each backend server, each server is assigned a weight based on their processing capability. Requests are routed to the server with the lowest connections-to-weight ratio.
    • Source IP hash: The source IP address of each request is calculated using the consistent hashing algorithm to obtain a unique hashing key, and all backend servers are numbered. The generated key is used to allocate the client to a particular server. This allows requests from different clients to be routed based on source IP addresses and ensures that a client is directed to the same server that it was using previously.
    NOTE:
    • Choose an appropriate algorithm based on your requirements for better traffic distribution.
    • For Weighted round robin or Weighted least connections, no requests will be routed to a server with a weight of 0.

    Weighted round robin

    Sticky Session

    Specifies whether to enable sticky sessions. If you enable sticky sessions, all requests from a client are sent to the same backend server.

    NOTE:

    You can enable sticky sessions only if you select Weighted round robin for Load Balancing Algorithm.

    -

    Sticky Session Type

    After you enable the sticky session feature, select a sticky session type:

    • Source IP address: The source IP address of each request is calculated using the consistent hashing algorithm to obtain a unique hashing key, and all backend servers are numbered. The system allocates the client to a particular server based on the generated key. This enables requests from different clients to be routed and ensures that a client is directed to the same server that it was using previously.
    • Load balancer cookie: The load balancer generates a cookie after receiving a request from the client. All subsequent requests with the same cookie are then routed to the same backend server.
    • Application cookie: The application deployed on the backend server generates a cookie after receiving the first request from the client. All requests with the same cookie generated by backend application are then routed to the same backend server.
    NOTE:

    Choose an appropriate sticky session type to better distribute requests and improve load balancing.

    • Sticky sessions at Layer 4 (for TCP or UDP listeners): only Source IP address
    • Sticky sessions at Layer 7 (for HTTP or HTTPS listeners): Load balancer cookie and Application cookie

    Load balancer cookie

    Stickiness Duration (min)

    Specifies the minutes that sticky sessions are maintained. You can enable sticky sessions only if you select Weighted round robin or Weighted least connections for Load Balancing Algorithm.

    • Stickiness duration at Layer 4: 1 to 60
    • Stickiness duration at Layer 7: 1 to 1440

    20

    Slow Start

    Specifies whether to enable slow start, which is disabled by default.

    After you enable slow start, the load balancer linearly increases the proportion of requests to send to backend servers in this mode. When the slow start duration elapses, the load balancer sends full share of requests to backend servers and exits the slow start mode. For details, see Configuring Slow Start (Dedicated Load Balancers).

    -

    Slow Start Duration

    Specifies how long the slow start will last.

    The duration ranges from 30 to 1200, in seconds, and the default value is 30.

    30

    Description

    Provides supplementary information about the backend server group.

    You can enter a maximum of 255 characters.

    -
    Table 2 Parameters for configuring a health check

    Parameter

    Description

    Example Value

    Enable Health Check

    Specifies whether to enable health checks.

    N/A

    Protocol

    Specifies the protocol used by the load balancer to perform health checks on backend servers. You can select either TCP or HTTP. A selected protocol cannot be changed.

    HTTP

    Domain Name

    Specifies the domain name that will be used for health checks.

    The domain name can contain digits, letters, hyphens (-), and periods (.), and must start with a digit or letter. The field is left blank by default and is available only when the health check protocol is HTTP.

    www.elb.com

    Port

    Specifies the port used by the load balancer to perform health checks on backend servers. The port number ranges from 1 to 65535.

    NOTE:

    If you do not specify a health check port, the backend port will be used for health checks by default. If you specify a port, it will be used for health checks.

    80

    Advanced Settings

    Interval (s)

    Specifies the maximum time between health checks, in seconds.

    The interval ranges from 1 to 50.

    5

    Timeout (s)

    Specifies the maximum time required for waiting for a response from the health check, in seconds. The timeout duration ranges from 1 to 50.

    3

    Check Path

    Specifies the destination path for health checks. Configure this parameter only if you have set Protocol to HTTP. The path can contain 1 to 80 characters and must start with a slash (/).

    /index.html

    Maximum Retries

    Specifies the maximum number of health check retries. The value ranges from 1 to 10.

    3
  7. Click OK.

Modifying a Backend Server Group

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper left corner of the page, click and select the desired region and project.
  3. Hover on in the upper left corner to display Service List and choose Network > Elastic Load Balancing.
  4. Locate the load balancer and click its name.
  5. Click Backend Server Groups, locate the backend server group, and click on the right of its name.
  6. Modify the parameters as needed and click OK.

Deleting a Backend Server Group

  1. Log in to the management console.
  2. In the upper left corner of the page, click and select the desired region and project.
  3. Hover on in the upper left corner to display Service List and choose Network > Elastic Load Balancing.
  4. Locate the load balancer and click its name.
  5. Click Backend Server Groups, locate the backend server group, and click on the right of its name.
  6. Click Yes.
Parent topic: Backend Server