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AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) + Global Accelerator

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High-performance Layer 7 traffic routing with automated health checks, AWS WAF security, and Global Anycast IP acceleration.

NETWORKING
•Amazon Web Services

High-performance Layer 7 traffic routing with automated health checks, AWS WAF security, and Global Anycast IP acceleration.

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GCP ➔ AWS Bridge
Fast-Track Mental Model Translation

Coming from Google Cloud?

Compare with Google Cloud Load Balancing

Both offer enterprise Layer 7 reverse proxy load balancing with global Anycast IP options and managed TLS termination.

What's Conceptually Identical
  • Layer 7 HTTP/HTTPS reverse proxy routing with path and host header matching.
  • Managed SSL/TLS termination with automated certificate provisioning and renewal.
  • Integration with cloud Web Application Firewalls (AWS WAF vs GCP Cloud Armor).
  • Active health check monitoring that automatically evicts unhealthy targets.
Key Architectural Shifts in AWS
  • Anycast IP Architecture: GCP Load Balancing is global by default (single Anycast IP); AWS ALB is regional, requiring AWS Global Accelerator to achieve multi-region Anycast ingress.
  • Target Types: AWS ALB routes to EC2, ECS Fargate, EKS pods (via AWS Load Balancer Controller), and Lambda; GCP routes to Network Endpoint Groups (NEGs).
  • Pricing: AWS ALB bills hourly per ALB ($0.0225/hr) plus LCU consumption metrics; Global Accelerator charges $0.025/hr plus data transfer fees.
Syntax & Command Translator
Create Application Load Balancer
GCP:gcloud compute url-maps create web-map --default-service=backend-service
AWS:aws elbv2 create-load-balancer --name prod-alb --subnets subnet-12345 subnet-67890 --security-groups sg-12345
Create Target Group
GCP:gcloud compute backend-services create web-backend --protocol=HTTP
AWS:aws elbv2 create-target-group --name tg-api --protocol HTTP --port 8080 --vpc-id vpc-12345 --target-type ip

What is AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) + Global Accelerator?

AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at Layer 7 of the OSI model, distributing incoming application traffic across multiple targets such as Amazon EC2 instances, ECS Fargate tasks, and EKS pods across multiple Availability Zones. When paired with AWS Global Accelerator, incoming client connections enter the nearest AWS edge location via static Anycast IP addresses and travel across AWS's private global fiber network directly to your regional ALBs.

Decision Guide: When to Choose This Service

When to Use AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) + Global Accelerator

Use AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) when routing HTTP/HTTPS microservices traffic based on URL paths, host headers, or query parameters, terminating TLS at the load balancer layer, and load balancing across EC2 instances, ECS Fargate containers, or EKS pods. Pair with AWS Global Accelerator for global users needing low latency over static Anycast IPs.

When NOT to Use (Recommended Alternatives)

Do NOT use ALB for non-HTTP protocols like raw TCP/UDP, gaming sockets, or extreme million-RPS line-rate traffic with ultra-low latency (use AWS Network Load Balancer / NLB instead).

Core Architectural Pillars

Layer 7 HTTP/HTTPS Inspection

Terminates client TLS connections and routes traffic based on URL path, host header, and query string.

Target Groups

Pools of backend endpoints (EC2 instance IDs, private VPC IP addresses for containers, or serverless Lambda functions).

Weighted Routing & Canary Deployments

Splits traffic (e.g. 90/10) between different target groups for zero-downtime blue/green releases.

AWS Global Accelerator

Provides 2 static Anycast IP addresses routing global user traffic over AWS's private backbone fiber network.

AWS WAF Integration

Attaches Web Application Firewall inspection to mitigate SQL injection, XSS, and layer 7 DDoS floods.