It is layer 7. Load balancing to multiple HTTP applications across machines (target group).

  • It can load balance to multiple apps on same machine (containers)
  • Supports HTTP/2 and WebSocket and support redirects
  • They are great fit for microservices & container-based applications (docker & Amazon ECS)

Target Groups

  • EC2 instances (can be managed by an Auto Scaling Group) - HTTP
  • ECS tasks (managed by ECS itself) - HTTP
  • Lambda functions - HTTP request is translated into a JSON event
  • IP Addresses - must be private IPs