What is the difference between OCI Load Balancer and Network Load Balancer?

The OCI Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and Layer 7, supporting HTTP/HTTPS routing, SSL termination, path-based routing, and cookie-based session persistence. It uses flexible bandwidth shapes from 10 Mbps to 8 Gbps. The Network Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 only, providing ultra-low latency TCP/UDP load balancing with direct server return capability. The Network Load Balancer preserves the client source IP by default and is ideal for non-HTTP protocols.

How does flexible bandwidth shaping work for OCI Load Balancers?

Flexible shapes let you set a minimum and maximum bandwidth, and you pay based on the minimum bandwidth reservation. The load balancer can burst up to the maximum during peak traffic. For example, you might set a 100 Mbps minimum with a 1 Gbps maximum. If your traffic stays below 100 Mbps, you pay the 100 Mbps rate. This model lets you optimize costs while handling traffic spikes gracefully.

OCI Load Balancer Config Builder

NetworkingOCI

Build OCI Load Balancer backend set, listener, and health check configurations.

OCI Load Balancer Configuration

Build OCI Load Balancer backend sets, listeners, and health checker configurations.

Required Fields

compartmentIddisplayNameshapeNamebackendSetslisteners

{
  "compartmentId": "ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaexample",
  "displayName": "prod-app-lb",
  "shapeName": "flexible",
  "shapeDetails": {
    "minimumBandwidthInMbps": 10,
    "maximumBandwidthInMbps": 100
  },
  "isPrivate": false,
  "subnetIds": [
    "ocid1.subnet.oc1.iad.aaaaaaaexample1",
    "ocid1.subnet.oc1.iad.aaaaaaaexample2"
  ],
  "backendSets": {
    "app-backend-set": {
      "policy": "ROUND_ROBIN",
      "healthChecker": {
        "protocol": "HTTP",
        "port": 8080,
        "urlPath": "/health",
        "returnCode": 200,
        "intervalInMillis": 10000,
        "timeoutInMillis": 3000,
        "retries": 3
      },
      "backends": [
        {
          "ipAddress": "10.0.10.5",
          "port": 8080,
          "weight": 1,
          "backup": false,
          "drain": false,
          "offline": false
        },
        {
          "ipAddress": "10.0.10.6",
          "port": 8080,
          "weight": 1,
          "backup": false,
          "drain": false,
          "offline": false
        }
      ],
      "sessionPersistenceConfiguration": {
        "cookieName": "X-Oracle-LB-Session",
        "disableFallback": false
      }
    }
  },
  "listeners": {
    "https-listener": {
      "protocol": "HTTP",
      "port": 443,
      "defaultBackendSetName": "app-backend-set",
      "sslConfiguration": {
        "certificateIds": ["ocid1.certificate.oc1.iad.aaaaaaaexample"],
        "verifyDepth": 1,
        "verifyPeerCertificate": false
      }
    }
  },
  "freeformTags": {
    "environment": "production"
  }
}

Generated Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

OCI offers two load balancer types — a flexible Load Balancer (Layer 4 and Layer 7) and a Network Load Balancer (Layer 4 only with ultra-low latency). Configuring either requires specifying listeners, backend sets, health checks, routing policies, SSL certificates, and shape parameters. The Load Balancer Config Builder walks you through each component, generating configurations that include bandwidth shapes, session persistence settings, path-based routing rules, and certificate bundles. It outputs configurations compatible with Terraform, the OCI CLI, and the OCI SDK.

When to Use This Tool

•Building a public HTTPS load balancer with path-based routing that sends /api traffic to one backend set and /static to another
•Configuring a Network Load Balancer for TCP passthrough to backend database replicas with source IP preservation
•Setting up health check parameters with appropriate intervals, timeouts, and thresholds for applications with slow startup times
•Creating load balancer configurations with SSL termination, cipher suite selection, and certificate rotation settings

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between OCI Load Balancer and Network Load Balancer?: The OCI Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and Layer 7, supporting HTTP/HTTPS routing, SSL termination, path-based routing, and cookie-based session persistence. It uses flexible bandwidth shapes from 10 Mbps to 8 Gbps. The Network Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 only, providing ultra-low latency TCP/UDP load balancing with direct server return capability. The Network Load Balancer preserves the client source IP by default and is ideal for non-HTTP protocols.
How does flexible bandwidth shaping work for OCI Load Balancers?: Flexible shapes let you set a minimum and maximum bandwidth, and you pay based on the minimum bandwidth reservation. The load balancer can burst up to the maximum during peak traffic. For example, you might set a 100 Mbps minimum with a 1 Gbps maximum. If your traffic stays below 100 Mbps, you pay the 100 Mbps rate. This model lets you optimize costs while handling traffic spikes gracefully.

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Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.