Load Balancers

Load balancers distribute incoming traffic across multiple instances to improve availability and performance. AceCloud supports Application Load Balancers (ALB) for HTTP/HTTPS traffic and Network Load Balancers (NLB) for TCP/UDP traffic.

Command: ace load-balancer Alias: ace lb

Architecture

A load balancer has three layers:

Load Balancer
  └── Listener (protocol + port)
        └── Pool (backend group + algorithm)
              └── Members (instances)

• Load Balancer -- the top-level resource with a VIP address on a subnet.

• Listener -- accepts traffic on a protocol and port (e.g. HTTP:80).

• Pool -- a group of backend instances with a load-balancing algorithm.

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Load Balancer Management

Create a Load Balancer

ace lb create --name <name> --subnet <subnet-id> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Required	Default	Description
--name	Yes		Load balancer name
--subnet	Yes		VIP subnet UUID
--type	No	ALB	Load balancer type: ALB or NLB
--description	No		Description (max 255 characters)

Examples

Create an Application Load Balancer:

ace lb create --name web-lb --subnet <subnet-id>

Create a Network Load Balancer:

ace lb create --name tcp-lb --subnet <subnet-id> --type NLB

Sample Output

Load balancer "web-lb" created.
  ID:              a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890
  VIP Address:     10.0.0.100
  Status:          PENDING_CREATE
  Type:            ALB

The load balancer starts in PENDING_CREATE status and transitions to ACTIVE once provisioning completes. This typically takes 1--2 minutes.

List Load Balancers

ace lb list

Alias: ace lb ls

Sample Output

NAME                      ID                                     VIP ADDRESS        PROV STATUS    OP STATUS    LISTENERS
web-lb                    a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890  10.0.0.100         ACTIVE         ONLINE       2
tcp-lb                    b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901  10.0.0.101         ACTIVE         ONLINE       1

Get Load Balancer Details

ace lb get <lb-id>

Sample Output

  Name:                     web-lb
  ID:                       a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890
  VIP Address:              10.0.0.100
  VIP Subnet:               f6e5d4c3-b2a1-0987-fedc-ba0987654321
  VIP Network:              c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-234567890abc
  Prov. Status:             ACTIVE
  Oper. Status:             ONLINE
  Admin State:              true
  Provider:                 octavia
  Tags:                     ALB
  Listeners:                2
  Pools:                    2
  Created:                  2025-01-15T10:30:00Z

Update a Load Balancer

ace lb update <lb-id> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Required	Description
--name	No	New name
--description	No	New description

At least one flag must be specified.

Example

ace lb update a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890 --name web-lb-v2

Load balancer a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890 updated.

Delete Load Balancers

ace lb delete <lb-id> [lb-id...] [flags]

Alias: ace lb rm

Flags

Flag	Required	Default	Description
--cascade	No	false	Delete all child resources (listeners, pools, members)

Without --cascade, the load balancer must have no listeners or pools. Use --cascade to delete everything in one step.

Examples

# Delete with all child resources
ace lb delete a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890 --cascade

# Delete (must have no children)
ace lb delete a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890

Deleted 1 load balancer(s).

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Listener Management

Listeners define the protocol and port on which the load balancer accepts incoming connections.

Create a Listener

ace lb listener create --name <name> --lb <lb-id> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Required	Default	Description
--name	Yes		Listener name
--lb	Yes		Load balancer UUID
--protocol	No	HTTP	Protocol: HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP, TERMINATED_HTTPS
--port	No	80	Protocol port (1--65535)

Examples

HTTP listener on port 80:

ace lb listener create --name http-listener --protocol HTTP --port 80 --lb <lb-id>

HTTPS listener on port 443:

ace lb listener create --name https-listener --protocol HTTPS --port 443 --lb <lb-id>

TCP listener for a database proxy:

ace lb listener create --name pg-listener --protocol TCP --port 5432 --lb <lb-id>

Sample Output

Listener "http-listener" created.
  Listener ID:     c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-234567890abc

List Listeners

ace lb listener list [flags]

Alias: ace lb listener ls

Flags

Flag	Required	Description
--lb	No	Filter by load balancer ID

Examples

List all listeners:

ace lb listener list

List listeners for a specific load balancer:

ace lb listener list --lb a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890

Sample Output

NAME                      ID                                     PROTOCOL   PORT   STATUS       DEFAULT POOL
http-listener             c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-234567890abc  HTTP       80     ACTIVE       d4e5f6a7-b...
https-listener            d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef  HTTPS      443    ACTIVE       e5f6a7b8-c...

Get Listener Details

ace lb listener get <listener-id>

Sample Output

  Name:                     http-listener
  ID:                       c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-234567890abc
  Protocol:                 HTTP
  Port:                     80
  Prov. Status:             ACTIVE
  Oper. Status:             ONLINE
  Admin State:              true
  Default Pool:             d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef
  Created:                  2025-01-15T10:35:00Z

Delete Listeners

ace lb listener delete <listener-id> [listener-id...]

Alias: ace lb listener rm

Example

ace lb listener delete c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-234567890abc

Deleted 1 listener(s).

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Pool Management

Pools define the group of backend instances and the algorithm used to distribute traffic.

Create a Pool

ace lb pool create --name <name> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Required	Default	Description
--name	Yes		Pool name
--protocol	No	HTTP	Protocol: HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP, PROXY, PROXYV2
--algorithm	No	ROUND_ROBIN	Algorithm: ROUND_ROBIN, LEAST_CONNECTIONS, SOURCE_IP
--listener	No		Listener UUID (provide --listener or --lb)
--lb	No		Load balancer UUID (provide --lb or --listener)

You must specify either --listener or --lb (or both). When attached to a listener, the pool becomes that listener's default pool.

Load-Balancing Algorithms

Algorithm	Description
ROUND_ROBIN	Distributes requests evenly across all members
LEAST_CONNECTIONS	Sends new connections to the member with fewest active connections
SOURCE_IP	Routes requests from the same source IP to the same member

Examples

Create a pool attached to a listener:

ace lb pool create --name web-pool \
  --protocol HTTP \
  --algorithm ROUND_ROBIN \
  --listener <listener-id>

Create a pool attached directly to a load balancer:

ace lb pool create --name tcp-pool \
  --protocol TCP \
  --algorithm LEAST_CONNECTIONS \
  --lb <lb-id>

Sample Output

Pool "web-pool" created.
  Pool ID:         d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef

List Pools

ace lb pool list

Alias: ace lb pool ls

Sample Output

NAME                      ID                                     PROTOCOL   ALGORITHM        STATUS       MEMBERS
web-pool                  d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef  HTTP       ROUND_ROBIN      ACTIVE       3
tcp-pool                  e5f6a7b8-c9d0-1234-ef01-56789abcdef0  TCP        LEAST_CONNECTIONS ACTIVE       2

Get Pool Details

ace lb pool get <pool-id>

Sample Output

  Name:                     web-pool
  ID:                       d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef
  Protocol:                 HTTP
  Algorithm:                ROUND_ROBIN
  Prov. Status:             ACTIVE
  Oper. Status:             ONLINE
  Admin State:              true
  Members:                  3
  Health Monitor:           f6a7b8c9-d0e1-2345-f678-90abcdef0123
  Created:                  2025-01-15T10:40:00Z

Delete Pools

ace lb pool delete <pool-id> [pool-id...]

Alias: ace lb pool rm

Example

ace lb pool delete d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-def0-456789abcdef

Deleted 1 pool(s).

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End-to-End Example

Set up a complete HTTP load balancer for a web application:

# 1. Create the load balancer
ace lb create --name web-lb --subnet <subnet-id> --type ALB

# 2. Create an HTTP listener on port 80
ace lb listener create --name http-80 --protocol HTTP --port 80 --lb <lb-id>

# 3. Create a pool with round-robin distribution
ace lb pool create --name web-pool \
  --protocol HTTP \
  --algorithm ROUND_ROBIN \
  --listener <listener-id>

# 4. (Add members via the AceCloud portal or API)

# 5. Verify the setup
ace lb get <lb-id>
ace lb listener list --lb <lb-id>
ace lb pool list

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Command Summary

Command	Description
ace lb create	Create a load balancer
ace lb list	List all load balancers
ace lb get <id>	Get load balancer details
ace lb update <id>	Update a load balancer
ace lb delete <id>	Delete load balancer(s)
ace lb listener create	Create a listener
ace lb listener list	List listeners
ace lb listener get <id>	Get listener details
ace lb listener delete <id>	Delete listener(s)
ace lb pool create	Create a pool
ace lb pool list	List pools
ace lb pool get <id>	Get pool details
ace lb pool delete <id>	Delete pool(s)