Load Balancer-as-a-Service: A New Use Case in Alkira Platform
In today’s multi-cloud and hybrid environments, enterprises require efficient traffic management and seamless application delivery. Load Balancer-as-a-Service (LBaaS) in the Alkira Cloud Exchange Platform (CXP) simplifies global traffic management, ensuring enhanced scalability, resilience, and security while reducing operational complexity.
In this blog, we will explore Alkira’s capabilities in Cloud Load Balancer deployment, focusing on lifecycle management, network segmentation, scaling, high availability, and manageability across single-cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments.
Seamless Load Balancer Deployment
Alkira provides a fully integrated, automated approach to deploying load balancing services through F5 BIG-IP integration, eliminating the need for manual network configurations. This streamlined process allows organizations to:
- Simplify Global Deployment: Deploy load balancing services across any region or cloud environment in minutes with point-and-click simplicity.
- Automate Lifecycle Management: Centrally provision and scale instances on demand while maintaining full control over load balancing policies.
- Optimize Traffic Distribution: Reduce the need for multiple load balancers by leveraging flexible deployment models that efficiently route traffic, enhance performance, and minimize operational complexity across cloud and hybrid environments.
- Integrate Security: Strengthen application security by incorporating firewalls and security appliances inline within Alkira CXP, ensuring a comprehensive security posture.
- Enhance Operational Visibility: Gain detailed insights into load balancer health, performance metrics, and traffic patterns through Alkira’s unified management portal.
- Enterprise-Grade Capabilities: Full suite of advanced load balancing features, including SSL offloading, layer 4-7 traffic management, and application security
Lifecycle Management: Deploy, Scale, and Manage with Ease
Alkira streamlines the entire lifecycle of load balancing services, from deployment and configuration to scaling and maintenance. The automated provisioning process includes:
- Instance creation and routing setup
- Infrastructure configuration and network segmentation
- Routine updates and monitoring for optimal performance
This automation ensures operational simplicity while giving organizations full control over load balancing policies.
Figure 1: Creating a Load Balancer through Alkira UI Portal
Network Segmentation
Alkira’s network segmentation capabilities ensure traffic isolation for different use cases, minimizing congestion and overlap. Network segments within Alkira CXP are automatically mapped to route domains in the load balancer, facilitating seamless connectivity across environments. The load balancer service size determines the number of supported network segments and network interfaces, enabling scalable and efficient traffic distribution.
Figure 2: Load balancer segmentation configuration
Active-Active Scaling for High Availability
Alkira allows enterprises to deploy multiple F5 service instances to accommodate demand fluctuations. Operating in an Active-Active mode, customers can utilize all available instances in the load balancer service to distribute traffic there by improving performance, scalability, and fault tolerance for uninterrupted application delivery.
Figure 3: Load Balancer service instance configuration
Granular Policy Control for Security & Traffic Steering
Alkira’s policy-driven framework enables organizations to customize traffic steering based on specific business needs. Customers can integrate firewalls and security appliances inline to ensure robust protection. With Alkira Traffic Policies, users gain precise control over traffic inspection, applying security measures based on match criteria to enhance application security and performance.
Network Traffic Visibility
Alkira offers comprehensive visibility into all traffic traversing the Alkira CXP, allowing enterprises to monitor, analyze, and optimize network performance. With real-time insights and analytics, organizations can ensure efficient traffic management, enhanced security, and seamless application delivery.
Flexible Licensing
Alkira provides multiple licensing models, allowing organizations to select the best fit for their security and performance needs:
- Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG): Three tiers offering varying levels of functionality, security, and scalability.
- GOOD – Basic load balancing functionality
- BETTER – Advanced features including DNS and security capabilities
- BEST – Complete feature set including advanced security and application services
- Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Enables organizations with existing F5 licenses to integrate them seamlessly, maximizing their investment in current infrastructure.
This flexibility ensures cost-effective deployments while maintaining operational efficiency.
Cost Savings Through Load Balancer Consolidation
By leveraging a single set of load balancer instances, enterprises can manage traffic across multiple segments, cloud providers, and on-premises environments. This consolidation reduces infrastructure costs by eliminating the need for dedicated load balancers in each environment, ensuring:
- Lower operational costs
- Optimized resource utilization
- Simplified multi-cloud traffic management
Modernize your cloud network with Alkira
Alkira provides a simplified approach to cloud networking, eliminating the complexities associated with traditional infrastructure. To learn more about how Alkira can optimize your cloud networking strategy, schedule a demo today.
