Load balancing rules in Azure - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is a load balancing rule in Azure?

A load balancing rule in Azure defines how traffic is distributed from the frontend IP to backend pool instances. It specifies the protocol, port, and distribution method to balance incoming requests.

beginner

What does the 'frontend IP configuration' specify in a load balancing rule?

It specifies the public or private IP address where the load balancer listens for incoming traffic to distribute to backend resources.

beginner

Why is the 'backend pool' important in a load balancing rule?

The backend pool contains the virtual machines or instances that receive the traffic distributed by the load balancer according to the rule.

intermediate

What role does the 'probe' play in Azure load balancing rules?

A probe checks the health of backend instances. The load balancer uses probe results to send traffic only to healthy instances.

advanced

What is the difference between 'floating IP' enabled and disabled in a load balancing rule?

When floating IP is enabled, the backend instance can receive traffic directly on the frontend IP. When disabled, traffic is NATed and the backend sees the load balancer's IP as source.

What does a load balancing rule in Azure primarily control?

A The size of virtual machines in the backend pool

B How traffic is distributed from frontend IP to backend pool

C The storage account used by the load balancer

D The region where the load balancer is deployed

Load balancing rules define how incoming traffic is distributed to backend instances.

Which component does a load balancing rule use to check backend instance health?

A Probe

B Firewall

C Virtual Network

D Subnet

Probes monitor backend health to ensure traffic is sent only to healthy instances.

What happens if a backend instance fails the health probe?

A The load balancer shuts down

B It receives more traffic

C It is automatically deleted

D It stops receiving traffic from the load balancer

Unhealthy instances are excluded from receiving traffic until they pass the probe again.

What does enabling 'floating IP' in a load balancing rule allow?

A Backend instances receive traffic directly on the frontend IP

B Load balancer uses multiple frontend IPs

C Traffic is encrypted end-to-end

D Load balancer scales automatically

Floating IP allows backend VMs to see the frontend IP as the destination IP.

Which protocol can be specified in an Azure load balancing rule?

A SMTP only

B HTTP only

C TCP or UDP

D FTP only

Azure load balancer supports TCP and UDP protocols for load balancing rules.

Explain the key components of an Azure load balancing rule and their roles.

Think about where traffic comes in, where it goes, how health is checked, and special settings.

Describe how Azure load balancing rules help maintain application availability.

Consider how traffic is managed and how failures are handled.