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What is the difference between a nonproxied and proxied load balancer? I am reading the documentation for the Google Cloud Platform which offers a variety of different LBs. For example, it has SSL Proxy Load Balancers and Network Load Balancers. But it distinguishes the two by saying the network load balancers are non-proxied but the SSL ones, as the name suggests, are proxy load balancers. What's the difference?

My understanding is that proxy LBs terminate the client network traffic at the LB and then forward the request onwards. So in effect they act like a proxy to the original client request. In contrast, nonproxy LBs such the Network LB are pass through LBs in that the original client request reaches the network beyond the LB. This my hunch but I would like a definitive answer.

warren
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2 Answers2

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My understanding is that proxy LBs terminate the client network traffic at the LB and then forward the request onwards. So in effect they act like a proxy to the original client request. In contrast, nonproxy LBs such the Network LB are pass through LBs in that the original client request reaches the network beyond the LB.

Yes.

One hint at this distinction is the deciding on a load balancer chart. Only the network load balancers preserve client IP addresses.

John Mahowald
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    Just to add to the last point, when you use a proxy LB, the original client IP is usually added as an extra header like `X-Forwarded-For`. You can either program your server scripts to check this header, or configure the webserver to convert the header to the `REMOTE_ADDRESS` parameter. – Barmar Jun 04 '19 at 18:45
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Found this image in gcloud slides. Hope this helps internal load balancer

sysadmin1138
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cypherphage
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