Set up a regional external Application Load Balancer with VM instance group backends

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VPC networks page.

   Go to VPC networks

2. Click Create VPC network.

3. For Name, enter lb-network.

4. In the Subnets section:

   • Set Subnet creation mode to Custom.
   • In the New subnet section, enter the following information:
     • Name: backend-subnet
     • Region: us-west1
     • IP address range: 10.1.2.0/24
   • Click Done.

5. Click Create.

gcloud

1. Create the custom VPC network with the gcloud compute networks create command:

   gcloud compute networks create lb-network --subnet-mode=custom
   

2. Create a subnet in the lb-network network in the us-west1 region with the gcloud compute networks subnets create command:

   gcloud compute networks subnets create backend-subnet \
       --network=lb-network \
       --range=10.1.2.0/24 \
       --region=us-west1
   

Terraform

To create the VPC network, use the google_compute_network resource.

resource "google_compute_network" "default" {
  name                    = "lb-network"
  auto_create_subnetworks = false
  routing_mode            = "REGIONAL"
}

To create the VPC subnet in the lb-network network, use the google_compute_subnetwork resource.

resource "google_compute_subnetwork" "default" {
  name                       = "backend-subnet"
  ip_cidr_range              = "10.1.2.0/24"
  network                    = google_compute_network.default.id
  private_ipv6_google_access = "DISABLE_GOOGLE_ACCESS"
  purpose                    = "PRIVATE"
  region                     = "us-west1"
  stack_type                 = "IPV4_ONLY"
}

API

1. Make a POST request to the networks.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks
   {
    "routingConfig": {
      "routingMode": "REGIONAL"
    },
    "name": "lb-network",
    "autoCreateSubnetworks": false
   }
   

2. Make a POST request to the subnetworks.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1/subnetworks
   {
    "name": "backend-subnet",
    "network": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/lb-network",
    "ipCidrRange": "10.1.2.0/24",
    "region": "projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1",
   }
   

Console

If you're using the Google Cloud console, you can also wait and create the proxy-only subnet later on the Load balancing page.

If you want to create the proxy-only subnet now, use the following steps:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VPC networks page.

   Go to VPC networks

2. Click the name of the VPC network: lb-network.

3. Click Add subnet.

4. For Name, enter proxy-only-subnet.

5. For Region, select us-west1.

6. Set Purpose to Regional Managed Proxy.

7. For IP address range, enter 10.129.0.0/23.

8. Click Add.

gcloud

Create the proxy-only subnet with the gcloud compute networks subnets create command.

gcloud compute networks subnets create proxy-only-subnet \
  --purpose=REGIONAL_MANAGED_PROXY \
  --role=ACTIVE \
  --region=us-west1 \
  --network=lb-network \
  --range=10.129.0.0/23

Terraform

To create the VPC proxy-only subnet in the lb-network network, use the google_compute_subnetwork resource.

resource "google_compute_subnetwork" "proxy_only" {
  name          = "proxy-only-subnet"
  ip_cidr_range = "10.129.0.0/23"
  network       = google_compute_network.default.id
  purpose       = "REGIONAL_MANAGED_PROXY"
  region        = "us-west1"
  role          = "ACTIVE"
}

API

Create the proxy-only subnet with the subnetworks.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1/subnetworks
{
  "name": "proxy-only-subnet",
  "ipCidrRange": "10.129.0.0/23",
  "network": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/lb-network",
  "region": "projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1",
  "purpose": "REGIONAL_MANAGED_PROXY",
  "role": "ACTIVE"
}

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Firewall policies page.

   Go to Firewall rules

2. Click Create firewall rule to create the rule to allow Google Cloud health checks:

   • Name: fw-allow-health-check
   • Network: lb-network
   • Direction of traffic: Ingress
   • Action on match: Allow
   • Targets: Specified target tags
   • Target tags: load-balanced-backend
   • Source filter: IPv4 ranges
   • Source IPv4 ranges: 130.211.0.0/22 and 35.191.0.0/16
   • Protocols and ports:
     • Choose Specified protocols and ports.
     • Select the TCP checkbox, and then enter 80 for the port number. As a best practice, limit this rule to just the protocols and ports that match those used by your health check. If you use tcp:80 for the protocol and port, Google Cloud can use HTTP on port 80 to contact your VMs, but it cannot use HTTPS on port 443 to contact them.

3. Click Create.

4. Click Create firewall rule to create the rule to allow the load balancer's proxy servers to connect the backends:

   • Name: fw-allow-proxies
   • Network: lb-network
   • Direction of traffic: Ingress
   • Action on match: Allow
   • Targets: Specified target tags
   • Target tags: load-balanced-backend
   • Source filter: IPv4 ranges
   • Source IPv4 ranges: 10.129.0.0/23
   • Protocols and ports:
     • Choose Specified protocols and ports.
     • Select the TCP checkbox, and then enter 80, 443, 8080 for the port numbers.

5. Click Create.

gcloud

1. Create the fw-allow-health-check rule to allow Google Cloud health checks. This example allows all TCP traffic from health check probers; however, you can configure a narrower set of ports to meet your needs.

   gcloud compute firewall-rules create fw-allow-health-check \
       --network=lb-network \
       --action=allow \
       --direction=ingress \
       --source-ranges=130.211.0.0/22,35.191.0.0/16 \
       --target-tags=load-balanced-backend \
       --rules=tcp
   

2. Create the fw-allow-proxies rule to allow the regional external Application Load Balancer's proxies to connect to your backends. Set source-ranges to the allocated ranges of your proxy-only subnet, for example, 10.129.0.0/23.

   gcloud compute firewall-rules create fw-allow-proxies \
     --network=lb-network \
     --action=allow \
     --direction=ingress \
     --source-ranges=source-range \
     --target-tags=load-balanced-backend \
     --rules=tcp:80,tcp:443,tcp:8080
   

Terraform

To create the firewall rules, use the google_compute_firewall resource.

resource "google_compute_firewall" "default" {
  name = "fw-allow-health-check"
  allow {
    protocol = "tcp"
  }
  direction     = "INGRESS"
  network       = google_compute_network.default.id
  priority      = 1000
  source_ranges = ["130.211.0.0/22", "35.191.0.0/16"]
  target_tags   = ["load-balanced-backend"]
}

resource "google_compute_firewall" "allow_proxy" {
  name = "fw-allow-proxies"
  allow {
    ports    = ["443"]
    protocol = "tcp"
  }
  allow {
    ports    = ["80"]
    protocol = "tcp"
  }
  allow {
    ports    = ["8080"]
    protocol = "tcp"
  }
  direction     = "INGRESS"
  network       = google_compute_network.default.id
  priority      = 1000
  source_ranges = ["10.129.0.0/23"]
  target_tags   = ["load-balanced-backend"]
}

API

Create the fw-allow-health-check firewall rule by making a POST request to the firewalls.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/firewalls
{
  "name": "fw-allow-health-check",
  "network": "projects/PROJECT-ID/global/networks/lb-network",
  "sourceRanges": [
    "130.211.0.0/22",
    "35.191.0.0/16"
  ],
  "targetTags": [
    "load-balanced-backend"
  ],
  "allowed": [
    {
      "IPProtocol": "tcp"
    }
  ],
  "direction": "INGRESS"
}

Create the fw-allow-proxies firewall rule to allow TCP traffic within the proxy subnet for the firewalls.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/firewalls
{
  "name": "fw-allow-proxies",
  "network": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/lb-network",
  "sourceRanges": [
    "10.129.0.0/23"
  ],
  "targetTags": [
    "load-balanced-backend"
  ],
  "allowed": [
    {
      "IPProtocol": "tcp",
      "ports": [
        "80"
      ]
    },
    {
      "IPProtocol": "tcp",
      "ports": [
        "443"
      ]
    },
    {
      "IPProtocol": "tcp",
      "ports": [
        "8080"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "direction": "INGRESS"
}

Console

1. Create an instance template. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Instance templates page.

   Go to Instance templates

   1. Click Create instance template.
   2. For Name, enter l7-xlb-backend-template.
   3. Ensure that Boot disk is set to a Debian image, such as Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm). These instructions use commands that are only available on Debian, such as apt-get.
   4. Click Advanced options.
   5. Click Networking and configure the following fields:
      1. For Network tags, enter load-balanced-backend.
      2. For Network interfaces, select the following:
         • Network: lb-network
         • Subnet: backend-subnet

   6. Click Management. Enter the following script into the Startup script field.

      #! /bin/bash
      apt-get update
      apt-get install apache2 -y
      a2ensite default-ssl
      a2enmod ssl
      vm_hostname="$(curl -H "Metadata-Flavor:Google" \
      http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/name)"
      echo "Page served from: $vm_hostname" | \
      tee /var/www/html/index.html
      systemctl restart apache2
      

   7. Click Create.

2. Create a managed instance group. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Instance groups page.

   Go to Instance groups

   1. Click Create instance group.
   2. Select New managed instance group (stateless). For more information, see Stateless or stateful MIGs.
   3. For Name, enter l7-xlb-backend-example.
   4. For Location, select Single zone.
   5. For Region, select us-west1.
   6. For Zone, select us-west1-a.
   7. For Instance template, select l7-xlb-backend-template.

   8. For Autoscaling mode, select On: add and remove instances to the group.

      Set Minimum number of instances to 2, and set Maximum number of instances to 2 or more.

   9. Click Create.

gcloud

The gcloud instructions in this guide assume that you are using Cloud Shell or another environment with bash installed.

1. Create a VM instance template with HTTP server with the gcloud compute instance-templates create command.

   gcloud compute instance-templates create l7-xlb-backend-template \
   --region=us-west1 \
   --network=lb-network \
   --subnet=backend-subnet \
   --tags=load-balanced-backend \
   --image-family=debian-12 \
   --image-project=debian-cloud \
   --metadata=startup-script='#! /bin/bash
   apt-get update
   apt-get install apache2 -y
   a2ensite default-ssl
   a2enmod ssl
   vm_hostname="$(curl -H "Metadata-Flavor:Google" \
   http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/name)"
   echo "Page served from: $vm_hostname" | \
   tee /var/www/html/index.html
   systemctl restart apache2'
   

2. Create a managed instance group in the zone with the gcloud compute instance-groups managed create command.

   gcloud compute instance-groups managed create l7-xlb-backend-example \
       --zone=us-west1-a \
       --size=2 \
       --template=l7-xlb-backend-template
   

Terraform

To create the instance template, use the google_compute_instance_template resource.

resource "google_compute_instance_template" "default" {
  name = "l7-xlb-backend-template"
  disk {
    auto_delete  = true
    boot         = true
    device_name  = "persistent-disk-0"
    mode         = "READ_WRITE"
    source_image = "projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-12"
    type         = "PERSISTENT"
  }
  labels = {
    managed-by-cnrm = "true"
  }
  machine_type = "n1-standard-1"
  metadata = {
    startup-script = <<EOF
    #! /bin/bash
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install apache2 -y
    sudo a2ensite default-ssl
    sudo a2enmod ssl
    vm_hostname="$(curl -H "Metadata-Flavor:Google" \
    http://169.254.169.254/computeMetadata/v1/instance/name)"
    sudo echo "Page served from: $vm_hostname" | \
    tee /var/www/html/index.html
    sudo systemctl restart apache2
    EOF
  }
  network_interface {
    access_config {
      network_tier = "PREMIUM"
    }
    network    = google_compute_network.default.id
    subnetwork = google_compute_subnetwork.default.id
  }
  region = "us-west1"
  scheduling {
    automatic_restart   = true
    on_host_maintenance = "MIGRATE"
    provisioning_model  = "STANDARD"
  }
  service_account {
    email  = "default"
    scopes = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/pubsub", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/service.management.readonly", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/servicecontrol", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/trace.append"]
  }
  tags = ["load-balanced-backend"]
}

To create the managed instance group, use the google_compute_instance_group_manager resource.

resource "google_compute_instance_group_manager" "default" {
  name = "l7-xlb-backend-example"
  zone = "us-west1-a"
  named_port {
    name = "http"
    port = 80
  }
  version {
    instance_template = google_compute_instance_template.default.id
    name              = "primary"
  }
  base_instance_name = "vm"
  target_size        = 2
}

API

1. Create the instance template with the instanceTemplates.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates
   {
    "name":"l7-xlb-backend-template",
    "properties": {
      "machineType":"e2-standard-2",
      "tags": {
        "items":[
          "load-balanced-backend"
        ]
      },
      "metadata": {
        "kind":"compute#metadata",
        "items":[
          {
            "key":"startup-script",
            "value":"#! /bin/bash\napt-get update\napt-get install apache2 -y\na2ensite default-ssl\na2enmod ssl\nvm_hostname=\"$(curl -H \"Metadata-Flavor:Google\" \\\nhttp://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/name)\"\necho \"Page served from: $vm_hostname\" | \\\ntee /var/www/html/index.html\nsystemctl restart apache2"
          }
        ]
      },
      "networkInterfaces":[
        {
          "network":"projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/lb-network",
          "subnetwork":"regions/us-west1/subnetworks/backend-subnet",
          "accessConfigs":[
            {
              "type":"ONE_TO_ONE_NAT"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "disks": [
        {
          "index":0,
          "boot":true,
          "initializeParams": {
            "sourceImage":"projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-12"
          },
          "autoDelete":true
        }
      ]
    }
   }
   

2. Create a managed instance group in each zone with the instanceGroupManagers.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/{zone}/instanceGroupManagers
   {
    "name": "l7-xlb-backend-example",
    "zone": "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/us-west1-a",
    "instanceTemplate": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates/l7-xlb-backend-template",
    "baseInstanceName": "l7-xlb-backend-example",
    "targetSize": 2
   }
   

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Instance groups page.

   Go to Instance groups

2. Click the name of your instance group (in this example l7-xlb-backend-example).

3. On the instance group's Overview page, click Edit edit.

4. Click Specify port name mapping.

5. Click Add item.

6. For the port name, enter http. For the port number, enter 80.

7. Click Save.

gcloud

Use the gcloud compute instance-groups set-named-ports command.

gcloud compute instance-groups set-named-ports l7-xlb-backend-example \
    --named-ports http:80 \
    --zone us-west1-a

Terraform

The named_port attribute is included in the managed instance group sample.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Reserve a static address page.

   Go to Reserve a static address

2. Choose a Name for the new address.

3. For Network Service Tier, select Standard.

4. For IP version, select IPv4. IPv6 addresses can only be global and can only be used with global load balancers.

5. For Type, select Regional.

6. For Region, select us-west1.

7. Leave the Attached to option set to None. After you create the load balancer, this IP address will be attached to the load balancer's forwarding rule.

8. Click Reserve to reserve the IP address.

gcloud

1. To reserve a static external IP address using gcloud compute, use the compute addresses create command.

   gcloud compute addresses create ADDRESS_NAME  \
      --region=us-west1 \
      --network-tier=STANDARD
   

   Replace the following:

   • ADDRESS_NAME: the name you want to call this address.
   • REGION: the region where you want to reserve this address. This region should be the same region as the load balancer. All regional IP addresses are IPv4.

2. Use the compute addresses describe command to view the result:

   gcloud compute addresses describe ADDRESS_NAME
   

Terraform

To reserve the IP address, use the google_compute_address resource.

resource "google_compute_address" "default" {
  name         = "address-name"
  address_type = "EXTERNAL"
  network_tier = "STANDARD"
  region       = "us-west1"
}

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

API

To create a regional IPv4 address, call the regional addresses.insert method:

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/addresses

Your request body should contain the following:

{
  "name": "ADDRESS_NAME"
  "networkTier": "STANDARD"
  "region": "us-west1"
}

Replace the following:

• ADDRESS_NAME: the name for the address
• REGION: the name of the region for this request
• PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request

Console

Start your configuration

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to Load balancing

2. Click Create load balancer.
3. For Type of load balancer, select Application Load Balancer (HTTP/HTTPS) and click Next.
4. For Public facing or internal, select Public facing (external) and click Next.
5. For Global or single region deployment, select Best for regional workloads and click Next.
6. Click Configure.

Basic configuration

1. For the name of the load balancer, enter regional-l7-xlb.
2. For Region, select us-west1.
3. For Network, select lb-network.

Reserve a proxy-only subnet

For a regional external Application Load Balancer, reserve a proxy-only subnet:

1. Click Reserve subnet.
2. For Name, enter proxy-only-subnet.
3. For IP address range, enter 10.129.0.0/23.
4. Click Add.

Configure the frontend

For HTTP:

1. Click Frontend configuration.
2. Set Name to l7-xlb-forwarding-rule.
3. Set Protocol to HTTP.
4. Set Network service tier to Standard.
5. Set Port to 80.
6. Select the IP address that you created in Reserving the load balancer's IP address.
7. Click Done.

For HTTPS:

1. Click Frontend configuration.
2. In the Name field, enter l7-xlb-forwarding-rule.
3. In the Protocol field, select HTTPS (includes HTTP/2).
4. Set Network service tier to Standard.
5. Ensure that the Port is set to 443.
6. Select the IP address that you created in Reserving the load balancer's IP address.
7. In the Certificate list, do the following:
   1. If you already have a Compute Engine self-managed SSL certificate resource, select the primary SSL certificate.
   2. Click Create a new certificate.
      1. In the Name field, enter l7-xlb-cert.
      2. In the appropriate fields, upload your PEM-formatted files:
         • Certificate
         • Private key
      3. Click Create.
8. Optional: To add certificates in addition to the primary SSL certificate:
   1. Click Add certificate.
   2. If you already have a certificate, select it from the Certificates list.
   3. Optional: Click Create a new certificate and follow the instructions as specified in the previous step.

9. Select an SSL policy from the SSL policy list. Optionally, to create an SSL policy, do the following:

   1. In the SSL policy list, select Create a policy.
   2. Enter a name for the SSL policy.
   3. Select a minimum TLS version. The default value is TLS 1.0.
   4. Select one of the pre-configured Google-managed profiles or select a Custom profile that lets you select SSL features individually. The Enabled features and Disabled features are displayed.
   5. Click Save.

   If you have not created any SSL policies, a default Google Cloud SSL policy is applied.

10. Click Done.

Configure the backend service

1. Click Backend configuration.
2. From the Create or select backend services menu, select Create a backend service.
3. Set the name of the backend service to l7-xlb-backend-service.
4. For Protocol, select HTTP.
5. For Named Port, enter http.
6. Set Backend type to Instance group.
7. In the New backend section:
   1. Set Instance group to l7-xlb-backend-example.
   2. Set Port numbers to 80.
   3. Set Balancing mode to Utilization.
   4. Click Done.
8. In the Health check list, click Create a health check.
   1. Set Name to l7-xlb-basic-check.
   2. Set Protocol to HTTP.
   3. Set Port to 80.
   4. Click Save.
9. Click Create.

Configure the routing rules

1. Click Routing rules.
2. For Mode, select Simple host and path rule.
3. Ensure that the l7-xlb-backend-service is the only backend service for any unmatched host and any unmatched path.

Review the configuration

1. Click Review and finalize.
2. Review your load balancer configuration settings.
3. Optional: Click Equivalent code to view the REST API request that will be used to create the load balancer.
4. Click Create.

gcloud

1. Define the HTTP health check with the gcloud compute health-checks create http command.

   gcloud compute health-checks create http l7-xlb-basic-check \
      --region=us-west1 \
      --request-path='/' \
      --use-serving-port
   

2. Define the backend service with the gcloud compute backend-services create command.

   gcloud compute backend-services create l7-xlb-backend-service \
     --load-balancing-scheme=EXTERNAL_MANAGED \
     --protocol=HTTP \
     --port-name=http \
     --health-checks=l7-xlb-basic-check \
     --health-checks-region=us-west1 \
     --region=us-west1
   

3. Add backends to the backend service with the gcloud compute backend-services add-backend command.

   gcloud compute backend-services add-backend l7-xlb-backend-service \
     --balancing-mode=UTILIZATION \
     --instance-group=l7-xlb-backend-example \
     --instance-group-zone=us-west1-a \
     --region=us-west1
   

4. Create the URL map with the gcloud compute url-maps create command.

   gcloud compute url-maps create regional-l7-xlb-map \
     --default-service=l7-xlb-backend-service \
     --region=us-west1
   

5. Create the target proxy.

   For HTTP:

   For an HTTP load balancer, create the target proxy with the gcloud compute target-http-proxies create command.

   gcloud compute target-http-proxies create l7-xlb-proxy \
     --url-map=regional-l7-xlb-map \
     --url-map-region=us-west1 \
     --region=us-west1
   

   For HTTPS:

   You can create either Compute Engine or Certificate Manager certificates. Use any of the following methods to create certificates using Certificate Manager:

   • Regional self-managed certificates. For information about creating and using regional self-managed certificates, see deploy a regional self-managed certificate. Certificate maps are not supported.

   • Regional Google-managed certificates. Certificate maps are not supported.

     The following types of regional Google-managed certificates are supported by Certificate Manager:

     • Regional Google-managed certificates with per-project DNS authorization. For more information, see Deploy a regional Google-managed certificate.
     • Regional Google-managed (private) certificates with Certificate Authority Service. For more information, see Deploy a regional Google-managed certificate with CA Service.

   After you create certificates, attach the certificate directly to the target proxy.

   1. Assign your filepaths to variable names.

      export LB_CERT=path to PEM-formatted file
      

      export LB_PRIVATE_KEY=path to PEM-formatted file
      

   2. Create a regional SSL certificate using the gcloud compute ssl-certificates create command.

      gcloud compute ssl-certificates create l7-xlb-cert \
       --certificate=$LB_CERT \
       --private-key=$LB_PRIVATE_KEY \
       --region=us-west1
      

   3. Use the regional SSL certificate to create a target proxy with the gcloud compute target-https-proxies create command.

      gcloud compute target-https-proxies create l7-xlb-proxy \
       --url-map=regional-l7-xlb-map \
       --region=us-west1 \
       --ssl-certificates=l7-xlb-cert
      

6. Create the forwarding rule.

   For HTTP:

   Use the gcloud compute forwarding-rules create command with the correct flags.

   gcloud compute forwarding-rules create l7-xlb-forwarding-rule \
     --load-balancing-scheme=EXTERNAL_MANAGED \
     --network-tier=STANDARD \
     --network=lb-network \
     --address=ADDRESS_NAME \
     --ports=80 \
     --region=us-west1 \
     --target-http-proxy=l7-xlb-proxy \
     --target-http-proxy-region=us-west1
   

   For HTTPS:

   Create the forwarding rule with the gcloud compute forwarding-rules create command with the correct flags.

   gcloud compute forwarding-rules create l7-xlb-forwarding-rule \
     --load-balancing-scheme=EXTERNAL_MANAGED \
     --network-tier=STANDARD \
     --network=lb-network \
     --address=ADDRESS_NAME \
     --ports=443 \
     --region=us-west1 \
     --target-https-proxy=l7-xlb-proxy \
     --target-https-proxy-region=us-west1
   

Terraform

To create the health check, use the google_compute_region_health_check resource.

resource "google_compute_region_health_check" "default" {
  name               = "l7-xlb-basic-check"
  check_interval_sec = 5
  healthy_threshold  = 2
  http_health_check {
    port_specification = "USE_SERVING_PORT"
    proxy_header       = "NONE"
    request_path       = "/"
  }
  region              = "us-west1"
  timeout_sec         = 5
  unhealthy_threshold = 2
}

To create the backend service, use the google_compute_region_backend_service resource.

resource "google_compute_region_backend_service" "default" {
  name                  = "l7-xlb-backend-service"
  region                = "us-west1"
  load_balancing_scheme = "EXTERNAL_MANAGED"
  health_checks         = [google_compute_region_health_check.default.id]
  protocol              = "HTTP"
  session_affinity      = "NONE"
  timeout_sec           = 30
  backend {
    group           = google_compute_instance_group_manager.default.instance_group
    balancing_mode  = "UTILIZATION"
    capacity_scaler = 1.0
  }
}

To create the URL map, use the google_compute_region_url_mapresource.

resource "google_compute_region_url_map" "default" {
  name            = "regional-l7-xlb-map"
  region          = "us-west1"
  default_service = google_compute_region_backend_service.default.id
}

To create the target HTTP proxy, use the google_compute_region_target_http_proxy resource.

resource "google_compute_region_target_http_proxy" "default" {
  name    = "l7-xlb-proxy"
  region  = "us-west1"
  url_map = google_compute_region_url_map.default.id
}

To create the forwarding rule, use the google_compute_forwarding_rule resource.

resource "google_compute_forwarding_rule" "default" {
  name       = "l7-xlb-forwarding-rule"
  provider   = google-beta
  depends_on = [google_compute_subnetwork.proxy_only]
  region     = "us-west1"

  ip_protocol           = "TCP"
  load_balancing_scheme = "EXTERNAL_MANAGED"
  port_range            = "80"
  target                = google_compute_region_target_http_proxy.default.id
  network               = google_compute_network.default.id
  ip_address            = google_compute_address.default.id
  network_tier          = "STANDARD"
}

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

API

Create the health check by making a POST request to the regionHealthChecks.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/{region}/healthChecks
{
  "name": "l7-xlb-basic-check",
  "type": "HTTP",
  "httpHealthCheck": {
    "portSpecification": "USE_SERVING_PORT"
  }
}

Create the regional backend service by making a POST request to the regionBackendServices.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/us-west1/backendServices
{
  "name": "l7-xlb-backend-service",
  "backends": [
    {
      "group": "projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/zones/us-west1-a/instanceGroups/l7-xlb-backend-example",
      "balancingMode": "UTILIZATION"
    }
  ],
  "healthChecks": [
    "projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/us-west1/healthChecks/l7-xlb-basic-check"
  ],
  "loadBalancingScheme": "EXTERNAL_MANAGED"
}

Create the URL map by making a POST request to the regionUrlMaps.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/us-west1/urlMaps
{
  "name": "regional-l7-xlb-map",
  "defaultService": "projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/us-west1/backendServices/l7-xlb-backend-service"
}

Create the target HTTP proxy by making a POST request to the regionTargetHttpProxies.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1/targetHttpProxy
{
  "name": "l7-xlb-proxy",
  "urlMap": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/urlMaps/regional-l7-xlb-map",
  "region": "us-west1"
}

Create the forwarding rule by making a POST request to the forwardingRules.insert method, replacing PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1/forwardingRules
{
  "name": "l7-xlb-forwarding-rule",
  "IPAddress": "10.1.2.99",
  "IPProtocol": "TCP",
  "portRange": "80-80",
  "target": "projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/us-west1/targetHttpProxies/l7-xlb-proxy",
  "loadBalancingScheme": "EXTERNAL_MANAGED",
  "network": "projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/lb-network",
  "networkTier": "STANDARD",
}

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to Load balancing

2. Select the load balancer that you just created.
3. In the Backend section, confirm that the VMs are healthy. The Healthy column should be populated, indicating that both VMs are healthy (2/2). If you see otherwise, first try reloading the page. It can take a few moments for the Google Cloud console to indicate that the VMs are healthy. If the backends do not appear healthy after a few minutes, review the firewall configuration and the network tag assigned to your backend VMs.
4. After the Google Cloud console shows that the backend instances are healthy, you can test your load balancer using a web browser by going to https://IP_ADDRESS (or http://IP_ADDRESS). Replace IP_ADDRESS with the load balancer's IP address.
5. If you used a self-signed certificate for testing HTTPS, your browser displays a warning. You must explicitly instruct your browser to accept a self-signed certificate.
6. Your browser should render a page with content showing the name of the instance that served the page, along with its zone (for example, Page served from: lb-backend-example-xxxx). If your browser doesn't render this page, review the configuration settings in this guide.

gcloud

Note the IPv4 address that was reserved:

gcloud beta compute addresses describe ADDRESS_NAME \
    --format="get(address)" \
    --region="us-west1"

You can test your load balancer using a web browser by going to https://IP_ADDRESS (or http://IP_ADDRESS). Replace IP_ADDRESS with the load balancer's IP address.

If you used a self-signed certificate for testing HTTPS, your browser displays a warning. You must explicitly instruct your browser to accept a self-signed certificate.

Your browser should render a page with minimal information about the backend instance. If your browser doesn't render this page, review the configuration settings in this guide.

Console

To enable or change session affinity for a backend service:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Load balancing page.

   Go to Load balancing

2. Select the load balancer that you just created.

3. Click Backends.

4. Click l7-xlb-backend-service (the name of the backend service you created for this example) and click Edit.

5. On the Backend service details page, click Advanced configuration.

6. For Session affinity, select the type of session affinity you want from the menu.

7. Click Update.

gcloud

Use the following commands to update the l7-xlb-backend-service backend service to different types of session affinity:

gcloud compute backend-services update l7-xlb-backend-service \
    --session-affinity=GENERATED_COOKIE | HEADER_FIELD | HTTP_COOKIE | CLIENT_IP
    --region=us-west1

API

To set session affinity, make a PATCH request to the regionBackendServices/patch method.

PATCH https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/<var>PROJECT_ID</var>/regions/us-west1/regionBackendServices/l7-xlb-backend-service
{
  "sessionAffinity": <var>"GENERATED_COOKIE" | "HEADER_FIELD" | "HTTP_COOKIE" | "CLIENT_IP"</var>
}