Configure use when configuring load balancers including ALB, NLB, Nginx, and HAProxy. Trigger with phrases like "configure load balancer", "create ALB", "setup nginx load balancing", or "haproxy configuration". Generates production-ready configurations with health checks, SSL termination, sticky sessions, and traffic distribution rules.
Configure load balancers across AWS (ALB, NLB), GCP (HTTP(S) LB, TCP/UDP LB), Nginx, and HAProxy. Generate production-ready configurations with health checks, SSL/TLS termination, path-based and host-based routing, sticky sessions, rate limiting, and traffic distribution rules for high-availability deployments.
Prerequisites
Backend servers identified with IPs, DNS names, and ports
Load balancer type determined: L4 (NLB, HAProxy TCP) or L7 (ALB, Nginx, HAProxy HTTP)
SSL/TLS certificates available (ACM, Let's Encrypt, or self-signed) if using HTTPS
Health check endpoints defined on backend services (e.g., /health returning 200)
Cloud provider CLI installed for managed load balancers (aws, gcloud)
Instructions
Select load balancer type based on requirements: ALB for HTTP/HTTPS with path routing, NLB for TCP/UDP with static IPs, Nginx for on-prem reverse proxy, HAProxy for high-performance TCP/HTTP
Define the backend pool: list all backend server addresses, ports, and weights for weighted distribution
Configure health checks with appropriate interval (10-30s), timeout (5s), healthy threshold (3), and unhealthy threshold (2)
Set up SSL/TLS termination: configure certificates, redirect HTTP to HTTPS, set minimum TLS version to 1.2
Define routing rules: path-based routing (/api -> API pool, -> CDN), host-based routing ( -> API)
/static
api.example.com
Enable session persistence (sticky sessions) using cookies or source IP affinity where needed for stateful applications
Add connection draining to gracefully handle backend removal during deployments
Configure logging and monitoring: access logs to S3/CloudWatch, request metrics, error rate dashboards
Test the configuration: validate syntax (nginx -t, HAProxy config check), verify traffic distribution, and confirm failover behavior
Output
Nginx configuration files (nginx.conf, site configs) with upstream blocks and server directives
HAProxy configuration (haproxy.cfg) with frontend/backend sections
Terraform HCL for AWS ALB/NLB with target groups, listeners, and rules
GCP load balancer Terraform with backend services, URL maps, and health checks
SSL certificate configuration and renewal automation
Error Handling
Error
Cause
Solution
502 Bad Gateway
Backend server unreachable or not responding
Verify backend IPs, ports, and firewall rules; check backend service health
SSL certificate verify failed
Certificate expired, wrong chain, or key mismatch
Verify certificate validity and chain with openssl s_client; regenerate if needed
Target is unhealthy
Health check endpoint returning non-200 or timing out
Verify health check path returns 200; increase timeout if backend is slow to respond
nginx: configuration file test failed
Syntax error in Nginx configuration
Run nginx -t to identify the specific error line; fix syntax and test again
Session persistence not working
Cookie-based stickiness misconfigured or client not sending cookies
Verify cookie name matches; use IP-based affinity as fallback for non-browser clients
Examples
"Configure an AWS ALB with HTTPS listener, path-based routing to two target groups (/api and /web), and health checks on /health."
"Generate an Nginx reverse proxy config with upstream servers, sticky sessions via cookie, and rate limiting at 100 req/s per IP."
"Create a HAProxy configuration for TCP load balancing across 4 database read replicas with health checks and connection draining."
