Question
Same load balancer multiple Kubernetes Clusters
- Posted on September 23, 2023
- DigitalOcean Managed KubernetesDigitalOcean Managed Load BalancersKubernetesLoad BalancingNginx
Asked by lucas
I have Kubernetes Cluster that contains a Nginx ingress controller. This controller is tied a Digital Ocean load balancer and it is being working great since a while. Now I’m want to deploy a new Kubernetes Cluster but reuse the Digital Ocean Load Balancer. Is there a way to achieve it? thanks
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Hi there,
I believe that it would be best to use separate load balancers, mainly because the DigitalOcean managed Load Balancers operate at Layer 4, meaning they balance based on IP protocol data, this makes it challenging since we can’t rely on HTTP path or host headers for routing decisions directly on the load balancer level.
For most use cases involving multiple Kubernetes clusters on DigitalOcean (including other managed Kubernetes platforms), it’s best to allocate a separate load balancer for each cluster.
Here are a few reasons why using multiple load balancers would be more convenient:
Isolation: Separate load balancers ensure that potential issues or outages in one cluster/load balancer don’t affect the other clusters. This is especially important for maintaining high availability and resilience in your infrastructure.
Scalability: As your traffic grows, each cluster can be scaled independently based on the needs of its respective traffic.
Maintenance: With separate load balancers, maintenance tasks, updates, or any other operational tasks can be performed on one cluster without affecting the availability or performance of the other.
Health Monitoring: Each load balancer can have its health checks tailored to the specific needs and services of its cluster. This ensures more accurate health monitoring and better traffic distribution.
Cost vs. Complexity: While there’s an argument to be made about saving costs by using a single load balancer, the added complexity, potential performance issues, and maintenance overhead could lead to increased operational costs in the long run. Often, the benefits of isolation, simplicity, and performance outweigh the cost savings of a single load balancer.
Hope that this helps!