What happens when load balancer is destroyed?

July 12, 2013 2.3k views
info186391
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info186391
How do you handle the situation where you want to switch your load balancer node? Once the old one is destroyed you lose the IP address, DNS propagation of the new IP address can take several hours (or days even), so there will be an interruption in service for some users. Am I missing something?
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4 Answers
pablo July 12, 2013
You can (and probably should, for the reasons you cited) create the replacement droplet first; and get it up and running b/f destroying any of your current load-balancer nodes.
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info186391 July 12, 2013
Yes, but it will have a different IP address, so when you switch over you're relying on DNS propagation. Having 2 load balancers running at the same time for 2 days before and after the DNS change is made would work I suppose, seems a bit haphazard though.

It would be much better if DO could provide some kind of dynamic external to internal IP mapping system, then a switchover could be almost instant.
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pablo July 12, 2013
What kind of load-balancing setup do you have?

Couldn't you deploy the new node; but b/f destroying the other node, you remove the DNS record for the node that you're retiring. Wait 72 hours, and then destroy the node?
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info186391 July 13, 2013
I don't have a setup yet, I'm just thinking about how it would work before I start. Thanks for your help.
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