Create a Load Balancer

Provision a new NxtSight Load Balancer with a listener, pool, members, and health monitor in a single guided workflow.

Overview

Creating a load balancer in NxtSight involves provisioning the top-level resource with a virtual IP, then adding a listener (protocol and port), a pool (backend collection), pool members (backend instances), and a health monitor. The Dashboard creation wizard guides you through all five steps in sequence. The CLI allows each component to be created independently.

Prerequisites

• An active NxtSight account with appropriate permissions
• Access to the NxtSight Dashboard or CLI configured with credentials
• API credentials sourced (source openrc.sh)

Load balancers must be placed on a subnet that has routing access to your backend instances. Verify that security group rules allow ingress on the member port from the load balancer’s VIP subnet before adding members.

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Create via Dashboard (Wizard)

1. Open the creation wizard

   Navigate to Network > Load Balancers. Click Create Load Balancer.

2. Configure load balancer details

   Complete the Load Balancer Details panel:

   Field	Description
   Name	Display name (e.g., prod-web-lb)
   Description	Optional description
   IP Address	Leave blank to auto-assign a VIP, or specify a fixed IP
   Subnet	The subnet hosting the VIP — must be reachable from backend instances
   Availability Zone	Fault domain for appliance placement

   Use a dedicated management subnet for the VIP to isolate load balancer traffic from application data paths.

3. Add a listener

   Complete the Listener Details panel:

   Field	Value	Description
   Name	listener-http	Display name
   Protocol	HTTP	Layer 7 protocol
   Protocol Port	80	Port accepting connections
   Connection Limit	-1	Unlimited; set positive integer to cap

4. Configure the pool

   Complete the Pool Details panel:

   Field	Value	Description
   Name	pool-http	Pool display name
   Algorithm	ROUND_ROBIN	Traffic distribution method
   Session Persistence	None	Enable for stateful application sessions

   Algorithm options:

   • ROUND_ROBIN — distributes requests evenly across all UP members
   • LEAST_CONNECTIONS — sends to the member with fewest active connections
   • SOURCE_IP — routes the same client IP to the same member
5. Add pool members

   In the Pool Members panel, click Add next to each instance to register it.

   Field	Description
   IP Address	Auto-populated from the selected instance
   Protocol Port	Port your application listens on (e.g., 8080)
   Weight	Relative weight — higher weight receives proportionally more requests

   Members must be reachable from the load balancer’s VIP subnet. Verify security groups allow ingress on the member port from the VIP address.

6. Configure health monitor

   Complete the Monitor Details panel:

   Field	Value	Description
   Type	HTTP	Sends a GET request and validates the response code
   Delay	5	Seconds between probes
   Timeout	3	Seconds to wait for a probe response
   Max Retries	3	Failures before marking a member DOWN
   URL Path	/health	Endpoint returning HTTP 200 when healthy
   Expected Codes	200	Comma-separated acceptable HTTP status codes

7. Review and create

   Review the summary and click Create Load Balancer.

   The load balancer enters PENDING_CREATE status. Provisioning typically completes within 30–60 seconds.

   The load balancer displays status ACTIVE in the Load Balancers list.

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Create via CLI

1. Authenticate and create the load balancer

   Source credentials

   source openrc.sh
   

   Create load balancer

   openstack loadbalancer create \
     --name prod-web-lb \
     --vip-subnet-id <subnet-id>
   

   Wait for ACTIVE status:

   Wait for ACTIVE status

   openstack loadbalancer show prod-web-lb \
     -c provisioning_status -c operating_status
   
2. Create a listener

   Create HTTP listener

   openstack loadbalancer listener create \
     --name listener-http \
     --protocol HTTP \
     --protocol-port 80 \
     prod-web-lb
   
3. Create a pool

   Create pool with round-robin algorithm

   openstack loadbalancer pool create \
     --name pool-http \
     --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN \
     --listener listener-http \
     --protocol HTTP
   
4. Add members

   Add backend member

   openstack loadbalancer member create \
     --subnet-id <instance-subnet-id> \
     --address <instance-ip> \
     --protocol-port 8080 \
     pool-http
   

   Repeat for each backend instance.

5. Create a health monitor

   Create HTTP health monitor

   openstack loadbalancer healthmonitor create \
     --name hm-http \
     --delay 5 \
     --timeout 3 \
     --max-retries 3 \
     --type HTTP \
     --url-path /health \
     --expected-codes 200 \
     pool-http
   

   Load balancer is ACTIVE. Health monitor is probing members.

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Next Steps

Floating IP Assignment

Expose the load balancer VIP on a public network for external access.

Listeners

Add HTTPS, TCP, or additional HTTP listeners to the load balancer.

Health Monitors

Tune health check parameters for your application’s response characteristics.

Troubleshooting

Resolve PENDING_CREATE status and member health issues.