

Per the well-known OSI model, load balancers generally run at Layer 4 (transport) or Layer 7 (application).
A Layer 4 load balancer works at the network protocol level and does not look inside of the actual network packets, remaining unaware of the specifics of HTTP and HTTPS. In other words, it balances the load without necessarily knowing a whole lot about it.
A Layer 7 load balancer is more sophisticated and more powerful. It inspects packets, has access to HTTP and HTTPS headers, and (armed with more information) can do a more intelligent job of spreading the load out to the target.
Application Load Balancing for AWS
As AWS announced a new Application Load Balancer option for ELB. This option runs at Layer 7 and supports a number of advanced features. The original option (now called a Classic Load Balancer) is still available to you and continues to offer Layer 4 and Layer 7 functionality.
Today, we are happy to introduce support for Application Load Balancer in our Console and API
Here is an example of how to configure it via the Spotinst API:
{ "group": { "compute": { "launchSpecification": { "loadBalancersConfig": { "loadBalancers": [ { "name": "MyTargetGroup", "arn": "arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:us-west-2:92276111349:targetgroup/MyTargetGroup/1fe63217f8ffcc05", "type": "TARGET_GROUP" }, { "name": "MyClassicLB", "type": "CLASSIC" } ] } } } } }
Here is a short video that shows the Console support
Please make sure that Spotinst’s role is up-to-date with our latest policy.