How to Use the Vultr Load Balancer Firewall

Updated on May 11, 2021
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Introduction

The Vultr Load Balancer is a fully-managed solution to distribute traffic across multiple back-end servers. In this guide, you'll learn how to distribute web traffic to multiple webservers via their private network interface.

If you are new to Vultr Load Balancers, we recommend reading the Load Balancer Quickstart Guide first.

Vultr's advanced load balancer supports private networks and has its own integrated firewall, which means you can set up configurations like this:

Network Diagram

  • The Load Balancer Firewall only accepts traffic that originates from a Cloudflare IP.
  • The Load Balancer distributes HTTP traffic to the private network.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating the configuration shown above.

1. Deploy Web Servers

Deploy three web servers in the same location.

2. Deploy a Load Balancer

  1. Navigate to the Load Balancers section of the Vultr Customer Portal.

  2. Click the blue plus icon to deploy a load balancer.

  3. Choose the same location as your web servers.

  4. In Load Balancer Configuration, enter a label and leave the other options at default.

    Screenshot of Load Balancer Configuration section

  5. Leave the default Forwarding Rule for HTTP at port 80.

  6. Choose Public in the Private Network section.

  7. In the Firewall Rules section, enter Port 80, and set the Source to cloudflare.

    Firewall Rules

  8. Choose HTTP and Port 80 for Health Checks.

    Health Checks

  9. Click Add Load Balancer.

Wait for the Load Balancer to deploy.

Click your Load Balancer to edit its configuration.

  1. Click Add Instance.

  2. Choose an instance from the drop-down.

  3. Click Attach Instance.

    Add Instance

  4. Repeat steps 1 – 3 for each web server instance.

5. Final Steps

The Vultr configuration is complete, but you'll still need to configure DNS and add the Load Balancer's IP address at Cloudflare. See the Cloudflare getting started guide to complete those steps.

After completing the Cloudflare setup, your webservers are secure and load-balanced. The Cloudflare CDN accelerates the delivery of your static assets, and the Vultr Load Balancer provides high availability.

Advanced Configuration

The Vultr Load Balancer is very flexible, and more advanced configurations are possible, such as combining the Vultr Firewall with the Load Balancer Firewall, like this.

Network diagram

Vultr Load Balancers also work with Private Networks, and you can combine multiple firewalls to create this configuration.

Network Diagram

If you'd like to learn more, see our article How to Configure a Vultr Load Balancer with Private Networking.

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