Follow-up · depth 4
What are common failure modes of L4 vs L7 Load Balancing?
What are common failure modes of L4 vs L7 Load Balancing?
Answers use simple, clear English.
Quick interview answer
Common failures around L4 vs L7 Load Balancing: blocking the hot path, ignoring backpressure, and weak timeout/retry design. L7 LB without health checks; single LB bottleneck.
Detailed answer
Failure modes for L4 vs L7 Load Balancing: Known pitfalls: L7 LB without health checks; single LB bottleneck. • Missing timeouts / unbounded retries • No backpressure when downstream slows • Assuming ordering/guarantees the runtime does not provide How seniors prevent them: Health check app endpoint not TCP only; cross-zone LB. Parent context: Use L4 vs L7 Load Balancing as the core idea. Example shape: ALB routes /api → API target group, /static → S3; NLB for gRPC TCP passthrough..
Full explanation
Name concrete failure modes and the mitigation for each — that scores higher than a vague “it can fail.” L4 (TCP) routes by IP/port fast. L7 (HTTP) routes by path/header/cookie — enables sticky sessions, TLS, WAF integration.
Follow-up questions
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Parent context — L4 vs L7 Load Balancing
Use L4 vs L7 Load Balancing as the core idea. Example shape: ALB routes /api → API target group, /static → S3; NLB for gRPC TCP passthrough..
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