N11L4 vs L7: balancers, proxies, gateways

The problem

1 s on screen = 100 ms

Should a load balancer read your requests, or just pass connections along?

One server per connection

Twelve users browse, a few far more than the rest, and some check out. A balancer picks a web server once per user's connection.

Live metrics for each version of the scene
Metric	Layer 4	Layer 7	Change
	0%	0%	—
target ≤ 400 ms	—	—	—
target ≤ 400 ms	—	—	—
	0%	0%	—

N11L4 vs L7: balancers, proxies, gateways

A balancer can forward connections blindly, or read each request and route by what it asks for, at a cost.