---
title: Load Balancers - Quickstart
description: Get started with Scaleway Load Balancer in minutes. Follow this quickstart guide to set up, configure, and optimize traffic distribution for your applications.
tags: load-balancer load balancer frontend backend
dates:
  validation: 2025-10-30
  posted: 2021-05-26
---
import Requirements from '@macros/iam/requirements.mdx'
import LbCreateBackend1Basic from '@macros/network/lb-create-backend-1-basic.mdx'
import LbCreateBackend2TrafficMgnt from '@macros/network/lb-create-backend-2-traffic-mgnt.mdx'
import LbCreateBackend3AdvancedSettings from '@macros/network/lb-create-backend-3-advanced-settings.mdx'
import LbCreateBackend4Healthcheck from '@macros/network/lb-create-backend-4-healthcheck.mdx'

[Load Balancers](https://www.scaleway.com/en/load-balancer/) are highly available and fully-managed Instances which allow you to distribute your workload across your various servers. They ensure the scaling of all your applications while securing their continuous availability, even in the event of heavy traffic. Load Balancers are commonly used to improve the performance and reliability of websites, applications, databases and other services.

<Requirements />

- A Scaleway account logged into the [console](https://console.scaleway.com)
- [Owner](/iam/concepts/#owner) status or [IAM permissions](/iam/concepts/#permission) allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization

## How to create a Load Balancer

1. Click **Load Balancers** in the **Network** section of the [Scaleway console](https://console.scaleway.com) side menu. If you have not already created a Load Balancer, the product creation page is displayed. Otherwise, your list of existing Load Balancers displays.

2. Click **+ Create Load Balancer**. The creation wizard displays.

3. Choose the **Availability Zone** in which your Load Balancer will be deployed geographically.

4. Select a Load Balancer **type**, according to your needs in terms of **bandwidth** and whether you want to be able to attach backend servers from other cloud providers than Scaleway (**Multi-cloud provider**).

5. Set up public connectivity to access your Load Balancer from the internet.
    - A public [IPv4](/load-balancer/concepts/#ipv4) address is obligatory. You can either allocate a new IPv4 address, or select one of your [existing flexible IPv4 addresses](/load-balancer/how-to/create-manage-flex-ips/).
    - You can optionally add a public [IPv6](/load-balancer/concepts/#ipv6) address in addition to the IPv4 address. You can either allocate a new IPv6 address, or select one of your [existing flexible IPv6 addresses](/load-balancer/how-to/create-manage-flex-ips/).

    <Message type="note">
      If you require public connectivity, you must enable it during Load Balancer creation as it cannot be added afterward. You can set up private connectivity by [attaching a Private Network](/load-balancer/how-to/use-with-private-network/) to your Load Balancer after its creation.
    </Message>

6. Enter a **name** for your Load Balancer. Optionally, you can also add a **description** and assign **tags** to help organize your Load Balancers.

7. Click **Create Load Balancer** to finish. A confirmation pop-up displays.

8. Click **Configure now** to set up a frontend, a backend, traffic management, and health checks for your Load Balancer, or [do it at a later time](/load-balancer/how-to/create-frontends-backends/).

## How to configure your frontend

1. Enter a **name** for your frontend.

2. Enter a **port** number. The frontend will listen on this port, and forward the requests it receives from clients to the backend(s). Note that you cannot add an SSL certificate at this stage, but you can [add one after the creation of the Load Balancer](/load-balancer/how-to/add-certificate/). Similarly, you will be able to [enable HTTP/3](/load-balancer/reference-content/http2-http3/#configuring-your-load-balancer-for-http3) after adding a certificate.

    <Message type="tip">
      For more help with configuring your frontend, see our [dedicated reference documentation](/load-balancer/reference-content/configuring-frontends/).
    </Message>

Continue to the next section for [creating a backend](#how-to-configure-your-backend). You will finalize creation of your frontend and backend at the same time, at the end of this section.

## How to configure your backend

### Configuring basic settings

<LbCreateBackend1Basic />

Continue to the next section for configuring traffic management.

### Configuring traffic management

<LbCreateBackend2TrafficMgnt />

Continue to the next section for configuring advanced settings.

### Configuring advanced settings

<LbCreateBackend3AdvancedSettings />

Continue to the next section for configuring health checks.

### Configuring health checks

<LbCreateBackend4Healthcheck />

### Confirming creation of your frontend and backend

When you have finished configuring your frontend and backend, click **Create frontend and backend** at the bottom of the page to finish.

## How to finish configuring your Load Balancer

Depending on your use case, you may need to carry out further configuration on your Load Balancer. Refer to the following documentation:

- [Add an SSL/TLS certificate](/load-balancer/how-to/add-certificate/), necessary for [SSL offloading or bridging](/load-balancer/reference-content/ssl-bridging-offloading-passthrough/)
- [Attach a Load Balancer to a Private Network](/load-balancer/how-to/use-with-private-network/)
- Set up Load Balancer [ACLs](/load-balancer/how-to/create-manage-acls/) or [routes](/load-balancer/how-to/create-manage-routes/)
- [Create an Edge Services pipeline](/load-balancer/how-to/use-edge-services/) for your Load Balancer

## How to delete a Load Balancer

1. Click **Load Balancers** in the **Network** section of the [Scaleway console](https://console.scaleway.com) side menu. A listing of your Load Balancers displays.
2. Use the **region selector** at the top of the page to filter for the region of the Load Balancer you want to delete, then click the Load Balancer in the listing. The Load Balancer's **Overview** page displays.
3. Scroll down and click **Delete Load Balancer**.
    <Message type="important">
      This will permanently delete your Load Balance, and all of its configuration data will be lost. This action is irreversible.
    </Message>
4. Type **DELETE** in the pop-up box.
5. Tick the checkbox if you want to delete the associated [flexible IP address](/load-balancer/how-to/create-manage-flex-ips/).
6. Click **Delete Load Balancer**.