Target Groups

Target Groups route traffic from a Load Balancer to specific backend resources, such as EC2 instances, IP addresses, or other Load Balancers (ALBs). They’re helpful when you need precise control over traffic distribution, health check monitoring, or when consolidating traffic across multiple services behind a shared ALB.

Prerequisites

A Target Group routes traffic to one or more backend resources, which are the actual systems that process incoming requests. Before creating a Target Group, ensure the appropriate backend resource is already created.

Supported backend resource types include:

• EC2 Instances: Instances managed within DuploCloud.

• IP Addresses: Static IPs for known resources, such as external systems.

• Internal ALBs (Application Load Balancers): ALBs created within DuploCloud. These must already exist and be configured appropriately. Supported internal ALBs include:

  • ALBs created under Networking → Load Balancer.

  • ALBs provisioned through Kubernetes → Ingress Load Balancer.

  • ALBs created via Kubernetes → Services or Docker → Services.

Step 1. Creating a Target Group

A Target Group defines how traffic is routed to backend resources. This is a required step before connecting a frontend ALB to internal services such as Kubernetes or Docker workloads.

Follow these steps to create a Target Group:

1. From the DuploCloud Portal, navigate to Cloud Services → Networking → Load Balancers.

2. Select the Target Groups tab.

3. Click Add. The Create Target Group pane displays.

   
4. Complete the following fields:

1. Click Add to create the Target Group.

Step 2. Registering Targets

Register backend resources to your Target Group. Registered targets will receive traffic routed by the Load Balancer. You can register EC2 Instances, IP addresses, or ALB Load Balancers.

1. From the DuploCloud Portal, navigate to Cloud Services → Networking → Load Balancers.

2. Select the Target Groups tab.

3. Click the menu icon () in the row of the Target Group.

4. Select Register Targets. The Register Targets pane displays.

   
5. In the Register Targets pane, specify the Targets you want to register:

   • Instance: Select an EC2 Instance from the Targets list box.

   • IP Address: Enter the IP Address in the Add IP address field.

   • ALB: Select an Application Load Balancer (ALB) from the Targets list box.

6. Click Register. The target(s) are registered to the Target Group.

Step 3. Creating a Load Balancer

To route traffic to your Target Group, create an Application Load Balancer (ALB) and associate it with the appropriate Target Group.

1. From the DuploCloud Portal, navigate to Cloud Services → Networking → Load Balancers.

2. Select the Load Balancers tab.

3. Click Add. The Create a Load Balancer pane displays.

4. Complete the required fields as shown below:

1. Click Create to create the Load Balancer.

2. Once the Load Balancer is created, add a listener:

   • On the Load Balancers page, select your newly created Load Balancer, and click on the Listeners tab.

   • Click Add. The Add Load Balancer Listener page displays.

   • Complete the fields in the Add Load Balancer Listener page as shown below:

1. Click Save to create the listener. The Load Balancer will route traffic to the selected Target Group based on the configured listener rules and health checks.

Managing Target Groups

You can update your Target Group configurations directly from Target Group menu:

1. From the DuploCloud Portal, navigate to Cloud Services → Networking → Load Balancers.

2. Select the Target Groups tab.

3. Click the menu icon () next to the Target Group you want to edit.

4. Select from the following options:

1. Click Update. The changes are applied.