Explanation
Load balancers incur charges based on provisioned bandwidth shape, even if backend traffic is minimal. If traffic is low, or if only one backend server is configured, the load balancer may be oversized or unnecessary, especially in test or staging environments.
Relevant Billing Model
Charged based on bandwidth and minimum bandwidth shape (Mbps), not just request volume.
Detection
- Review traffic metrics to assess actual vs. provisioned throughput
- Identify load balancers with only one or inactive backend servers
- Check for load balancers in non-production environments with little to no usage
- Evaluate whether an Application Gateway or direct instance access is more appropriate
Remediation
- Downgrade to a smaller bandwidth shape if supported
- Decommission underutilized load balancers
- Consolidate redundant load balancers across applications or environments