# Overprovisioned Load Balancer

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/overprovisioned-load-balancer

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Overprovisioned Load Balancer

## 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

## Relevant Documentation

[Load Balancing Pricing and Shapes](https://www.oracle.com/cloud/networking/load-balancing/pricing/) 
[Managing Load Balancers](https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/Balance/Tasks/managingloadbalancer.htm)

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/overprovisioned-load-balancer)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0042

Cloud provider

OCI

Service

OCI Load Balancer

Category

[Networking](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/networking)

Inefficiency type

Overprovisioned Networking Resource

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Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.