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What is SSL offloading, and why is it used in load balancers?
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SSL offloading is the process of decrypting SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) encryption on a dedicated device, such as a load balancer, instead of the web server itself. This reduces the computational burden on the web server, improving performance and scalability.
Why is SSL Offloading Used in Load Balancers?
SSL offloading is commonly implemented in load balancers for the following reasons:
✅ Improved Server Performance – Decrypting SSL/TLS traffic consumes CPU resources. Offloading it to a load balancer allows web servers to focus on processing application requests instead.
✅ Better Scalability – With SSL termination at the load balancer, multiple backend servers can handle traffic efficiently without the need for individual SSL processing.
✅ Centralized SSL Management – Instead of managing SSL certificates on multiple servers, the load balancer handles encryption and decryption, simplifying administration.
✅ Faster Load Times – Since backend servers don’t need to process SSL encryption, page load times improve, enhancing the user experience.
✅ Enhanced Security – Many load balancers integrate with WAFs (Web Application Firewalls) and DDoS protection, inspecting encrypted traffic before reaching the backend servers.
Types of SSL Offloading in Load Balancers- SSL Termination – The load balancer decrypts SSL traffic and forwards unencrypted data to backend servers.
- SSL Bridging – SSL is decrypted at the load balancer for inspection and then re-encrypted before reaching backend servers.
- SSL Passthrough – The load balancer routes encrypted traffic to backend servers without decryption (no offloading).
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