This release introduces Premium NodeBalancers for enterprise-grade workloads and removes the private IPv4 requirement by adding support for VPC and IPv6 backend connectivity.

For more information, see:

Premium NodeBalancers

NodeBalancers are now offered in both premium (new) and basic versions. The following table compares these options. Use this information to help determine which version best meets your application’s requirements for performance, scalability, and protocol support.

Feature / Specification	Premium (`premium`)	Basic (`common`)
Maximum backend nodes per configuration	Up to 2,000	Up to 1,000
Backend node connectivity	Support either VPC or public IPv6 backends.	Support legacy (private IPv4), VPC or public IPv6 backends.
Maximum concurrent connections (TCP/HTTP/HTTPS)	Up to 100,000	Up to 10,000
Maximum concurrent connections (UDP)	Up to 80,000	Not supported
UDP (layer 4) load balancing	Supported (configured using APIs)	Not supported
TCP (layer 4) load balancing	Supported	Supported
HTTP/HTTPS (layer 7) load balancing	Supported (HTTP/1.1 only)	Supported (HTTP/1.1 only)
Maximum inbound network bandwidth	10 Gbps	10 Gbps
Assigned for LKE-E clusters	Automatically assigned	Not automatically assigned
Infrastructure and performance	Dedicated for consistent, predictable capacity	Shared, may experience resource contention
Reserved IPs	Supported (Except when provisioned by IAM restricted users for LKE-Enterprise).	Supported

Flexible backend connectivity

NodeBalancers no longer require a private IP in the 192.168.255.0/24 range to communicate with backend nodes. Instead, the connectivity between the NodeBalancer and its backend nodes now depends on its backend_connectivity setting. Depending on this setting, IP addresses outside the private range can be used.

The NodeBalancer's backend_connectivity setting applies to all its backend nodes and can't be changed after the NodeBalancer is created. You can choose from legacy, ipv6, or vpc for this setting.

NodeBalancer connectivity to backend nodes

Value	When to use	Example IP used for connectivity
`legacy`	For basic NodeBalancers communicating with non-VPC backend nodes over private IPv4. The NodeBalancer's frontend IPv4 communicates with the backend node's private IPv4 address. Note: Limited quantities of private IPv4s are available.	192.168.255.10 Other types of node addresses (IPv6, VPC IPs) are not allowed.
`ipv6`	For basic or premium NodeBalancers communicating with non-VPC backend nodes using a public IPv6. The NodeBalancer's frontend IPv6 communicates with the backend node's IPv6 address.	2600:3c1f:51:1::1 Other types of node addresses (private IPv4, VPC IPs) are not allowed.
`vpc`	For basic or premium NodeBalancers communicating with backend nodes assigned to a VPC. VPCs support IPv4 and IPv6 (BETA).	10.0.250.4/30 Non-VPC IPs are not allowed.
`undefined` (Read-only)	This value is assigned only when you create a NodeBalancer without specifying a `backend_connectivity` type, node configuration, or VPC. After you add the first backend node to the NodeBalancer using the Create a node operation, this value updates to either `legacy` or `ipv6`.	—

Protecting backend nodes from unauthorized access and maintaining secure communication

The NodeBalancer's backend IPs are used for communication between the NodeBalancer and the backend nodes. Your backend nodes should be configured to block direct traffic from external sources or clients, accepting requests only through these NodeBalancer backend IPs.

To secure backend nodes, assign the Linodes to a VPC or use Cloud Firewalls and configure firewall rules to allow only NodeBalancer traffic. Add the NodeBalancer IP access control list (ACL) to the backend node's firewall rules. This setup is typically performed once.

NodeBalancer backend IP addresses differ by data center. You can obtain the ACL using the GET NodeBalancer's backend ACL operation.

📘
Data transferred between services like NodeBalancers and Linodes in the same data center (using either a private IPv4, public IPv6, or VPC) is free and it doesn’t count against your monthly bandwidth allowance.

NodeBalancers - API changes

NodeBalancers

Added a new fields:

type. With the following options: premium and common.
backend_connectivity. With the following options: legacy, ipv6, and vpc. If backend_connectivity is not specified and neither a VPC nor a node is provided, a new common NodeBalancer will have undefined assigned, while a new premium NodeBalancer will have ipv6 assigned.
backend_ipv6_prefix. Read-only, The backend ACL for this NodeBalancer that can be used for firewall rules on their backend Linodes, allowing traffic only from that NodeBalancer backend source range.

🚧
The backend_connectivity setting can't be changed after you create the NodeBalancer. All backend nodes must use the same IP addressing supported by the selected backend_connectivity type. For example, if you set backend_connectivity to legacy, all backend nodes must use private IPv4 addresses.

Create a NodeBalancer (POST /nodebalancers)
List NodeBalancers (GET /nodebalancers)
Get a NodeBalancer (GET /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId})
Update a NodeBalancer (PUT /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId})
Get a NodeBalancer's backend IPv6 prefix GET /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/backend_acl

Nodes

Updated the address field to include supported IP types for non-VPC backend nodes and backend nodes within a VPC.

Create a node (POST /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/configs/{configId}/nodes)
List nodes (GET /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/configs/{configId}/nodes)
Get a NodeBalancer's node (GET /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/configs/{configId}/nodes/{nodeId})
Update a node (PUT /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/configs/{configId}/nodes/{nodeId})
Rebuild a config POST /nodebalancers/{nodeBalancerId}/configs/{configId}/rebuild