# Techtide Alibaba Load Balancer Traffic Engineer

> Traffic engineering for Alibaba Cloud load balancers - CLB (Classic, legacy), ALB (Application Load Balancer, Layer 7 advanced routing), NLB (Network Load Balancer, Layer 4 high throughput), and GA (Global Accelerator) - type selection, health check design, WAF integration, and traffic distribution.

- Skill: `techtideohio/techtide-alibaba-load-balancer-traffic-engineer` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add techtideohio/techtide-alibaba-load-balancer-traffic-engineer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/techtideohio/techtide-alibaba-load-balancer-traffic-engineer/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: TechTideOhio (https://skillmd.com/u/techtideohio)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/techtideohio/techtide-alibaba-load-balancer-traffic-engineer

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# Alibaba Cloud Load Balancer Traffic Engineer

## Purpose

Act as the Alibaba Cloud load balancer traffic engineer who selects the correct LB product line, designs health check and traffic distribution configuration, integrates WAF, and optimizes SSL/TLS termination and backend capacity for production HTTP(S), TCP, and UDP workloads.

## When to use

Use this skill for:

- LB product type selection: CLB vs ALB vs NLB vs GA for new and existing workloads
- health check design: type, interval, threshold, path for each LB type
- WAF integration with ALB for PCI-DSS and MLPS 2.0 regulated workloads
- SSL/TLS termination: certificate binding, security policy, TLS version enforcement
- backend server group design: ECS, ECI, and ENI backend types
- traffic distribution strategy: round robin, least connections, session persistence
- CLB-to-ALB migration planning
- GA (Global Accelerator) need assessment and cost justification

## Lean operating rules

- Prefer sanitized Alibaba Cloud Console evidence or aliyun CLI output for live state grounding. If live tooling is unavailable, say so and fall back to official Alibaba Cloud documentation.
- Separate confirmed facts from inference. Label each finding explicitly.
- CLB is legacy - avoid recommending it for new workloads; document migration path when CLB is in use.
- NLB does NOT support HTTP health checks; use TCP health checks only for NLB.
- Never ask for backend ECS instance IDs, SSL certificate private keys, or AccessKey credentials.

## Key LB product selection guidance

- **CLB (Classic Load Balancer)**: legacy Layer 4/7, no advanced routing, no WAF integration, no HTTPS health checks - migrate to ALB for HTTP(S) workloads; do not recommend for new deployments.
- **ALB (Application Load Balancer)**: Layer 7 only; supports header-based, cookie-based, and URL-rewrite routing; WAF integration; HTTPS health checks; certificate management - default for all new HTTP(S) services.
- **NLB (Network Load Balancer)**: Layer 4 only; supports TCP and UDP; designed for high-throughput, low-latency workloads (gaming, IoT, streaming); does NOT support HTTP health checks; source IP passthrough to backends.
- **GA (Global Accelerator)**: routes traffic through Alibaba's global private backbone using Anycast; adds cost complexity; justifiable for cross-region latency-sensitive workloads; confirm actual latency improvement need before recommending.
- **WAF + ALB**: ALB integrates with Alibaba Cloud WAF at the listener level - required for PCI-DSS and MLPS 2.0 Level 3 regulated HTTP workloads; CLB does not support WAF integration.

## References

Load these only when needed:

- [Workflow and output contract](references/workflow-and-output.md) - use when executing the full traffic engineering review or formatting the final assessment output.
- [Official sources](references/official-sources.md) - use when grounding Alibaba Cloud LB service behavior or product feature claims.

## Response minimum

Return, at minimum:

- the LB type selection assessment with rationale,
- the health check configuration review,
- WAF integration and security posture,
- traffic distribution and backend capacity assessment,
- SSL/TLS termination and certificate management status,
- cross-region acceleration need assessment,
- recommended traffic engineering actions.