> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.xloud.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Load Balancer Monitoring

> Monitor Xloud Load Balancer appliance health, connection statistics, and service component status for platform observability.

## Overview

Monitoring the load balancing infrastructure ensures production traffic is not impacted
by appliance degradation, certificate expiry, or capacity saturation. This guide covers
appliance health checks, traffic statistics, and manual failover procedures.

<Warning>
  **Administrator Access Required** — This operation requires the `admin` role. Contact your
  Xloud administrator if you do not have sufficient permissions.
</Warning>

***

## Appliance Health

```bash title="List all appliances with health status" theme={null}
openstack loadbalancer amphora list
```

Key status fields to monitor:

| Field             | Healthy Value | Description                               |
| ----------------- | ------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `status`          | `ALLOCATED`   | Appliance is assigned to a load balancer  |
| `lb_network_ip`   | Non-empty     | Management plane connectivity established |
| `cert_expiration` | Future date   | Appliance TLS certificate validity        |
| `compute_id`      | Non-empty     | Backing compute instance exists           |

```bash title="Show detailed appliance information" theme={null}
openstack loadbalancer amphora show <amphora-id>
```

***

## Traffic Statistics

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Load balancer statistics" icon="bar-chart">
    ```bash title="Show load balancer statistics" theme={null}
    openstack loadbalancer stats show <lb-name>
    ```

    | Statistic            | Description                                            |
    | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
    | `active_connections` | Current open connections to the load balancer          |
    | `bytes_in`           | Total bytes received from clients                      |
    | `bytes_out`          | Total bytes sent to clients                            |
    | `request_errors`     | Failed requests — useful for detecting upstream issues |
    | `total_connections`  | Lifetime connection count                              |
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Listener statistics" icon="ear">
    ```bash title="Show per-listener statistics" theme={null}
    openstack loadbalancer listener stats show <listener-name>
    ```

    Listener statistics provide granular visibility when a load balancer has multiple
    listeners on different protocols or ports.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Certificate Expiration Monitoring

Appliances use TLS certificates for controller-to-appliance management communication.
Monitor expiration to prevent management plane failures:

```bash title="Check certificate expiration on all appliances" theme={null}
openstack loadbalancer amphora list \
  -c id -c cert_expiration -c status \
  --sort-column cert_expiration
```

<Warning>
  Appliances with expired certificates cannot receive configuration updates from the
  controller. If an appliance certificate expires, trigger a failover to rotate the
  certificate:

  ```bash title="Rotate appliance certificate via failover" theme={null}
  openstack loadbalancer amphora failover <amphora-id>
  ```
</Warning>

***

## Manual Failover

Trigger a manual failover to replace a degraded or expired appliance:

```bash title="Failover an appliance" theme={null}
openstack loadbalancer amphora failover <amphora-id>
```

<Warning>
  Failover causes brief service interruption (typically under 30 seconds for
  ACTIVE\_STANDBY topologies) while the replacement appliance is provisioned
  and configuration is replicated.
</Warning>

Monitor failover progress:

```bash title="Monitor load balancer provisioning status during failover" theme={null}
watch -n 5 "openstack loadbalancer show <lb-name> -c provisioning_status"
```

***

## Prometheus Integration

Xloud Load Balancer exposes metrics via the Octavia Prometheus exporter when configured.
Key metrics to alert on:

| Metric                             | Alert Threshold | Description                         |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| `octavia_loadbalancer_status`      | != 1            | Load balancer not ACTIVE            |
| `octavia_member_status`            | != 1            | Member not ONLINE                   |
| `octavia_amphora_cert_expiry_days` | \< 30           | Appliance certificate expiring soon |

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Security" href="/services/load-balancer/lb-security" color="#197560">
    Configure TLS certificate lifecycle management and management plane access controls.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Admin Troubleshooting" href="/services/load-balancer/lb-troubleshooting" color="#197560">
    Use monitoring data to diagnose and resolve platform-level failures.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Flavor Profiles" href="/services/load-balancer/flavor-profiles" color="#197560">
    Upgrade appliance capacity when statistics show saturation.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Architecture" href="/services/load-balancer/lb-architecture" color="#197560">
    Understand the relationship between appliances and the management plane.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>