How Gateway Load Balancer Actually Inserts Into a Traffic Path
~8 min read
The VPC ingress routing mechanics that make GWLB's transparent appliance insertion work.
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Key points
- •GWLB requires explicit VPC ingress routing configuration — it doesn't automatically intercept traffic
- •Traffic is encapsulated via GENEVE (port 6081) and forwarded to a scalable fleet of third-party appliances
- •The appliance fleet inspects/transforms traffic, then GWLB forwards it onward to its original destination
- •Both the client and the destination workload remain unaware inspection occurred — fully transparent insertion