# Layer 7 Cookbook

## Introduction

This document gives several examples of common L7 load balancer usage. For a description of L7 load balancing see: Layer 7 Load Balancing

For the purposes of this guide we assume that the OpenStack Client command-line interface is going to be used to configure all features of Octavia with the Octavia driver back-end. Also, in order to keep these examples short, we assume that many non-L7 configuration tasks (such as deploying loadbalancers, listeners, pools, members, healthmonitors, etc.) have already been accomplished. A description of the starting conditions is given in each example below.

## Examples

### Redirect http://www.example.com/ to https://www.example.com/

Scenario description:

- Load balancer lb1 has been set up with `TERMINATED_HTTPS` listener tls_listener on TCP port 443.

- tls_listener has been populated with a default pool, members, etc.

- tls_listener is available under the DNS name https://www.example.com/

- We want any regular HTTP requests to TCP port 80 on lb1 to be redirected to tls_listener on TCP port 443.

Solution:

1. Create listener http_listener as an HTTP listener on lb1 port 80.

2. Set up an L7 Policy policy1 on http_listener with action `REDIRECT_TO_URL` pointed at the URL https://www.example.com/

3. Add an L7 Rule to policy1 which matches all requests.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer listener create --name http_listener --protocol HTTP --protocol-port 80 lb1
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_PREFIX --redirect-prefix https://www.example.com/ --name policy1 http_listener
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type STARTS_WITH --type PATH --value / policy1

### Send requests starting with /js or /images to static_pool

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- We are introducing static content servers 10.0.0.10 and 10.0.0.11 on subnet private-subnet, and want any HTTP requests with a URL that starts with either “/js” or “/images” to be sent to those two servers instead of pool1.

Solution:

1. Create pool static_pool on lb1.

2. Populate static_pool with the new back-end members.

3. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at static_pool.

4. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which looks for “/js” at the start of the request path.

5. Create L7 Policy policy2 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at static_pool.

6. Create an L7 Rule on policy2 which looks for “/images” at the start of the request path.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name static_pool --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.10 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.11 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool static_pool --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type STARTS_WITH --type PATH --value /js policy1
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool static_pool --name policy2 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type STARTS_WITH --type PATH --value /images policy2

Alternate solution (using regular expressions):

1. Create pool static_pool on lb1.

2. Populate static_pool with the new back-end members.

3. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at static_pool.

4. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which uses a regular expression to match either “/js” or “/images” at the start of the request path.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name static_pool --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.10 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.11 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool static_pool --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type REGEX --type PATH --value '^/(js|images)' policy1

### Send requests for http://www2.example.com/ to pool2

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- We have set up a new pool pool2 on lb1 and want any requests using the HTTP/1.1 hostname www2.example.com to be sent to pool2 instead.

Solution:

1. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at pool2.

2. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which matches the hostname www2.example.com.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool pool2 --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type EQUAL_TO --type HOST_NAME --value www2.example.com policy1

### Send requests for *.example.com to pool2

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- We have set up a new pool pool2 on lb1 and want any requests using any HTTP/1.1 hostname like *.example.com to be sent to pool2 instead.

Solution:

1. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at pool2.

2. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which matches any hostname that ends with example.com.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool pool2 --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type ENDS_WITH --type HOST_NAME --value example.com policy1

### Send unauthenticated users to login_pool (scenario 1)

Scenario description:

- `TERMINATED_HTTPS` listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- The site behind listener1 requires all web users to authenticate, after which a browser cookie auth_token will be set.

- When web users log out, or if the auth_token is invalid, the application servers in pool1 clear the auth_token.

- We want to introduce new secure authentication server 10.0.1.10 on Neutron subnet secure_subnet (a different Neutron subnet from the default application servers) which handles authenticating web users and sets the auth_token.

Note: Obviously, to have a more secure authentication system that is less vulnerable to attacks like XSS, the new secure authentication server will need to set session variables to which the default_pool servers will have access outside the data path with the web client. There may be other security concerns as well. This example is not meant to address how these are to be accomplished–it’s mainly meant to show how L7 application routing can be done based on a browser cookie.

Solution:

1. Create pool login_pool on lb1.

2. Add member 10.0.1.10 on secure_subnet to login_pool.

3. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at login_pool.

4. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which looks for browser cookie auth_token (with any value) and matches if it is NOT present.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name login_pool --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.1.10 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id secure_subnet login_pool
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool login_pool --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type REGEX --key auth_token --type COOKIE --value '.*' --invert policy1

### Send unauthenticated users to login_pool (scenario 2)

Scenario description:

- `TERMINATED_HTTPS` listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- The site behind listener1 requires all web users to authenticate, after which a browser cookie auth_token will be set.

- When web users log out, or if the auth_token is invalid, the application servers in pool1 set auth_token to the literal string “INVALID”.

- We want to introduce new secure authentication server 10.0.1.10 on Neutron subnet secure_subnet (a different Neutron subnet from the default application servers) which handles authenticating web users and sets the auth_token.

Note: Obviously, to have a more secure authentication system that is less vulnerable to attacks like XSS, the new secure authentication server will need to set session variables to which the default_pool servers will have access outside the data path with the web client. There may be other security concerns as well. This example is not meant to address how these are to be accomplished– it’s mainly meant to show how L7 application routing can be done based on a browser cookie.

Solution:

1. Create pool login_pool on lb1.

2. Add member 10.0.1.10 on secure_subnet to login_pool.

3. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at login_pool.

4. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which looks for browser cookie auth_token (with any value) and matches if it is NOT present.

5. Create L7 Policy policy2 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at login_pool.

6. Create an L7 Rule on policy2 which looks for browser cookie auth_token and matches if it is equal to the literal string “INVALID”.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name login_pool --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.1.10 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id secure_subnet login_pool
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool login_pool --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type REGEX --key auth_token --type COOKIE --value '.*' --invert policy1
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool login_pool --name policy2 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type EQUAL_TO --key auth_token --type COOKIE --value INVALID policy2

### Send requests for http://api.example.com/api to api_pool

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is set up to send all requests to its default_pool pool1.

- We have created pool api_pool on lb1, however, for legacy business logic reasons, we only want requests sent to this pool if they match the hostname api.example.com AND the request path starts with /api.

Solution:

1. Create L7 Policy policy1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at api_pool.

2. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which matches the hostname api.example.com.

3. Create an L7 Rule on policy1 which matches /api at the start of the request path. (This rule will be logically ANDed with the previous rule.)

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool api_pool --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type EQUAL_TO --type HOST_NAME --value api.example.com policy1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type STARTS_WITH --type PATH --value /api policy1

### Set up A/B testing on an existing production site using a cookie

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is a production site set up as described under Send requests starting with /js or /images to static_pool (alternate solution) above. Specifically:

  - HTTP requests with a URL that starts with either “/js” or “/images” are sent to pool static_pool.

  - All other requests are sent to listener1’s default_pool pool1.

- We are introducing a “B” version of the production site, complete with its own default_pool and static_pool. We will call these pool_B and static_pool_B respectively.

- The pool_B members should be 10.0.0.50 and 10.0.0.51, and the static_pool_B members should be 10.0.0.100 and 10.0.0.101 on subnet private-subnet.

- Web clients which should be routed to the “B” version of the site get a cookie set by the member servers in pool1. This cookie is called “site_version” and should have the value “B”.

Solution:

1. Create pool pool_B on lb1.

2. Populate pool_B with its new back-end members.

3. Create pool static_pool_B on lb1.

4. Populate static_pool_B with its new back-end members.

5. Create L7 Policy policy2 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at static_pool_B. This should be inserted at position 1.

6. Create an L7 Rule on policy2 which uses a regular expression to match either “/js” or “/images” at the start of the request path.

7. Create an L7 Rule on policy2 which matches the cookie “site_version” to the exact string “B”.

8. Create L7 Policy policy3 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at pool_B. This should be inserted at position 2.

9. Create an L7 Rule on policy3 which matches the cookie “site_version” to the exact string “B”.

A word about L7 Policy position: Since L7 Policies are evaluated in order according to their position parameter, and since the first L7 Policy whose L7 Rules all evaluate to True is the one whose action is followed, it is important that L7 Policies with the most specific rules get evaluated first.

For example, in this solution, if policy3 were to appear in the listener’s L7 Policy list before policy2 (that is, if policy3 were to have a lower position number than policy2), then if a web client were to request the URL http://www.example.com/images/a.jpg with the cookie “site_version:B”, then policy3 would match, and the load balancer would send the request to pool_B. From the scenario description, this request clearly was meant to be sent to static_pool_B, which is why policy2 needs to be evaluated before policy3.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name pool_B --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.50 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet pool_B
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.51 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet pool_B
    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name static_pool_B --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.100 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool_B
    openstack loadbalancer member create --address 10.0.0.101 --protocol-port 80 --subnet-id private-subnet static_pool_B
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool static_pool_B --name policy2 --position 1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type REGEX --type PATH --value '^/(js|images)' policy2
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type EQUAL_TO --key site_version --type COOKIE --value B policy2
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool pool_B --name policy3 --position 2 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --compare-type EQUAL_TO --key site_version --type COOKIE --value B policy3

### Redirect requests with an invalid TLS client authentication certificate

Scenario description:

- Listener listener1 on load balancer lb1 is configured for `OPTIONAL` client_authentication.

- Web clients that do not present a TLS client authentication certificate should be redirected to a signup page at http://www.example.com/signup.

Solution:

1. Create the load balancer lb1.

2. Create a listener listner1 of type `TERMINATED_TLS` with a client_ca_tls_container_ref and client_authentication `OPTIONAL`.

3. Create a L7 Policy policy1 on listener1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_URL` pointed at the URL http://www.example.com/signup.

4. Add an L7 Rule to policy1 that does not match `SSL_CONN_HAS_CERT`.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer create --name lb1 --vip-subnet-id public-subnet
    openstack loadbalancer listener create --name listener1 --protocol TERMINATED_HTTPS --client-authentication OPTIONAL --protocol-port 443 --default-tls-container-ref http://192.0.2.15:9311/v1/secrets/697c2a6d-ffbe-40b8-be5e-7629fd636bca --client-ca-tls-container-ref http://192.0.2.15:9311/v1/secrets/dba60b77-8dad-4171-8a96-f21e1ca5fb46 lb1
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_URL --redirect-url http://www.example.com/signup --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --type SSL_CONN_HAS_CERT --invert --compare-type EQUAL_TO --value True policy1

### Send users from the finance department to pool2

Scenario description:

- Users from the finance department have client certificates with the OU field of the distinguished name set to `finance`.

- Only users with valid finance department client certificates should be able to access `pool2`. Others will be rejected.

Solution:

1. Create the load balancer lb1.

2. Create a listener listner1 of type `TERMINATED_TLS` with a client_ca_tls_container_ref and client_authentication `MANDATORY`.

3. Create a pool pool2 on load balancer lb1.

4. Create a L7 Policy policy1 on listener1 with action `REDIRECT_TO_POOL` pointed at pool2.

5. Add an L7 Rule to policy1 that matches `SSL_CONN_HAS_CERT`.

6. Add an L7 Rule to policy1 that matches `SSL_VERIFY_RESULT` with a value of 0.

7. Add an L7 Rule to policy1 of type `SSL_DN_FIELD` that looks for “finance” in the “OU” field of the client authentication distinguished name.

CLI commands:

    openstack loadbalancer create --name lb1 --vip-subnet-id public-subnet
    openstack loadbalancer listener create --name listener1 --protocol TERMINATED_HTTPS --client-authentication MANDATORY --protocol-port 443 --default-tls-container-ref http://192.0.2.15:9311/v1/secrets/697c2a6d-ffbe-40b8-be5e-7629fd636bca --client-ca-tls-container-ref http://192.0.2.15:9311/v1/secrets/dba60b77-8dad-4171-8a96-f21e1ca5fb46 lb1
    openstack loadbalancer pool create --lb-algorithm ROUND_ROBIN --loadbalancer lb1 --name pool2 --protocol HTTP
    openstack loadbalancer l7policy create --action REDIRECT_TO_POOL --redirect-pool pool2 --name policy1 listener1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --type SSL_CONN_HAS_CERT --compare-type EQUAL_TO --value True policy1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --type SSL_VERIFY_RESULT --compare-type EQUAL_TO --value 0 policy1
    openstack loadbalancer l7rule create --type SSL_DN_FIELD --compare-type EQUAL_TO --key OU --value finance policy1

this page last updated: 2026-03-10 18:02:42

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