🌐 Network · IaaS · Elastic Load Balancer

One front door. Every server behind it. Balanced in milliseconds.

QCloud Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) automatically distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers — Layer-4 for raw throughput, Layer-7 for HTTP content routing — with SSL offloading, sticky sessions, and sub-second failover. Hosted inside KHI-1 and ISB-1. Billed by the hour.

🛡️ Tier-3 Certified· ⚡ 99.999% SLA· 🇵🇰 100% Data Residency· 💸 Flexible billing
req/sec ↑ 5,240,118
client-1 client-2 client-3 ELB qcloud-elb-prod-01 srv-01 srv-02 srv-03 srv-04
tunnel.live · KHI-1 → ISB-1 · 0 unhealthy backends · re-balanced 0.4s ago
0M+
Requests per second balanced across QCloud ELB
< 0ms
Median end-to-end latency for Pakistani users
0%
Availability SLA on Production tier
0
Bytes that ever leave Pakistan

Production telemetry · KHI-1 + ISB-1 · 12-month rolling window

Why ELB

One overloaded server is one outage away. ELB is the difference.

Without a load balancer, every request hits the same server until it cracks. With QCloud ELB, traffic flows across a pool of healthy servers — automatically, intelligently, and without changing a single line of your application.

Without a load balancer

srv-01 CPU 98%
⚠ All requests hitting one node · service degraded · cascading failure imminent
  • ✕ One slow request blocks all others
  • ✕ Hardware failure = total outage
  • ✕ Scaling means manual DNS surgery

With QCloud ELB

ELB srv-01 srv-02 srv-03 srv-04
✓ Traffic balanced · all backends healthy · auto-failover armed
  • Slow requests routed away from busy nodes
  • Failed servers automatically removed from rotation
  • Scale horizontally without touching DNS
Load Balancer Types

Pick the load balancer that fits your traffic.

Three load-balancer shapes on one elastic platform — switch between them online, no detach, no downtime.

Layer 7 · HTTP / HTTPS / gRPC / WebSocket

Smart routing for modern web apps.

Routes requests by URL path, host, header, cookie, or query parameter. Native WebSocket and HTTP/2 support. Ideal for microservices and container workloads.

  • Path-based and host-based routing rules
  • SSL/TLS termination with cipher policy control
  • Sticky sessions via cookies
  • Native WebSocket & HTTP/2 support
Best for
Microservices, REST APIs, e-commerce frontends, content websites
Max throughput
Up to 100,000 RPS per ALB instance
ALB L7 · rules pool-1 /api → API pool pool-2 /static → CDN pool pool-3 /checkout → orders
Layer 4 · TCP / UDP / TLS passthrough

Extreme throughput, ultra-low latency.

Operates at the connection level for raw TCP/UDP traffic. Static IP per zone, millions of connections per second, sub-100µs added latency. Ideal for gaming, real-time, and database front-ends.

  • Millions of concurrent connections per node
  • Static IP per availability zone (Elastic-IP ready)
  • TLS passthrough or termination
  • Long-lived connections (WebSocket, gRPC, MQTT)
Best for
Real-time gaming, IVR/SIP, database proxies, IoT brokers
Max throughput
Millions of req/sec, sub-100µs added latency
NLB L4 pool
Layer 3 · transparent network gateway

Insert security appliances into the traffic path — invisibly.

A transparent network gateway that lets you scale third-party firewalls, IDS/IPS, and packet inspection appliances inline. Perfect for sovereign-cloud security pipelines and Zero-Trust architectures.

  • Bump-in-the-wire transparent routing
  • Scale virtual security appliances horizontally
  • Health-check across appliance fleet
  • Integrates with QCloud WAF and Firewall services
Best for
Inline NGFW, IDS/IPS, DPI, custom security pipelines
Max throughput
40 Gbps per GLB, 8500-byte jumbo frames
client FW IDS WAF backend GLB · transparent gateway
Six Promises

Why teams pick QCloud ELB — over building their own.

Every promise is built into the default. No checkbox. No extra SKU. No upcharge.

🌐

Enhanced Performance

Handles millions of concurrent connections per node. Auto-scales without warming.

Highly Available

Multi-AZ by default. Health checks every 15s. Auto-failover in under a second.

🎛️

Easy to Configure

Console, REST API, or Terraform. Six load-balancing algorithms, one-click switch.

🧠

Intelligent Routing

Deeply integrated with Auto Scaling, ECS, KCS, EVS. Detects unhealthy backends instantly.

🔐

SSL Offloading + WAF

Terminate TLS at the load balancer, integrate with WAF for OWASP Top-10 protection.

🇵🇰

Sovereign Networking

Every packet, every route, every replication hop stays inside Pakistan.

🌐

Enhanced Performance

Handles millions of concurrent connections per node. Auto-scales without warming.

Highly Available

Multi-AZ by default. Health checks every 15s. Auto-failover in under a second.

🎛️

Easy to Configure

Console, REST API, or Terraform. Six load-balancing algorithms, one-click switch.

🧠

Intelligent Routing

Deeply integrated with Auto Scaling, ECS, KCS, EVS. Detects unhealthy backends instantly.

🔐

SSL Offloading + WAF

Terminate TLS at the load balancer, integrate with WAF for OWASP Top-10 protection.

🇵🇰

Sovereign Networking

Every packet, every route, every replication hop stays inside Pakistan.

All six on by default · no opt-in checkboxes · no extra cost

The Algorithms

Six algorithms. Pick the one that fits your traffic shape.

Switch between algorithms with one click. Change them again next week. ELB applies the new policy without dropping a connection.

queue ELB srv-01 3 conn srv-02 3 conn srv-03 2 conn srv-04 2 conn
// stickiness: cookie qcloud-elb-sess
Use case: Identical backend pools serving stateless requests.
Pros: Simple · predictable · zero state.
Cons: Ignores backend load.
Example: Static API gateway distributing health-equal requests.
Persistence:
Health Checks & Failover

One backend dies. Your users never know.

ELB pings every backend every 15 seconds. The moment a node fails 3 consecutive checks, it's removed from rotation. Existing connections drain gracefully. New traffic routes to healthy nodes. Total customer-visible impact: zero.

1
T+0s
Healthy
4 nodes all green
2
T+15s
Probe 1
sent (HTTP 200)
3
T+45s
Probe 3
failed (timeout)
4
T+45.4s
Drain
existing conns on bad node
5
T+45.5s
Routed
new traffic to 3 healthy nodes only

Configurable: HTTP / HTTPS / TCP / gRPC health probes · interval 5s–300s · success/failure thresholds 2–10 · DPD-style fast failover available

[14:42:08] backend-03 → probe 1 timeout
[14:42:23] backend-03 → probe 2 timeout
[14:42:38] backend-03 → probe 3 timeout · marked unhealthy
[14:42:38] elb-prod → drain 412 conns → backend-03
[14:42:38.4] elb-prod → route 100% new traffic to backend-01, 02, 04
[14:42:39] backend-03 → removed from rotation · ops team paged
Built For

Six patterns we ship every month — for the workloads that move Pakistan.

  • Core banking front-ends balanced across multi-AZ ECS pools
  • Sticky sessions for payment flows · TLS termination · WAF integration
  • SBP-compliant data residency — every byte stays in-country
  • 4 of Pakistan's top 12 banks live
ELB 🏦
  • Customer portals scaled elastically through peak hours
  • IVR SIP traffic routed via NLB for ultra-low latency
  • Multi-region tunnels balanced for active-active resilience
  • 3 national telcos · 14 active ELB pairs
ELB 📡
  • Storefront frontends auto-scaled during sale events
  • Sticky sessions for cart and checkout flows
  • WAF integration for OWASP Top-10 + bot management
  • Pre-scale 30 minutes before Black Friday / Eid sale
ELB 🛒
  • Video origin servers balanced via NLB for raw throughput
  • Match-day cricket / election-night traffic absorbed in seconds
  • Long-lived TCP connections optimised
  • 12 streaming platforms in production
ELB 🎬
  • Federal portals balanced inside fully sovereign VPCs
  • 100% in-country traffic — zero offshore hop
  • Air-gapped option for sensitive workloads
  • 7 federal agencies onboarded
ELB 🏛️
  • Per-tenant routing via host-based ALB rules
  • Quota-bound throughput per tenant
  • One ELB pair, hundreds of customer namespaces
  • 30+ Pakistani SaaS vendors in production
ELB 💼
SSL Offloading & WAF

Four security layers. One load balancer. Zero certificate management headaches.

Terminate TLS at the load balancer, inspect every request, and forward only clean traffic to your backends. Your application doesn't even need to know HTTPS exists.

DDoS Scrubbing

Volumetric DDoS attacks absorbed at the network edge. No charge, no setup. Enhanced anti-DDoS available on request for Tbps-class mitigation.

Health + Routing

Every backend probed every 15 seconds. Unhealthy nodes drained gracefully. Six load-balancing algorithms to pick from.

DDoS Scrubbing WAF · OWASP Top-10 TLS · AES-256-GCM Sticky · Health · LB backend

WAF Integration

Native one-click integration with QCloud Web Application Firewall. Blocks SQLi, XSS, RCE, and bot traffic before it touches your servers.

TLS Termination

Offload the CPU-intensive work of encryption/decryption to the load balancer. HSM-backed certificate custody. Configurable cipher policy. ACME / Let's Encrypt support.

🔐 AES-256-GCM · TLS 1.3 · HSM-backed keys · ACME-ready · BYOC supported · ISO 27001-aligned
Cross-Region & GSLB

Two regions. One country. Active-active balanced.

Distribute traffic across QCloud's two Pakistani regions — Karachi (KHI-1) and Islamabad (ISB-1) — automatically. If one region degrades, the other absorbs the entire load in under 30 seconds.

KHI-1 · Karachi 🇵🇰 ISB-1 · Islamabad 🇵🇰 Active-Active · 0.4s RTT 99.999% combined SLA
02
Active Regions
Karachi · Islamabad
Geographically separated, sub-millisecond inter-region replication
99.999%
Guaranteed SLA
Combined active-active availability
Automatic service credits if breached
100%
Data Residency 🇵🇰
Your traffic, your TLS certs, your health-check telemetry — all inside Pakistan
SBP-aligned · PTA-aligned · PECA-aligned

GSLB · DNS-based weighted routing · failover in < 30s · zero customer-side DNS changes required

Vs the Hyperscalers

Cheaper. Closer. In-country. No FX risk.

AWS ELB (ALB/NLB)
Azure Load Balancer
Self-managed HAProxy / NGINX
On-prem appliance (F5, Citrix)
Hourly base price
Pay-as-you-go + LCU
Pay-as-you-go + data
Hardware + ops
Capex + license
Data processed
$0.008/LCU-hr
$0.005/GB
Bandwidth cost
Bandwidth cost
Provisioning time
< 5 min
< 5 min
Days–weeks
4–8 weeks
Data residency
Offshore (ap-south-1)
Offshore
Yours
Your DC
L7 routing
✓ ALB
✓ App Gateway
✓ DIY config
Varies
L4 high-throughput
✓ NLB
✓ Standard LB
✓ HAProxy
Hardware
TLS termination
DIY
WAF integration
✓ WAF SKU
✓ App Gateway
DIY ModSecurity
Hardware
Billing currency
USD (FX risk)
USD (FX risk)
Capex
Local currency
Support
Offshore queues
Offshore queues
None
Vendor SLA

Most teams cut their load-balancing spend 30–50% in the first quarter by eliminating FX exposure and per-LCU data charges.

Pricing

Transparent prices, without surprises.

No hidden charges. No billing surprises. Choose the model that fits your business — pay as you go for full flexibility, or commit to a saving plan for lower rates.

MOST POPULAR
Pay As You Go
Flexible · No commitment
  • Pay only for resources consumed
  • No upfront commitment required
  • Scale up or down at any time
  • Billed hourly · no hidden fees
  • No FX exposure · no hidden fees
Contact us for pricing
Get Started →
Saving Plan
1-year or 3-year term
  • Significant savings vs. on-demand
  • 1-year or 3-year commitment options
  • No upfront, partial, or full prepayment
  • Customised to your traffic profile
  • Named account manager included
Talk to Sales
Contact Sales →
Enterprise
Dedicated · Custom SLA
  • Dedicated load-balancer fleet
  • Air-gapped option · BYO cert
  • Custom SLAs · named TAM
  • Volume-based pricing
  • 24/7 in-country support
Custom quote
Talk to Enterprise →
Pricing to suit all sizes of business

QCloud ELB pricing is transparent and flexible. Whether you're a startup or an enterprise, our team will help you find the right plan — no hidden charges, no currency surprises.

No hidden charges, ever
What you see is what you pay — zero FX exposure, no surprise charges.
24/7 certified expert support
In-country engineers. Ticketing system. Instant assistance.
Start with a free trial
$100 in QCloud credit included. No credit card required.
Fast provisioning
Your ELB is live in under 5 minutes. Seamless migration support included.

All ELB plans include: 99.999% SLA · Health checks · SSL termination · 🇵🇰 100% in-country data residency · No hidden charges

From Zero to Balanced

Five steps. Under five minutes. Three commands.

🆕
step 1

Create the listener

Pick L4 or L7, region (KHI-1 / ISB-1 / both), and listening port. ELB is provisioned in under 60 seconds.

$ qcloud elb create \
    --name elb-prod-01 \
    --type application \
    --region khi-1,isb-1
✓ elb-prod-01 created · 0.4s
🖥️
step 2

Register backends

Add your ECS instances, container services, or IP targets. ELB starts probing them immediately.

$ qcloud elb target-group add \
    --backends ecs-web-01,ecs-web-02,ecs-web-03
✓ 3 backends registered · all healthy
🎯
step 3

Pick an algorithm

Round Robin, Least Connections, IP Hash, Weighted, Least Response Time, or Consistent Hashing.

$ qcloud elb policy set \
    --algorithm least-connections \
    --sticky cookie-based
✓ policy applied · effective immediately
🔐
step 4

Attach TLS + WAF

Upload your certificate (or use ACME), enable WAF for OWASP protection. One click.

$ qcloud elb tls attach --cert prod-cert.pem
$ qcloud elb waf enable --rules owasp-top-10
✓ TLS termination active · WAF enabled
🌐
step 5

Point DNS at the ELB

Use the ELB's static IP or DNS name. Traffic starts flowing.

$ dig api.your-domain.pk
api.your-domain.pk. 60 IN A 203.135.12.42  ← your ELB

Median provisioning time across all customers: 3m 22s · Last 30 days · KHI-1 + ISB-1

The Ecosystem

ELB is the front door. Everything else plugs in.

Once your ELB is provisioned, every other QCloud service can attach to it — by default, zero extra config.

ELB
ECS
ECS instances attach as backend targets in seconds
KCS
Kubernetes Services of type LoadBalancer auto-provision an ELB
EVS
Persistent volumes for stateful backend pools
IMS
Boot backend instances from your golden images
VPC
ELB lives inside your VPC, respects all your security groups and NACLs
Elastic IP
Attach a static EIP to an NLB for known-IP allow-listing
VPN
Reach private ELBs from on-prem via IPsec
Auto Scaling
Auto Scaling groups register/deregister instances with ELB lifecycle hooks
WAF
One-click WAF rule attachment for OWASP Top-10 + bot management
Firewall
Stateful filtering before ELB ingress
Encryption
Customer-managed KMS keys for TLS
Endpoint Protection
AV/EDR on backend nodes

Plus — Terraform provider · REST API · Helm chart · GitHub Actions runner integration · Prometheus metrics

Frequently Asked

Everything you wanted to know — before you point your DNS.

ALB operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) — best for content-based routing, modern web apps, and microservices. NLB operates at Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) — best for raw throughput, ultra-low latency, and static IPs. GLB operates as a transparent Layer-3 gateway — best for chaining third-party security appliances inline.
Yes. Every load balancer node, every health-check probe, every TLS handshake, every traffic byte — all of it resides in PTCL's Tier-3 / Rated-3 certified data centers in Karachi (KHI-1) and Islamabad (ISB-1). Nothing leaves the country.
QCloud ELB offers two billing models: Pay As You Go (billed hourly, no commitment) and Saving Plans (1-year or 3-year terms for lower rates). Pricing is customised to your traffic profile — contact sales for a quote. Egress inside your QCloud VPC is free. No hidden charges, ever.
Yes. Every new QCloud account gets one ELB Starter for 1 month free, plus $100 in credit. You can spin up production-grade load balancers to evaluate QCloud against your real workloads.
Default health checks run every 15 seconds with a 3-failure threshold (configurable down to 5 seconds with a 2-failure threshold). When a backend fails, existing connections drain gracefully and new traffic is routed to healthy nodes — typical customer-visible impact is under 1 second.
Yes. ELB supports TLS termination with AES-256-GCM, HSM-backed key custody, configurable cipher policies, ACME / Let's Encrypt integration, and BYOC (bring your own certificate). TLS passthrough is also supported on NLB if you need end-to-end encryption.
Yes. One-click WAF rule attachment, with native OWASP Top-10 protection, bot management, geo-blocking, and rate-limiting. WAF and ELB share the same security group plane — no extra integration glue required.
Yes. ELB exposes a full REST API and a Terraform provider. All listener, target-group, health-check, algorithm, and TLS resources are managed programmatically.
Self-managed load balancers require you to build HA, monitor health, patch CVEs, rotate certs, scale capacity, and pay for the underlying VMs. QCloud ELB handles all of that for you, with a 99.999% SLA, 24/7 in-country support, and transparent hourly billing. Most teams reclaim 1-2 SRE FTEs and 30-50% of their load-balancing spend within the first quarter.
Yes. Cross-region GSLB is available across KHI-1 and ISB-1, with DNS-based weighted routing, geo-routing, and automated failover. RTO is under 30 seconds when a region degrades.
🇵🇰 Pakistan's Managed Load Balancer

Provision your first load balancer — on the house.

$100 in QCloud credit. A 1-month free trial of ELB, ECS, and VPC. A real load-balancing architect on the call from day one. Migration support for teams moving off AWS, Azure, self-managed HAProxy, or on-prem F5 / Citrix — all included.

No credit card required · Production workloads welcome · No hidden charges
Live · 14 ELB pairs provisioned across QCloud this week
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