You can change the network type of an Application Load Balancer (ALB) instance as needed.

Background information

  • Differences between an Internet-facing ALB instance and an internal-facing ALB instance:
    • Internal-facing ALB instances use private IP addresses to provide services. You can access an ALB instance only within the internal network of Alibaba Cloud.
    • Internet-facing ALB instances use public IP addresses to provide services. You can access an ALB instance over the Internet. Internet-facing ALB instances use elastic IP addresses (EIPs) to provide services over the Internet. If you use an Internet-facing ALB instance, you are charged for the EIP, bandwidth, and data transfer.
  • After an Internet-facing ALB instance is switched to an internal-facing ALB instance, the EIP is disassociated from the ALB instance. A private IP address is assigned to the ALB instance. The domain name of the ALB instance can be accessed within the internal network.

Billing

  • Instance fees for ALB are billed on an hourly basis. If you use an ALB instance for less than 1 hour, the usage duration is rounded up to 1 hour. Network type changes immediately take effect. After you change the network type of an ALB instance, you are charged based on the previous network type within the current hour. The usage duration is rounded up to 1 hour. For more information, see ALB billable items.
  • If you want to switch an internal-facing ALB instance to an Internet-facing ALB instance, you must associate an EIP with the ALB instance. In this case, you are charged for data transfer over the Internet. For more information about how EIPs are billed, see EIP billing.

Change network type

  1. Log on to the ALB console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region where the ALB instance is deployed.
  3. On the Instances page, click the ID of the ALB instance that you want to manage.
  4. On the Instance Details tab, click Change Network Type in the Network Type section. 变更网络类型英文截图
    • Switch an internal-facing ALB instance to an Internet-facing ALB instance

      In the Change Network Type dialog box, select an EIP in the Associate EIP column and click OK.

      You can click Purchase EIP or select an existing EIP. image
    • Switch an Internet-facing ALB instance to an internal-facing ALB instance

      In the Change Network Type dialog box, confirm the details about the operation and click OK.

  5. You can view the Network Type of the ALB instance on the Instance Details tab.
    After you perform the operation, the network type of the ALB instance immediately changes to the network type that you specify. You can check whether the operation is successful on the Instance Details tab.

References