Route and balance web traffic intelligently — content-based, multi-tenant, and modular — with the BFE layer 7 load balancer.

Welcome to BFE: Layer 7 Load Balancing at Scale.

A practical, in-depth guide to BFE (Beyond the Front End), the open-source layer 7 load balancer and reverse proxy from Baidu (CNCF). Learn how BFE fronts a large web platform: the layer 7 load balancing problem, the config-driven and modular architecture, the forwarding model (products, clusters, sub-clusters, instances), routing with condition expressions, two-level load balancing (GSLB and sub-cluster), the module framework for extensibility, protocols and TLS/edge security, and operating BFE as the intelligent edge of a platform at scale.

This title is part of the ShriIra library and is free to read in full, right here — our small contribution to making world-class knowledge easy to reach.

A note on reading it: open the Contents menu at the top of the reader to jump between chapters, use the Aa menu to set a comfortable text size, theme (light, sepia, or night), and single- or two-page layout. Your place is saved automatically, so you can always pick up where you left off.

We hope it serves you well.

— Shriira Press

Contents

1. Chapter 1 — What BFE Is
2. Chapter 2 — The Layer 7 Load Balancing Problem
3. Chapter 3 — Architecture
4. Chapter 4 — The Forwarding Model
5. Chapter 5 — Routing and Condition Expressions
6. Chapter 6 — Load Balancing
7. Chapter 7 — The Module Framework
8. Chapter 8 — Protocols and Security
9. Chapter 9 — Operations and Observability
10. Chapter 10 — BFE in Practice