Load balancing in Amazon EKS has evolved far beyond the classic “one Ingress, one ALB” model. Today, platform and cloud engineers must navigate multiple options - AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB), Network Load Balancer (NLB), and the emerging Kubernetes Gateway API - each offering distinct capabilities, involving different trade-offs, and carrying unique operational implications.

In this hands-on workshop, we guide participants through the practical realities of traffic management on Amazon EKS. Starting from real-world use cases, we compare ALB and NLB at both the Kubernetes and AWS infrastructure layers, using the AWS Load Balancer Controller as the foundation for provisioning and managing AWS load balancers from Kubernetes. We then move beyond traditional Ingress by introducing the Gateway API and its implementation on EKS, including the AWS Gateway API Controller for Amazon VPC Lattice.

Rather than focusing on theory or product promotion, we work directly with manifests, controllers, and AWS integrations to help attendees understand when to use each approach, why certain designs scale or fail in production, and how Gateway API changes the way teams model networking and ownership in Kubernetes - especially as the ecosystem moves away from legacy Ingress patterns.

Participants leave with a clear mental model of EKS load balancing options, practical deployment experience, and concrete patterns they can apply immediately in their own AWS environments.

Delivered by Elif Samedin and Claudiu Sonel

AWS Community Day Romania 2026