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Yandex Application Load Balancer
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    • Creating Application Load Balancer infrastructure through a wizard
      • Creating an HTTP router for HTTP traffic
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      • Managing routes
      • Deleting an HTTP router
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  1. Step-by-step guides
  2. HTTP routers
  3. Creating an HTTP router for HTTP traffic

Creating an HTTP router for HTTP traffic

Written by
Yandex Cloud
Improved by
Updated at November 11, 2025

To create an HTTP router and add a route to it:

Management console
CLI
Terraform
API
  1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create your HTTP router.

  2. From the list of services, select Application Load Balancer.

  3. In the left-hand panel, select HTTP routers.

  4. Click Create HTTP router.

  5. Specify your HTTP router name.

  6. Under Virtual hosts, click Add virtual host.

  7. In the Name field, enter a name for the new virtual host. Follow these naming requirements:

    • It must be from 2 to 63 characters long.
    • It can only contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
    • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.
  8. Optionally, in the Authority field, specify the HTTP/1.1 Host (HTTP/2 :authority) header value for virtual host selection.

    If Authority is not specified, all traffic will be routed to this virtual host (same as *).

  9. Optionally, in the Security profile field, select a Yandex Smart Web Security security profile. A security profile allows you to filter incoming requests and enable WAF for protection against malicious activities. For more information, see Security profiles.

  10. Optionally, enable Limit on all requests and/or Limit on requests from one IP and set the limits for the number of requests the virtual host will be processing per unit of time.

  11. Optionally, expand DNS settings for internal addresses and click Add record.

    • In the Type field, select where you want to modify the header:
      • Request: To modify incoming request headers, from client to load balancer.
      • Response: To modify outgoing response headers, from backend to external client.
    • In the Header name field, give the header a name, e.g., Host, User-Agent, X-Forwarded-For, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
    • In the Operation field, select an action:
      • append: To add a string to the header value. Specify the string in the field on the right.
      • replace: To completely replace the header value. Specify the new header value in the field on the right.
      • remove: To delete the header. Both the header value and the header itself will be removed.
      • rename: To change the header name. Specify the new header name in the field on the right. The header value will not change.

    If required, click Change header to add new rows if you need to modify multiple headers at once.

  12. Click Add route and do the following in the New route form that opens:

    1. In the Name field, specify the name of the route you are creating. Follow these naming requirements:

      • It must be from 2 to 63 characters long.
      • It can only contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
      • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.
    2. In the Type field, select HTTP.

    3. In the Path field, select one of the options:

      • Matches: To route requests with the same path as the one specified in the text box on the right. For example, to route all requests, specify the / path.
      • Starts with: To route requests whose path begins with the prefix specified in the text box on the right.
      • Regular expression: To route requests whose path matches the RE2 regular expression specified in the text box on the right, e.g., \/[a-z]{10}[0-9]{3}.
    4. In the HTTP methods field, select the HTTP methods for which to route the requests.

    5. In the Action field, select one of the options: Routing, Forward, or Response. Depending on the selected option:

      Routing
      Forward
      Response
      • In the Backend group field, select a backend group located in the same folder as the HTTP router and virtual host for which you are creating the new route.

      • Optionally, in the Rewrite path or start field, specify the path the HTTP router should redirect traffic to. If you select Matches in the Path field, the path will be completely replaced. If you select Starts with, only the prefix will be changed.

      • Optionally, in the Host header rewrite field, select one of these options:

        • none: The Host header in the request does not change.
        • rewrite: The Host header is replaced with the specified value.
        • auto: The Host header in the request is automatically replaced with the target VM address.
      • Optionally, enable Limit on all requests and/or Limit on requests from one IP and set these limits for the number of requests that will be processed for this route per unit of time.

      • Optionally, in the Timeout, s field, specify the maximum connection time.

      • Optionally, in the Idle timeout, seconds field, specify the maximum connection idle timeout (keep-alive time).

      • Optionally, in the Valid values for the Upgrade header field:

        • Optionally, list the protocols the backend group can switch to within a TCP connection on client's request. To add more protocols, click Add upgrade type.
        • Optionally, enable WebSocket if you want to use the WebSocket protocol.
      • In the HTTP status code field, select the HTTP forwarding status code:

        • 301 Moved Permanently
        • 302 Found
        • 303 See Other
        • 307 Temporary Redirect
        • 308 Permanent Redirect
      • Optionally, enable Rewrite path or start and specify the modification type of the path the HTTP router should redirect traffic to:

        • Entire path: To completely replace the request path with the value set in the field on the right.
        • Start: To replace the request path prefix with the value set in the field on the right.

        Note

        If you select Matches in the Path field above, the path will be completely replaced, even with Start selected in the Rewrite path or start field.

      • Optionally, enable Delete query parameters to remove all query parameters from requests.

      • Optionally, enable Replace scheme to replace the scheme found in requests with the one specified in the field on the right.

        If the original URI uses the http (https) scheme and port 80 (443), changing the scheme will delete the port.

      • Optionally, enable Replace host and specify the new host in the field on the right.

      • Optionally, enable Replace port and specify the new port in the field on the right.

      • In the HTTP status code field, select the static response code to return.

      • In the Response body field, set the static response body to return. To do this, click Select and in the window that opens:

        • In the Method field, select:

          • File: To select a text file containing the response body.
          • Text: To enter the response text in the relevant text box.
          • Click Add.
  13. Click Create.

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI installed yet, install and initialize it.

By default, the CLI uses the folder specified when creating the profile. To change the default folder, use the yc config set folder-id <folder_ID> command. You can also set a different folder for any specific command using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

  1. See the description of the CLI command for creating an HTTP router:

    yc alb http-router create --help
    
  2. Run this command:

    yc alb http-router create <HTTP_router_name>
    

    Result:

    id: a5dcsselagj4********
    name: test-http-router
    folder_id: aoerb349v3h4********
    created_at: "2021-02-11T21:04:59.438292069Z"
    
  3. See the description of the CLI command for creating a virtual host:

    yc alb virtual-host create --help
    
  4. Create a virtual host by specifying its name and these settings:

    yc alb virtual-host create <virtual_host_name> \
      --http-router-name <HTTP_router_name> \
      --authority <domain_1>,<domain_2>,...,<domain_n> \
      --modify-request-header name=Accept-Language,append=ru-RU \
      --modify-response-header name=Accept-Charset,replace=utf-8 \
      --rate-limit rps=100,all-requests \
      --security-profile-id <security_profile_ID>
    

    Where:

    • --http-router-name: HTTP router name.

      Instead of the HTTP router name, you can provide its ID in the --http-router-id parameter.

    • --authority: List of domains for the Host header (HTTP/1.1) or the authority pseudo-header (HTTP/2) associated with this virtual host, comma-separated. You can use wildcards, e.g., *.foo.com or *-bar.foo.com. For gRPC traffic, you may specify the load balancer's IP address.

      This is an optional parameter. If not specified, all traffic will be routed to this virtual host.

    • --modify-request-header: Request HTTP header modification settings in <property>=<value> format. Available properties:

      • name: Modified header name, e.g., Host, User-Agent, X-Forwarded-For, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
      • append: Add a row to the current header value.
      • replace: Completely replace the current header value.
      • rename: Change the header name. The header value will not change.
      • remove: Delete the header. Both the header value and the header itself will be removed.

      To modify multiple HTTP headers in a request, include --modify-request-header as many times as needed.

      This is an optional parameter; if omitted, request headers go to the backend unchanged.

    • --modify-response-header: Response HTTP header modification settings in <property>=<value> format. Available properties:

      • name: Modified header name, e.g., Host, User-Agent, X-Forwarded-For, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
      • append: Add a row to the current header value.
      • replace: Completely replace the current header value.
      • rename: Change the header name. The header value will not change.
      • remove: Delete the header. Both the header value and the header itself will be removed.

      To modify multiple HTTP headers in a response, include --modify-response-header as many times as needed.

      This is an optional parameter; if omitted, response headers go to the client unchanged.

    • --rate-limit: Request rate limit. Available properties:

      • rps or rpm: Number of incoming requests per second or per minute.
      • all-requests: Limits all incoming requests.
      • requests-per-ip: Limits requests per client IP address.

      You can configure only one type of rate limit per virtual host, either all-requests or requests-per-ip.

      This is an optional parameter; if not specified, no rate limiting is applied.

    • --security-profile-id: Yandex Smart Web Security security profile ID. A security profile allows you to filter incoming requests, enable WAF, and set limits on the number of requests for protection against malicious activities. For more information, see Security profiles. This is an optional parameter.

    Result:

    name: test-virtual-host
    authority:
      - example.com
      - example.org
    modify_request_headers:
      - name: Accept-Language
        append: ru-RU
      - name: Accept-Charset
        replace: utf-8
    route_options:
      security_profile_id: fevu5fnuk6vf********
    rate_limit:
      all_requests:
        per_second: "100"
    
  5. See the description of the CLI command for adding a route to the end of the virtual host's route list:

    yc alb virtual-host append-http-route --help
    
  6. Add the route by specifying its name and additional parameters:

    yc alb virtual-host append-http-route <route_name> \
      --http-router-name <HTTP_router_name> \
      --virtual-host-name <virtual_host_name> \
      --match-http-method <method_1>,<method_2>,...<method_n> \
      --exact-path-match <full_path> \
      --prefix-path-match <path_prefix> \
      --regex-path-match <regular_expression> \
      --backend-group-name <backend_group_name> \
      --request-timeout <request_timeout>s \
      --request-idle-timeout <request_idle_timeout>s \
      --rate-limit rps=<request_limit>,requests-per-ip \
      --disable-security-profile
    

    Where:

    • --http-router-name: Name of the HTTPS router you are creating the route in.

      Instead of the HTTP router name, you can provide its ID in the --http-router-id parameter.

    • --virtual-host-name: Name of the virtual host where the route is created.

    • --match-http-method: List of HTTP methods for which requests need to be routed, e.g., --match-http-method GET,POST,OPTIONS. This is an optional parameter. If not specified, requests with any methods will be routed.

    • Parameters with path-based routing conditions:

      • --exact-path-match: Route requests with the same path as the specified one. For example, to route all requests, specify the / path.
      • --prefix-path-match: Route requests whose path starts with the specified prefix, e.g., /myapp/.
      • --regex-path-match: Route requests whose path matches the specified RE2 regular expression, e.g., \/[a-z]{10}[0-9]{3}\/.

      Note

      The --exact-path-match, --prefix-path-match, and --regex-path-match parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

    • --backend-group-name: Name of the backend group located in the same folder as the HTTP router and virtual host for which you are creating the new route.

      Instead of the backend group name, you can provide its ID in the --backend-group-id parameter.

    • --request-timeout: Maximum connection time in seconds for a connection on request.

    • --request-idle-timeout: Maximum connection idle time in seconds.

    • --rate-limit: Request rate limit. Available properties:

      • rps or rpm: Number of incoming requests per second or per minute.
      • all-requests: Limits all incoming requests.
      • requests-per-ip: Limits requests per client IP address.

      You can configure only one type of rate limit per route, either all-requests or requests-per-ip.

      This is an optional parameter; if not specified, no rate limiting is applied.

    • --disable-security-profile: Parameter that disables the use of the virtual host’s Yandex Smart Web Security profile for the route. A security profile allows you to filter incoming requests, enable WAF, and set limits on the number of requests for protection against malicious activity. For more information, see Security profiles. This is an optional parameter. By default, the security profile associated with a virtual host applies to all routes you create.

    Result:
    name: test-virtual-host
    authority:
      - example.com
    routes:
      - name: my-first-route
        http:
          match:
            path:
              prefix_match: /
          route:
            backend_group_id: ds7dnf2s5dco********
            timeout: 60s
            auto_host_rewrite: false
      - name: my-second-route
        http:
          match:
            http_method:
              - GET
              - POST
              - OPTIONS
            path:
              exact_match: /
          route:
            backend_group_id: ds7dnf2s5dco********
            timeout: 2s
            idle_timeout: 5s
            rate_limit:
              requests_per_ip:
                per_second: "10"
        disable_security_profile: true
    modify_request_headers:
      - name: Accept-Language
        append: ru-RU
    route_options:
      security_profile_id: fevu5fnuk6vf********
    rate_limit:
      all_requests:
        per_second: "100"
    

    For more details about the yc alb virtual-host append-http-route command, see the CLI reference.

With Terraform, you can quickly create a cloud infrastructure in Yandex Cloud and manage it using configuration files. These files store the infrastructure description written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). If you change the configuration files, Terraform automatically detects which part of your configuration is already deployed, and what should be added or removed.

Terraform is distributed under the Business Source License. The Yandex Cloud provider for Terraform is distributed under the MPL-2.0 license.

For more information about the provider resources, see the relevant documentation on the Terraform website or its mirror.

If you do not have Terraform yet, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

  1. In the configuration file, specify your HTTP router and virtual host settings:

    resource "yandex_alb_http_router" "tf-router" {
      name          = "<HTTP_router_name>"
      labels        = {
        tf-label    = "tf-label-value"
        empty-label = ""
      }
    }
    
    resource "yandex_alb_virtual_host" "my-virtual-host" {
      name           = "<virtual_host_name>"
      http_router_id = yandex_alb_http_router.tf-router.id
    
      rate_limit {
        all_requests {
          per_second = <requests_per_second>
          # or per_minute = <requests_per_minute>
        }
        requests_per_ip {
          per_second = <requests_per_second>
          # or per_minute = <requests_per_minute>
        }
      }
    
      route {
        name                      = "<route_name>"
        disable_security_profile  = true|false
    
        http_route {
          http_match {
            http_method = ["<HTTP_method_1>","<HTTP_method_2>",...,"<HTTP_method_n>"]
            path {
              prefix = "/<request_path_prefix>/"
              # or exact = "<request_path>"
              # or regex = "<regular_expression>"
            }
          }
    
          http_route_action {
            backend_group_id  = "<backend_group_ID>"
            host_rewrite      = "<Host_header_value>"
            timeout           = "<connection_timeout>s"
            idle_timeout      = "<idle_timeout>s"
            prefix_rewrite    = "<new_request_path_prefix>/"
            rate_limit {
              all_requests {
                per_second = <requests_per_second>
                # or per_minute = <requests_per_minute>
              }
              requests_per_ip {
                per_second = <requests_per_second>
                # or per_minute = <requests_per_minute>
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    
      authority        = ["<domain_1>","<domain_2>",...,"<domain_n>"]
    
      modify_request_headers {
        name           = "<header_name>"
        append         = "<string_added_to_header_content>"
        # or replace  = "<new_header_content>"
        # or remove   = true|false
      }
    
      modify_response_headers {
        name           = "<header_name>"
        append         = "<string_added_to_header_content>"
        # or replace  = "<new_header_content>"
        # or remove   = true|false
      }
    
      route_options {
        security_profile_id = "<security_profile_ID>"
      }
    }
    

    Where:

    • yandex_alb_http_router: HTTP router description.

      • name: HTTP router name. Follow these naming requirements:

        • It must be from 2 to 63 characters long.
        • It can only contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
        • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.
      • labels: HTTP router labels. Specify a key-value pair.

    • yandex_alb_virtual_host: Virtual host description:

      • name: Virtual host name. Follow these naming requirements:

        • It must be from 2 to 63 characters long.
        • It can only contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
        • It must start with a letter and cannot end with a hyphen.
      • http_router_id: HTTP router ID.

      • rate_limit: Request rate limit for the entire virtual host (optional).

        • all_requests: Limit on all requests per second or per minute (optional):

          • per_second: Maximum number of incoming requests to the virtual host per second.
          • per_minute: Maximum number of incoming requests to the virtual host per minute.

          The per_second, and per_minute parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

        • requests_per_ip: Additionally limits requests for each IP address per second or per minute (optional):

          • per_second: Maximum number of incoming requests from a single IP address to the virtual host per second.
          • per_minute: Maximum number of incoming requests from a single IP address to the virtual host per minute.

          The per_second, and per_minute parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

      • route: Virtual host route description:

        • name: Route name.
        • disable_security_profile: Disabling the Yandex Smart Web Security security profile (optional). The possible values are true (the profile is disabled) or false (the profile is enabled). The default value is false: the security profile is enabled.
        • http_route: Route description for HTTP traffic:

          • http_match: Parameter for filtering incoming HTTP requests (optional):

            • http_method: List of HTTP methods for which requests will be routed (optional). By default, requests with any methods are routed.

            • path: Optionally, parameters for filtering the path of an incoming request:

              • exact: Route requests with the same path as the specified one. For example, to route all requests, specify the / path.
              • prefix: Route requests whose path starts with the specified prefix.
              • regex: Route requests whose path matches the specified RE2 regular expression, e.g., \/[a-z]{10}[0-9]{3}\/.

              The exact, prefix, and regex parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

          • http_route_action: Action applied to HTTP traffic.

            • backend_group_id: ID of the backend group located in the same folder as the HTTP router and virtual host of the new route.
            • host_rewrite: Replacing the Host header in the request with the specified value (optional). You specify the auto_host_rewrite parameter instead of the host_rewrite parameter; in this case the Host header in the request will be automatically replaced with the address of the target VM.
            • timeout: Maximum connection time in seconds (optional). The default value is 60 seconds.
            • idle_timeout: Maximum connection idle timeout (keep-alive time) (optional). If not specified, the idle connection will be terminated immediately.
            • prefix_rewrite: Value to replace the path or part of the path specified in the path parameter (optional).
            • rate_limit: Limits the number of requests per unit of time (optional):

              • all_requests: Limits all incoming requests (optional):

                • per_second: Maximum number of incoming requests to a route per second.
                • per_minute: Maximum number of incoming requests to a route per minute.

                The per_second, and per_minute parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

              • requests_per_ip: Limits incoming requests from a single IP address (optional):

                • per_second: Maximum number of incoming requests to a route from a single IP address per second.
                • per_minute: Maximum number of incoming requests to a route from a single IP address per minute.

                The per_second, and per_minute parameters are mutually exclusive: you can use only one of them.

      • authority: HTTP/1.1 Host (HTTP/2 authority) header domains associated with this virtual host. You can use wildcards, e.g., *.foo.com or *-bar.foo.com. For gRPC traffic, you may specify * or the the load balancer's IP address.

        This is an optional parameter. If not specified, all traffic will be routed to this virtual host.

      • modify_request_headers: HTTP request header modification settings. Possible parameters:

        • name: Modified header name, e.g., Host, User-Agent, X-Forwarded-For, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
        • append: Add a row to the current header value.
        • replace: Completely replace the current header value.
        • remove: Delete the header. Both the header value and the header itself will be removed. The possible values are true or false.

        This is an optional parameter; if omitted, request headers go to the backend unchanged.

      • modify_response_headers: HTTP response header modification settings. Possible parameters:

        • name: Modified header name, e.g., Host, User-Agent, X-Forwarded-For, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
        • append: Add a row to the current header value.
        • replace: Completely replace the current header value.
        • remove: Delete the header. Both the header value and the header itself will be removed. The possible values are true or false.

        This is an optional parameter; if omitted, response headers go to the client unchanged.

      • route_options: Additional virtual host parameters (optional):

        • security_profile_id: Security profile ID. A security profile allows you to filter incoming requests, enable WAF, and set limits on the number of requests for protection against malicious activity. For more information, see Security profiles.

    Learn more about the properties of Terraform resources in the relevant Terraform guides:

    • yandex_alb_http_router.
    • yandex_alb_virtual_host.
  2. Create the resources:

    1. In the terminal, go to the directory where you edited the configuration file.

    2. Make sure the configuration file is correct using this command:

      terraform validate
      

      If the configuration is correct, you will get this message:

      Success! The configuration is valid.
      
    3. Run this command:

      terraform plan
      

      You will see a detailed list of resources. No changes will be made at this step. If the configuration contains any errors, Terraform will show them.

    4. Apply the changes:

      terraform apply
      
    5. Type yes and press Enter to confirm the changes.

    Terraform will create all the required resources. You can check your new resources and their settings in the management console or using this CLI command:

    yc alb http-router get <HTTP_router_name>
    

    Timeouts

    The Terraform provider limits the execution time for operations with Application Load Balancer HTTP routers and virtual hosts to 10 minutes.

    Operations in excess of this time will be interrupted.

    How do I modify these limits?

    Add the timeouts section to the descriptions of the HTTP router and virtual host (the yandex_alb_http_router and yandex_alb_virtual_host resources, respectively).

    Here is an example:

    resource "yandex_alb_http_router" "<router_name>" {
      ...
      timeouts {
        create = "60m"
        update = "60m"
        delete = "60m"
      }
    }
    

Use the create REST API method for the HttpRouter resource or the HttpRouterService/Create gRPC API call.

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