--- title: Create load balancer on test domain description: Learn about create load balancer on test domain in this guide. image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cf-twitter-card.png --- > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/learning-paths/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. [Skip to content](#%5Ftop) # Create load balancer on test domain Instead of starting on your production domain, you likely should create a load balancer on a test or staging domain. This may involve temporary changes to your monitors and pools, depending on your infrastructure setup. Starting with a test domain allows you to verify everything is working correctly before routing production traffic. ## Create a load balancer * [ Dashboard ](#tab-panel-9468) * [ API ](#tab-panel-9469) To create a Public or a Private load balancer in the dashboard: ### Create a Public load balancer 1. Go to **Load Balancing** and select **Create load balancer**. 2. On the **Load Balancer Setup**, select **Public load balancer** 3. Choose the website to which you want to add this load balancer. 4. On the **Hostname** page: * Enter a **Hostname**, which is the DNS name at which the load balancer is available. For more details on record priority, refer to [DNS records for load balancing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/load-balancers/dns-records/). * From the **Data Localization** dropdown, select the [region](https://developers.cloudflare.com/data-localization/how-to/load-balancing/#regional-services) you would like to use on your domain. * Toggle the orange cloud icon to update the [proxy mode](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/proxy-modes/), which affects how traffic is routed and which IP addresses are advertised. * Add a description for your load balancer. * If you want [session-based load balancing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/session-affinity/), toggle the **Session Affinity** switch. * If you want [Adaptive Routing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/adaptive-routing/), toggle the **Adaptive Routing** switch. 5. Select **Next**. 6. On the **Add a Pool** page: * Select one or more existing pools or [create a new pool](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/pools/create-pool/#create-a-pool). * If you are going to set [traffic steering](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/standard-options/) to **Off**, re-order the pools in your load balancer to adjust the fallback order. * If needed, update the [**Fallback Pool**](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/health-details/#fallback-pools). * If you choose to set traffic steering to **Random**, you can set [Weights](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/standard-options/#random-steering) (via the API) to your pools to determine the percentage of traffic sent to each pool. 7. Select **Next**. 8. On the **Monitors** page: * Review the monitors attached to your pools. * If needed, you can attach an existing monitor or [create a new monitor](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/monitors/create-monitor/#create-a-monitor). 9. Select **Next**. 10. On the **Traffic Steering** page, choose an option for [Traffic steering](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/) and select **Next**. 11. On the **Custom Rules** page, select an existing rule or [create a new rule](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/additional-options/load-balancing-rules/). 12. Select **Next**. 13. On the **Review** page: * Review your configuration and make any changes. * Choose whether to **Save as Draft** or **Save and Deploy**. ### Create a Private load balancer 1. Go to **Load Balancing** and select **Create load balancer**. 2. On the **Load Balancer Setup**, select **Private load balancer** 3. Associate your load balancer with either a Cloudflare private IP or a specified IP address and create a description for your load balancer. 4. On the **Add a Pool** page: * Select one or more existing pools or [create a new pool](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/pools/create-pool/#create-a-pool). * If you are going to set [traffic steering](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/standard-options/) to **Off**, re-order the pools in your load balancer to adjust the fallback order. * If needed, update the [**Fallback Pool**](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/health-details/#fallback-pools). * If you choose to set traffic steering to **Random**, you can set [Weights](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/standard-options/#random-steering) (via the API) to your pools to determine the percentage of traffic sent to each pool. 5. Select **Next**. 6. On the **Monitors** page: * Review the monitors attached to your pools. * If needed, you can attach an existing monitor or [create a new monitor](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/monitors/create-monitor/#create-a-monitor). 7. Select **Next**. 8. On the **Traffic Steering** page, choose an option for [Traffic steering](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/steering-policies/) and select **Next**. 9. Select **Next**. 10. On the **Review** page: * Review your configuration and make any changes. * Choose whether to **Save as Draft** or **Save and Deploy**. For a full list of properties, refer to [Create Load Balancer](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/load%5Fbalancers/methods/create/). If you need help with API authentication, refer to [Cloudflare API documentation](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/). Note Since load balancers only exist on a zone — and not an account — you may need to get the zone `id` with the [List Zones](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/zones/methods/list/) command. Required API token permissions At least one of the following [token permissions](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/) is required: * `Load Balancers Write` Create Load Balancer ``` curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/load_balancers" \ --request POST \ --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \ --json '{ "description": "Load Balancer for lb.example.com", "name": "lb.example.com", "enabled": true, "ttl": 30, "fallback_pool": "17b5962d775c646f3f9725cbc7a53df4", "default_pools": [ "17b5962d775c646f3f9725cbc7a53df4", "9290f38c5d07c2e2f4df57b1f61d4196", "00920f38ce07c2e2f4df50b1f61d4194" ], "proxied": true, "steering_policy": "random_steering", "session_affinity": "cookie", "session_affinity_attributes": { "samesite": "Auto", "secure": "Auto", "drain_duration": 100, "zero_downtime_failover": "sticky" }, "session_affinity_ttl": 5000, "adaptive_routing": { "failover_across_pools": true }, "location_strategy": { "prefer_ecs": "always", "mode": "resolver_ip" }, "random_steering": { "pool_weights": { "de90f38ced07c2e2f4df50b1f61d4194": 0.3, "9290f38c5d07c2e2f4df57b1f61d4196": 0.5 }, "default_weight": 0.2 } }' ``` The response contains the complete definition of the new load balancer. Response ``` { "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": [], "result": { "id": "699d98642c564d2e855e9661899b7252", "created_on": "2021-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z", "modified_on": "2021-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z", "description": "Load Balancer for lb.example.com", "name": "lb.example.com", "enabled": true, "ttl": 30, "fallback_pool": "17b5962d775c646f3f9725cbc7a53df4", "default_pools": [ "17b5962d775c646f3f9725cbc7a53df4", "9290f38c5d07c2e2f4df57b1f61d4196", "00920f38ce07c2e2f4df50b1f61d4194" ], "proxied": true, "steering_policy": "random_steering", "session_affinity": "cookie", "session_affinity_attributes": { "samesite": "Auto", "secure": "Auto", "drain_duration": 100, "zero_downtime_failover": "sticky" }, "session_affinity_ttl": 5000, "random_steering": { "pool_weights": { "de90f38ced07c2e2f4df50b1f61d4194": 0.3, "9290f38c5d07c2e2f4df57b1f61d4196": 0.5 }, "default_weight": 0.2 } }} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/learning-paths/load-balancing/setup/test-load-balancer/#page","headline":"Create load balancer on test domain · Cloudflare Learning Paths","description":"Learn about create load balancer on test domain in this guide.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/learning-paths/load-balancing/setup/test-load-balancer/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cf-twitter-card.png","dateModified":"2026-04-23","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/directory/","name":"Directory"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/learning-paths/","name":"Learning Paths"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"/learning-paths/load-balancing/setup/","name":"Setup"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/learning-paths/load-balancing/setup/test-load-balancer/","name":"Create load balancer on test domain"}}]} ```