[Yandex Cloud documentation](../../index.md) > [Yandex Network Load Balancer](../index.md) > [Concepts](index.md) > Network load balancer types

# Network load balancer types

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You can only set the load balancer type (internal or external) when creating it and cannot change it later.

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Here are the options for deploying a network load balancer in Yandex Cloud:

* External load balancer (`EXTERNAL`), which is created by default. It is used to handle Internet traffic.
* Internal load balancer (`INTERNAL`), which is used to handle internal Virtual Private Cloud traffic.

These load balancers operate similarly, but you should keep the following distinctions in mind:

| **Load balancer property** | **External** | **Internal**
| --- | --- | --- |
| Listener IP address | [Public](../../vpc/concepts/ips.md) IP addresses only | IP addresses from [RFC-1918](https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1918.txt) only |
| Blocking the listener target port for traffic on target VMs | Active (*) | Blocked | 
| Blocking the listener target port for health checks on target VMs | Active | Active (**) |
| Locality in traffic processing | - | [Considerations apply](specifics.md#nlb-int-locality) |
| Use of static routes | - | [Considerations apply](specifics.md#nlb-int-routing) |

Explanation of the table:
* The VM ports (Target-Port) used to receive traffic from the internal load balancer become unavailable for connection. 
The VMs will only receive traffic from the internal load balancer. The same restriction will not allow a VM from the load balancer's target group to access it through the port being used.
* (*) A VM from the load balancer's target group cannot access itself through the target port.
* (**) The health check port (Healthcheck-Port) on target VMs is available for connection if it does not match the target port (Target-Port) of the load balancer listener.  

## Use cases {#examples}

* [Deploying an Always On availability group with an internal network load balancer](../tutorials/mssql-alwayson-lb.md)
* [Connecting to Container Registry from Virtual Private Cloud](../tutorials/vpc-cr-access.md)
* [Connecting to Object Storage from Virtual Private Cloud](../tutorials/storage-vpc-access.md)
* [Implementing fault-tolerant scenarios for NAT VMs](../tutorials/route-switcher.md)
* [Integrating Cloud DNS and a corporate DNS service](../tutorials/dns-integration.md)
* [Migrating services from an NLB to an L7 ALB to enable Yandex Smart Web Security protection](../tutorials/migration-from-nlb-to-alb/index.md)

#### See also {#see-also}

* [Cloud load balancers: Enhancing availability and fault tolerance](https://yandex.cloud/ru/blog/posts/2025/04/load-balancers-guide)