Layer load balancing operates at the application layer. The load balancer inspects request content and makes routing decisions based on URLs, headers, cookies, or request bodies.
A Layer balancer can send /api/* requests to your API servers and /images/* to your CDN. It can route logged-in users to stateful servers and anonymous users to stateless servers.
This flexibility requires more processing. The load balancer must terminate TLS, parse HTTP, and potentially reassemble requests. Expect higher latency than Layer , but smarter routing.