What is the difference between a Virtual IP and Virtual Service?

A Virtual IP (VIP) is an IP address that is not tied to a specific physical network interface or server. In the context of load balancers, a VIP is used as the front-facing IP address that clients connect to, before traffic is distributed to the backend servers.

A Virtual Service, on the other hand, refers to the specific configuration on the load balancer that defines how traffic reaching the VIP should be handled and distributed to the backend servers. This includes settings like the protocol (HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, etc.), port numbers, health check configurations, session persistence, and the actual backend servers (or pool of servers) where the traffic should be directed.

In summary, the VIP is the address clients use to access the service, while the Virtual Service is the set of rules and configurations that define how that access is managed and routed within the load balancer.