L7 SPI is expensive whereas simple routing of 1 Gbps usually demands only a single core and 64-128 MiB of RAM. Large production shops have such FE load balance

L7 SPI is expensive whereas simple routing of 1 Gbps usually demands only a single core and 64-128 MiB of RAM. Large production shops have such FE load balancer / router boxes in HA mode (ie CARP) that barely break a sweat.