Azure Scale Set without Load Balancer

Question

When creating a Scale Set (VMSS) in Azure, I can choose to include a load balancer with it.

What I don't understand is - how does it work if there's no Load Balancer?

So say my Scale Set has 1 VM, and now, b/c of the scaling rules, another VM is added. If there's no LB or App GW, how should I access this VM? Is there some kind of internal load balancer in the Scale Set itself?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If there's no LB or App GW, how should I access this VM? Is there some kind of internal load balancer in the Scale Set itself?

For the VM, you only can associate the public IP address to the NIC of it and the NIC is a separate resource. But for the VMSS, there is no separate NIC of it you can associate the public IP address to. If no public IP address, you cannot access both the VM and the VMSS. So you can only access through the load balancer or the Application Gateway.

Maybe you can use a VM with the public IP address as a jump box and access the VMSS from the VM. But it's a little more complex and expensive.