# Create a target group for your Network Load Balancer
<a name="create-target-group"></a>

You register targets for your Network Load Balancer with a target group. By default, the load balancer sends requests to registered targets using the port and protocol that you specified for the target group. You can override this port when you register each target with the target group.

To route traffic to the targets in a target group, create a listener and specify the target group in the default action for the listener. For more information, see [Default actions](load-balancer-listeners.md#default-actions). You can specify the same target group in multiple listeners, but these listeners must belong to the same Network Load Balancer. To use a target group with a load balancer, you must verify that the target group is not in use by a listener for any other load balancer. 

You can add or remove targets from your target group at any time. For more information, see [Register targets for your Network Load Balancer](target-group-register-targets.md). You can also modify the health check settings for your target group. For more information, see [Update the health check settings of a Network Load Balancer target group](modify-health-check-settings.md).

**Requirements**
+ After you create a target group, you can't change its target type or its IP address type.
+ All targets in a target group must have the same IP address type as the target group: IPv4 or IPv6.
+ You must use an IPv6 target group with a dualstack load balancer.
+ You can't use an IPv4 target group with a UDP listener for a `dualstack` load balancer.
+ You can't use an IPv6 target group with QUIC or TCP\$1QUIC protocols.

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#### [ Console ]

**To create a target group**

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/).

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Target Groups**.

1. Choose **Create target group**.

1. For the **Basic configuration** pane, do the following:

   1. For **Choose a target type**, select **Instances** to register targets by instance ID, **IP addresses** to register targets by IP address, or **Application Load Balancer** to register an Application Load Balancer as a target.

   1. For **Target group name**, enter a name for the target group. This name must be unique per Region per account, can have a maximum of 32 characters, must contain only alphanumeric characters or hyphens, and must not begin or end with a hyphen.

   1. For **Protocol**, choose a protocol as follows:
      + If the listener protocol is TCP, choose **TCP** or **TCP\$1UDP**.
      + If the listener protocol is TLS, choose **TCP** or **TLS**.
      + If the listener protocol is UDP, choose **UDP** or **TCP\$1UDP**.
      + If the listener protocol is TCP\$1UDP, choose **TCP\$1UDP**.
      + If the listener protocol is QUIC, choose **QUIC**.
      + If the listener protocol is TCP\$1QUIC, choose **TCP\$1QUIC**.
      + If the target type is **Application Load Balancer**, the protocol must be TCP.

   1. For **Port**, modify the default value as needed.

      If the target type is **Application Load Balancer**, the port must match the listener port of the Application Load Balancer.

   1. For **IP address type**, choose **IPv4** or **IPv6**. This option is available only if the target type is **Instances** or **IP addresses**.

   1. For **VPC**, select the virtual private cloud (VPC) with the targets to register.

1. For the **Health checks** pane, modify the default settings as needed. For **Advanced health check settings**, choose the health check port, count, timeout, interval, and specify success codes. If health checks consecutively exceed the **Unhealthy threshold** count, the load balancer takes the target out of service. If health checks consecutively exceed the **Healthy threshold** count, the load balancer puts the target back in service. For more information, see [](target-group-health-checks.md).

1. (Optional) To add a tag, expand **Tags**, choose **Add tag**, and enter a tag key and a tag value.

1. Choose **Next**.

1. (Optional) Register targets. The target type of the target group determines the information that you provide. If you aren't ready to register targets now, you can register them later.
   + **Instances** – Select the EC2 instances, enter the ports, and choose **Include as pending below**.
   + **IP addresses** – Choose the VPC that contains the IP addresses or **Other private IP addresses**, enter the IP addresses and ports, and choose **Include as pending below**.
   + **Application Load Balancer** – Select the Application Load Balancer. For more information, see [Use Application Load Balancers as targets](application-load-balancer-target.md).

1. Choose **Create target group**.

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#### [ AWS CLI ]

**To create a target group**  
Use the [create-target-group](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/elbv2/create-target-group.html) command. The following example creates a target group with the TCP protocol, targets registered by IP address, one tag, and default health check settings.

```
aws elbv2 create-target-group \
    --name my-target-group \
    --protocol TCP \
    --port 80 \
    --target-type ip \
    --vpc-id vpc-1234567890abcdef0 \
    --tags Key=department,Value=123
```

**To register targets**  
Use the [register-targets](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/elbv2/register-targets.html) command to register targets with the target group. For examples, see [Register targets](target-group-register-targets.md#register-targets).

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#### [ CloudFormation ]

**To create a target group**  
Define a resource of type [AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::TargetGroup](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-elasticloadbalancingv2-targetgroup.html). The following example creates a target group with the TCP protocol, targets registered by IP address, one tag, default health check settings, and two registered targets.

```
Resources:
  myTargetGroup:
    Type: 'AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::TargetGroup'
    Properties:
      Name: my-target-group
      Protocol: TCP
      Port: 80
      TargetType: ip
      VpcId: !Ref myVPC
      Tags: 
        - Key: 'department'
          Value: '123'
      Targets:
        - Id: 10.0.50.10
          Port: 80
        - Id: 10.0.50.20
          Port: 80
```

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