---
description: Private load balancers support Hash endpoint steering and session affinity, keyed on the Cloudflare One Client device or the source IP address.
title: Steer Cloudflare One users and private networks to the same endpoint with session affinity and hash steering in private load balancers
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-11-04-private-lb-session-affinity/og.png?v=e8bc822ff4652562
---

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November 4, 2026

## Steer Cloudflare One users and private networks to the same endpoint with session affinity and hash steering in private load balancers

[Load Balancing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/) [Cloudflare Tunnel](https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/) [Cloudflare Mesh](https://developers.cloudflare.com/mesh/)

Copy as Markdown| [View as Markdown](https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-11-04-private-lb-session-affinity/index.md)| [Agent setup](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/)

[Private load balancers](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/private-network/) can now keep each user on the same endpoint. This helps with applications that keep session state on a single server.

Cloudflare One Client or Cloudflare WAN site

Connects to `100.112.0.0`

[Private load balancer](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/private-network/)

Picks a healthy endpoint based on your steering policy

[Health monitors](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/monitors/) [Steering](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/) [Session affinity](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/session-affinity/#private-load-balancers)

- Pool 1 [Cloudflare Tunnel](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/networks/connectors/cloudflare-tunnel/)
  - `10.0.0.1`vnet-a
- Pool 2 [Cloudflare Mesh node](https://developers.cloudflare.com/mesh/)
  - `10.1.0.1`default
- Pool 3 [Cloudflare WAN](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-wan/)
  - `10.2.0.1`default

*Endpoint = IP address + virtual network*

Two options are available:

- **Hash endpoint steering.** In the dashboard, set a pool's **Endpoint steering** to [**Hash**](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/traffic-steering/origin-level-steering/hash-origin-steering/#private-load-balancers). Each user is mapped to an endpoint within the pool.
- **Session affinity.** With the API, set `session_affinity` to `ip_cookie` on the load balancer. Each user stays on the same endpoint while it remains healthy and your pools do not change. Refer to [Session affinity](https://developers.cloudflare.com/load-balancing/understand-basics/session-affinity/#private-load-balancers).

For traffic from the [Cloudflare One Client](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/team-and-resources/devices/cloudflare-one-client/), Cloudflare identifies the user by their device, so a user stays on the same endpoint even if their IP address changes. For other traffic, such as from a [Cloudflare WAN](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-wan/) site, Cloudflare uses the source IP address.

This works for endpoints reached through Cloudflare Tunnel, Cloudflare Mesh, and Cloudflare WAN. Affinity pins the endpoint, not the `cloudflared` or Mesh replica that carries the traffic.

To learn how private load balancing fits with your connectors, refer to [Load balance private network traffic](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/networks/load-balancing/).

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