Network Load Balancing
Network load balancing feature distributes traffic across several servers by using the TCP/IP
networking protocol.
By combining two or more computers that are running applications into a single virtual cluster,
NLB provides reliability and performance for web servers and other mission critical servers.
The servers which hold static content eg, a web front end servers, or web application server.
Combining these two or more static content holding servers and distribute the traffic across multiple
servers is the role of NLB cluster.
The servers in an NLB cluster are called hosts and each hosts runs a separate copy of server
application.
NLB distributes incoming client request across the hosts in the cluster. You can also add hosts
dynamically to the cluster to handle increased load.
NLB can also direct all traffic to a designated single host and it is called the default host.
NLB allows all of the computers in the cluster to be addressed by the same set of IP addresses
and it maintains a set of unique dedicated IP addresses for each host.
For load-balanced applications, when a host fails or goes offline, the load is automatically
redistributed among the computers that are still operating.
High Availability
A high availability system reliably provides an acceptable level of service with minimal
downtime.
To provide high availability, NLB includes built-in features that can automatically:
Detect a cluster host that fails or goes offline and then recover.
Balance the network load when hosts are added or removed.
Recover and redistribute the workload within ten seconds.
Scalability
Scalability is the measure of how well a computer, service, or application can grow to meet
Increasing performance demands.
For NLB clusters, scalability is the ability to incrementally add one or more systems to an existing
Cluster when the overall load of the cluster exceeds its capabilities.
To Support scalability, you can do the following with NLB:
Balance load requests across the NLB cluster for individual TCP/IP services.
Support up to 32 computers in a single cluster.
Balance multiple server load requests (from the same client or from the server clients)
across multiple hosts in the cluster.
Add hosts to the NLB cluster as the load increases, without causing the cluster to fail.
Remove hosts from the cluster when the load decreases.
NLB functionality
NLB is installed as a standard windows server networking driver component ([Link]).
Its operations are transparent to the TCP/IP networking stack.
NLB Features
Enables clients to access the cluster by using a single, logical Internet name and virtual
IP address, which is known as the cluster IP.
NLB allows multiple virtual IP addresses for multihomed servers.
Requires no modification to server applications so that they can run in an NLB cluster.
Enables you to take computers offline for preventive maintenance without disturbing
the cluster operations on the other hosts.
Configure NLB Nodes
[Link] is the command used to open the Ethernet Network connection.
Ethernet network ->properties->Internet protocol version 4(TCP/IPV4)
NLB does not support dynamic IP address so configure static IP in the Ethernet.
In the nodes configure the static IP address.
Install the webserver (IIS) in the nodes.
NLB Feature
From the server Manager ->Select the server ->Add Roles and Feature.
Select Role based or feature based installation.
Do not select anything in the Roles.
In the Features-> Select Network Load balancing and add the features.
Click-> Next and Install.
Configuring NLB on First Node
From the server Manager-> Tools-> Network load Balancing Manager
Click Cluster->New -> Give Name to Host (Server Name) -> Select the Ethernet interface
Click Next-> Add IP address in the “Cluster IP addresses” section
Click Next-> Add Full internet name eg: “[Link]”
This name cannot be resolved automatically. We need to create A record in the host file.
Select the cluster operation mode. It is recommended to select Multicast to avoid
packet flooding.
Enter the port numbers in the port rules and click finish.
Now check the cluster status, it should be “converged” status means the cluster is
ready.
Configuring NLB on second Node
From the server Manager-> Tools-> Network load Balancing Manager
Click Cluster-> connect to existing cluster->Give the Host IP address of the first existing
node name or IP address.
Once we have added the first node IP then click “Add host to cluster” and finish the
configuration.
Once the status of all Nodes are active, create an IIS website and Test if it is working.
When the node 1 fails it will take only 10 sec to switch to Node 2 and we will save the
downtime and server will be up.