Microsoft KB Archive/305064

= How To Set Up an NLB Cluster for Application Center 2000 =

Article ID: 305064

Article Last Modified on 7/13/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Application Center 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q305064



SUMMARY
This article shows system administrators how to set up an Application Center 2000 cluster that uses network load balancing (NLB).



Prerequisites
In order to create a cluster that uses NLB for load balancing, each server should be running Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed or Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP2 installed.

Configure Network Adapters
Each server must have two network adapters.

Do not enable NLB on your network adapters unless you intend to set up NLB on your own. Application Center 2000 will automatically enable NLB after the New Cluster Wizard finishes running.

The first, or &quot;front-end,&quot; adapter handles all the public traffic between the cluster members and either the Internet or intranet clients. NLB uses the front-end adapter for balancing client requests across the cluster. Because the first member that you are configuring will be the cluster controller, it should have two static IP addresses bound to the adapter. The first IP address that is bound to the adapter will become the dedicated IP address (DIP). The DIP (on the load-balanced adapter) can be used to browse directly to a server in the cluster. This is useful for HTTP monitoring software. Note that server-to-server communication in the cluster is performed through the management adapter. The second IP address that is bound to the adapter will become the cluster IP address, which is sometimes referred to as the &quot;virtual IP address&quot; (VIP). This address must be mapped to the Web site's URL and is common to all the cluster members. Additional static IP addresses that are bound to the front-end adapter will become VIPs.

The second, or back-end, adapter is used for private traffic and outbound traffic to Web clients by default. Application Center uses this adapter for intracluster communications and for supporting its features (such as cluster synchronization), transmitting Application Center heartbeats, and obtaining performance data. This adapter also carries the traffic to back-end databases and component servers. In addition to the Application Center cluster services traffic, a typical cluster will access the following network services through the back-end adapter: the domain controller, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, the Domain Name System (DNS) server, and the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server. You can use either static or DHCP-provided IP addresses on the back-end adapter. The following example uses an IP address that is provided by a DHCP server:

[Web1]                  (Intended cluster controller) Front End Adapter:      (In order of bound IP addresses) - 192.168.0.1           (Intended DIP for Web1) - 192.168.0.100         (Intended VIP for cluster) - 192.168.0.200         (Optional: Intended additional VIP for cluster)

Back End Adapter: - DHCP Assigned IP

[Web2]                  (Intended cluster member) Front End Adapter:      (In order of bound IP addresses) - 192.168.0.2           (Intended DIP for Web2)

Back End Adapter: - DHCP Assigned IP

Create a Cluster
Use the Application Center snap-in to create a new cluster with the following settings:

Cluster Type (keep default): General/Web cluster

Load Balancing (keep default): Network Load Balancing (NLB)

Load Balancing Options:

       Management traffic network adapter: - 

Load balanced network adapter: - 

Example:

Management traffic network adapter: - [DHCP] 10.0.0.1 [00000001] 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI

Load balanced network adapter: - 192.168.0.1 [00000000] 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI

On the Load Balancing Options page, you are selecting a network adapter, not an IP address for load balancing. The IP address that is displayed on the adapter's drop-down menu is simply the first bound IP address on the network adapter. Therefore, the IP addresses that are displayed are irrelevant and are provided only as a reference to identify the network adapter that you are selecting.

Check IP Settings
Use the Application Center snap-in to select the cluster name, and then click Edit IP Addresses in the upper left corner of the &quot;results&quot; pane. The Cluster IP Address Editor will display the current load-balanced IP addresses (VIPs). In this example, these are 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.200. Close the dialog box.

Expand Members, right-click the server Web1, and then click properties. On the General tab, the IP address that is located in the Dedicated IP address text box is the current dedicated IP address (DIP) for Web1. In this example, 192.168.0.1 is listed here.

Configure Web Site Bindings
Use the Internet Information Services snap-in to create a new Web site and assign it to a load-balanced IP address (VIP). For this example, name the Web site WebSite1 and assign it to 192.168.0.100. Next, create another Web site, named WebSite2, and assign it the IP address 192.168.0.200.

Add a Member
Use the Application Center snap-in and add a new cluster member through the Add Cluster Member Wizard. Choose the appropriate network adapters for load balancing (front-end) and management (back-end) and finish the Wizard. In the example, when you add server Web2, 192.168.0.2 becomes the dedicated IP address for server Web2, and the IP addresses of 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.200 are replicated to Web2 as virtual IP addresses (VIP) that are shared between servers Web1 and Web2. Repeat this procedure for each member.

