Module 13: Network Load

Balancing Fundamentals
Module 13: Network Load Balancing Fundamentals
• Server Availability and Scalability Overview

• Windows Network Load Balancing

• Configuring Windows Network Load Balancing

Lesson 1: Server Availability and Scalability Overview
• What Is Availability?

• What Is Scalability?

• What Is Load Balancing?

• Comparing Hardware and Software Load Balancing

• What Is Failover Clustering?

What Is Availability?

Availability is a level of service that

applications, services, or systems provide,
expressed as a percentage of time
Highly available services or systems are
available more than 99% of the time

High availability:
• Requirements differ based on how availability is
measured
• Does not typically include planned outages when
calculating availability
What Is Scalability?

Scalability measures the ability to increase capacity

Scaling up:

• Increases the capacity of a single server

• Involves adding more or better hardware to a server

Scaling out:

• Increases the capacity of an application

• Involves adding additional servers to perform
processing
What Is Load Balancing?

Load Balancing is a system that

increases the scalability and
availability of the servers that
provide access to data

Other load balancing methods:

• A virtual IP address is used to distribute requests

between multiple servers
• Not suitable for all applications
Comparing Hardware and Software Load Balancing
Hardware load balancing:
• Uses a device to provide the virtual IP

• Requires multiple devices to guarantee fault tolerance

Software load balancing:

• All cluster nodes provide the virtual IP

• There is no single point of failure

What Is Failover Clustering?

Private
Network

Active Node

Shared Public
Storage Network

Active Node

Passive Node
Lesson 2: Windows Network Load Balancing
• What Is Windows Network Load Balancing?

• Requirements for Windows Network Load Balancing

• How Windows Network Load Balancing Works

• Data Synchronization between NLB Nodes

What Is Windows Network Load Balancing?
Windows NLB:
• Is a fully distributed software solution for load balancing

• Is included with all versions of Windows Server® 2008

Session Broker:
• For Terminal Services

• Distributes session requests to the least loaded server

• Provides scalability and availability

• Included in all version of Windows Server 2008

Requirements for Windows Network Load Balancing
Requirements:
• At least one network adapter for load balancing

• Only TCP/IP on the NLB adapter

• All NLB nodes on the same subnet

How Windows Network Load Balancing Works
Unicast mode:
• A unique NLB MAC address is assigned to NLB adapter in all nodes

• The original MAC address of the NLB adapter cannot be used

• Packets are received by all NLB nodes

• Only the appropriate NLB node responds

• Outgoing MAC is unique for each node to avoid switch problems

Multicast mode:
• A multicast MAC address is assigned to the NLB adapter in all
nodes
• The original MAC address of the NLB adapter can still be used

• Removes the need for two network adapters

• Only the appropriate NLB node responds

Data Synchronization between NLB Nodes

All NLB nodes must have the same data to make sure
that all nodes respond identically to requests

Data access can be provided by:

• Synchronizing content between servers

• Storing data in a common location

Database Server

NLB Cluster
Lesson 3: Configuring Windows Network Load
Balancing
• What Are the Cluster Parameters?

• What Are Port Rules?

• What Is the Filtering Mode?

• What Is Affinity?

• What Are the Host Parameters?

• Demonstration: Creating an NLB Cluster

What Are the Cluster Parameters?
Cluster parameters include the following:

Cluster parameter Description

IP address Virtual IP address of the NLB cluster

Network address MAC address of the NLB cluster

Specified whether unicast or multicast

Cluster operation mode
operation is used
What Are Port Rules?

Port rules specify how requests to a certain IP address

and port range are handled

Port rules define:

• Filtering mode
• Affinity
• Load weight
• Handling priority
What Is the Filtering Mode?

Filtering mode Description

All NLB nodes respond based on the weight
Multiple hosts
assigned to each node
Only the NLB node with the highest priority
Single host
responds
Disable this port range All traffic for this port range is blocked
What Is Affinity?

Affinity controls how requests from a client are

distributed among multiple nodes in an NLB cluster

Affinity Description
Each client request could be distributed to any
None
node
All requests from a single client are distributed to
Single
a single node
All requests from a single class C sized network
Network
are distributed to a single node
What Are the Host Parameters?
Host parameters include the following:

Host parameter Description

Specifies whether the host automatically
Initial host state
joins the NLB cluster when started
IP address that is used on the host for
Dedicated IP address
cluster management
Determines in which order the host is when
Priority
a port rule does not apply
Demonstration: Creating an NLB Cluster
In this demonstration, you will see how to configure an NLB
cluster
Lab: Implementing Network Load Balancing
• Exercise 1: Preparing Web Servers for NLB

• Exercise 2: Creating an NLB Cluster for Failover

• Exercise 3: Configuring an NLB Cluster for Load Balancing

Logon information
NYC-DC1, NYC-WEB,
Virtual machine NYC-SVR1

User name Administrator

Password Pa$$w0rd

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Lab Review
• When an NLB cluster is configured with single host filtering
mode, how is the responding node determined?
• When an NLB cluster is configured with multihost filtering
mode, how is the responding node determined?
Module Review and Takeaways
• Review Questions

• Real-world Issues and Scenarios

• Best Practices

• Tools