install and configure nlb

8/3/2019 Install and Configure NLB

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Install and Configure NLB (WLBS) on WindowsServer 2008

May

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Error when opening an EXE file You receive an HTTP Error 401.1 error whenaccessing a SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint 2010site on a web front end

Series: WLBS and NLB

Install and Configure NLB (WLBS) on Windows Server 2008 Install and Configure NLB (WLBS) on Windows 2003 Server WLBS (NLB) Multicast vs Unicast

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In this article I will load balance 2 servers and take you through the process step-by-step. Load Balancing takes 2 or

more servers and lets them share one IP address so both servers can serve client requests. At the end of this article

you should be able to configure NLB.

Gathering InformationLog onto both of the servers and run IPCONFIG /ALL from the command prompt. We need the name, domain and IP

address of each server that will be in the NLB Cluster. We will also need to make up an additional name for the

cluster in this example we will use SERVER-LB for the virtual cluster name.

The 2 servers we will be Load Balancing are PL2008-01 and PL2008-02. The virtual cluster name will be PL2008-V.

So if this was a web server users would go tohttp://PL2008-V, depending how we configure NLB either PL2008-01,

PL2008-02 or both servers will service the web request.

SERVER NAME IPADDRESS

TYPE

PL2008-01.pintolake.net

192.168.1.180

Server 1

PL2008-02.pintolake.net

192.168.1.181

Server 2

PL2008-V.pintolake.net

192.168.1.182

Virtual cluster name and IP address ofServers 1/2

In this example both servers only have one network card. If you have multiple network cards you will still be able to

load balance the 2 servers. You need to configure one NIC per server for NLB, both NICs should be on the same

VLAN and be they should able to contact each other.

PL2008-01
http://www.jppinto.com/2009/04/error-when-opening-an-exe-file/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/03/install-and-configure-wlbs-nlb-on-windows-2003-server/http://www.jppinto.com/2010/10/wlbs-nlb-multicast-vs-unicast/http://www.jppinto.com/2010/10/wlbs-nlb-multicast-vs-unicast/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/05/install-and-configure-wlbs-nlb-on-windows-server-2008/http://www.jppinto.com/feed/http://www.jppinto.com/feed/http://pl2008-v/http://pl2008-v/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/06/you-receive-an-http-error-4011-error-when-accessing-a-moss-sharepoint-2007-site-on-a-web-front-end/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/03/install-and-configure-wlbs-nlb-on-windows-2003-server/http://www.jppinto.com/2010/10/wlbs-nlb-multicast-vs-unicast/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/05/install-and-configure-wlbs-nlb-on-windows-server-2008/http://www.jppinto.com/feed/http://pl2008-v/http://www.jppinto.com/2009/04/error-when-opening-an-exe-file/


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PL2008-02

Installation of NLB feature on all NLB nodes

This should be done on ALL NODES in the NLB Cluster. In this case we are performing this installation on PL2008-01 and PL2008-02.

Open Server Manager, you can open this several different ways in Windows Server 2008. Probably the quickest way

to open Server Manager is to right click "My Computer" and choose "Manage", another way is open "Control Panel"

go to "Program and Features" and select "Turn Windows features on or off". A third way to open it is "Server

Manager" option under Administrative Tools.

Select "Features" from the Server Manager menu on the left


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Press "Add Features"

Select the checkbox next to "Network Load Balancing"

Press "Next"

Press "Install"


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Installation will proceed to install the necessary components


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Installation has successes. It is highly recommended that you repeat this process on all nodes in the NLB cluster at

this point before continuing with configuration

Press "Close"


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NOTE: Network Load Balancing may also be installed from a command prompt with

elevated privileges (right click on the command prompt in the Start menu and selectRunas administrator) by running theservermanagercmd -install nlb command.For example:C:\Windows\system32>servermanagercmd -install nlb

......

Start Installation...

[Installation] Succeeded: [Network Load Balancing].

Success: Installation succeeded.

Configuring NLB on NODE 1 (PL2008-01)

Network Load Balanced clusters are built using the Network Load Balancing Managerwhich you can start from Start-> All Programs -> Administrative Tools menu or from a command prompt by executing nlbmgr.

Under the Cluster Menu option select "New"


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Enter the first node in the cluster which is PL2008-01

Press "Connect"


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You will have the option to choose which network adapter you want to use, the NIC should be on the same subnet as

the other servers in the NLB cluster

Press "Next"


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Enter the Priority ID as, 1 (each node in the NLB cluster should have a UNIQUE ID)

Make sure the correct adapter was selected under "Dedicated IP Address"

Select "Started" for the "Initial host state" (this tells NLB whether you want this node to participate in the cluster at

startup)

Press "Next"


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Press "Add"

Enter the Cluster IP and Subnet mask

Press "OK"


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You can add multiple IP Addresses for the cluster, enter as many as you want.

Make sure the "Cluster IP addresses" are correct

Press "Next"


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Select the IP Address for this cluster

Enter the NLB address "PL2008-V.pintolake.net"

Enter " Unicast" as the "Cluster operation mode"

Press "Next"


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Unicast vs MulticastUnicast/Multicast is the way the MAC address for the Virtual IP is presented to therouters. In my experience I have almost always used Multicast, which if you use youshould enter a persistent ARP entry on all upstream switches or you will not be able toping the servers remotely.In the unicast method:

The cluster adapters for all cluster hosts are assigned the same unicast MACaddress.

The outgoing MAC address for each packet is modified, based on the clusterhosts priority setting, to prevent upstream switches from discovering that allcluster hosts have the same MAC address.

In the multicast method: The cluster adapter for each cluster host retains the original hardware unicast

MAC address (as specified by the hardware manufacture of the network

adapter). The cluster adapters for all cluster hosts are assigned a multicast MAC address. The multicast MAC is derived from the clusters IP address. Communication between cluster hosts is not affected, because each cluster host

retains a unique MAC address.Selecting the Unicast or Multicast Method of Distributing IncomingRequestshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782694.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782694.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782694.aspx


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I am leaving all the default for the port rules; by default its set to all ports with Single affinity, which is sticky. For more

information on Port Rules, see my Note below.

Press "Finish"

NOTE: Add/Edit Port Rule SettingsFor most scenarios I would keep the default settings. The most important setting isprobably the filtering mode. "Single" works well for most web application, it maintainsa users session on one server so if the user server requests go to PL2008-01, PL2008-02will continue to serve that request for the duration of the session.None

You want to ensure even load balancing among cluster hosts Client traffic is stateless (for example, HTTP traffic).

Single You want to ensure that requests from a specific client (IP address) are sent to

the same cluster host. Client state is maintained across TCP connections (for example, HTTPS traffic).

Class C Client requests from a Class C IP address range (instead of a single IP address)

are sent to the same cluster host. Clients use multiple proxy servers to access the cluster, and they appear to have

multiple IP addresses within the same Class C IP address range. Client state is maintained across TCP connections (for example, HTTPS traffic).


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For more information on this please see this TechNet article:Specifying the Affinity and Load-Balancing Behavior of the Custom Port Rulehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759039.aspx

You should see a couple of things in the NLB Manager, this will let us know that this node successfully converged on

our new PL2008-V.pintolake.net NLB Cluster

Make sure the nodes status changes to "Converged"

Make sure you see a "succeeded" message in the log window
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759039.aspx


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Configuring NLB for NODE 2 (PL2008-02)We will configure PL2008-02 from PL2008-01. If we wanted to configure this from PL2008-02 then we would need to

connect to the PL2008-V cluster first then add the host to the cluster.

Right click the cluster name "PL2008-V.pintolake.net" and select "Add Host to Cluster"

Enter PL2008-02 and press "Connect"

A list of Network adapters will show up


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Select the network adapter you want to use for Load Balancing

Press "Next"

This step is very important; each node in the NLB cluster should have a unique identifier. This identifier is used to

identify the node in the cluster.

Enter the Priority ID as, 2 (each node in the NLB cluster should have a UNIQUE ID)

Make sure the correct adapter was selected under "Dedicated IP Address"

Select "Started" for the "Initial host state" (this tells NLB whether you want this node to participate in the cluster at

startup)

Press "Next"


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Press "Finish"


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You should see a couple of things in the NLB Manager, this will let us know that both nodes successfully converged

on our new PL2008-V.pintolake.net NLB Cluster

Make sure that both nodes status changes to "Converged"

Make sure each node has a unique "host priority" ID

Make sure each node is "started" under "initial host state"

Make sure you see a "succeeded" message in the log window for the second node


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A closer look at the configuration information for this NLB cluster

Testing Go to the command prompt and type " wlbs query", as you can see HOST 1 and HOST 2 converged successfully on

the cluster. This means things are working well.

Ping each server locally and remotely

Ping the virtual IP locally and remotely you should do this three times from each location. If you cannot ping

remotely you may need to add a static ARP entry in your switches and/or routers where the host machines reside

1 Both nodes up

2 Node 1 down

3 Node 2 down


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NLB Documentation (from Windows Help)Availability, scalability, and clustering technologies

Windows Server 2008 provides two clustering technologies: failover clusters and Network Load Balancing (NLB).

Failover clusters primarily provide high availability; Network Load Balancing provides scalability and at the same time

helps increase availability of Web-based services.

Your choice of cluster technologies (failover clusters or Network Load Balancing) depends primarily on whether the

applications you run have long-running in-memory state:

Failover clusters are designed for applications that have long-running in-memory state, or that have large, frequently

updated data states. These are called stateful applications, and they include database applications and messaging

applications. Typical uses for failover clusters include file servers, print servers, database servers, and messaging

servers.

Network Load Balancing is intended for applications that do not have long-running in-memory state. These are called

stateless applications. A stateless application treats each client request as an independent operation, and therefore it

can load-balance each request independently. Stateless applications often have read-only data or data that changes

infrequently. Front-end Web servers, virtual private networks (VPNs), File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers, and

firewall and proxy servers typically use Network Load Balancing. Network Load Balancing clusters can also support

other TCP- or UDP-based services and applications.

Network Load Balancing overview

The Network Load Balancing (NLB) service enhances the availability and scalability of Internet server applications

such as those used on Web, FTP, firewall, proxy, virtual private network (VPN), and other mission-critical servers.

What are NLB clusters?

A single computer running Windows can provide a limited level of server reliability and scalable performance.

However, by combining the resources of two or more computers running one of the products in Windows Server 2008


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into a single virtual cluster, NLB can deliver the reliability and performance that Web servers and other mission-critical

servers need.

Each host runs a separate copy of the desired server applications (such as applications for Web, FTP, and Telnet

servers). NLB distributes incoming client requests across the hosts in the cluster. The load weight to be handled by

each host can be configured as necessary. You can also add hosts dynamically to the cluster to handle increased

load. In addition, NLB can direct all traffic to a designated single host, which is called the default host.

NLB allows all of the computers in the cluster to be addressed by the same set of cluster 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. When a computer

fails or goes offline unexpectedly, active connections to the failed or offline server are lost. However, if you bring a

host down intentionally, you can use the drainstop command to service all active connections prior to bringing the

computer offline. In any case, when it is ready, the offline computer can transparently rejoin the cluster and regain its

share of the workload, which allows the other computers in the cluster to handle less traffic.

Hardware and software considerations for NLB clusters NLB is installed as a standard Windows networking driver component.

NLB requires no hardware changes to enable and run.

NLB Manager enables you to create new NLB clusters and to configure and manage clusters and all of the clusters

hosts from a single remote or local computer.

NLB lets clients access the cluster by using a single, logical Internet name and virtual IP addressknown as the

cluster IP address (it retains individual names for each computer). NLB allows multiple virtual IP addresses for

multihomed servers.

Note:

In the case of virtual clusters, the servers do not need to be multihomed to have multiple virtual IP addresses.

NLB can be bound to multiple network adapters, which allows you to configure multiple independent clusters on each

host. Support for multiple network adapters is different from virtual clusters in that virtual clusters allow you to

configure multiple clusters on a single network adapter.

Installing the NLB feature

To use Network Load Balancing (NLB), a computer must have only TCP/IP on the adapter on which NLB is installed.

Do not add any other protocols (for example, IPX) to this adapter. NLB can load balance any application or service

that uses TCP/IP as its network protocol and is associated with a specific Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port.

To install and configure NLB, you must use an account that is listed in the Administrators group on each host. If you

are not using an account in the Administrators group as you install and configure each host, you will be prompted to

provide the logon credentials for such an account. To set up an account that NLB Manager will use by default: in NLB

Manager, expand the Options menu, and then click Credentials. We recommend that this account not be used for any

other purpose.

You can use Initial Configuration Tasks or Server Manager to install NLB. To install NLB, in the list of tasks, click Add

features and in the list of features in the wizard, click Network Load Balancing.


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Managing NLB

Server roles and features are managed by using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins. To open the

Network Load Balancing Manager snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Network Load

Balancing Manager. You can also open Network Load Balancing Manager by typing Nlbmgr at a command prompt.

Additional references for NLBTo learn more about NLB, you can view the Help on your server. To do this, open Network Load Balancing Manager

as described in the previous section and press F1.

For deployment information for NLB, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87253

For instructions on how to configure NLB with Terminal Services, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80406

For operations information for NLB, seehttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87254

For troubleshooting information for NLB, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87255
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87253http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80406http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87254http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87254http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87255http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87253http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80406http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87254http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87255

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