Question

Network Load Balancing and Failover Support on Windows 2003 server

Asked by: zulu_11

I have two servers, Windows 2003 Server, both hosting IIS 6.0 and SqlServer 2005. I had planned to have Load Balancing between the two IIS 6.0 and Cluster failover support between the two SQL db's.
Now when i got down to installing these infra.. the Windows 2003 server threw up an issue that one cannot have both the NLB and failover support on the same machine!!
WHY is this so? and is there any possible workaround this.

One option that i have in my mind is that i introduce another machine which will have the SQL server instance on it. The intent being , i have NLB between machine A & B and ClusterFailover between machine B & C. Machine B having both IIS 6.0 and Sql 2005. Is this supported or even this is not allowed.
Which then mean i would need 4 machines, 2 for NLB and 2 for Failover Cluster which would be highly illogical for my client!!

Please help!

Regards,

Zulu

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-05-22 at 03:07:13ID22586660
Tags

failover

,

load

,

windows

,

balancing

,

2003

Topics

Operating Systems Miscellaneous

,

Windows 2003 Server

,

MS SQL Server

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
5

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. cluster failover
    Does a cluster failover write an event to 2000's event viewer?
  2. Exchange failover, cluster or not?
    I've read multiple posts to this already but I'm still unsure as to what to do so I'm looking for any additional advice. My company wants some type of Exchange failover so that email isn't down, or if it does go down it's only for a few minutes vs. a day. I believe the only...
  3. Failover sharepoint
    Hi! Just a thought, how can i overcome failover in sharepoint? Assuming i am keying in a discussion thread and somehow my primary server died, will i have some ways to "update" to another backup server? Assuming i have 2 "cluster" running at the same tim...
  4. Load balancing / Failover solutions
    I am looking for some general advice on implementing a failover solution for a website. We currently have three Windows 2003 servers, as follows: Web server: running the website (IIS 6) Database server: runs a MySQL database Backup server: redundant server running both IIS ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: SysExpertPosted on 2007-05-22 at 07:48:30ID: 19134373

I would look into a dedicated hardware Load balancer, rather than trying to use the one for windows, since it will probably supply a much more robust solution and management will be easier also.

I hope this helps !

 

by: anil_uPosted on 2007-05-22 at 08:44:08ID: 19134909

cannot have both the NLB and failover support on the same machine!!
With an NLB, you need to have nodes in an ACTIVE - ACTIVE state therefore when clients connect to the NLB, the NLB will balance the traffic to either node
With a failover cluster, your nodes will be in an ACTIVE - PASSIVE state, therefore when clients connect to the failover cluster, the cluster will send traffic to the active node, if this node fails, the active becomes passive and the passive becomes active.
You therefore cannot have both NLB and failover on a two node cluster.

Workaround - get 4 boxes, install NLB on two and failover on the other two.
Best approach - get two boxes, install failover on them and by a hardware load balancer as Microsoft NLB is crap

 

by: oBdAPosted on 2007-05-22 at 11:32:00ID: 19136251

Network Load Balancing and (NLB) and Microsoft Cluster Services (MSCS) are mutually exclusive; not because of active/passive issues (it would theoretically be possible to have an active IIS running on both cluster nodes, accessed through NLB, while at the same time having an SQL active/passive cluster configuration), but due to potential hardware resource conflicts.
It's possible, though, to cluster IIS as well as SQL. It's not common, as MSCS are rather expensive, while W2k3 Web Edition combined with NLB is comparatively cheap, but if you have the MSCS anyway for SQL, you can just cluster your web sites while you're at it.
Oh, and make sure the cluster hardware you buy is certified.

Interoperability between MSCS and NLB
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=235305

The Microsoft support policy for server clusters, the Hardware Compatibility List, and the Windows Server Catalog
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309395

The IIS Server Instance resource type does not appear in Cluster Administrator on a Windows Server 2003 server cluster
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=887417

 

by: Computer101Posted on 2008-03-24 at 15:30:49ID: 21197876

Forced accept.

Computer101
EE Admin

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...