Different scenarios for NLB

Question

Hi,

Can anyone describe the difference between configuring Windows NLB on a separate server and directly on both the nodes? What is the best solution? If we configure NLB on a separate server then what if this server restarts?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi @create share

Multiple scenario's explained
Making Network Load Balancing Part of Your High-Availability Plan

1. NLB is used to increase availability for applications that service TCP/IP traffic only. Other protocols are not supported.
2. Individual servers in an NLB cluster are called hosts.
3. NLB clusters determine their operating state through a process called convergence.
4. NLB clusters can be administered from with a graphical tool (NLB Manager) or a command-line tool (NLB.exe). The graphical tool is more secure.
5. An NLB cluster does not require multiple network adapters in each host, although this is recommended.
6. NLB provides no additional security features and requires more stringent security practices than do stand-alone servers.

If the Answer is helpful, please click Accept Answer and up-vote, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Answer 2

Hi,
Network Load Balancing is a technology that allows system administrators to configure clusters that distribute traffic between several servers. Suppose you have a website that receives a large number of requests and cannot be handled by one server. In this case you would configure a NLB cluster to distribute traffic across multiple web servers and the cluster appears to be a single server that answers these requests.
NLB distributes incoming requests across the hosts in the cluster. When one of the hosts fails or goes offline, the load is automatically redistributed among the Web servers that are still operating. As enterprise traffic increases, network administrators can simply plug another server into the cluster. Similarly, if traffic decreases, servers can be taken offline and the feature will balance traffic among the remaining hosts. So, it seems meaningless to configure NLB on one separate server.

Thanks for your time!
Best Regards,
Mico Mi

-----------------------------

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.