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Setup NLB in Windows Server

July 24th, 2009

I see alot of questions on how to setup NLB with Windows Server operating systems… Especially utilizing SharePoint and Project Server. So this will be a part 1 per say… setting up NLB in Windows Server 2003. Setting this up in Server 2008 should be pretty much the same if not identical.

So to get started and do this the correct way you will need 4 network cards and a minimum of 5 IP addresses. (There is a way to do this with less which I will do a tutorial on a later date)
2 IP’s for standard access nics
2 IP’s for NLB connected nics (These MUST BE static IP addresses)
1 IP for Cluster IP address (You can have more than 1 but 1 is minimum) You will also need a DNS entry for this IP if you want to use it for websites. (MUST BE Static IP)

For my example I will be using: 10.1.1.24 - 10.1.1.28
10.1.1.24 and 10.1.1.26 will be my standard nics
10.1.1.25 and 10.1.1.27 will be NLB Connected nics (These MUST BE static IP addresses)
10.1.1.28 will be used for NLB address (MUST BE Static IP)

Lets get started… Click on Images to enlarge

On each machine to make things easy go to “Network Connections” and rename the NLB nic to “NLB”.

Network Connections

Once that is complete, while you are in Network Connections, ”Right Click” on the NLB nic on each machine and click “Properties”… make sure that you check the box that says “Network Load Balancing”

NLB

Now we will start the NLB manager… Go to “Start –> Admin Tools –> Network Load Balancing Manager” Once it opens right click on “Network Load Balancing Clusters” and click “New Cluster” NLB ManagerNLB Manager

NLB Manager

In the “Cluster Paramenters” page type the info needed:
Cluster IP: The IP(s) you designated for cluster
Subnet mask: Subnet mask of your network
Full Internet Name: This will be the DNS Entry setup for the Cluster IP
Cluster Operation Mode: Set this to “Unicast”

Cluster Settings

Click “NEXT”

On this page you will be able to setup additional Cluster IP’s if you need to. If not then click “Next”

Additional Cluster IP's

Here is where you setup Port access rules (Similar to a firewall) to do this click “Add”

Port Rules

on the “Add/Edit Port Rule” page setup your rules.
Under the “Filter Rules” section of this page you will want to select “Multiple Hosts” and under “Affinity” select Single (This allows “sticky sessions”)

Once you are finished here click “OK” and then “Next” on the “Port Rules” page.

Add/Edit

Now you should see the “Conect” screen

Enter the NLB IP address of the machine you just setup (in my case 10.1.1.25)

Once you connect, select the NLB network card and click “Next”

Connect

You should now see the “Host Parameters” page
On this page you will setup the initial host paramaters…
Unique ID: Leave default at 1
IP Address: IP of NLB NIC on this machine
Subnet Mask: self explainitory

State: started

Host Parameters

You will now see the initial host in the Cluster manager

Initial cluster

Your next task will be to add all the addtional nodes to this cluster…
“Right Click” on DNS name and select “Add host to cluster”

On ”Connect” page select the NLB address of the other server (in my case 10.1.1.27), click next and on the next page enter the same IP along with the Subnet mask… leave the ”unique ID” to default.