Case Study

SCENARIO

ESSENCE OF THE CASE

Following are the essential elements in this case:

• A high availability solution will be required to ensure that the Web site remains up and available to customers as much of the time as possible.

• This typical N- tier high availability solution will require a network load balancing front end and an MSCS clustering back end.

• The NLB cluster should be configured to maintain client session state when multiple client requests are sent during a single session.

You have been hired by the Think Pink Bicycle Company to implement a Windows Server 2003 powered solution for its Internet e-commerce Web site.

Think Pink has two teams of developers working to create the Active Server Pages (ASP) based application that will run the front end of the Web site and also on the SQL database that will serve as the back end of the Web site.

Customers will be able to browse the catalog and add items to their shopping carts without being signed into the Web site, but must sign in before starting the order process. Customers will have the option to sign in to their accounts at any time they like. Cookies will be used with the shopping cart and also to maintain customers' information as they move around the Web site.

The CEO of Think Pink has emphasized to you on several occasions that the overall customer experience while using the new Web site is of prime importance to him. You are to ensure that the Web site is available as much of the time as possible and also to ensure that the customer shopping experience is as smooth and flawless as possible.

ANALYSIS

You will implement an N-tier (two-layered) solution with at least two (preferably four or more) Web servers running in an NLB cluster. The cluster should be configured for Multiple Host with the Single affinity to ensure that the client session state information in the cookies is accurately maintained over the course of the client session.

The back end should use at least two (preferably four or more) SQL servers in an MSCS cluster. The cluster should be configured using a single quorum or majority node set cluster (if supported by the vendor).

Each server being used in this solution should have two network adapters installed. The load balancing network adapters in the NLB cluster should be configured in unicast mode for best results. The network adapters in the MSCS cluster should be configured appropriately so that only clustering traffic crosses the clustering adapter and administrative traffic crosses the administration adapter.