Lab 5.1: Planning an NLB Cluster

After completing this lab, you’ll be able to

• Determine which applications to run in the cluster
• Choose an NLB configuration model

About This Lab

In this lab, you’ll plan an NLB cluster for Litware, Inc. You’ll be performing two of the steps described in Lessons 2 and 3: determining which applications to run in the cluster and choosing a configuration model. For this lab you can assume that some of the steps that are normally part of the cluster-planning process have already been completed, as described in the scenario.

Before You Begin

Before you begin this lab, you must be able to

• Administer Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Implement and administer NLB in Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Scenario: NLB Cluster for Litware, Inc.

Litware, Inc., develops and markets software products for publishers, printers, and other related industries. The company wants to provide Web-based services to its customers. The site will also be used to market the company’s products to potential customers. Company administrators have begun to plan the network infrastructure, which will use an n-tier structure to deliver services. The administrators have attempted to eliminate any single points of failure in the design. For example, the network will include redundant components and network paths, multiple ISP connections, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) protection. The network will also include redundant Cisco routers to manage incoming Internet requests. These routers don’t accept ARP responses from a cluster that resolves unicast IP addresses to multicast MAC addresses.

The administrators also want to implement Windows clustering to support their Web, database, and mail services. IIS will be used for the Web services, SQL Server will be used for the database services, and Exchange Server will be used for the mail services. The first cluster that will be implemented is an NLB cluster at the front-end tier. Each host in the cluster will be configured with a hardware-based RAID storage solution. The cluster will include six hosts, which should handle incoming traffic adequately even if a failure occurs.

Exercise 1: Determining Which Applications to Run in the Cluster

In this exercise, you must decide which application or applications to run in the NLB cluster. You’re mainly concerned with IIS, SQL Server, and Exchange Server.

1. What type of applications can you run on an NLB cluster?
2. Which application or applications will you run in the NLB cluster and why would you choose those applications?
3. Is there any application that shouldn’t be run on the NLB cluster, and if so, why not?

Exercise 2: Choosing an NLB Model

In this exercise, you must choose which configuration model to use for your NLB cluster. You can choose from four configuration models when planning an NLB cluster: single network adapter in unicast mode, multiple network adapters in unicast mode, single network adapter in multicast mode, and multiple network adapters in multicast mode.

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these configuration models?
2. Which configuration model should you use?