Load Balancing Question

[kc10boom]

I've searched for previous posts but they all come up error 404. I watched a tutorial on network load balancing. I have 4 web servers and one database server. I would like the load to be spread between the web servers (which get data from the data server) , basically have NLB be the "traffic cop".

 

The only question I have is...is the virtual IP address that the web servers (or users) would connect to hosted on a main domain controller , or is the cluster IP address just on whatever machine I want to set it up on and then the computers connect to it (after I run the configuration for each web server). I'm thinking I would need a DNS computer A as the host IP, that web servers B,C,D,E are clustered under. Is that correct ? The database is on computer F , does the database server have to be under the cluster ? The users always use the web server to retrieve data from the database server, there is never a direct connection to it.

[ICTCity]

So... Nlb usually relies on names. Everything you said is correct. You must use the virtual address of your server. Don't confuse nlb with clustering, there are different things!

[kc10boom]

This is for our student information system. We don't connect to it with web addresses, the teachers use an intranet IP address. Would I still need a DNS record even though there is no WWW used to connect to the web servers? I guess the NLB feature would determine which of our 4 web servers a teacher would go to based on load, even though they all would be going to a single IP on their end to enter student data.

[kc10boom]

I forgot to mention our web servers are stand alone web server apps made by the developer. None of the web servers use IIS or your typical MS setup.

[ICTCity]

NLB uses round robin (no check of load, first request goes to server A, second to B, and the again to A and so on), this means that NLB is not like a clever proxy. Anyway you need a name and use it. Then the NLB knows about the IPs and does it job.