Setting Up and Testing Network Load Balancing

Each machine must have Enterprise Server for .NET installed and configured to connect to the SQL Server database.
  1. On the first machine, run Network Load Balancing and use it to create a new cluster. For the cluster you create, do the following:
    • Assign the cluster IP address and name.
    • Set the cluster mode to Multicast.
    • Check that the Network Load Balancing Manager shows the machine as Enabled.
  2. Remove the default cluster rule, and create two new rules:
    • Balance traffic on port 80, to allow cluster testing.
    • Balance traffic on port 9023 for system traffic.
  3. Repeat the process for the remaining machines to define them to the cluster.
  4. Test that the network recognizes the cluster. You can ping the cluster IP address to test. For testing purposes, you may need to add an entry for the cluster to the %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts files on each machine.
  5. On each cluster machine, use IIS to create a default, unique web page under the web root that lets you recognize the machine.
  6. To test network load balancing, connect a browser to the cluster IP address, for example: http://192.168.10.10. Refresh the screen multiple times. If the cluster is operating successfully, web pages from different machines in the cluster appear after each refresh.
Start an Enterprise Server for .NET region such as ESDEMO, and connect 3270 clients to the cluster IP address. Each connection is assigned to a cluster machine depending on the load balancing.