Windows Server 2016 NLB Network Load Balancing non-SDN or Software Load Balancing (SLB) for SDN #NLB #SLB #SDN

Windows Server 2016 Network Load Balancing. You can use Network Load Balancing to manage two or more servers as a single virtual cluster. Network Load Balancing enhances the availability and scalability of Internet server applications such as those used on web, FTP, firewall, proxy, virtual private network (VPN), and other mission-critical servers.

New in Windows Server 2016 is it includes a new Azure-inspired Software Load Balancer (SLB) as a component of the Software Defined Networking (SDN) infrastructure. Use SLB instead of NLB if you are using SDN, are using non-Windows workloads, need outbound network address translation (NAT), or need Layer 3 (L3) or non-TCP based load balancing. You can continue to use NLB with Windows Server 2016 for non-SDN deployments.

So We got now two Load Balancing features :

Network Load Balancing (NLB) for non-SDN

Software Load Balancing (SLB) for SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides a method to centrally configure and manage physical and virtual network devices such as routers, switches, and gateways in your datacenter. Virtual network elements such as Hyper-V Virtual Switch, Hyper-V Network Virtualization, and Windows Server Gateway are designed to be integral elements of your software defined networking infrastructure. While you can still use your existing physical switches, routers, and other hardware devices, you can achieve deeper integration between the virtual network and the physical network if these devices are designed for compatibility with software defined networking.

For this demo I created a NLB script that can be found here Create a Windows Server 2016 NLB Network Load Balancing farm https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Create-a-Windows-Server-05a13f14

I use a couple of Windows Server 2016 server for the Load Balancing each node has two network adapters and runs IIS with a default website

Network Load Balancing and other software components

Network Load Balancing is not nic teaming as nic teaming is on the same host and Network Load Balancing is combining all nodes to one VIP Virtual IP address.

First we install the NLB feature on each node.

Install-WindowsFeature NLB –IncludeManagementTools

To view a complete list of NLB CMDlets type the following CMDlet, Get-command -module NetworkLoadBalancingClusters

To Create a New NLB Cluster you can do this in the GUI or in Powershell

First I rename the Network Adapter to get a better overview

#Rename NIC
Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet" -NewName "NLB"

#Create NLB
New-NLBCluster –Interface “NLB” -OperationMode Unicast -ClusterPrimaryIP -ClusterName WS2016NLB –verbose

Showing the NLB cluster info

Get-NLBClusterNode | Format-List *

then I removed all the default rules why would you NLB all the ports ?

#Removing default port rule for the NLB Cluster
Write-Host "Removing default port rule…" -ForegroundColor yellow
Get-NlbClusterPortRule -HostName . | Remove-NlbClusterPortRule -Force

#Adding port rules 80
Write-Host "Added port rule for http (tcp 80)" -ForegroundColor yellow
Add-NlbClusterPortRule -Protocol Tcp -Mode Multiple -Affinity Single -StartPort 80 -EndPort 80 -InterfaceName $InterfaceName -IP $ClusterPrimaryIP| Out-Null
#Adding port rules 443
Write-Host "Added port rule for https (tcp 443)" -ForegroundColor yellow
Add-NlbClusterPortRule -Protocol Tcp -Mode Multiple -Affinity Single -StartPort 443 -EndPort 443 -InterfaceName $InterfaceName -IP $ClusterPrimaryIP| Out-Null

Now that Port 80 and 443 are in the NLB we can add some nodes

As I added the -Affinity Single option keep in mind that your application support this option. Running websites parts from different servers is sometimes a pain for the developer.

The Affinity parameter is applicable only for the Multiple hosts filtering mode.

The None option specifies that multiple connections from the same client IP address can be handled by different cluster hosts (there is no client affinity). To allow Network Load Balancing to properly handle IP fragments, you should avoid using None when selecting UDP or Both for your protocol setting.
The Single option specifies that NLB should direct multiple requests from the same client IP address to the same cluster host. This is the default setting for affinity. You can optionally modify the NLB client affinity to direct all client requests from a TCP/IP Class C address range (instead of a single IP address) to a single cluster host by enabling the Network option instead of the Single option. This feature ensures that clients that use multiple proxy servers to access the cluster can have their TCP connections directed to the same cluster host.
The Network option specifies that NLB direct multiple requests from the same TCP/IP Class C address range to the same cluster host. Enabling Network affinity instead of Single affinity ensures that clients that use multiple proxy servers to access the cluster have their TCP connections directed to the same cluster host.
The use of multiple proxy servers at the client’s site causes requests from a single client to appear to originate from different computers. Assuming that all of the client’s proxy servers are located within the same address range, Network affinity ensures that client sessions are properly handled. If you do not need this capability, use Single affinity to maximize scaled performance.

adding a second node is easy in Powershell or do this in the GUI add node and follow the steps.

$InterfaceName = “NLB”
$Node2Fqdn=”MVPNLB502.mvp.local”

Get-NlbCluster -HostName $env:COMPUTERNAME | Add-NlbClusterNode -NewNodeName $Node2Fqdn -NewNodeInterface $InterfaceName –Verbose

and as you can see if you don’t rename all the nic adapters it looks a bit messy. If you ever need to troubleshoot then it is easy to get NLB traffic and or other network traffic.

Now that the NLB cluster is ready we can use it for say a webserver. make sure the DNS Record is created in the DNS and If you are using multiple Cluster Virtual IP’s make sure they are also in the DNS. I always use an IP for the cluster and for the websites I use separate IP’s and all sites running on different IP’s / NLB VIP If I need to change some thing on the webserver it has no impact on all the other servers. I also Added a few more NLB nodes. that has already a configured website.

Now to get this to work with IIS

That is right page not found. Check the DNS see if the record is created. and make sure the website IIS is running on this IP

Go to the IIS manager and check the website bindings, default it is listening on all IP but this is not the behavior that I want I want a NLB. So we need to set the website on the NLB IP configured earlier. When Having multiple IP on the NLB pick the right IP!

Remember this you need to do this on all the Webservers!

For creating a NLB farm you can use my script that is posted in the TechNet gallery.

Create a Windows Server 2016 NLB Network Load Balancing farm https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Create-a-Windows-Server-05a13f14

Flickr Tags: Windows Server 2016,CloudOS

Follow Me on Twitter @ClusterMVP

Follow My blog https://robertsmit.wordpress.com

Linkedin Profile Http://nl.linkedin.com/in/robertsmit

Google Me : https://www.google.nl

Bing Me : http://tinyurl.com/j6ny39w

LMGTFY : http://lmgtfy.com/?q=robert+smit+mvp+blog

Quick Create a Windows Server 2012 R2 Network Load Balancing (NLB) ,How To , Step by Step #winserv #NLB #ws2012

As there are still many questions on how to setup a Windows NLB. Or not getting a working situation with all kind of different errors.

I made already two Blog post about NLB. This blog post will be a bit off Both.

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/create-a-new-network-load-balancing-nlb-cluster-on-windows-server-2012-r2-winserv-nlb/

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/windows-2012-clustering-network-load-balancing-nlb-how-to-step-by-step/

So for starting I have 4 NLB nodes MVPSQL141 to MVPSQL 144

The NLB tools I installed with Powershell Run this on every NLB node!

Install-WindowsFeature nlb –IncludeManagementTools

Now that the tools are installed We can start with the Configuration of the NLB.

Starting the NLB manager to Create the NLB cluster and joining the Other Nodes.

All my nodes have multiple network cards and for the NLB I use always a dedicated NIC to avoid problems.

I select the create new cluster from the menu and add the First NLB node.

As you can see there are 3 nic’s in this case I use the Ethernet connection. The Public connection is connected to the Domain.

And All NIC’s have a fixed IP Addresses.

As you can see the nic has a dedicated IP if the nic has a DHCP Address you can give here a fixed IP by selecting ADD

This step is adding the Cluster IP by selecting ADD and then choose the right NLB Cluster IP!

Right Creating a DNS name for the NLB Cluster.

As I will only use Port 80 I changed the Rule and selected only port 80. I does not make sense to select all the ports when using only 80 and or 443.

Now that the Cluster is created We can join other Nodes with add host to the cluster I the menu. You can do only One Node at the time. the same screens as above are showing so no reason to capture this. However I have one node that has no fixed IP

When Adding this node there is a little warning.

As you can see the IP is not there therefore I do ADD and create a FIX IP on the NIC when I select Next the port policy will appear and the node Will be joined to the Cluster.

If anything fails to join the NLB node to the Cluster you need to look on this node. Creating NLB is a simple Process. Basic rule all nics need to See and Ping on FQDN and IP incoming and outgoing ! and make sure the NLB DNS entry is there and make sure the reversed lookup is also there!

When joining the NLB IP to IIS make sure you use the Cluster NLB IP and remove all other IP bindings!!

Happy nlb clustering

Robert Smit

@clusterMVP

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com

Create a New Network Load Balancing NLB Cluster On Windows Server 2012 R2 #Winserv #nlb

Still I thought NLB is so common that there is no point here to create a blog. but recently I see a lot of misconfigurations of NLB or people trying to do the easy way and not listen to the guidelines. So this blog is all about NLB only in the private cloud you can’t extend this to Azure even if you have a S2S.

So I have two servers in my private cloud. MVPNLB001 and MVPNLB002 Both Machines have two NIC’s one for LAN and the other is for the NLB actions.

and yes it can be with one but with two is it much easier and fault tolerant. Less errors and less administration.

Both domain joined and ready for Setup of my basic IIS.

First we setup IIS with the Management tools

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server Or Add-WindowsFeature Web-WebServer –IncludeAllSubFeature to get all the features

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Mgmt-Tools
Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-ASPNET

Get-WindowsFeature nlb*

add-WindowsFeature –Name NLB

add-WindowsFeature RSAT-NLB

Now we are ready to configure the NLB. We can do this With powershell but the GUI also Works. ( I show both )

The First Step will be Create a New NLB Cluster. As I do like things clear and therefor I start with rename the NIC names

Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -NewName "NLB"

Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet" -NewName "LAN"

Open the NLB Manager and select Cluster NEW

Or use powershell

Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -NewName "NLB"

New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 10.255.255.93 -InterfaceAlias "NLB" -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixLength 24

In this case we renamed the adapter and give the nic a static IP.

The next steps Will be creating the NLB with his own IP and Remove the default port rule and use only ports that I want say port 80

Well that was easy Creating the NLB Next step will be delete the port rule and create a 80 port rule

We will remove the default line and just create a rule for one port that I need in this case port 80

Network Load Balancing parameters

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc778263(v=ws.10).aspx

These steps can be done in just a few more PowerShell lines ( I use variables see below the post for the complete script )

#Creating new cluster
Write-Host "Creating NLB Cluster…" -ForegroundColor yellow
New-NlbCluster -ClusterName $ClusterFqdn -InterfaceName $InterfaceName -ClusterPrimaryIP $ClusterPrimaryIP -SubnetMask $ClusterPrimaryIPSubnetMask -OperationMode $OperationMode

#Removing default port rule for the new cluster
Write-Host "Removing default port rule…" -ForegroundColor yellow
Get-NlbClusterPortRule -HostName . | Remove-NlbClusterPortRule -Force

But now what we have only One Server and we need to add the other node or nodes.

With two more confirmations screens you are done and have a Configured NLB on One 1 IP listening on port 80

Suppose you have multiple websites and all running on different IP or hostnames just add a cluster IP

Now that the NLB is created We can do some testing

Now to get this to work with IIS

That is right page not found. Check the DNS see if the record is created. and make sure the website IIS is running on this IP

Remember this you need to do this on all the Webservers!

A complete script to automate all these steps and add a second node. only the IP is fixed in the script and can be set as variable but this is up to you.

use this at free will. I created small steps so you can use also little steps if you need this or just give you an Idea.

<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

#Set IP for NLB
Write-Host "Set NLB IP and change Network adapter" -ForegroundColor yellow
Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -NewName "NLB"
New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 10.255.255.93 -InterfaceAlias "NLB" -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixLength 24

#Set ExecutionPolicy
Write-Host "Set ExecutionPolicy" -ForegroundColor yellow
Set-ExecutionPolicy -scope LocalMachine RemoteSigned –force

#Add-WindowsFeature
Write-Host "Add-WindowsFeature NLB" -ForegroundColor yellow
add-WindowsFeature NLB
add-WindowsFeature RSAT-NLB

#Variables for creating the new cluster
Write-Host "Variables for creating the new cluster" -ForegroundColor yellow
$ClusterFqdn = Read-Host "Enter NLB cluster Name FQDN"
$InterfaceName = Read-Host "Enter interface name for NLB-adapter"
$ClusterPrimaryIP = Read-Host "Enter cluster primary IP"
$ClusterPrimaryIPSubnetMask = Read-Host "Enter subnetmask for cluster primary IP"

Write-Host "Choose cluster operation mode"
Write-Host "1 – Unicast"
Write-Host "2 – Multicast"
Write-Host "3 – IGMP Multicast"
switch (Read-Host "Enter the number for your chosen operation mode")
{
1 {$OperationMode = "unicast"}
2 {$OperationMode = "multicastcast"}
3 {$OperationMode = "igmpmulticast"}
default {Write-Warning "Invalid option, choose ‘1’, ‘2’ or ‘3’";return}
}

#Removing default port rule for the new cluster
Write-Host "Removing default port rule…" -ForegroundColor yellow
Get-NlbClusterPortRule -HostName . | Remove-NlbClusterPortRule -Force

#Adding port rules

Add-NlbClusterPortRule -Protocol Tcp -Mode Multiple -Affinity Single -StartPort 80 -EndPort 80 -InterfaceName $InterfaceName | Out-Null
Write-Host "Added port rule for http (tcp 80)" -ForegroundColor yellow

Add-NlbClusterPortRule -Protocol Tcp -Mode Multiple -Affinity Single -StartPort 443 -EndPort 443 -InterfaceName $InterfaceName | Out-Null
Write-Host "Added port rule for https (tcp 443)" -ForegroundColor yellow

#Adding additional cluster nodes based on user input
Write-Host "Give Second NLB host" -ForegroundColor yellow
$Node2Fqdn = Read-Host "Enter 2e NLB node"

#Set Network Adapter
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName $Node2Fqdn
invoke-command -computername $Node2Fqdn -scriptblock { Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -NewName "NLB"}
invoke-command -computername $Node2Fqdn -scriptblock { New-NetIPAddress -IPAddress 10.255.255.92 -InterfaceAlias "NLB" -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixLength 24}
Write-Host "Placed NLB IP and changed NIC to NLB" -ForegroundColor yellow
exit-PSSession

#Add-WindowsFeature
Write-Host "Add-WindowsFeature NLB" -ForegroundColor yellow
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName $Node2Fqdn
invoke-command -computername $Node2Fqdn { add-WindowsFeature NLB}
invoke-command -computername $Node2Fqdn { add-WindowsFeature RSAT-NLB}
exit-pssession

#Add Remote Node To NLB
Write-Host "Adding cluster node $Node2Fqdn" -ForegroundColor yellow
Get-NlbCluster | Add-NlbClusterNode -NewNodeName $Node2Fqdn -NewNodeInterface NLB

Have fun

Robert Smit

Twitter : @clustermvpTwitter : @clustermvp

https://robertsmit.wordpress.com/