IIS7 Web Farm Framework 2.0 Basic Setup Questions On Load Balancing

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IIS7 Web Farm Framework 2.0 Basic Setup Questions On Load Balancing

Pardon the basic questions but I can't seem to find any basic answers.

I'm in the process of standing up a standard server farm using Web Farm Framework 2.0. I set up a controller server and a primary server. When I provisioned my primary server I did so enabling load balancing. I then deployed a basic MVC application on my primary server. I am able to ping my client application when I hit the primary server directly confirming everything is OK on that end. For the sake of kicking tires, what I'd like to do is access that same MVC application through my farm.

For clarity, let's say my environment looks like this: controller (IP: 192.168.0.1), primary (IP: 192.168.0.2).

To access the MVC application through the farm, what address should I be pointing to? I assumed it would be 192.168.0.1/mymvcapplication however that does not work. Keep in mind, by-passing the load balancer (which I presume is my controller server) works fine. Am I missing something in terms of enabling load balancing? Is there something else I'm required to do (on my controller or primary server) beyond just checking the Enable Load Balancing checkbox when provisioning the primary server?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

In WFF terms:

A controller watches the primary, and rolls configuration changes out to the secondaries.

A primary contains the master copy of everything for that farm.

A secondary is a write-only copy of the primary.

The load balancing state is an indicator that can be used by external load balancers.

What you haven't mentioned, so I assume you haven't installed, is ARR. Application Request Routing is a reverse-proxy (publishing) component you can add to an IIS box - in this case it seems like your intent is to add it to the Controller - to make it publish other sites.

Right now, assuming ARR isn't installed, the load balancing state is just a flag that doesn't do much. You can access the individual server individually (normally I'd write "servers" there, but no secondary :) ...), and if you changed the primary, the controller would replicate that to a secondary, but without a load balancer (external, or sometimes ARR installed on the controller), you've got no publication point.

WFF on its own doesn't do load balancing, just creates a synchronization infrastructure.

ARR 2.5 usually installs WFF 1.0 (so be ready for farm shenanigans if you install it later; I think the WFF version doesn't get rolled back, but haven't tried it in a while), but can be combined with the Controller role in small deployments.