Microsoft NLB and catalyst 4507R

[alvaroarcila]

Hi all of you out there,

Recently we installed an NLB Cluster using microsoft terminal services 2008 and just after we finished the installation some clients could connect but some others didn't, after tryning some posible solutions we just did the following we connect an "ACME" switch to our catalyst, connect the servers that belong to the cluster and everything seems to work fine.

I wonder if there's someting else that you have to do in a cisco switch for this to work properly? It makes no sense to me that the solution is to use a home switch that has no redundant power supply, no administration instead an enterpise switch like a catalyst to support a server cluster for many users.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot.

Best regards Alvaro

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi Alvaro,

NLB is a Microsoft proprietary solution.  Cisco switches do not support NLB.  If you want to connect the servers directly to the 4500, you can do so by creating an Etherchannel and running LACP.  Most server also support LACP.

Have a look at this doc for example:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk213/technologies_configuration_example09186a008089a821.shtml

HTH

Reza

[joneswill]

Make sure you are using the correct MCast option in NLB.  If you aren't you will see an odd mcast mac for your NLB unicast IP.  This will most likely be the cause of your switch issue.