How does network load balancing work with pooled servers?

[mrisen]

I am confused on how network load balancing works with pooled servers. My understanding is that we need to have network load balancing hardware or software, add the servers to the pool for network load balancing, then also create a SoftPro pool and add servers to it as well. In that vein, I create Server1 on IP address 1 and Server2 on IP address 2 and added windows network load balancing to both, with IP address 3 being the address to coordinate on. I also give IP Address 3 a DNS entry, SoftProAppServers.

I then install SoftPro on Server1 and create a pool called SoftProPool and then install SoftPro on Server2 and add it to SoftProPool.

Now when I start the SoftPro client, in the Connect to Select Server screen I see SoftProPool with Server1 and Server2 below it. I don't seen anything related to the NLB Pool. I would want to see SoftProAppServers instead with no list of servers to choose from below it (in essence, forcing load balancing instead of letting the users choose).

I think I am missing something.

[John Morris]

Load balancing is transparent to the SoftPro Select application. The only requirement that our application has is that you provide sticky sessions. In v3.0 SP3+, the client will send a http based request to the mid tier server. That request will have a URL query string that looks like this:

Code: Select all

http://myserver:8080/OrderTracking/OrderStore.svc?cid={insert-guid-here}

The exact url endpoint address will vary, but the CID (client identifier) guid value will remain static for a given client instance. Your load balancer should be configured to provide sticky sessions based on that CID value. If your load balancer cannot do that, then you can provide sticky sessions based on the client IP address. If you are running a version prior to v3.0 SP3, you will need to use sticky sessions per client IP address. The CID hint was added in the service pack 3 timeframe.

Our server discovery logic does not display the virtual IP address of the load balanced address. You will need to enter that information manually into the server connection dialog, or alternatively enter it into the Select.exe.config file.