# Load balanceing WFE servers sharepoint

- Link: https://sharepointtechnicalsupport.com/2015/04/26/load-balancing-web-front-end-servers-sharepoint/
- Published: 2015-04-26T11:23:05+05:30
- Author: Deviprasad Panda

Windows 2008 includes a Network Load Balancing feature and I’ll be utilizing 
this in my SharePoint environment.  I currently have two web front end servers but
there is no reason why I can’t add more, and include them in the NLB cluster, at
a later date.

Unfortunately, NLB isn’t application aware so it won’t know if SharePoint fails.
As long as the server is up NLB will continue to forward requests to the failed 
server and any users hitting that server will just get an error of some kind if 
SharePoint is not running.

So, the first thing to do is install the NLB feature in Windows.  This can be done
using the Server Manager.  See the screenshot below:

[⌊Load balanceing WFE servers sharepoint⌉⌊Load balanceing WFE servers sharepoint⌉[

Load balanceing WFE servers sharepoint

Once installed I need to create an NLB cluster on the first server.  This is quite
easy to do – just follow these steps:

 1. Start the _Network Load Balancing Manager_
 2. From the _Cluster_ menu choose _New_
 3. Enter the server name or IP address and select the desired interface from the list.
    Click _Next_
 4. Select the dedicated IP address and click _Next_
 5. Add a cluster IP address, choose _Multicast_ and click _Next_
 6. If required, narrow down the ports required for the cluster (for example just port
    80 and 443).  Click _Finish_.  The cluster is now in place with just the one host,
    as you can see below:

[⌊load balance manager create cluster⌉⌊load balance manager create cluster⌉[

create cluster load balance manager

To add the second host just right-click the cluster and choose _Add host to cluster_.
Follow the wizard to add the second server to the cluster.

Note: when clustering 3 or more web front end servers it is a good idea to use a
separate network for server to server communication.

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