When it comes to SharePoint, it is not uncommon for most companies to use a single farm for sharing information amongst its users. While this makes installation convenient, it can severely slow down access as well as increase your vulnerability to risk.
In order to mitigate the negative effects, you can install multiple Web Front-end (WFE) servers and a Network Load Balancer (NLB) to distribute requests and increase reliability through redundancy. With these risk mitigation measures in place, if a WFE server fails, the NLB can distribute requests to other WFE servers.
In part two of our new series on Network Load Balancing, we’ll show you how to display the Network Load Balancing Manager program in Windows Server 2012.
By default, Windows Server 2012 does not show the Network Load Balancing Manager. In order to have it displayed, you will need to install it from the Server Manager.
To begin, go to Start > Administrative Tools and select Server Manager.
In Server Manager, select the Dashboard tab, and click Add Roles and Features.
In the Add Roles and Features Wizard, select Before You Begin and click Next.
In the Installation Type section, select the Role-based or feature-based installation radio button and click Next.
In the Server Selection section, select the Select a server from the server pool radio button and click Next.
In the Server Roles section, click Next.
In the Features section, select the Network Load Balancing checkbox.
A new Add Roles and Features Wizard pop-up window will appear. In it, click the Add Features button.
By default, the Network Load Balancing option will be checked. Click Next.
In the Confirmation section, click the Install button.
In the Results section, click the Close button.
When you go to Start, you will now see the Network Load Balancing Manager program displayed.
Want to learn more about Network Load Balancing and how you can load balance Web traffic in order to increase the availability and reliability of your SharePoint solution? If so, check out the rest of our series:
- Part One: How to Display Network Load Balancing Manager in Windows Server 2008
- Part Three: Installing Network Load Balancing on WFE1 in a Three-Server Farm
- Part Four: Installing Network Load Balancing on WFE2 in a Three-Server Farm
- Part Five: How to Disable the Loopback Checking Feature
- Part Six: How to Configure Alternate Access Mappings in SharePoint
- Part Seven: How to Run the Load Balancing URL on a Client Computer
- Part Eight: How to Verify that Load on Your Network is Being Correctly Balanced
