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DirectAccess Single NIC Load Balancing with Kemp LoadMaster

Earlier this year I authored the Windows Server 2012 R2 DirectAccess Deployment Guide for Kemp LoadMaster load balancers. The documentation described in detail how to configure the Kemp LoadMaster to provide load balancing for DirectAccess when configured with two network adapters. It also assumed that the DirectAccess server is configured to use the LoadMaster as its default gateway.

There are many scenarios in which the DirectAccess server does not use the LoadMaster as its default gateway, most commonly deployments where the DirectAccess server is configured with a single NIC. To support load balancing for DirectAccess configured with a single NIC, it will be necessary to make some changes to the LoadMaster configuration to enable load balancing support for this scenario.

To configure the Kemp LoadMaster for load balancing DirectAccess single NIC deployments, follow the guidance to create the virtual service as documented. After creating the virtual service for DirectAccess, expand Standard Options, deselect Transparency, and then select Subnet Originating Requests.

This will configure the LoadMaster to forward traffic to the DirectAccess server using the internal IP address of the LoadMaster as the source IP address for the connection instead of the original public address of the client. This allows the DirectAccess server to return DirectAccess traffic to the LoadMaster without having to use it as its default gateway.

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