Join me this Thursday, April 9 at 10:00AM EDT for a Remote Access Q&A session hosted by Kemp Technologies. During this free live webinar, I’ll be answering all your questions as they relate to enterprise mobility, remote access, scalability and performance, security, and much more. Topics are not limited to Kemp products at all, so feel free to join and ask me anything you like! Register now and submit your questions!
Posted by Richard M. Hicks on April 7, 2020
https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2020/04/07/remote-access-qa-webinar-hosted-by-kemp/
Enabling load balancing for DirectAccess deployments is crucial for eliminating single points of failure and ensuring the highest levels of availability for the remote access solution. In addition, enabling load balancing allows DirectAccess administrators to quickly and efficiently add capacity in the event more processing power is required.
DirectAccess includes support for load balancing using integrated Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) and external load balancers (physical or virtual). External load balancers are the recommended choice as they provide superior throughput, more granular traffic distribution, and greater visibility. External load balancers also more scalable, with support for much larger DirectAccess server clusters, up to 32 nodes. NLB is formally limited to 8 nodes, but because it operates at layer 2 in the OSI model and relies on broadcast heartbeat messages, it is effectively limited to 4 nodes.
The KEMP Technologies LoadMaster load balancer is an excellent choice for load balancing the DirectAccess workload. To learn more about configuring the LoadMaster with DirectAccess, join me for a free live webinar on Tuesday, August 16 at 10:00AM PDT where I’ll discuss DirectAccess load balancing in detail. I will also be sharing valuable tips, tricks, and best practices for load balancing DirectAccess.
Don’t miss out. Register today!
Additional Resources
DirectAccess Load Balancing Overview
Load Balancing DirectAccess with the KEMP Loadmaster Load Balancer
Maximize your investment in Windows 10 with DirectAccess and the KEMP LoadMaster Load Balancer
Posted by Richard M. Hicks on August 9, 2016
https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/08/09/directaccess-load-balancing-tips-and-tricks-webinar/
Integrating multifactor authentication is essential for providing the highest level of security and assurance for DirectAccess clients. Smart cards work well for this, but they impose a heavy burden in terms of expense and administrative overhead. A more effective alternative is to use a One-Time Password (OTP) solution such as PointSharp ID.
To learn more about the PointSharp ID OTP solution and how it integrates with DirectAccess, join me for a live webinar on Tuesday, July 27, 2106 at 10:00AM PDT where I’ll discuss the following topics.
You can register for this free live webinar here.
Posted by Richard M. Hicks on June 23, 2016
https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/06/23/directaccess-and-otp-with-pointsharp-id-webinar/
Updated 5/2/2016: The webinar recording is now available online here.
Join me on Tuesday, April 26 at 11:00AM EDT for a live webinar to learn more about integrating the Citrix NetScaler Application Delivery Controller (ADC) with Microsoft DirectAccess. During the webinar, which will be hosted by Petri IT Knowledgebase, you will learn how to leverage the NetScaler to enhance and extend native high availability and redundancy capabilities included with DirectAccess.
Eliminating single points of failure is crucial for enterprise DirectAccess deployments. DirectAccess includes technologies such as load balancing for high availability and multisite for geographic redundancy, but they are somewhat limited. DirectAccess supports integration with third-party solutions like NetScaler to address these fundamental limitations.
NetScaler is an excellent platform that can be configured to improve upon native DirectAccess high availability and redundancy features. It provides superior load balancing compared to native Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB), with more throughput and better traffic visibility, while at the same time reducing resource utilization on the DirectAccess server.
For multisite DirectAccess deployments, the NetScaler can be configured to provide enhanced geographic redundancy, providing more intelligent entry point selection for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 clients and granular traffic control such as weighted request distribution and active/passive site failover.
In addition, the NetScaler can be configured to serve as the DirectAccess Network Location Server (NLS), providing essential high availability for this critical service and reducing supporting infrastructure requirements.
Click here to view the recorded webinar.
Posted by Richard M. Hicks on April 11, 2016
https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2016/04/11/directaccess-and-citrix-netscaler-webinar/
