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
Configuring load balancing in DirectAccess is essential for eliminating single points of failure and ensuring the highest level of availability for the solution. The process of enabling load balancing for DirectAccess can be confusing though, as it involves the reassignment of IP addresses from the first server to the virtual IP address (VIP) for the cluster.
