How to Configure Windows Network Load Balancing and Web Interface

This article describes how to configure Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) with Citrix Web Interface.

Requirements

To complete this task, at least two servers with the following configuration are required:

Also, one additional IP address is required with a corresponding entry in Domain Name System (DNS).

Note: This information is provided “as is” and it is strongly recommended that you test these steps in a test environment.

Creating Windows Network Load Balancing Cluster

1. Open the Network Load Balancing Manager from Start > Programs > Administrative Tools:

   

2. Create a new cluster (Cluster > New) and enter the appropriate information into the wizard. See the following screen shot for an example:

   

   To choose the correct parameters for your network environment, refer to Network Load Balancing Parameters.

3. Proceed with the wizard.

4. Connect to the first node of the cluster and select the network interface that should be used for NLB traffic:

   

5. Proceed and finish the wizard.

6. Add a second node (Cluster > Add Host). Ensure to select a unique host identifier for the first node. Repeat this Step as often as required.

7. Ensure that every Host has a different Host Priority set.

   All cluster nodes should be in a Converged state, as displayed in the following screen shot:

   

   Note: To ease the access to the NLB cluster you should create a new host (A) record within your DNS infrastructure.

Configuring Web Interface

Note: It is no longer possible to have centralized configuration available for Web Interface 5.x.

1. Within the Web Interface Management Console on first Host, create a new Web Interface site for the NLB Cluster. If you already have a running Web Interface site, review the changes and proceed with step 2 :

2. Create a new Web Interface site on next Host of the NLB Cluster.

3. Repeat Step 1 for all Windows Network Load Balancing nodes.

4. Ensure that all Configurations are compliant by checking the following settings:

   1. Manage Server Farm Settings

      XML Port

      XML Broker in the List (order)

      Transport Type Setting

   2. Authentication Methods, Domain restrictions

      Authentication Type

      - Or -

      Two-Factor Authentication

   3. Web Site Appearance

   4. Manage Session Preferences

   5. Workspace Control Setting

5. Start testing the scenario with failover and outages. Check if access is always available and appears to be the same. End user should not see any difference.

   Note:?? To check if the Settings of both Web Interface Sites are appropriate you can compare the files with an open Source Tool like WinMerge?? or similar.

   To do this, map the Webinterface.conf from all Nodes included of the NLB Cluster.

   The Webinterface.conf file is available under c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\%NameOfWebSite%

   The following screen shot shows an example of two webinterface.conf files from WIent1 and WIent2 with identical settings as no differences marked.

   

   Important:?? The Line with Farm1 shows the configured Farms. Check these lines explicitly.

• Environments that have Web Interface and Citrix XenApp Server (or XenDesktop Controller) on the same server with Network Load Balancing configured are not supported.