Load Balanced Windows Servers - 100% Uptime Guarantee.

Do you want your site to be always available just like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft? We at eUKhost have made this possible for you on Windows Server Hosting Platform.

Configuration of the Cluster :

• At least 10 IP addresses in the same subnet.
• 2 Web servers with Windows 2008 Web Edition with same hardware specification.
• 2 SQL servers with Windows 2003 enterprise edition with exactly the same hardware.
• Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition installed on both SQL Servers.
• iSCSI cards on SQL servers to attach the SAN partitions.
• 4 logical partitions on a SAN system attached in Active/Passive mode to both SQL servers.
• 2 Ethernet NIC on all servers.
• An internal LAN setup on second NIC between the servers.

Overview:

• One will require at least 4 web servers to have this setup running, yes it is a bit expensive but it provides you with a very robust method to have your site always available to your clients. 2 servers will have Windows 2008 OS which will run IIS 7 under “Network Load Balance Cluster Service” and the other 2 servers will have MySQL & MSSQL servers with Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition running “Windows Cluster Service.
• The reason to choose Windows 2008 for web servers is because it provides 2 major features that are not available with Windows 2003:
• 1. It enables us to have more than one dedicated IP address on a single node.
• 2. It provide in built Robust File Copy (robocopy) tool to copy data between the web servers.

What is Network Load Balancing Service?
• Network Load Balancing clusters enable you to manage a group of independent servers as a single system for greater scalability, increased availability, and easier manageability. One can use Network Load Balancing to implement enterprise-wide scalable solutions for the delivery of TCP/IP based services and applications. It is not a service based application, it only redirects traffic on a particular protocol so that the load between the server is easily distributed.

What is SQL Clustering Service?
• Cluster Service acts as a back-end cluster; it provides high availability for applications such as databases, messaging and file and print services. Multiple servers (nodes) in a cluster remain in constant communication. If one of the nodes in a cluster becomes unavailable as a result of failure or maintenance, another node immediately begins providing service, a process known as 'failover'. MSCS attempts to minimize the effect of failure on the system as any node (a server in the cluster) fails or is taken offline.

A cluster connects two or more web servers together so that they appear as a single computer to clients. Connecting servers in a cluster allows for workload sharing, enables a single point of operation/management, and provides a path for scaling to meet increased demand. Thus, clustering gives you the ability to produce high availability applications.

How does setup work?
• The figure below will help you understand the 100% uptime Setup that eUKhost Offers: