DirectAccess Load Balancing Tips and Tricks

DirectAccess servers can be configured in load-balanced clusters for redundancy and scalability. Single points of failure can be eliminated and additional capacity can be added to accommodate more DirectAccess clients. Many administrators choose Network Load Balancing (NLB) for DirectAccess load balancing. However, NLB has some serious limitations that prevent its effective use in all but the smallest deployments. First, NLB uses broadcast message to communicate heartbeat information to each node in the cluster. In addition, NLB effectively only supports only 4 nodes per cluster and only supports round-robin traffic distribution. The KEMP LoadMaster load balancer is a better alternative to NLB for DirectAccess load balancing. The LoadMaster is a layer 3-7 load balancer and does not use broadcast messages for

In addition, NLB effectively only supports only 4 nodes per cluster and only supports round-robin traffic distribution. The KEMP LoadMaster load balancer is a better alternative to NLB for DirectAccess load balancing. The LoadMaster is a layer 3-7 load balancer and does not use broadcast messages for cluster, ensuring positive scalability for up to 32 nodes per cluster. It also provides granular traffic control using least connection or weighted distribution load balancing methods.