There are a few sites that explain how to implement this high availability solution:
http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/origi...
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Imp...
However when I tried this way I kept getting IP address conflicts. This is how I did it instead:
- Configure OWA on both front end servers with the same certificate
- Make sure Exchange patches are consistent on both cluster nodes
- Create DNS A record for cluster IP address
- If either server is created from an image (or vmware template), remove and reinstall network cards as per KB828258
I then configured the cluster (including IP configuration on each node) using Network Load Balancing Manager from my workstation. If you use this tool to create clusters, you have to do it remotely as the cluster IP will have the same MAC Address across all nodes, and as this is configured it breaks the connectivity between the nodes.
- Open Network Load Balancing Manager (Start - Administrative Tools - NLB Manager)
- Cluster - New
- Enter cluster IP address, subnet mask, and the DNS name you created earlier
- Select Unicast mode, leave 'Enable remote control' unticked
- Do not enter additional IP addresses or Port rules
- On final step, add the server that will become the first node in the cluster
When you click on Finish, NLB Manager will configure the NLB protocol and add the cluster IP address to the node. If this is successful you can then add further nodes by right-clicking the cluster name and selecting "Add node to cluster". You will notice that the NLB Manager automatically changes the priority of the new node as it is being added.
Final step is to then open IIS Manager on each cluster node and bind the cluster IP address to the OWA website.
Technorati Tags: Exchange 2003, Network Load Balancing, NLB, Clustering
