How to configure clustered IIS virtual servers on Windows 2000 Advanced Server (248025)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
This article was previously published under Q248025

SUMMARY

This article provides a brief overview of load balancing and clustering to configure a Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web site. This article also provides step-by-step instructions that describe how to configure IIS virtual servers on Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server cluster nodes.

SUMMARY

You can use either load balancing or clustering to configure a highly available IIS Web site. Load balancing is effective for high traffic Web sites that receive many hits per day. Clustering is an effective solution for reduced traffic Web sites where the site must be available. In a cluster configuration, two computers use a shared hard disk and appear to the user as a single site.

This article describes how to configure IIS virtual servers on Windows 2000 Advanced Server cluster nodes.

MORE INFORMATION

Note Before you configure your cluster, confirm that the Microsoft Cluster service and Microsoft IIS 5.0 are correctly installed on both computers in the cluster. Also, confirm that the computers are connected to the same shared hard disk. You can install the Cluster service on Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server-based and Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server-based domain controllers or member servers.

Before you install IIS server instances on a server that runs the Cluster service, make sure that the Cluster service is installed correctly and that failover works.

We only support running MSDTC on cluster nodes as a clustered resource. Running MSDTC in stand-alone mode on a cluster is not a recommended or a supported configuration. Using MSDTC in as a non-clustered resource on an MSCS cluster is a problematic configuration because transactions can be orphaned and data corruption can occur if a cluster failover occurs.

To configure an IIS clustered site, follow these steps:

Note You must follow steps 1 through 23 to create the Web resource correctly.
  1. On the first node in the cluster, click Start, click Run, type Comclust.exe, and then click OK. You can ignore the message that says that component load balancing will not be installed.

    This step configures MSDTC on both nodes and installs the MSDTC resource group on the server that runs the Cluster service.

    MSDTC resource installation for IIS virtual servers is required when Web programs are using transaction mode or calling MSDTC-related programs. IIS Virtual Server Instance does not require MSDTC resource dependency if the Web sites are not using transactions.
  2. Repeat step 1 on each node in the cluster.
  3. On one of the nodes in the cluster, click Start, click Run, and then type the following, where drive is the drive letter for the shared drive , and folder is the name of the folder for the Web folder that you want to use:

    drive:\Inetpub\Wwwroot\folder

    By default, the MSDTC resource is always added to the default Cluster group when Comclust.exe is run. However, you can install MSDTC on another group that depends on non-quorum disks. This leaves the default Cluster group intact.

    If you remove the quorum disk resource or move the quorum disk resource from the group, Comclust.exe moves the MSDTC resource to another group. You can also modify the properties of the MSDTC resource so that the dependency can be changed from the quorum disk to another disk and then moved to another disk group.
  4. In the folder that you created in step 3, create two new files that are named Default.asp and Default.htm.
  5. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Cluster Administrator.
  6. Right-click the non-quorum disk group that you want to use, click New, click Resource, and then type a name and description for the resource. Under Resource Type, click IP Address, and then click Next.
  7. On the Possible Owners screen, click any node that you do not want to have available to the disk resource if a failure occurs, click Remove, and then click Next.
  8. On the Dependency screen, click the disk resource, click Add, and then click Next.
  9. Type an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the virtual server. Use a different IP address for each virtual server. Click to clear the Enable NetBIOS check box if your situation requires this configuration. In the Network box, click Public Cluster Connection, and then click Finish.
  10. Create an IP address resource for an IIS virtual server in the disk group that is using the non-quorum disk in Cluster Administrator. Use a different IP address for each virtual server. Follow steps 6 through 9 for each virtual server instance. Set this IP address resource to depend on the MSDTC resource and the shared disk resource that you have chosen to hold Web site contents.
  11. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Services Manager.
  12. Right-click your computer name, click New, click Web Site, and then click Next.
  13. Type a description of the Web site, and then click Next.
  14. Type the IP address that you specified in step 9, type the port settings for the site, type the host header information if you use host headers, and then click Next.
  15. In the Path box, type the location of the folder that you created in step 3, and then click Next.
  16. Under Allow the following, click to select the access permissions that you want, and then click Next.
  17. Click Finish.
  18. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Cluster Administrator.
  19. Right-click the disk group for the IP address that you created in step 9, click New, and then click Resource.
  20. Type a name and a description for the virtual server instance, click IIS Server Instance, and then click Next.
  21. On the Possible Owners screen, remove any servers that you do not want to host the virtual server, and then click Next.
  22. Click Disk Resource, click IP Address Resource, click Add, and then click Next..
  23. Click the virtual server that you created in Internet Services Manager, and then click Finish.
  24. (This step is optional.) On the domain name system (DNS) server, add a host entry that maps the IIS virtual server network name to the IP address that is provided for this Web site. Now the IIS virtual server instance is ready on node A. You can manually move the group to node B and create a new Web site. To do this, use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on node B, and then type the same folder path and IP address. Alternatively, you can use the IISSYNC utility to synchronize the two nodes automatically.

    For additional information about how to run IISSYNC on Windows 2000 Advanced Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    249603 Using IISSYNC to synchronize clustered Web sites on Windows 2000 Advanced Server

  25. After you follow the procedure that is described in steps 1 through 23, test the IIS virtual Web server from a client browser by accessing the DNS name of the Web site. For example, if the IIS virtual server has the network name "MyWeb" and the DNS entry maps the corresponding IP to "MyWeb.Microsoft.com" for this site, type the following in a browser window to view the default page:

    http://myweb.microsoft.com

    If no DNS entry is specified in step 7, you can use the IP address to directly access the clustered Web site to test it. Before you use the browser to test the IIS virtual Web server, use the PING protocol at a command prompt to check the IP address for the cluster Web site to make sure that the IP configuration on the network is correct.

Additional information about MSDTC installation

IISSync requires MSDTC to synchronize the metabases between the cluster nodes. By default, MSDTC is installed in the Cluster group and can remain there. For additional information about how to move MSDTC to the group that owns the IIS server instance, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

243204 Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) recovery techniques in Windows 2000 Cluster Server

REFERENCES

For more information about setting up and configuring clustered Web sites, see the Installing the Windows NT Option Pack on Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) white paper. To view this white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/techresources/deployment/enterprise/ntoption.asp

For more information, visit the following Web site:

http://localhost/iisHelp/iis/misc/default.asp?jumpurl=..\htm\core\iicluswl.htm

Note This URL only works if you have IIS installed on your computer.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/12/2004
Keywords:kbhowto kbinfo KB248025 kbAudITPRO
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