Using Affinity with HTTP Streaming and WLBS on Windows Media Servers (248926)

SYMPTOMS

When you are streaming HTTP from a Windows Media server with the load being balanced by the Windows NT Load Balance Service (WLBS), the Windows Media Services log files may show a large number of disconnected clients with the HTTP status code of 408.

If Affinity is disabled in the WLBS configuration, each time a Windows Media Player HTTP client makes a request to a server, it does not necessarily connect to the same server upon subsequent connections. As a result, statistical results sent by the client after streaming may be sent to a different server in the cluster, which results in the original server not receiving the information. Therefore, the original server logs the client as if it disconnected abnormally. In addition, this can present problems when a client switches bandwidths, attempts to fast forward or rewind, or performs any action that requires opening a new connection to the server through HTTP.