jetnexus alb howto loadbalance exchange

How-to:

Configure jetNEXUS ALB to

Load Balance Exchange 2010

Outlook 2003/2007/2010 Clients

With RPC/HTTP & TCP/IP

Author: Andrew Knowlson

Review: Emily Hawkins

Version: 2.1

Date: 29th

June 2011

Created: 18th

May 2010

Modified ----------------

jetNEXUS Makes Applications Fly!

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Contents:

• Synopsis

• Overview

• Exchange 2010 Description

• Standard Exchange 2010 Diagram

• Modifying Exchange 2010

• jetNEXUS ALB Exchange 2010 Concept

• jetNEXUS ALB Changes

o Adding a Load Balanced Service

o Configuring a New Channel

o Adding Another Service on the Same Channel

o Example of Created Rule

• Outlook Client Changes

• Testing

o Outlook Web App

o Outlook 2003 Client



• Client Testing

• Load Balance Testing

• Troubleshooting


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Synopsis This document explains briefly the concept of Exchange 2010 and how to use an

ALB to load balance Exchange 2010 Traffic.

Overview The ALB, ALB-X & ALB-VA are all Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) sometimes

referred to as a next generation load balancer.

This document assumes that you are already familiar with the process, using the

ALB interface.

This document assumes that you are already familiar with the process of installing

Exchange, creating a DAG, and creating a CAS Array.

Exchange 2010 Description Brief overview of Exchange 2010 configuration is provided.

Outlook Clients

The Outlook clients we have used during testing are made up of Outlook 2003,

Outlook 2007 & Outlook 2010 which send their requests to the CAS.

Client Access Server (CAS) Role

The Client Access Server (CAS) role accepts connections from a variety of clients

to allow them access to the Exchange Server infrastructure.

Database Availability Group (DAG)

The Database Availability Group (DAG) is made up of Exchange Server 2010

Mailbox servers that provide automatic database-level recovery from a database,

server, or network failure.


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Standard Exchange 2010 Diagram


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Modifying Exchange 2010 To enable load balancing on Exchange 2010 we will need to make some changes

to each of the servers within the DAG and the CAS servers. We need to set static

ports for RPC as they currently use a dynamic port allocation 1024-65535.

Microsoft recommends you set this to a unique value between 59531 and 60554 and

use the same value on all Exchange 2010 Client Access servers in any one AD site.

Exchange 2010 Changes to be Completed on Each CAS & DAG Server

Open Regedit and Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeRPC\

You will then need to add a new Key, right click and go to New -> Key

Add a new Key called “ParametersSystem” then add a new DWORD(32bit) Value:

Name: TCP/IP Port

Decimal Value: 59534

On CAS servers only, navigate to the following directory:

c:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Bin.

Open Microsoft.Exchange.addressbook.service.exe.config


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Modify the following setting to 59535

“RpcTcpPort” value=”59535"

Once changes are made, each server should be rebooted.

Modifying Exchange 2010 SP1 (or later) To enable load balancing on Exchange 2010 SP1 (or later) we will need to make

some changes to each of the servers within the DAG and the CAS servers. We

need to set static ports for RPC as they currently use a dynamic port allocation

1024-65535.

Microsoft recommends you set this to a unique value between 59531 and 60554 and

use the same value on all Exchange 2010 Client Access servers in any one AD site.

Exchange 2010 Changes to be Completed on Each CAS & DAG Server

Open Regedit and Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeRPC\

You will then need to add a new Key, right click and go to New -> Key

Add a new Key called “ParametersSystem” then add a new DWORD(32bit) Value:

Name: TCP/IP Port

Decimal Value: 59534


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With Exchange 2010 SP1, you no longer use the

“Microsoft.Exchange.addressbook.service.exe.config” file to assign a static RPC

port to the Exchange Address Book Service. Instead, this configuration setting is

controlled using the registry. To set a static RPC port for the Exchange Address

Book Service on CAS servers (not necessary on Mailbox servers in the DAG),

create a new REG_SZ registry key named “RpcTcpPort” under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\MSExc

hangeAB\Parameters

String Value: 59535

Once changes are made, each server should be rebooted.


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jetNEXUS ALB Exchange 2010 Concept


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jetNEXUS ALB Changes

Adding a Load Balanced Service

The IP service configuration screen is the main configuration screen for load

balancing functionality and it can be found in (Setup �IP Services).

To set up a service you must have an IP address and port for it to listen on.

To configure a channel click the +

This will add the fields ready to input the settings:


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Configuring a New Channel

Configure the new channel with the IP details for your new service.

In this example we will configure the following IP details, based on a One-Armed

Configuration.

IP Address: 192.168.100.100

Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0

Port: 443

Data Method: Layer 4

Primary: n/a

Cache: OFF

SSL: No SSL

Service description: Exchange-2010-Test

Monitoring: Ping/ICMP Echo

Max connections: n/a

LB Policy: IP Based

Session persistence is required to ensure that the a client always gets the same

server. (Some Exchange protocols require stickiness/session affinity.) Additionally

some ActiveSync clients may experience issues when using the IP Based

persistency from carrier Nat-pools.


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Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Pool: n/a

Connection Server IP: 192.168.100.110

Connection Server Port: 443

Our channel has now been configured correctly; the listening IP and connection

server IP are now shown as green.

We now need to add the additional content CAS servers click on the + to add a

new content server.

Add the secondary content server with the same port 443:

Click on the update button next to the “Add Content Server” to enable the new

content server.


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In the example below I have added my 2 content CAS servers to my load balanced

channel.

We now need to add the additional ports to our channel.

Adding another Service on the Same Channel

To set up another service on the same IP address and a different port click the

“Add Port”.

This will add another grouping of settings similar to the first set. This time you

don’t need to specify the listening IP or subnet as it has already been added.

This now allows you to set up the new ports to each of the content CMS servers.


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Example of Completed Rule

I have a Listening IP of 192.168.100.100, which has 2 content servers

192.168.100.110 & 192.168.111 bound to it.

Traffic on the following ports 80, 443, 135, 59534, 59535 is then forwarded to the

content CMS servers.

Completed rule for ports 59534, 59535 & 80


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Outlook Client Changes

To implement the ALB in the current Exchange 2010 solution we need to now

point the owa.jetnexus.com to the ALB Device.

To test you can either modify the DNS entry for owa.jetnexus.com to the ALB

Channel Address. Or modify the local machines host file to have an entry for

192.168.100.100 owa.jetnexus.com

Testing

Outlook Web Access (Outlook Web App 2010)

You should now be able to ping owa.jetnexus.com which responds on the ALB

listening IP of 192.168.100.100

You should be able to open a web page to https://owa.jetnexus.com

This will now access OWA via the load balancer.


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You will then be challenged for your username and password.

If you have any issues, please check you configuration settings above.

Outlook 2003 Client

You should be able to telnet to the owa.jetnexus.com on the following ports: 135,

59534 & 59535 these are needed for a TCP/IP connection for Outlook & 443 &

135 for a HTTP connection.

TCP/IP Connection

Click Start, Run then type:


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Outlook.exe /rpcdiag

Outlook will then open and also a new Microsoft Exchange Connection Status

screen.

Within this screen you will be told how you are connecting to Exchange.

HTTP Connection




screen.


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Check your RPC/HTTP connections

You will need to ensure that the “connection settings” screen has your

Owa.jetnexus.com address in the URL to connect to Exchange.

Outlook 2007 Client

You should be able to telnet to the owa.jetnexus.com on the following ports. 135,

59534 & 59535 these are needed for a TCP/IP connection for Outlook.

Open Start, Run then type:



screen.


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TCP/IP Connection




screen.



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HTTP Connection

Click Start, Run then type: Outlook.exe /rpcdiag


screen.


Check your RPC/HTTP connections.

You will need to ensure that the connection settings have your Owa.jetnexus.com

ad the URL to connect to Exchange.


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Outlook 2010 Client

You should be able to telnet to the owa.jetnexus.com on the following ports. 135,

59534 & 59535 these are needed for a TCP/IP connection for Outlook.

Open Start, Run then type:



screen.

TCP/IP Connection




screen.


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HTTP Connection

Click Start, Run then type: Outlook.exe /rpcdiag


screen.


Check your RPC/HTTP connections.


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You will need to ensure that the connection settings have your Owa.jetnexus.com

ad the URL to connect to Exchange.

Client Testing

To prove that your Outlook clients are able to access the Exchange services by the

ALB open Outlook in Outlook.exe /rpcdiag mode.



screen.


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Open the ALB Web Interface

Navigate to the IP service configuration screen is the main configuration screen

for load balancing functionality it can be found in (Setup �IP Services).

Navigate to the Channel you created for Exchange testing with the Listening IP of

192.168.100.100

Using the Tick box you can disable the rules. Below I have unchecked https 443.

Using the update button at the bottom to update the rule.

The channel now shows the servers that the listening IP 192.168.100.100:443 are

on are now offline.


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Your RPC/HTTP connections should now in the RPC Diagnostic window and now

show disconnected.

When you uncheck the following ports 135, 59534, 59535 your TCP/IP Outlook

clients should also disconnect.


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Load Balance Testing

Open the ALB Web Interface

Navigate to the IP service configuration screen is the main configuration screen

for load balancing functionality it can be found in (Setup �IP Services)

Navigate to the Channel you created for Exchange testing with the Listening IP of

192.168.100.100

Using the Content servers, you can tick and uncheck any server you wish to

remove.

On my 192.168.100.100:443 Channel I will set 192.168.100.110 Offline.

Traffic will still work as I have only set one server to Offline.


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Troubleshooting

Further help can be found on the jetNEXUS websites

http://www.jetnexus.com/support.html

http://forum.jetnexus.com/

Contact jetNEXUS

I hope you have found this User Manual informative, but if you need any

clarification or further information, please do not hesitate to get in contact with

jetNEXUS Support:

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +44 (0)870 382 5529

Blog: http://jetnexus.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jetnexus

jetnexus alb howto loadbalance exchange

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