Prepared by: Mark Hoffmann Coyote Point Systems Inc.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 BENEFITS 3 PREREQUISITES / COMPONENTS 3 DEPLOYMENT GUIDELINE EXAMPLE 4 CONFIGURATION EXAMPLE 1: MSTS/EQUALIZER DEPLOYMENT WITHOUT SESSION SERVICES 5 CONFIGURATION EXAMPLE 2: MSTS/EQUALIZER DEPLOYMENT WITH IP REDIRECT SESSION SERVICES 12 CONFIGURATION EXAMPLE 3: MSTS/EQUALIZER DEPLOYMENT WITH TOKEN REDIRECT SESSION SERVICES 15 FOR ADDITIONAL HELP 19 APPENDIX A: TERMINAL SERVICES SERVER AGENT 20
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Introduction This is a general deployment guideline for load balancing Microsoft Terminal Services with Coyote Point Systems Equalizer™. This deployment guideline assumes the reader is familiar with the general functionality of both Equalizer™ and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Deployment Guideline example All the examples in this deployment guideline use the same basic network topology as shown in Figure 1.1, and behave in the following manner: • Terminal server or remote desktop clients connect to a virtual cluster presented by the Equalizer. • Connections from clients without an existing MSTS “session” are load balanced by Equalizer, according to the policy selected, across a farm of MSTS servers.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Configuration Example 1: MSTS/Equalizer Deployment without Session Services Overview In an MSTS server farm deployment with no Session Directory or Session Broker services, users log into a group of MSTS servers that have the same applications installed, and their files are usually kept on administrator-defined shared storage.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Deployment Steps The following steps are required to set up the example configuration involve defining the Equalizer cluster and the associated parameters, and defining the servers and server settings: Equalizer Cluster 1. Define the Terminal Services virtual cluster 2. Set sticky time for Terminal Services cluster 3. Setting the LB algorithm for the MSTS Cluster Cluster Servers 4. Add real Terminal Servers to virtual cluster 5.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide [For help with this (or any) Equalizer wizard screen, Click ? > Context Help from the menu at the top right of the wizard popup.] 3. Select Layer 4 TCP and click the Next [>] icon. 4. Name the cluster and assign an IP consistent with the single or dual network deployment model you chose for your configuration. 5. Finally, set the start port for the cluster to 3389 (leave end port blank).
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Figure 1.3 – Set sticky time Step 3: Set LB algorithm for the Terminal Services Cluster Next, we’ll define the LB algorithm for our L4 cluster. For this example we will use the adaptive algorithm. 1. In the left pane, click on the newly created Terminal Services cluster. 2. In the right frame click on the LB Algorithm tab – see Figure 1.4.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Note: The adaptive policy evaluates server response time and the active connection count and dynamically adjusts the traffic flowing to the server accordingly. Step 4: Add servers to the Terminal Services Cluster 1. In the upper left pane, right click on the newly created Terminal Services cluster and select ‘Add Server’ from the popup menu - see Figure 1.5 2.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Therefore, when using TCP probes to the Terminal Service port (3389), the maximum connections setting on Equalizer must be set to the maximum connections setting on the terminal server minus one. If you don't want to consume a licensed connection when probing a terminal server, you can change the probe port to another port on the server that will open a TCP connection when Equalizer connects to that port.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide 2. In the left panel of the Server Manager, click the plus sign next to Roles to expand the Roles list, then click the plus sign next to Terminal Services to expand that list. 3. Click on Terminal Services Configuration. 4. In the right panel, under Connections, right-click on the Connection Name (default is RDP-Tcp) and select Properties. 5. Click on the Sessions tab (see Figure 1.7): The screen above shows the default session options. 6.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Configuration Example 2: MSTS/Equalizer Deployment with IP Redirect Session Services Overview The obvious pitfall of the previous example configuration is that the power of Equalizer's load balancing algorithms (a key advantage over using MS load balancing solutions like NLB or Session Broker load balancing) gets applied to a particular client at a specified interval set by the MSTS session timer and cluster sticky timer, and not on each new lo
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Equalizer Cluster 1. Define the Terminal Services virtual cluster 2. Disable the spoof option on the cluster 3. Setting the LB algorithm for the MSTS Cluster Cluster Servers 4. Add real Terminal Servers to virtual cluster 5. Set max connection value for each Terminal Server MS Terminal Servers 6. Set the session time on each Terminal Server to any value desired, or leave the default (Never). 7.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Step 7: Set MS Terminal Server Max Connections Follow the instructions in Step 7 of Configuration Example 1. Step 8: Configure MS Terminal Server for IP Redirect Session Reconnection In this step, we configure each MSTS server to join a Session Directory (MSTS 2003) or Session Broker (MSTS 2008) server farm; this enables session redirection. We’ll also configure IP redirection for session reconnects.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide 6. In the Session directory server name box, type the DNS name or IP address of the domain server where the Terminal Services Session Directory service is running. Note that the server name must be a valid server name, and you cannot leave this box empty. (Also, the server name cannot be localhost or 127.0.0.1.) 7. Verify that the IP Address redirection check box is enabled. 8. Click OK to save your settings.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Equalizer Cluster 1. Define the Terminal Services virtual cluster 2. Disable the spoof option on the cluster and set a sticky time. 3. Setting the LB algorithm for the MSTS Cluster Cluster Servers 4. Add real Terminal Servers to virtual cluster 5. Set max connection value for each Terminal Server MS Terminal Servers 6. Set the session time on each Terminal Server to any value desired, or leave the default (Never). 7.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Do one of the following: • If you want to leave the default value of ‘Never’ for the session time, skip this step. • If you want to set the session time to a lower value, follow the instructions in Step 6 of Configuration Example 1. Step 7: Set MS Terminal Server Max Connections Follow the instructions in Step 7 of Configuration Example 1.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide the “.pl” file extension is associated with the perl executable that you install (this is done automatically by the ActivePerl install scripts). The text of the server agent perl script is given in Appendix A: Terminal Services Server Agent.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. In the right pane, open the Probes tab. Enable the require agent response check box. Click commit to save the change. In the left pane of the Equalizer Administrative Interface, click on the name of the MSTS Cluster. In the right pane, open the Configuration > Probes tab. In the agent type box, enable the server agent radio button. Click commit to save the change.
Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide Appendix A: Terminal Services Server Agent The sample Server Agent included in this appendix is intended to be installed and run on a Windows Terminal Services enabled server to provide accurate probe feedback to Equalizer. It can be used in any Equalizer / Terminal Services configuration to avoid probing the Terminal Services port on the server and, by doing so, to avoid consuming a Terminal Services license.
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Deploying Equalizer with MS Terminal Services Deployment Guide 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. # ***do not comment out the print statement below*** print CLIENT $response ; # close the connection; return to listening close CLIENT; } About Coyote Point Coyote Point Systems Inc., the original load balancing technology pioneer, is a recognized leader in delivering affordable solutions for high application availability and accelerated application performance.
