Microsoft NLB in VMware: alternative to multicast and unicast with the SafeKit software

Evidian SafeKit

Microsoft NLB multicast mode

As explained in the knowledge base of VMware, in the case of Microsoft NLB multicast mode, you need to manually configure static ARP resolution at the switch or router for each port that connects to the cluster.  Deployment of the Microsoft NLB multicast mode in an unknown network environment can prove to be a complex and strenuous task.

Microsoft NLB unicast mode

With Microsoft NLB unicast mode, you must configure the ESXi/ESX host to not send RARP packets when any of its virtual machines is powered on. That's why, VMware recommends configuring the cluster to use NLB multicast mode with the previously mentioned problems.

Alternative with the virtual IP address of Evidian SafeKit

With the SafeKit software, network load balancing is implemented by filtering packets in the network stacks as with Microsoft NLB. The virtual IP address is set as an alias IP address on the NIC card of each physical or virtual machine. A single network is sufficient to implement network load balancing.

The virtual IP address configuration does not require any special network configuration and the network load balancing can run in any environment (thanks to the vmac_directed technology). An important feature when the solution must be deployed in an unknown infrastructure: unknown switches or routers, physical servers or virtual servers.

Note that the solution is available on Windows and Linux (even on Windows editions for PCs).

Other differentatiors to consider when choosing a load balancing cluster

Evidian SafeKit farm cluster with load balancing and failover

No load balancer or dedicated proxy servers or special multicast Ethernet address >

No load balancer or dedicated proxy servers

Like   The solution does not require load balancers or dedicated proxy servers above the farm for imlementing load balancing. SafeKit is installed directly on the application servers in the farm. The load balancing is based on a standard virtual IP address/Ethernet MAC address and is working with physical servers or virtual machines on Windows and Linux without special network configuration

Dislike  This is not the case with network load balancers

Dislike  This is not the case with dedicated proxies on Linux

Dislike  This is not the case with a specific multicast Ethernet address on Windows

All clustering features >

All clustering features

Like  The solution includes all clustering features: virtual IP address, load balancing on client IP address or on sessions, monitoring of server / network / software failures, automatic application restart with a quick revovery time and a replication option with a mirror module

Dislike  This is not the case with other load balancing solutions. They are able to make load balancing but they do not include a full clustering solution with restart scripts and automatic application restart in case of failure. They do not offer a replication option

Like   The cluster configuration is very simple and made by means of application modules. There is no domain controller or active directory to configure on Windows. The solution works on Windows and Linux

Remote sites and virtual IP address >

Remote sites

Like   If servers are connected to the same IP network through an extended LAN between remote sites, the virtual IP address of SafeKit is working with load balancing at level 2

Like   If servers are connected to different IP networks between remote sites, the virtual IP address can be configured at the level of a load balancer with the help of the SafeKit health check. Thus you can implement load balancing but also all the clustering features of SafeKit, in particular monitoring and automatic recovery of the critical application on application servers

Uniform high availability solution >

Uniform high availability solution

Like  SafeKit imlements a farm cluster with load balancing and failover. But it implements also a mirror cluster with replication and failover.

Like  Thus a N-tiers architecture can be made highly available and load balanced with the same solution on Windows and Linux (same installation, configuration, administration with the SafeKit console or with the command line interface). This is unique on the market

Dislike  This is not the case with an architecture mixing different technologies for load balancing, replication and failover

Software clustering vs hardware clustering >

A software cluster with SafeKit installed on two servers

Like  A simple software cluster with the SafeKit package just installed on two servers

Hardware clustering with external shared storage

Dislike  Complex hardware clustering with external storage or network load balancers

Shared nothing vs a shared disk cluster >

SafeKit shared-nothing cluster: easy to deploy even in remote sites

Like  SafeKit is a shared-nothing cluster: easy to deploy even in remote sites

Shared disk cluster: complex to deploy

Dislike  A shared disk cluster is complex to deploy

Application High Availability vs Full Virtual Machine High Availability >

SafeKit application high availability supports hardware failure, software failure, human errors

Like  Application HA supports hardware failure and software failure with a quick recovery time (RTO around 1 mn or less).
Smooth upgrade of application and OS possible server by server (version N and N+1 can coexist)

Virtual machines high availability supports only hardware failure with an recovery time depending on the OS reboot

Dislike  Full virtual machines HA supports only hardware failure with a VM reboot and a recovery time depending on the OS reboot.
Smooth upgrade not possible

High availability vs fault tolerance >

SafeKit high availability vs fault-tolerance

Like  No dedicated server with SafeKit. Each server can be the failover server of the other one.
Software failure with restart in another OS environment.
Smooth upgrade of application and OS possible server by server (version N and N+1 can coexist)

Fault tolerance system

Dislike  Secondary server dedicated to the execution of the same application synchronized at the instruction level.
Software exception on both servers at the same time.
Smooth upgrade not possible

Synchronous replication vs asynchronous replication >

SafeKit synchronous replication with no data in case of failure

Like  SafeKit implements real-time synchronous replication with no data loss in case of failure

Asynchronous replication with data loss on failure

Dislike  With asynchronous replication, there is data loss on failure

Byte-level file replication vs block-level disk replication >

SafeKit cluster with byte-level file replication: simply replicates directories even in the system disk

Like  SafeKit implements real-time byte-level file replication and is simply configured with application directories to replicate even in the system disk

Cluster with block-level disk replication: complex and require to put application data in a special disk

Dislike  Block-level disk replication is complex to configure and requires to put application data in a special disk

Heartbeat, failover and quorum to avoid 2 master nodes >

Simple quorum in a SafeKit cluster with a split brain checker configured on a router

Like  To avoid 2 masters, SafeKit proposes a simple split brain checker configured on a router

Complex quorum in other clusters: third machine, special quorum disk, remote hardware reset

Dislike  To avoid 2 masters, other clusters require a complex configuration with a third machine, a special quorum disk, a special interconnect

Virtual IP address
primary/secondary, network load balancing, failover >

No special network configuration in a SafeKit cluster

Like  No dedicated proxy servers and no special network configuration are required in a SafeKit cluster for virtual IP addresses

Special network configuration in other clusters

Dislike  Special network configuration is required in other clusters for virtual IP addresses. Note that SafeKit offers a health check adapted to load balancers

SafeKit Modules for Plug&Play High Availability Solutions

Demonstrations of SafeKit High Availability Software

SafeKit Webinar

This webinar presents in 10 minutes Evidian SafeKit.

In this webinar, you will understand:

  • mirror and farm clusters
  • cost savings against hardware clustering solutions
  • best use cases
  • the integration process for a new application

Microsoft SQL Server Cluster

This video shows a mirror module configuration with synchronous real-time replication and failover.

The file replication and the failover are configured for Microsoft SQL Server but it works in the same manner for other databases.

Free trial here

Apache Cluster

This video shows a farm module configuration with load balancing and failover.

The load balancing and the failover are configured for Apache but it works in the same manner for other web services.

Free trial here

Hyper-V Cluster

This video shows a Hyper-V cluster with full replications of virtual machines.

Virtual machines can run on both Hyper-V servers and they are restarted in case of failure.

Free trial here