Load balancing uses a number of algorithms, called load balancing methods, to determine how to distribute the load among the servers. When a Load balancer is configured to use the least response time method, it selects the service with the least number of active connections and the least average response time. The response time also called Time to First Byte, or TTFB is the time interval between sending a request packet to a server and receiving the first response packet back.

Least Response Time Load balancing allows you to distribute client requests across multiple servers. Load balancers improve server fault tolerance and end-user response time. Load balancing distributes client requests across multiple servers to optimize resource utilization. In a scenario with a limited number of servers providing service to a large number of clients, a server can become overloaded and degrade server performance. Load balancing is used to prevent bottlenecks by forwarding the client requests to the servers best suited to handle them. Thus, balancing the load.

In a load balancing setup, the load balancers are logically located between the client and the server farm. Load balancing is used to manage traffic flow to the servers in the server farm. The network diagram shows the topology of a basic load balancing configuration. Load Balancing can be performed on HTTP, HTTP, SSL, FTP, TCP, SSL_TCP, UDP, SSL_BRIDGE, NNTP, DNS, ANY, SIP-UDP, DNS-TCP, and RTSP.

The following example shows how a Load Balancer works using the least response time method. The load balancer selects the server by using the value (N) of the following expression:
N = Number of active transactions * TTFB

The load balancer delivers the requests as follows:

• Server-3 receives the first request.
  Note: The service with no active transaction is selected first.
• Server-3 receives the second and third requests because the service has the least N value.
• Server-1 receives the fourth request. Because Server-1 and Server-3 have same N value, the load balancer performs round robin. Therefore, Server-3 receives the fifth request.
• Server-2 receives the sixth request because the service has the least N value.
• Server-1 receives the seventh request. Because Server-1, Server-2, and Server-3 have same N value, the load balancer round robin. Therefore, Server-2 receives the eighth request.

Whether it's load balancing XenApp servers, iPhone/iPad resources, websites, linux servers, windows servers, e-commerce sites, or enterprise applications, NetScaler is the perfect choice. NetScaler, available as a network device or as a virtualized appliance, is a web application delivery appliance that accelerates internal and externally-facing web application up to 5x, optimizes application availability through advanced L4-7 traffic management, increases security with an integrated application firewall, and substantially lowers costs by increasing web server efficiency.

Citrix NetScaler is a comprehensive system deployed in front of web servers that combines high-speed load balancing and content switching with application acceleration, highly-efficient data compression, static and dynamic content caching, SSL acceleration, network optimization, application performance monitoring, and robust application security.

Available as a virtual machine, the NetScaler is perfect for load balancing virtual servers in the datacenter or in the cloud.

Read more here.

Its powerful!

Round Robin Load balancing allows you to distribute client requests across multiple servers. Load balancers improve server fault tolerance and end-user response time. Load balancing distributes client requests across multiple servers to optimize resource utilization. In a scenario with a limited number of servers providing service to a large number of clients, a server can become overloaded and degrade server performance. Load balancing is used to prevent bottlenecks by forwarding the client requests to the servers best suited to handle them. Thus, balancing the load.

In a load balancing setup, the load balancers are logically located between the client and the server farm. Load balancing is used to manage traffic flow to the servers in the server farm. The network diagram shows the topology of a basic load balancing configuration. Load Balancing can be performed on HTTP, HTTP, SSL, FTP, TCP, SSL_TCP, UDP, SSL_BRIDGE, NNTP, DNS, ANY, SIP-UDP, DNS-TCP, and RTSP.

Load balancing uses a number of algorithms, called load balancing methods, to determine how to distribute the load among the servers. When a load balancer is configured to use the round robin method, it rotates incoming requests around to the managed servers, regardless of the load.

The following example shows how a Load Balancer selects a service for load balancing by using the round robin method. The requests are delivered as follows:

• Server-1 receives the first request.
• Server-2 receives the second request.
• Server-3 receives the third request.
  ...
  When Server-N receives the N'th request, the round robin routine repeats, and the next request is sent to Server-1, then Server-2, then Server-3, all over again.

Whether it's load balancing XenApp servers, iPhone/iPad resources, websites, linux servers, windows servers, e-commerce sites, or enterprise applications, NetScaler is the perfect choice. NetScaler, available as a network device or as a virtualized appliance, is a web application delivery appliance that accelerates internal and externally-facing web application up to 5x, optimizes application availability through advanced L4-7 traffic management, increases security with an integrated application firewall, and substantially lowers costs by increasing web server efficiency.

Citrix NetScaler is a comprehensive system deployed in front of web servers that combines high-speed load balancing and content switching with application acceleration, highly-efficient data compression, static and dynamic content caching, SSL acceleration, network optimization, application performance monitoring, and robust application security.

Available as a virtual machine, the NetScaler is perfect for load balancing virtual servers in the datacenter or in the cloud.

Read more here.

Its powerful!

Load balancing allows you to distribute client requests across multiple servers. Load balancers improve server fault tolerance and end-user response time. Load balancing distributes client requests across multiple servers to optimize resource utilization. In a scenario with a limited number of servers providing service to a large number of clients, a server can become overloaded and degrade server performance. Load balancing is used to prevent bottlenecks by forwarding the client requests to the servers best suited to handle them. Thus, balancing the load.

In a load balancing setup, the load balancers are logically located between the client and the server farm. Load balancing is used to manage traffic flow to the servers in the server farm. The network diagram shows the topology of a basic load balancing configuration. Load Balancing can be performed on HTTP, HTTP, SSL, FTP, TCP, SSL_TCP, UDP, SSL_BRIDGE, NNTP, DNS, ANY, SIP-UDP, DNS-TCP, and RTSP.

Load balancing uses a number of algorithms, called load balancing methods, to determine how to distribute the load among the servers. When a load balancer is configured to use the least connection method, it selects the service with the least number of active connections to ensure that the load of the active requests is balanced on the services. This method is the default load balancing method because it provides the best performance.

The following example shows how a NetScaler selects a service for load balancing by using the least connections method. Consider the following three services:

• Server-1 is handling 3 active transactions.
• Server-2 is handling 15 active transactions.
• Server-3 is not handling any active transactions.

The load balancer selects the service by using the value (N) of the following expression:
N = Number of active transactions

The requests are delivered as follows:

• Server-3 receives the first request because the service is not handling any active transactions.
  Note: The service with no active transaction is selected first.
• Server-3 receives the second and third requests because the service has the next least number of active transactions.
• Server-1 receives the fourth request.

When Server-1 and Server-3 have same number of active transactions, NetScaler performs load balancing in a round robin manner. Therefore, Server-3 receives the fifth request, Server-1 receives the sixth request, Server-3 receives the seventh request, and Server-1 receives the eighth request and so forth.

Whether it's load balancing XenApp servers, iPhone/iPad resources, websites, linux servers, windows servers, e-commerce sites, or enterprise applications, NetScaler is the perfect choice. NetScaler, available as a network device or as a virtualized appliance, is a web application delivery appliance that accelerates internal and externally-facing web application up to 5x, optimizes application availability through advanced L4-7 traffic management, increases security with an integrated application firewall, and
substantially lowers costs by increasing web server efficiency.

Citrix NetScaler is a comprehensive system deployed in front of web servers that combines high-speed load balancing and content switching with application acceleration, highly-efficient data compression, static and dynamic content caching, SSL acceleration, network optimization, application performance monitoring, and robust application security.

Available as a virtual machine, the NetScaler is perfect for load balancing virtual servers in the datacenter or in the cloud.

Read more here.

Its powerful!

The starting point for SP1 setup/upgrade should be the What's New in SP1, SP1 Release Notes, and Prerequisites docs. As with any new release, there are some frequently asked deployment questions, and known issues, or issues reported by some customers. You may not face these in your environment, but we're posting these here along with some workarounds so you're aware of them as you test and deploy SP1.

1. Upgrade order: The order of upgrade from Exchange 2010 RTM to SP1 hasn’t changed from what was done in Exchange 2007. Upgrade server roles in the following order:

1. Client Access server
2. Hub Transport server
3. Unified Messaging server
4. Mailbox server
   

Full Article at MSExchangeTeam Blog

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

Let’s start things off with a rumor that just won’t die — and one that is fitting to run on the day Apple announced a revamped iPod Touch line, plus social/streaming music capabilities along the lines of what Microsoft already offers with ZunePass.

I keep hearing from a source of mine who has been a solid tipster on Microsoft-consumerish things in the past that Microsoft is still considering rolling out at least one more Zune HD media player. Let’s call it, just for fun, the Zune HD2 (though maybe Zune HD7 (potentially stealing a good name away from HTC) is a more likely name, given the Softies’ love of all things numbered 7 these days).Last I heard, iIt was supposed to be Microsoft’s iPod Touch competitor.

Full Story at All About Microsoft

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

Improvements coming in November include:

• Offline access to licensing and relationship summaries.
• Enhancements to the Add Open License functionality. Introduced in April 2010, the Add Open functionality allows resellers to act on behalf of their Open License end customers to manage their licenses and provide downloads and keys. Changes will include:
  • Resellers will be granted automatic access to the Authorization/License in the VLSC if their business e-mail address is included on the Open order form as the reseller.
    • You may remember my earlier post about being sure to provide the correct contact information for your customer AND your correct information as the reseller when placing Volume License orders.  If you are not providing your email address as the reseller in the “Reseller address” field when placing your Open License orders with your Microsoft Authorized Distributor, be sure to start doing so right now.
  • Customers can request that reseller access be denied through a 1-click link on an e-mail notification.

Source

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

We have identified problems when installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) that was released last week on such deployments.

Root cause
SP1 made some changes to the SDK including removing some of the existing cmdlets (see more information here).

When Email protection is configured on TMG and Spam Filtering functionality is enabled, TMG uses one of the cmdlets that has been removed (get-antispamupdates) in SP1. As a result, Microsoft Forefront TMG Managed Control service fails to start and the event viewer will contain a message that the service terminated with the following error : %%-2146233088 :

What we are doing to address this problem

The TMG team is fully committed to addressing this problem and is working on a fix which will be publically available soon. We recommend refraining from installing Exchange 2010 SP1 on TMG machines until the fix is available. We will publish another blog post when the fix becomes available.

If you are already affected by this problem and need urgent assistance, please contact Microsoft support (http://support.microsoft.com).

Source: ISABLOG

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released.  We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes.  We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready.

I last posted on this blog when we reached the Technical Preview milestone, and we’ve received some great feedback since then which we’ve been able to respond to and improve the smart design throughout the OS. For example, folks loved the Facebook integration in the People Hub, but they also wanted ways to filter their contacts so only the Facebook friends they really know will show up in their contact list  – we’ve added support for that.  We’ve also made it easy to “like” a post right from the People Hub, or quickly post a message to someone’s Facebook wall directly.

Full Story Here

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

Although Pitzalis also stated that Canadian users would be left without the feature, Microsoft has told Shacknews that this was a misunderstanding.

"In Canada, English voice controls for Kinect will be available on November 4, 2010, with French support available in Spring 2011," a Microsoft Canada representative told Shacknews.

Continue at Source

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites

Deploying Windows 7, but still running Web applications based on Internet Explorer 6? Join us live at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on Thursday, September 30, 2010 for a virtual, interactive roundtable discussion on migration strategies, standards, and support for organizations moving from Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 8.

As organizations deploy Windows 7, many still depend on web applications that were designed for Internet Explorer 6. Will they still work, and what can you do when they don’t? Join a panel of IT Professionals, Microsoft specialists and technical experts to discuss best practices to simplify and accelerate the migration to Internet Explorer 8. Topics will include an explanation of the causes of and solutions for application compatibility issues (including policy, code, and virtualization solutions), an introduction to tools, and a review of best practices.

Ask your questions live during the event with our online tool - or submit your questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.

Missed a previous Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable? Watch them on demand.

Send via e-mail | Submit to Digg | Add to Live Favorites