Scaling Out the Solution by Adding Cluster Hosts

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Another method that you can use to improve client response time is scaling out. You scale out your solution when you add cluster hosts to existing clusters.

Scaling out your solution is appropriate in the following situations:

  • You want to reduce TCO by including more, less-expensive cluster hosts in your design.

  • You cannot further upgrade the system resources of the existing cluster hosts.

Tip

  • To further improve client response time, consider scaling up the cluster host system resources as you scale out.

Scale out your solution by adding cluster hosts to the cluster and completing the following steps:

  1. Identify the applications or services that require scaling out.

  2. Identify any port rules that are associated with the application or services.

  3. Include the additional cluster hosts in the cluster.

  4. When appropriate, divide the cluster hosts into separate clusters and use round robin DNS to distribute client traffic across the clusters.