Handling LAN failures

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

Handling LAN failures

If a Network Load Balancing cluster is split into multiple subnets that cannot communicate with each other, each part will reconverge as an individual cluster ready to handle all of the traffic for the cluster IP address. (This problem is distinct from a networking failure in which a single host goes offline. In that case, the host just leaves the cluster.)

If multiple subnets with clusters remain active (continue to handle incoming requests), a conflict arises when the networking failure is corrected and the cluster rejoins. In this case, some outstanding connections might have to be closed in order to establish a consistent state for the rejoined cluster. This situation occurs infrequently. It is far more probable that only one subnet will have access to the Internet, in which case no conflict arises because the other subnets do not provide service during the network outage.