Event ID 55 — NLB Bi-Directional Affinity (BDA) Configuration

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Bi-directional affinity creates multiple instances of Network Load Balancing (NLB) on the same host, which work in tandem to ensure that responses from published servers are routed through the appropriate ISA servers in a cluster. Bi-directional affinity is commonly used when NLB is configured with Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) servers. If bi-directional affinity is not consistent across all NLB hosts or if NLB fails to initialize bi-directional affinity, the NLB cluster will remain in the converging state until a consistent teaming configuration is detected.

 

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 55
Source: Microsoft-Windows-NLB
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: MSG_ERROR_BDA_BAD_TEAM_CONFIG
Message: NLB cluster [%2]: An inconsistent teaming configuration was detected for bi-directional affinity (BDA) on host %5. BDA configuration must be identical on all cluster hosts. The team in which this cluster participates will be marked inactive and this cluster will remain in the converging state until consistent teaming configuration is detected.

Resolve

Reconfigure BDA teaming configuration

The bi-directional affinity (BDA) configuration must be identical on all cluster hosts. The team in which this cluster participates will be marked inactive and this cluster will remain in the converging state until consistent teaming configuration is achieved. You should first reconfigure the BDA configuration, and then restart the NLB cluster.

Reconfigure the bi-directional affinity configuration

To reconfigure the bi-directional affinity configuration:

  • Reconfigure the bi-directional affinity settings by using the server application tools. If the Network Load Balancing (NLB) cluster is an Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) cluster, use the ISA Server configuration. For more information about configuring bi-directional affinity, see the ISA Server documentation.

When you are using nlb.exe, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the host that you are configuring, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If you are configuring a cluster or host by running nlb.exe from a computer that is not part of the cluster, you do not have to be a member of the Administrators group on that computer.

Restart the NLB cluster

To restart the NLB cluster:

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
  2. Type nlb.exe reload, which reloads the NLB driver's current parameters from the registry.
  3. Type nlb.exe start, which starts cluster operations on the specified hosts.

Verify

The configuration of bi-directional affinity must be the same on all hosts in the Network Load Balancing (NLB) cluster.

To verify that the bi-directional affinity configuration is the same on all hosts:

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window. Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
  2. Type nlb.exe query. This displays the current cluster state and the list of host priorities for the current hosts of the cluster. Confirm that all hosts display converged as their current state.

NLB Bi-Directional Affinity (BDA) Configuration

NLB Cluster