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→Building a Windows Server 2008 Network Load Balanced Cluster
To pre-configure the account and password credentials to be used on each host when working with the cluster select ''Options -> Credentials'' and enter an account and password. Note that the account must be a member of the administrators group. If default credentials are copnfigured the user will be prompted for account and password information each time a connection to a cluster node is established.
To begin the cluster creation process right click on the Network Load Balancing Clusters entry in the left panel of the manager window and select the ''New Cluster'' menu option. This will display ''New Cluster'' connection dialog. In this dialog, enter either the name or IP address of the first server to be included in the load balanced cluster and press the ''Connect'' button to establish a connection to that server. If the connection is successful to the first server will be listed:
The ''Priority (unique host ID)'' is a number between 1 and 32 and serves two purposes. Firstly, the number provides a unique ID within the cluster to distinguish the server from other nodes. Secondly, it specifies the priority order of the cluster. The cluster node with the lowest priority is assigned to handle all traffic that is not covered by a ''port rule''. All servers joining a cluster must have a unique ID. I new server attempting to join a cluster with a conflicting ID will be denied.
The ''Dedicated IP addresses'' fields are used when a single network adapter is used for both communication between cluster nodes and external network traffic. It is used to specify the host's unique IP address, which is used for non-cluster network traffic (i.e direct connections to the specific server from outside the cluster without being affected by the Network Load Balancing). This must be a fixed IP address and not a DHCP address and as such should also be entered into the network properties dialog of the server. To configure dedicated IP addresses, click on the ''Add...'' button and enter the IP address and subnet mask (for example 255.255.255.0).
