MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-667): Configuring Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010: Managing Web Applications
- 9/21/2011
- Before You Begin
- Lesson 1: Configure Web Applications
- Lesson 2: Configure Authentication
- Lesson 3: Configure Authentication Zones and Alternate Access Mappings
- Chapter Review
- Chapter Summary
- Key Terms
- Case Scenario: Troubleshooting Web Application Configuration
- Suggested Practices
- Take a Practice Test
Suggested Practices
To help you successfully master the exam objectives presented in this chapter, complete the following tasks.
Manage Web Applications
Do all the practices in this section. Be certain that you have created a snapshot of your virtual machines prior to performing these practices. When you have completed the practices, revert to the snapshot.
Practice 1: Configure Network Load Balancing
Network Load Balancing (NLB) allows you to distribute requests across multiple web front-end servers (WFEs). NLB can improve performance, and provides redundancy so that if a web server fails, other WFEs can continue to service requests. Windows Server 2008 R2 supports Network Load Balancing. Add the NLB feature to SP2010-WFE1. Even though you have only one server in the farm, you can configure NLB with the cluster IP address—the address that will be exposed to end users—and the IP address of the server. For example, you can configure the cluster IP address as 10.0.0.20/255.255.255.0. Add the IP address of SP2010-WFE1 (10.0.0.21) as a member of the cluster. Finally, change the DNS records for one or more websites to resolve to the IP address of the cluster. Test the configuration by browsing to a website. If it renders, NLB has been configured successfully. Because Windows Server 2008 R2 NLB does not overwrite the inbound request—instead, it sends the request to the IP address of a member—you do not need to configure any zones or access mappings to support this scenario.
Practice 2: Configure Forms Based Authentication
In the practice of Lesson 2, you began to configure Forms Based Authentication (FBA). You configured the web application for FBA, and you examined the Web.config file of the IIS Web site, but you did not change the three Web.config files that are necessary to configure FBA. You also did not create a SQL database to test the functionality of FBA. FBA is one of the most complex configurations in SharePoint. It is highly recommended that you gain hands-on experience with the process. Use resources on Microsoft TechNet and elsewhere on the Internet to configure Forms Based Authentication. Be certain to create a snapshot before you begin, so that you can revert to a known-good state when you have finished this suggested practice.