Budget NLB policy for 3 tier website needed

Question

We have a few 'classic asp' client facing websites feeding off a central asp.net mvc site which acts as a webservice ie we query the MVC controllers directly from the ASP sites with extensive use of jquery ajax. This MVC site in turn queries sql server running on a seperate box. We have a custom session profile which requires a call to the database on every page view.

At the moment the client facing websites sit on the same box as the mvc site. We now want to use Windows 2008 network load balancing service to both contain high bursts of traffic and maintain availabilty. Within a currently limited budget...

What is the best policy: 2x2 - client sites on 2 NLBed boxes & MVC on seperate pair of NLBed boxes- or both on a single group of 3 NLBed boxes?

Answer 1

I would go with the 2x2 solution just to help keep those MVC sites away from the Web. If you do not need the MVCs kept away from the web then go with 2 or 3 NLB'd boxes.

Be aware that NLB is a IP to IP load-balancing solution so if you are funneled through a single connection it will end up always going to the same server and you really just get Fail over.