Scaling for Page Rendering

Since many business-critical processes may be automated using K2 blackpearl, it may be important to have a redundant system to ensure processes are not interrupted. This scenario is the same as the Small Scale install, but with adding a Network Load Balanced (NLB) cluster to ensure failover via load balancing.

Scaling for Page Rendering
Server A, B	NLB SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010 (Server or Foundation) and IIS NLB K2 blackpearl (all components)
Server C	SQL Server 2008

Note: Depending on the SharePoint product installed, either the MOSS, WSS, SharePoint 2010 Server or SharePoint 2010 Foundation components will be displayed for installation.

The Scaling for Page Rendering scenario is shown below. All of the K2, IIS, and SharePoint components are installed on two nodes in an NLB cluster for better page rendering performance and fail over via load balancing.

Considerations for the Scaling for Page Rendering Install

This scenario introduces a NLB cluster into the installation topology; therefore, it is important to understand NLB before installing this scenario.

Network Load Balancing

NLB can be configured by using either the operating system or specific hardware. In either case, NLB configuration should be completed before installing K2 blackpearl.

When installing components that will be load balanced, the installation must be performed on each machine independently. In this install, all of the components are on NLB servers; therefore, all of the components need to be installed on each NLB server.

SQL Server

The location of the SQL Server is not critical for a K2 installation, as long as the network connection speed to the K2 Server meets minimum requirements. It is also important that the DTC component is configured properly in order for communications between the K2 Server and the SQL Server can function properly. The SQL Server can share physical resources or be located on an independent platform, such as in this install. Considering that in most cases K2 is being introduced into an existing environment, the K2 Databases would be installed on an independent server that runs SQL Server 2008. Since this is a common occurrence, the installation documentation takes this into consideration.