IT edge » Remove a Termianl Server from a NLB Cluster Gracefully

December 28, 2005

Remove a Termianl Server from a NLB Cluster Gracefully

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jason Hartley @ 1:48 pm

If you are using Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services in a NLB (Network Load Balancing) Cluster configuration, you can remove a server from the cluster group so it will no longer except new user connections from the cluster name or ip address. This will allow you to take a server down for maintenance, while not disconnecting current user sessions. This setting is similar to unchecking the option of “Allow Logons to Server” in Citrix Presentation Server environment.

Open the NLB Manager.

Open the NLB Farm.

Right-click the name of the server to remove from TS logons.

Choose ‘Control Host’.

Choose ‘Drain Stop’

Even thought this option has a non-descriptive name, it will prevent new users from connecting to the server while keeping existing user sessions active.