Hi there,
I would say I would modest knowledge of VDM, now View... and this week I've been putting together my first really serious configuration with load-balancers.
I should state I know some people will have some choice things to say about Microsoft NLB. But that's what I'm using... its for demonstration purposes only - not for production...
I'm VERY familiar with Citrix technologies how they relate to firewall configurations. So I won't describe myself as a newbie - but be gentle with me. 
Right with those caveats in mind here's my questions/problems...
1. Performance. MS NLB with 2xSecurity Servers with 2x Connection Servers. Is it known for being a bit slow? I don't think this a bandwidth issue. I connect via Citrix and it is much much quicker. I've even gone so far to configure just 1xSS and 1xCS and connect directly - which works much more efficently. Perhaps my problems is due to poor or broken NLB setup. I've got issues with it... Although I can type in the name of my NLB cluster and get a login prompt - the authentication always fails. "The View Connection Server authentication failed. A secure connection to the View Connection Server cannot be established."
2. Gateways. I found I could connect to the cluster internally - but not externally. I figured it was because hosting provider requires me to set a gateway to get out, and back into the location. I found i had to manually add their gateway address on each LAN connection of the 2x SS before I could even "ping" them from my home locations (I'm suprised that that ISPs and hosting providers still allow ICMP.... but there we are). We suprised I had to do this - and a gateway needs to be set - I assumed there be away of setting on in the NLB. But I haven't found it yet. Perhaps I should be using the route command in windows which would do the same thing??? I had to some monkeying about in the advanced TCP Properties of the SS and metrics to get this ping working....
3. I have a two node cluster - but I have never been able to get the second node to join the cluster. I've looked at the resulting IP configuration - and everything looks right - but it stubbornly won't join. I have a feeling I have the questions 1 & 2 is caused by 3, and my lack of knowledge around Microsoft NLB. Hence this forum post.
Let me summarize my configuation - and screen dump some error messages - perhaps that will help diagnose where I have screwed up....
It's multicast cluster - each SS only has one NIC. I'm not using IGMP because I understand that cause a lot network broadcast. I have very basic netgear switch with absolutely no fancy features (I'm wondering if that's the source of the problem too) its just gigabit switch - which doesn't even know what a VLAN is... The internal IP range is 192.168.2.x and the public internet range is 193.x.x.x. I'm just using 1 IP 193 address for the cluster (is that OK???). And I have rule that only has port range of 443. The error in the log has an ID of 0x800706ba. The friendly message says that the "Primary cluster IP address (193.x.x.x) not add to properties". Interestingly if I go to the afflicted node it is configured exactly the same as the one that successfully created the cluster. Reboots and restarts of the system don't seem to help.
I've correctly set a locked.properties file on both SS. An from the hosting providers network I client there can connect via the public IP (192.x.x.x). Of course he's not having to cross the router/gateway of the hosting provider. Before I blame them - I want to confirm my configurations works. I can connect to my citrix environment also on 443 - so I'm pretty sure its not a firewall problem. Everything is screaming out to me some kind of routing problem...
Regards
Mike
