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I have a QC farm consist of 1 application server, 1 web front end and 1 database server. How I make sure all the web visiting traffic is going to web server not app server (unless wfe has too many hits)

Web server running follow services

Application Registry Service
Claims to Windows Token Service
Excel Calculation Services
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service
Search Query and Site Settings Service
Secure Store Service
SQL Server Analysis Services
SQL Server PowerPivot System Service
Web Analytics Data Processing Service
Web Analytics Web Service

App server running following apps

Access Database Service
Application Registry Service
Business Data Connectivity Service
Central Administration
Claims to Windows Token Service
Excel Calculation Services
Managed Metadata Web Service
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service
Search Query and Site Settings Service
Secure Store Service
SharePoint Server Search
User Profile Service
Visio Graphics Service
Web Analytics Data Processing Service
Web Analytics Web Service

And database server running following service

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Database
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1 Answer

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A quick ultra low-tech way I've used to verify that load balancing is working as expected is to compare the activity in the IIS logs between the various servers for the SharePoint Web Application. In your case, it sounds like you are doing more fail-over than load balancing which means most (if not all) of the web traffic should be to the WFE, so the IIS log file should be substantial and active whereas the IIS logs on the App server should be idle or nearly idle.

There are things that can skew the App server IIS log, like a crawler, but those usually have a distinctive UserAgent string and can be excluded.

I would be curious if someone has a more precise way to verify it, however.

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Actually, My question has few folds. 1. How does SP know it's a WFE? 2. How does SP sends users to WFE or How to tell Farm use WFE for user traffic. I will look at the iis log and see if any activity is going on with WFE server. – M. Todd Oct 4 '12 at 14:55
SharePoint has no load balancing as that is normally handled by some component in your network infrastructure. It does not route users anywhere. And technically, SharePoint doesn't really know a WFE from an APP server as those are external designations. By default, every server in a SharePoint farm can be a WFE or APP or both. What makes it one or the other is 1) which server incoming traffic is routed to and 2) what services are enabled on each server. – Dave Wise Oct 4 '12 at 14:56
The log in the WFE has no traffic info barely 1 line. The log files in the APP Server is bigger in size ( ~ > 200kb) and they are full of content for log. I am sure all the web traffic is going to App server only. How do I change this so that traffic is going to WFE? – M. Todd Oct 4 '12 at 14:57
Change your network routing to point to the WFE. If it is just a DNS entry that points right to the server then you do not have any load balancing or failover. Ideally, the URL used to access SharePoint should route to a network device that can handle proper load balancing, like an F5 unit. – Dave Wise Oct 4 '12 at 15:00
You are 100% right. DNS is now pointing to WFE. Thanks for the info. – M. Todd Oct 4 '12 at 17:00

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