Hi, I have been asked to monitor a load balance situation, which is new to me. We have a single https://URL running to a virtual IP (on a cisco box), that then connects (via load balancing) to one of 4 VM servers. What kind of end-to-end test can be used to show that all components are running OK? thx, John Bradshaw

Hi John - That is a good question. If you want to make sure the the balancing load is equally distributed across the 4 VM servers, check the Performance views in the Microsoft Windows Internet Information Services view folder. For example, the Current Connections (Total) Performance Rule shows how many web connections there are. Calling up all four in one view will let you compare the load balancing. You can create a custom Dashboard view in SCOM that has the performance and state views that focus on your objects of interest, like web sites. John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM

Thankyou John. I am looking at the Monitoring/Microsoft Windows IIS/Performance folder, but cannot see Current Connections listed. Am i looking in the wrong place? Sorry, I'm new to the load balancing arena. Can u pls advise what specific counters I should be watching for the end-to-end monitoring to be useful for this url and the 4 Sharepoint VM's? ie what views in a dashboard would be the most beneficial? thx very much John Bradshaw

Hi John - Monitoring -> Microsoft Windows Internet Information Services -> All Performance Data. Look for: Item by text search.Type the name of the computer.See the row marked Current Connections.Click in the checkbox on the left side of the row.See the chart populate with data. A useful dashboard might be four quadrants, one for each member of the SharePoint farm. The Current Connections in each quadrant would be about the same if load balance was effective across the four nodes. John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM

That's excellent John! Thx so much for the prompt help. JB