Can you use a NLB address in a MSMQ call?
We have three BizTalk servers, with a NLB address for them.
Would a MSMQ call to the NLB address, rather than the individual server address work?
Yes, this is possible and it is easy to setup (or even without any configuration) if you are using Non-transactional messaging.
Message Queuing is supported in an NLB environment for both sending and receiving messages in the following configurations:
- Non-transactional messaging by using Direct=TCP
- Non-transactional messaging by using Direct=OS with validation disabled
- Non-transactional messaging by using Direct=HTTP
- Transactional messaging by using a specific configuration that uses store and forward servers and a single backend server
Microsoft provides an excellent article about this topic: How Message Queuing can function over Network Load Balancing (NLB)