NetScaler load balancing evenly distributes requests to backend SharePoint servers. Intelligent monitoring of backend servers prevents requests from being sent to malfunctioning servers.

The SharePoint StyleBook configures 12 load balancing virtual servers, each dedicated to load balancing requests for a certain type of content, such as documents, images, audio, video, and other file types.

The SharePoint StyleBook now supports SSL Mode of SharePoint application by configuring SSL based LB virtual servers. Make sure SSL is selected as the front-end protocol. Note that the virtual port is set to 443 by default. You can also select SSL to bind service groups (SharePoint application servers) to the target load balancing virtual servers. Note that the backend protocol by default is set to HTTP.

The content switching feature is used to distribute client requests across multiple load balancing virtual servers on the basis of specific types of requested SharePoint content (for example, documents, images, and audio or video files). The content switching module directs incoming traffic to an optimal matching load balancing virtual server that can process that type of content. You can therefore apply different optimization policies to different types of traffic. For example, you might want to use different compression or caching policies for video than for text documents.

The responder functionality of a NetScaler instance can be used to seamlessly redirect users from HTTP to HTTPS. Responder can also be configured to provide customized error pages. The Responder policy determines the requests (traffic) on which an action has to be taken, and binds each policy to a load balancing virtual server. The SharePoint StyleBook includes a configuration that redirects users from HTTP to HTTPS URLs.

The rewrite module is used to modify request/response headers, URLs, or content on the fly. This module works in-line with traffic processing and can therefore change the traffic flow as appropriate for particular use cases. For example, rewriting can provide access to the requested content without exposing unnecessary details about the website's server.

In the SharePoint StyleBook, the rewrite feature is used to removed unnecessary headers from user requests.

The NetScaler compression engine identifies and compresses content that is compressible. This process improves data transmission time and reduces network bandwidth requirements for the clients, while saving CPU cycles on SharePoint content servers. A NetScaler instance can compress both static and dynamically generated data. It applies the GZIP or the DEFLATE compression algorithm to remove extraneous and repetitive information from the server responses and represent the original information in a more compact and efficient format. The client browser's ability to decompress the data depends on which algorithm or algorithms it supports: GZIP, DEFLATE, or both of these.

A NetScaler instance is configured to compress the text in HTML, XML, plain text, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and Microsoft Office documents, but does not compress images in GIF or JPG format. The major benefits of compressed traffic include reduced bandwidth costs, WAN latency reduction, and better server performance.

The NetScaler in-memory cache can store SharePoint objects in order to quickly deliver frequently requested content to users. Cached content includes downloaded documents and audio, video, and image files.

The following figure diagrammatically represents the deployment of SharePoint servers in a network front-ended by a NetScaler instance on which NetScaler ADM is used to deploy a SharePoint StyleBook configuration.