NLB, Application Center 2000 and Hardware Load Balancing?

[SamIAm]

Hi there

We are looking at having multiple Windows Server 2003 servers running in a
web farm to host our .Net Web App. There are a few things that confuse me:
1) Windows Server 2003 includes NLB, does there still need to be hardware in
front of the cluster to distribute the load? How is the load ditributed
amongst the servers in the cluster?

2) We are looking at using Application Center 2000 to manage the servers in
the cluster. Are there any disadvantages to using it with a Windows Server
2003 and a .Net Web App?

They way I understand Load Balancing to work is that we you have
hardware/software in front of the web farm and it distributes the load
amongst the various servers. Is it different with NLB?

Thanks,

S