What is Clustering?
Clustering is an advanced feature of the webMethods product suite that substantially extends the reliability, availability, and scalability of webMethods Integration Server. Clustering accomplishes this by providing the infrastructure and tools to deploy multiple Integration Servers as if they were a single virtual server and to deliver applications that leverage that architecture. Because this activity is transparent to the client, clustering makes multiple servers look and behave as one.
Integration Server 8.2 SP2 and higher supports the caching and clustering functionality provided by Terracotta. Caching and clustering are configured at the Integration Server level and adapters use the caching mechanism that is enabled on Integration Server. Adapters do not explicitly implement any clustering or caching beyond what is already provided by Integration Server.
With clustering you get the following benefits:
Load balancing. This feature, provided automatically when you set up a clustered environment, allows you to spread the workload over several servers, thus improving performance and scalability.
Failover support. Clustering enables you to avoid a single point of failure. If a server cannot handle a request or becomes unavailable, the request is automatically redirected to another server in the cluster.
Note:
Integration Server clustering redirects HTTP and HTTPS requests, but does not redirect FTP or SMTP requests.
Scalability. You can increase your capacity even further by adding new machines running
Integration Server to the cluster.
For details on Integration Server clustering, see webMethods Integration Server Clustering Guide.