If the network connection is interrupted between the active server and one or more of the standby servers in the Terracotta Server Array, a situation might arise where one of the standby servers becomes an active server. This situation could result in a split brain scenario. In a split brain scenario, the connection between the servers is restored but two or more Terracotta servers assume the role of the active server. When this happens, the data shared between the servers can become lost or corrupted.

To prevent a split brain scenario, Terracotta determines which server should become the new active server based on how many clients were connected to each server.