Multicluster connections

For the multicluster primary cluster and member clusters, with the multicluster proxy (SCMP) service enabled, to communicate, they must establish a connection. The IBM® Spectrum Symphony multicluster feature supports these connections from both directions: inbound and outbound. Multicluster connections are in the context of the action of the multicluster member cluster in relation to (initiating connections to, or waiting for connections coming out from) the multicluster primary cluster.

Inbound connections from a multicluster member cluster to the multicluster primary cluster

By default, multicluster connections are inbound: the multicluster member cluster initiates connection into the multicluster primary cluster.

If the primary cluster accepts the connection requests, then there in an inbound connection between the parties.

Outbound connections from the multicluster primary cluster to a multicluster member cluster

For multicluster outbound connections, it's the reverse: the multicluster primary cluster initializes connection to the multicluster member cluster. For outbound connections, the multicluster member cluster waits and listens for connection requests coming out from the multicluster primary cluster.

If the member cluster accepts the connection requests, then there in an outbound connection between the parties.

For outbound connections, you can also use a proxy server for redirecting from the multicluster primary cluster to the multicluster proxy cluster.

You can have both inbound and outbound connections configured; however, each IBM Spectrum Symphony cluster can only use one type of connection at a time. For example, in a multicluster environment with two IBM Spectrum Symphony clusters, one multicluster proxy can connect inbound to the multicluster primary, while the other multicluster proxy listens for outbound connection requests from the multicluster primary cluster.

To enable these connections, you configure the smcp.xml file and run smcadmin commands.