You can use clusters to balance workload in an environment containing multiple application servers.
Create a cluster if you do not already have a cluster defined for your environment.
If you are migrating from a previous version of the product, you can upgrade a portion of the nodes in a cell, while leaving others at the previous release level. For a time, you might be managing servers that are at a previous release level, and servers that are running at the current release level in the same cell.
When you create a cluster, you specify the node on which the first cluster member resides. In a mixed cell environment, you can use any server from within that node group to create a new cluster member. For example, if the node group to which the cluster belongs consists of a Version 7.0 node, and a Version 6.1 node, you can use a server from either the Version 6.1 or the Version 7.0 node to create a new cluster member.
Use the following procedure to create a new cluster member, view information about existing cluster members, or manage existing cluster members.
If, when you created the new members, you chose to generate unique ports, update the alias list for the virtual host that you plan to use with the new servers.
You can also perform the following actions:
For example, if you do not need to have all of the cluster member components start during the cluster member startup process, you might want to select
, which is not automatically selected when a new cluster member is created. When this property is selected, cluster member components are dynamically started as they are needed. When this property is not selected, all of the cluster member components are started during the startup process. Therefore, selecting this property usually results in improved startup performance because fewer components are started during the startup process.