Multiple NetX server instances and a network load balancer (NLB) can be used to provide failover capabilities, massive scalability, and resource control.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| High availability | Deploy a primary and a secondary instance of NetX. While the NLB routes traffic to the primary instance, it monitors a heartbeat. If it detects an outage, the NLB automatically starts routing traffic to the secondary NetX instance, until the primary is restored. |
| Scalability | Deploy any number of NetX instances and direct traffic in a round-robin sequence using an NLB to distribute the load across all available instances. The NLB can automatically remove traffic from an instance that is either too slow or is otherwise unavailable. Scaling horizontally as your traffic needs dictate, provides for massive scalability of the DAM. |
| Server resource management | Route specific user populations to specific NetX instances to efficiently control and manage underlying server resources. For example, two NetX instances can be dedicated for general usage, while a third instance is dedicated exclusively for ingesting new assets into the cluster. |
Synchronizing multiple NetX instances
Multiple NetX instances can share a central database and repository for storing assets. NetX manages concurrency, collisions, and caching management between the instances. The underlying messaging system is robust and threaded. Message times can be configured to push updates across all instances within minutes, ensuring that data is quickly and reliably available to all users.
Using NetX with a network load balancer
In a high-availability environment, traffic is routed to multiple instances of NetX via a Network Load Balancer. When using NetX in a multi-purpose capacity (a node for import and a node for downloading) each node will have its own DNS hostname. The only requirement is that the NLB provide for sticky sessions; each user must be routed to a specific instance. The actual failover responsibility rests with the NLB. Either configuration option — for failover or for scalability — will require a configuration (and functionality) for heartbeat monitoring and automatic failover routing to the secondary server(s).
Requirements
- If you'd like to purchase and configure additional server instances to run in a distributed configuration, please contact your account manager for assistance.
- For high availability: a third-party network load balancer that supports sticky sessions (optional).