Cluster Configuration Properties

You define a cluster by specifying cluster configuration properties for each of its member brokers. You can set these properties individually for each broker in the cluster, but it is generally more convenient to collect them into a central cluster configuration file that all of the brokers reference. This prevents the settings from getting out of agreement and ensures that all brokers in a cluster share the same, consistent configuration information.

The cluster configuration properties are described in detail in Table 14–9. They include the following:

• imq.cluster.brokerlist gives the host names and port numbers for all brokers belonging to the cluster.

• imq.cluster.masterbroker designates which broker (if any) is the master broker that keeps track of state changes.

• imq.cluster.url specifies the location of the cluster configuration file, if any.

• imq.cluster.hostname gives the host name or IP address for the cluster connection service, used for internal communication between brokers in the cluster. This setting can be useful if more than one host is available: for example, if there is more than one network interface card in a computer.

• imq.cluster.port gives the port number for the cluster connection service.

• imq.cluster.transport specifies the transport protocol used by the cluster connection service, such as tcp or ssl.

The hostname and port properties can be set independently for each individual broker, but brokerlist, masterbroker, url, and transport must have the same values for all brokers in the cluster.

The following sections describe how to set a broker’s cluster configuration properties, either individually for each broker in a cluster or centrally, using a cluster configuration file.

Setting Cluster Properties for Individual Brokers

You can set a broker’s cluster configuration properties in its instance configuration file (or on the command line when you start the broker). For example, to create a cluster consisting of brokers at port 9876 on host1, port 5000 on host2, and the default port (7676) on ctrlhost , you would include the following property in the instance configuration files for all three brokers:

imq.cluster.brokerlist=host1:9876,host2:5000,ctrlhost

Notice that if you need to change the cluster configuration, this method requires you to update the instance configuration file for every broker in the cluster.

Using a Cluster Configuration File

For consistency and ease of maintenance, it is recommended that you collect all of the shared cluster configuration properties into a single cluster configuration file instead of setting them separately for each individual broker. In this method, each broker’s instance configuration file must set the imq.cluster.url property to point to the location of the cluster configuration file: for example,

imq.cluster.url=file:/home/cluster.properties

The cluster configuration file then defines the shared configuration properties for all of the brokers in the cluster, such as the list of brokers to be connected (imq.cluster.brokerlist), the transport protocol to use for the cluster connection service (imq.cluster.transport ), and optionally, the address of the master broker (imq.cluster.masterbroker). The following code defines the same cluster as in the previous example, with the broker running on ctrlhost serving as the master broker:

imq.cluster.brokerlist=host1:9876,host2:5000,ctrlhost
imq.cluster.masterbroker=ctrlhost