Essbase Server clustering can be active-passive or active-active.
Table 9. Essbase Server Clustering Configurations
| Capability | Active-Passive | Active-Active |
|---|---|---|
| Write-back | Yes | No |
| Failover | Yes | Yes |
| Load balancing | No | Yes |
| High availability | Yes | Yes |
Active-passive Essbase clusters support failover with write-back to databases. Active-passive Essbase clusters do not support load-balancing. Essbase failover clusters use the service failover functionality of the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server server. A single Essbase installation is run in an active-passive deployment, and one host runs the Essbase agent and two servers. Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server stops, starts, and monitors the agent process. See Active-Passive Essbase Clusters.
Active-active Essbase clusters support high availability and load balancing. An active-active Essbase cluster supports read-only operations on the databases and should be used only for reporting.
Because active-active Essbase clusters do not support data write-back or outline modification, and they do not manage database replication tasks such as synchronizing the changes in one database across all databases in the cluster, they do not support Planning. When Planning is configured to use Essbase in cluster mode as a data source, it does not support the ability to launch business rules with Oracle's Hyperion® Business Rules or Calculation Manager as the rules engine.
You can use Provider Services to set up active-active Essbase clusters. See Active-Active Essbase Clusters.