You can cluster Essbase Server to provide active-passive failover with write-back capability.
An Essbase cluster can contain only two Essbase servers. To install an additional Essbase server, install an additional instance of Essbase on another machine.
On the first machine, when you configure Essbase Server, click Set up Cluster to define the cluster. On the second machine, when you configure Essbase Server, click Set up Cluster to make this Essbase Server join the cluster you created on the first machine.
To set up an Essbase cluster:
For the first instance of Essbase Server, on the Essbase Server Configuration page of EPM System Configurator, click or select Set up Cluster and specify the information for the Essbase cluster on the Set up Cluster page.
Repeat the steps on the second machine for the second instance of Essbase Server.
During cluster setup on the second machine, EPM System Configurator updates essbase.cfg to specify failovermode=true.
The following table describes options for configuring Essbase for failover.
| EPM System Configurator Fields | Description | Your Information |
|---|---|---|
Select cluster | Select New to create a new cluster to which to add an Essbase Server. Or, to add an Essbase Server to an existing cluster, select the cluster name from the list. | |
Cluster Name | If you select New, specify the name of the cluster. The Essbase cluster name must be unique in a deployment environment. It cannot contain special characters or spaces. |
Note the following information about Essbase clusters:
An Essbase cluster can contain only two Essbase servers. The ARBORPATH and application location must be the same for both servers.
When you set up an Essbase cluster, the application location must be a shared drive. The location must reside on a file system that all Essbase servers in the cluster can reach.
Essbase supports the following types of shared drives:
Any SAN storage device with a shared disk file system supported on the installation platform
Any NAS device over a supported network protocol
Oracle recommends SAN or a fast NAS device such as NetApp filers because of reduced I/O latency and failover times.
If you are adding the second Essbase Server to a cluster, EPM System Configurator changes its ARBORPATH application location to that of the first Essbase Server.
If you have been working in a nonclustered environment and want to change to a clustered environment, and the Essbase applications are not in a shared location, you must migrate the applications to a shared location. See “Copying or Migrating Applications” in the Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide.
When you are using Essbase in a clustered environment, you must perform additional steps to set up Essbase failover on both nodes of the cluster.
See Setting Up Active-Passive Essbase Clusters.
As an alternative to active-passive clustering using OPMN, you can set up active-active clustering using Provider Services. See “Essbase Clustering and Failover” in the Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System High Availability and Disaster Recovery Guide.