About Client/Server Challenges

You may want to access TimesTen databases that are inside a Kubernetes cluster by using client/server from outside the cluster. While this is possible, it presents the following challenges:

• Clients outside the Kubernetes cluster access TimesTen databases inside the cluster by using a NodePort Service. Client applications can connect to any node in the Kubernetes cluster. The node that the application connects to may not be a node on which TimesTen is running. Kubernetes routes the connection to a TimesTen instance in the cluster. This works seamlessly, but results in additional network round trips and reduced performance.

• If changes from DML operations are coming from client/server applications, it is important to route those connections to active TimesTen instances as they are the only writable instances. For read-only applications, it is desirable to route connections to both active and standby instances, so that standby instances can participate in the workload.

The TimesTen Operator uses NodePort Services and provides a Connection Manager that provides solutions to these client/server challenges and allows applications to avoid these issues.