When a Unified Broker instance starts up, it can register with its controlling NameServer by sending its location and other configuration information. The NameServer uses this information to help resolve client connection requests. Part of this registration information is the Application Service that the Unified Broker supports. An
Application Service is a designation for the particular business function that a Unified Broker provides. For more information on Unified Brokers, see
Workingwith Unified Brokers and
Unified Broker and Name Server relationship.
A NameServer can provide the following services for a Unified Broker product:
Location Transparency — A requesting client does not need to know the network location of a Unified Broker instance. When a client attempts to create a connection to a Unified Broker instance, it first requests the connection from a NameServer to a broker that provides a specified Application Service. The NameServer then locates and assigns a broker to complete the connection that provides the specified Application Service.
Server-level fault tolerance and load balancing — If you have installed the load-balancing option, you can provide server-level fault tolerance, where the NameServer can select from several Unified Broker instances to satisfy a client request. This option also allows you to balance connection load among multiple Unified Broker instances that provide the same Application Service. The NameServer then assigns connections among several Unified Broker instances based on a weight factor that you configure for each instance. Note that any NSMAN command that specifies a username typically also prompts for a password. For complete information about the syntax and options of the NSMAN command-line utility, see
NSMAN.
Connection-level fault tolerance — You can also make multiple NameServer instances available to help ensure that at least one NameServer is available even if another fails. In this type of configuration, one of several possible NameServers resolves the connection request. Thus, you can provide connection-level fault tolerance for requesting clients.
For more information on how your Unified Broker product uses NameServers, see your specific product documentation.
