Using ICEfaces in Clustered Environments

Using ICEfaces in Clustered Environments

Application server clustering is a common deployment technique used to provide Java EE-based web applications with high levels of scalability and availability. ICEfaces is Java EE compliant, and as such, fully supports clustered deployments with the following features:

Clustered loadsharing with session affinity for highly scalable deployments
Failover support based on JSF state saving and session replication for high-availability deployments

While these features can be achieved using standard Java EE clustering techniques, supporting Ajax Push in clustered environments introduces additional complexities. To begin with, Ajax Push render requests need to be propagated to all nodes in the cluster, so that all clients to the application receive all necessary updates. Also, management of the Ajax Push blocking connections must be coordinated across the cluster. The Enterprise Push Server addresses these complexities, and makes clustered deployments of Ajax Push application straightforward to achieve.

An overview of the Enterprise Push Server is available from the ICEfaces.org website. For more detailed information on the Enterprise Push Server, contact ICEsoft Product Support.