The cluster creation process

You can choose to add servers to a cluster immediately, or to use the Administration Process (AdminP) to add the servers to the cluster. Although selecting immediately adds the servers to the cluster faster, it occasionally leads to replication conflicts.

If you use the Administration Process to add the servers to the cluster, Domino® submits a request to the Administration Requests database to add the name of the cluster to the Server document of each server in the cluster. If you are using the administration server to create the cluster, the Administration Process runs immediately and adds the cluster name to the Server documents. If you are not using the administration server, the Administration Requests database on the server you are using must replicate with the administration server before the Administration Process can add the cluster name to the Server documents.

After the Administration Process makes changes to the Server documents in the administration server's Domino® Directory, Domino® replicates the changes to the other servers in the cluster, ensuring that every cluster server has an updated list of the servers in the cluster.

If you choose to add the servers to the cluster immediately, Domino® immediately makes the changes to the Server documents in the Domino® Directory on the server you use to create the cluster. If that server is part of the cluster, the server immediately starts cluster creation processes and replicates its Domino® Directory with another server in the cluster so that the other cluster servers become informed that they are part of the cluster. If you did not use a cluster member to create the cluster, this process starts when the Domino® Directory of the server you used replicates with the Domino® Directory of a server in the cluster.

The following occur on each cluster server as part of the cluster creation process:

  • The Cluster Administrator and the Cluster Manager start.
  • The Cluster Administrator starts the Administration Process, if it is not already running.
  • The Cluster Administrator starts the Cluster Database Directory Manager.
  • The Cluster Administrator starts the Cluster Replicator.
  • The Cluster Database Directory Manager creates the Cluster Database Directory (CLDBDIR.NSF).
  • The Cluster Database Directory Manager updates the Cluster Database Directory so it includes a document for each database on the server.
  • The Cluster Administrator replicates the Cluster Database Directory and the Domino® Directory with the other servers in the cluster so they are all synchronized.
  • The Schedule Manager creates the Free Time database (CLUBUSY.NSF).
  • The Free Time database replicates with the other cluster servers so they are all synchronized.

When the Domino® Directory updates to include the new cluster, each cluster server begins to send messages, known as probes, to the other servers in the cluster. These probes gather information about the status of the other servers in the cluster.