Enterprise Cache Protocol (ECP): a distributed data caching architecture that manages the distribution of data and locks among a heterogeneous network of server systems.
The technology of load balancing between several servers with relatively low capacity has been a standard feature of Caché for quite a while. It is based on the distributed cache technology called ECP (Enterprise Cache Protocol). ECP provides a host of possibilities for horizontal scaling of an application, and yet keeping the project budget fairly low. Another apparent advantage of ECP network is the possibility to conceal its architecture in the depths of Caché configuration so that applications developed for the traditional (vertical) architecture can be fairly easily migrated to a horizontal ECP environment. The ease of this process is so mesmerizing, that you start wishing it was always this way. For instance, everybody is used to having a possibility to control Caché processes: the $Job system variable and associated classes/functions work magic in skilful hands. Stop, but now processes can end up being on different Caché servers…
This article is about how to gain as much transparency in controlling processes in ECP environment as in traditional (non ECP) one.
We have a need to mount remote databases using ECP, but with the Application servers mounting some of the remote databases as Read Only. The Data servers will keep them R+W as normal.
I saw someone recently refer to ECP as magic. It certainly seems so, and there is a lot of very clever engineering to make it work. But the following sequence of diagrams is a simple view of how data is retrieved and used across a distributed architecture.
Let assume you have a infinitely scaling algorithm implemented in your application, using replication, ECP, or any other means of horizontal scaling, and let assume you know how to run your system under any volume of requests, the trick is to deploy required number of computing nodes in the cluster. If we are talking about cluster of 2-4 nodes your administrator (or as they call it today "devops engineer") will install anything manually. Probably he will easily handle 5 nodes configuration in the cluster.
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