IP Binding with Multiple NICs

By using multiple Network Interface Cards (NICs) and employing IP Binding, you can distribute your network load and, thus increase the bandwidth throughput. NCache, being a network-intensive solution, allows configuring dual NICs, thereby distributing the network load of communication on two NICs which enhances overall performance.

NCache involves two kinds of network communication in a database cluster:

  • Communication between server nodes within a cluster (cluster communication).
  • Communication between client and server (client-server communication).

Different NIC cards can be configured for each type of network communication in NCache. One NIC can be dedicated to cluster communication inside the cluster, while the other can be reserved only for client-to-server communication. This way, the network load for communication is distributed on two NICs and resources will be utilized more efficiently, increasing overall performance and bandwidth throughput.

NCache detects all NICs on a server node and allows you to choose any one of them. If you have two NICs available on a server, it is highly recommended to use both NICs to enhance NCache communication. NCache will start utilizing both NICs on the servers, once the dual NIC interface is configured.

How to Configure IP Binding with Multiple NICs

Once the NICs have been configured, the changes are replicated in the Cache Service Configuration file before the NCache Service is restarted:

  • .NET: Alachisoft.NCache.Service.exe.config file in %NCHOME%/bin/service.
  • .NET Core Windows: Alachisoft.NCache.Service.dll.config file in %NCHOME%/\bin\service.
  • .NET Core Linux: Alachisoft.NCache.Daemon.dll.config file in /opt/ncache/bin/service.
  • Java Windows: Alachisoft.NCache.Service.dll.config file in %NCHOME%/\bin\service.

  • Java Linux: Alachisoft.NCache.Daemon.dll.config file in /opt/ncache/bin/service.

  • BindToClusterIP is specified for cluster-wide (server-to-server) communication.

  • BindToClientServerIP tells NCache which interface to use for client communication with the server.

By default, both client-server and inter-cluster communication takes place on the IP that is available as BindToClientServerIP.

Important

If one node is part of multiple clusters, note that any IP change will be reflected on all clusters and the configuration file will be updated accordingly.

You can configure multiple NICs for NCache either through the NCache Management Center or manually update the NCache Service configuration file for this purpose.

Note

Command line tools provided by NCache communicate with the NCache server on BindToClusterIP.

See Also

Graceful Node Down
Separate Cache Host Process
Self Healing Dynamic Clustering