Sharing database domains between clusters on Windows

To help provide redundancy and failover support in production environments composed of multiple clusters in a single cell and multiple clusters in different cells, you can share database domains between those clusters. IBM® WebSphere® Portal data is organized into different database domains, with different availability requirements depending on how the production environment is set up. When multiple lines of production are involved and each line of production is implemented as a cluster of servers, sharing database domains ensures that the data is automatically synchronized across the lines of production.

Prerequisites: Preparing your Windows operating system in a clustered environment; Preparing the primary node on Windows; Creating and augmenting a new Deployment Manager profile on Windows

About this task

Important: JCR domains and release domains cannot be shared between different clusters or servers. Each distinct cluster or server in your environment must use a separate JCR domain and a separate release domain. For example:

Table 1. Examples of separate JCR or Release domains between all clusters or servers when using Web Content Manager.
Development Server	Authoring Cluster	Staging Server	Delivery Cluster
JCR Domain 1	JCR Domain 2	JCR Domain 3	JCR Domain 4
Release Domain 1	Release Domain 2	Release Domain 3	Release Domain 4

Complete the following steps to share database domains when setting up an environment with multiple clusters:

Procedure

Set up the first cluster (referred to as Cluster A in these instructions).
Determine which database domains you want to share with any other clusters in the environment.
Install the primary node of the next cluster (Cluster B), and complete the following steps to configure the node to use the shared database domains.
1. Complete a partial database transfer of the database domains that you are not sharing.
  For example, if you are sharing only the Customization and Community domains, you would transfer the remaining domains to the database you are using for Cluster B.
2. Re-configure the shared database domains on the node to connect to the shared database domains you are using for Cluster A.
  For example, to connect to the Customization and Community domains for Cluster A, you would connect to those domains from Cluster B.
Continue setting up the primary node as described in the cluster instructions.
Install the secondary node of Cluster B, and complete the following steps to configure the node to use the shared database domains.
1. For those database domains that you are not sharing between clusters, re-configure the domains to connect to the database domains you are using for Cluster B.
  As in the example for the primary node, if you are sharing only the Customization and Community domains, re-configure the remaining domains on the secondary node to use the domains of the primary node for Cluster B.
2. Re-configure the shared database domains on the node to connect to the shared database domains you are using for Cluster A.
  For example, to connect to the Customization and Community domains for Cluster A, you would connect to those domains from Cluster B.
Continue setting up the secondary node as described in the cluster instructions.