WAS 5.0 cluster doubt

[Suttan Pym]

Hi,
I have cluster setup with ears deployed in the cluster. Now the doubt is in normal cluster do we deploy the wars giving ND i.e "dmgr" as target or the cluster as target? The reason is that normally in cluster the WebApplication is not needed in all the nodes.
Please guide me.
Regards,
Suttan

[John Dale]

From the topic titled "Clusters" in the InfoCenter:
"Servers that belong to a cluster are members of that cluster set and must all have identical application components deployed on them."
Servers in a cell but not in the same cluster might be running different stuff, but as I understand it (and I'm new to this), servers in a cluster must run the same stuff.

[Suttan Pym]

Yes what you say is perfectly right, but there is
still a confusion only related to the web applications. If the web applications are deployed in all the nodes then how to access it in a cluster. When the client wants to access a portal which url will it give? I am not clear about this.
Thanks,
Suttan

[John Dale]

I think clustering is intended to be used behind an HTTP server. The URL points to the HTTP server, not to a specific app server platform. The app server's plug-in in the HTTP server routes the requests to the app servers in the cluster, typically with load balancing and session affinity.
One place to get more info on this: Go to ibm.com/redbooks . Search for sg246195, IBM WebSphere 5.0 System Management and COnfiguration. See chapter 3, Topology Selection. Topology 2 describes HTTP server separation. Toplolgy 5 illustrates clustering using HTTP server separation. Topology 6 illustrates clustering with IP spraying instead of HTTP server separation.