CLUSTERS

Example of multiple ICMs outside the cluster
You can improve the availability of the ICM by configuring more than one ICM to handle user requests. In this configuration, if one ICM becomes unavailable, the other remains available so that client requests are still handled. You configure both ICMs with the same host name so that if one of the ICMs fails, the other ICM takes over without affecting users.

Although two ICMs are running and handling user requests simultaneously, the real benefit of multiple ICMs is availability, not increased performance. This configuration increases performance significantly only in cases where a single ICM would be overwhelmed by client requests.

The following figure shows an HTTP client with access to two ICMs outside the cluster. Each ICM can redirect the client to any of the four Web servers in the cluster.

Multiple ICMs outside the cluster