Clusters

  • Updated on Dec 19, 2025
  • Published on Jul 24, 2023
  • 4 minute(s) read
Prev Next

WHAT TO EXPECT

In this article, users will learn what a Cluster is and how to view, add, edit, and remove Clusters.

Navigating to the Cluster tab

The Clusters tab is located in the System Management page on wXcked Eye. To learn how to navigate there, users should review the wXcked Eye System Management article.

General

Clusters are collections of cloudSwXtches within a given topology, enabling higher throughput and scalability for the swXtch.io overlay network.

A cluster can be segmented so that the user has control per segment within the cluster as to which cloudSwXtches belong to the segment, as well as what multicast traffic can flow within the segment. The cluster can be specified (static), or it can be dynamic, meaning any multicast can flow through that segment. Refer to the “Configuration Examples for Cluster Segments” section for more information.

  • Static clusters are used to pair the number of cloudSwXtches in a static configuration one-to-one. For example, for High Availability, where the users want the traffic to go down both the Red and Blue paths in a mirrored fashion.

  • Dynamic clusters work redundantly; if one cloudSwXtch goes down, then traffic will be diverted to another cloudSwXtch within the cluster.

The Clusters tab enables users to configure the network environment. A cluster can contain any number of segments, and each segment can contain any number of cloudSwXthes. For High Availability (2022-7), each cluster that makes up each path must have the same number of cloudSwXtches in the same arrangement. At least two clusters are required in order to configure High Availability, but more can be configured if you have more than two paths.

Below is a simple example of two clusters consisting of only one cloudSwXtch each, one for the red path and one for the blue path, that is used in the HA configuration (see High Availability).

For more information on how these settings assist in the Topology Graph see:

The Cluster page is organized into 3 functions:

Add Cluster

To Add a Cluster:

  1. Click the "Add Cluster" button. A pop-up will open.

  2. Name the Cluster configuration. In this example, the cluster is named HA_Cluster. Note: Segments are explained in the “Configuration Examples for Cluster Segments” section.

  3. Add any tags for the cluster.

  4. Select the Type.

    • Dynamic means one will be designated as the main swXtch, others will be used under the main one. Should the main go down, another one will dynamically take its place as the main.

    • Static means to build a static tree; the flow will statically run through the designated path. For High Availability, it is important to use static.

  5. Enter the swXtch addresses. Users can select the already added swXtches (see the wXcked Eye swXtches page), or type the IP:port of any swxtch.

    PLEASE NOTE

    If no port is given, it will automatically be configured as the default 80.

    1. Segments allow dividing the multicast traffic into segments, sending some streams through specific clusters/cloudSwXtches. Several segments can be created by clicking on Group streams and configuring the values (either with dynamic streams that will distribute them automatically, doing load balancing, or manually).  Segments are explained in Configuration Examples for Cluster Segments

  6. Click Save.

Edit Cluster

To edit a Cluster configuration, the user will need to go to the cluster page.

  1. Click the "Edit cluster" icon. A pop-up will open.

  2. Make any necessary changes.

  3. Click “Save”.

The cluster will be saved.

Destroy Cluster

To destroy a Cluster configuration:

  1. Click the "Destroy cluster" icon. A new prompt will appear, asking to confirm the action.

  2. Confirm the action.

The Cluster is now destroyed.

Configuration Examples for Cluster Segments

Example 1: Split load based on IP ranges

In this example, we will use two cloudSwXtches, each supporting different multicast addresses.

When looking at the Topology Graph “Swxtch Connections” you can see the configuration graphically.

When looking at the Topology Graph “Stream Multicast Groups” you can see that, based on the configuration, the multicast data is segmented.

Note that any traffic out of the range will still be sent, but the cloudSwXtch it goes through will be dynamic, meaning it can go through either, as the system decides.

Since the cloudSwXtch(s) are acting as one for enabling higher throughput and scalability, they can also be viewed as one by grouping them using the selected Nodes. You can select the Node and then select the group and cluster to combine them.

Below is the result.

Example 2: Split load based on IP ranges with High Availability

Continuing from the example above, you can create a second cluster for a second path for High Availability as shown below:

Then enable High Availability using the configured clusters as shown below:

Result of creating HA below:

The result is shown below as now the traffic can hit cloudSwXtch(s) and their xNIC(s) due to Clusters and High Availability configurations.

The blue cloudSwXtch(s) can also be clustered to be viewed as one, as shown below:

The result is below: