Computer Group Overview

Computer Groups provide an advanced feature that allows you to distribute your processing amongst any number of computers. Computer Groups provide scalability, fault-tolerance, distributed processing and load-balancing . Several types of Computer Groups are available each providing different functionality that you may find useful for your environment. A computer in a Computer Group must have a SmartBatch Remote Agent installed. A Remote Agent accepts requests from the Executive Server via a Message Queue. When the Remote Agent completes the processing of an Operation it reports the success or failure back to the Executive Server. Computer Groups are assigned to Operations on the Operations Properties window. You manage computer groups on the Computer Group Properties window.

Computer Group Type	Description
All	The Operation is sent to each computer in the Computer Group.
Application Grid	The Operation is sent to the computer with the most available computing resources. This provides a dynamic load-balancing capability. The SmartBatch Executive Server communicates with the Remote Agents. On a periodic basis the Executive Server updates the statistics information for each Remote Agent. When the Executive Server determines that an Operation is using the Application Grid, the request is sent to the computer that has the least activity.
Round Robin	This is similar to the Application Grid but requires less processing on the part of the Executive Server. The Executive Server will simply keep track of the computers in the group and send requests to the next computer in the group. You may want to use a Round Robin group when you simply want to spread the load amongst a set of computers. Another possible use would be in a situation where you want to use a backup computer. You can create a Round Robin group of two or more computers. If the computer selected for processing by the Executive Server is not available (i.e., the computer is down or the Remote Agent does not respond fast enough) , the Executive Server will skip that computer and send the request to the next computer in the list.

The Application Grid and Round Robin Computer Groups provide allow you to dynamically add or remove computers from the Computer Group. The Executive Server will not use a computer if it is disabled (unchecked on the Computer Group properties window). Also, if the Executive Server is unable to communicate with a Remote Agent is will not be selected for processing. If you need more processing power, you can simply add another computer to the Computer Group. The Executive Server will automatically begin assigning work to this computer.

If you do not need the functionality of a Computer Group, you have the ability to identify a specific computer to be used with an Operation on the Operation Properties window. The Operation, in this case, will always use this computer. If a specific computer or Computer Group is not specified for an Operation, the Operation will be run on the same computer where the Executive Server is installed.