Function of the beacon multicast address in Clarity

Products

• Clarity PPM SaaS
• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

What is the function of the beacon multicast address, and what should it be set to?

 

Environment

Release: Any

Resolution

The Multicast address is used by the beacon to allow the Clarity application to communicate with other servers within the same cluster. In addition to the Beacons, the cache management services within the application and background servers broadcast their own messages to maintain cache consistency.

The multicast address should always be the same address for each server in the same environment and cluster. This address should also be unique to other clustered environments. For example, all of the clustered servers in environment A could be set to 230.1.1.1, and all clustered servers in environment B could be set to 230.1.1.2. This will allow each server to communicate with the servers in each of their environments, but not with other environments on the same subnet.

The address must be in the class D address range. (224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255). The default value is 230.0.1.1. It is strongly suggested that you do not use the default address since other products may also use the same default address and interfere with messaging. In addition, you should check with your network administrator to make sure that the multicast address you have chosen is in the allowed range on your network. Some networks shut down some multicast addresses/ports for security reasons.

Additional information can be located in the Installation Guide.