About using a cluster of application servers

If the application servers running Information Console support session state management, you can configure Actuate Information Console and the application servers to share and maintain a web browsing session state across a cluster of Information Console instances. Configuring the application servers to track the state of each Information Console instance supports reusing authentication information. In other words, you can log in to an Information Console instance and send a request using another Information Console instance without logging in again using the second instance.

If you do not use an application server to track session state information, managing the session state is fast, but you lose a user’s state information when you restart Actuate Information Console or your application server.

Sharing session state information takes advantage of the application servers’ failover features. If a user is on a cluster application server running Information Console and that application server fails, another application server running Information Console can manage the user’s session.

An application server works with one or more database servers to manage session state information. All application servers must have access to the database server to store and retrieve session state information. For specific information about configuring your installation, see your application server documentation.

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