Configuring node types for agents, listeners, job schedulers, and queue processors

You can start a node with a specific node type, which allows the node to run only the associated agents, listeners, job schedulers, and queue processors for that node type. If a node is not configured with any node type, the node classification feature does not apply to that node.

By segregating nodes by their purpose and using the appropriate node types, you can optimize resources and improve performance.

For example, if you have six nodes, you can configure three nodes to perform web user functions, two nodes for background processing, and one for search indexing. You can also start a node with multiple node types. In this situation, the node runs a set of listeners and enabled agents that are associated with the specified node types.

The following procedure describes how to configure node types on an Apache Tomcat server.

Note: For other application servers, set the JVM argument by following the documentation for that application server.
  1. Modify the setenv.bat file, which is in the <TOMCAT_HOME>/bin directory, by setting the following JVM argument:

    -DNodeType=<node-type>

    ​where <node-type> is one or more of the following node types that Pega Platform provides by default. For more information, see Pega node types.

    To meet your specific business needs, you can create your configurable node types and configure them for agents, listeners, job schedulers, and queue processors. To learn more about creating your configurable node types, see Creating configurable node types.

    Note: To start a node with multiple node types, enter node types separated by a comma. For example, to start a node with the Search and the BIX type, enter: -DNodeType=Search,BIX. If the same agent is enabled on both node types and there is a conflict in agent schedules, the agent schedule for the node type that is listed earlier takes precedence. In this example, the agent that is enabled on the Search and BIX nodes runs according to the schedule that is specified for the Search node type.
  2. Verify that you have configured node types successfully by performing the following actions:
    1. In the navigation panel of Admin Studio, click Resources > Node classification.
    2. Check for node types that correspond to the nodes that you configured.