Use this topic to understand planning of a multiple-server deployment of the product.
You can deploy the product components on multiple servers and horizontally scale them to handle the need for managing large volumes of data. For more information, see Deployment diagram.
In a Single-server deployment, one instance of the product can handle the entire process of collecting data, indexing it, and finally making it available for search. Single-server deployments can be useful for nonproduction, small, and medium setups. Multiple-server deployment is recommended for large setups whose scaling and sizing requirements exceed the limits of a single server. For more information, see Hardware sizing recommendations.
The product helps you perform three main functions including data collection, indexing, and searching. You can split these functions across multiple servers that handle these functions separately, depending on the volume of data that you need to handle and other factors in your environment. For more information, see Indicators for scaling.
You can combine these functions in a variety of ways and come up with multiple deployment scenarios. Depending on your data needs and the size and scale of your setup, you can deploy components on separate servers and then scale them.
For example, you can separate the collection and indexing functions. You can deploy Collection Agents on the target servers (where data resides) and separate the Collection Stations and Indexers on different servers. The Collection Agent is a light-weight mechanism of collecting data, so it can reside on the target server. The Collection Station responsible for receiving data forwarded by the Collection Agents can remain on a separate server, and the Indexer responsible for indexing large volumes of data can remain on yet another separate server. You can even deploy the Collection Station and Indexer together on the same server. As you scale, you can add more number of Collection Stations and Indexers on additional servers. For more information, see Agent types.
Note
When you perform a multiple-server deployment, the following points apply:
The following diagram illustrates a high-level architecture for a multiple-server deployment.
Note
This diagram might not resemble a real deployment scenario. For example, in the real environment, the Search component might not be scaled out at the same time as the Collection Station and Indexer. For more information, see the following recommended deployment scenarios: