Add Infinispan libraries to your Java project and create embedded caches that store data in the same memory space where you execute application code.

1. Configuring the Infinispan Maven repository

Infinispan Java distributions are available from Maven.

Infinispan artifacts are available from Maven central. See the org.infinispan group for available Infinispan artifacts.

1.1. Configuring your Infinispan POM

Maven uses configuration files called Project Object Model (POM) files to define projects and manage builds. POM files are in XML format and describe the module and component dependencies, build order, and targets for the resulting project packaging and output.

Procedure

  1. Open your project pom.xml for editing.

  2. Define the version.infinispan property with the correct Infinispan version.

  3. Include the infinispan-bom in a dependencyManagement section.

    The Bill Of Materials (BOM) controls dependency versions, which avoids version conflicts and means you do not need to set the version for each Infinispan artifact you add as a dependency to your project.

  4. Save and close pom.xml.

The following example shows the Infinispan version and BOM:

<properties>
  <version.infinispan>13.0.21.Final</version.infinispan>
</properties>

<dependencyManagement>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.infinispan</groupId>
      <artifactId>infinispan-bom</artifactId>
      <version>${version.infinispan}</version>
      <type>pom</type>
      <scope>import</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>
Next Steps

Add Infinispan artifacts as dependencies to your pom.xml as required.

2. Creating embedded caches

Infinispan provides an EmbeddedCacheManager API that lets you control both the Cache Manager and embedded cache lifecycles programmatically.

2.1. Adding Infinispan to your project

Add Infinispan to your project to create embedded caches in your applications.

Prerequisites

  • Configure your project to get Infinispan artifacts from the Maven repository.

Procedure

  • Add the infinispan-core artifact as a dependency in your pom.xml as follows:

<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>org.infinispan</groupId>
    <artifactId>infinispan-core</artifactId>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2. Configuring embedded caches

Infinispan provides a GlobalConfigurationBuilder API that controls the cache manager and a ConfigurationBuilder API that configures embedded caches.

Prerequisites

  • Add the infinispan-core artifact as a dependency in your pom.xml.

Procedure

  1. Initialize the default cache manager so you can add embedded caches.

  2. Add at least one embedded cache with the ConfigurationBuilder API.

  3. Invoke the getOrCreateCache() method that either creates embedded caches on all nodes in the cluster or returns caches that already exist.

// Set up a clustered cache manager.
GlobalConfigurationBuilder global = GlobalConfigurationBuilder.defaultClusteredBuilder();
// Initialize the default cache manager.
DefaultCacheManager cacheManager = new DefaultCacheManager(global.build());
// Create a distributed cache with synchronous replication.
ConfigurationBuilder builder = new ConfigurationBuilder();
                     builder.clustering().cacheMode(CacheMode.DIST_SYNC);
// Obtain a volatile cache.
Cache<String, String> cache = cacheManager.administration().withFlags(CacheContainerAdmin.AdminFlag.VOLATILE).getOrCreateCache("myCache", builder.build());
Additional resources

3. Enabling and configuring Infinispan statistics and JMX monitoring

Infinispan can provide Cache Manager and cache statistics as well as export JMX MBeans.

3.1. Enabling statistics in embedded caches

Configure Infinispan to export statistics for the cache manager and embedded caches.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Add the statistics="true" attribute or the .statistics(true) method.

  3. Save and close your Infinispan configuration.

Embedded cache statistics

XML
<infinispan>
  <cache-container statistics="true">
    <distributed-cache statistics="true"/>
    <replicated-cache statistics="true"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
GlobalConfigurationBuilder
GlobalConfigurationBuilder global = GlobalConfigurationBuilder.defaultClusteredBuilder().cacheContainer().statistics(true);
DefaultCacheManager cacheManager = new DefaultCacheManager(global.build());

Configuration builder = new ConfigurationBuilder();
builder.statistics().enable();

3.2. Configuring Infinispan metrics

Infinispan generates metrics that are compatible with the MicroProfile Metrics API.

  • Gauges provide values such as the average number of nanoseconds for write operations or JVM uptime.

  • Histograms provide details about operation execution times such as read, write, and remove times.

By default, Infinispan generates gauges when you enable statistics but you can also configure it to generate histograms.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Add the metrics element or object to the cache container.

  3. Enable or disable gauges with the gauges attribute or field.

  4. Enable or disable histograms with the histograms attribute or field.

  5. Save and close your client configuration.

Metrics configuration

XML
<infinispan>
  <cache-container statistics="true">
    <metrics gauges="true"
             histograms="true" />
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
JSON
{
  "infinispan" : {
    "cache-container" : {
      "statistics" : "true",
      "metrics" : {
        "gauges" : "true",
        "histograms" : "true"
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
infinispan:
  cacheContainer:
    statistics: "true"
    metrics:
      gauges: "true"
      histograms: "true"
GlobalConfigurationBuilder
GlobalConfiguration globalConfig = new GlobalConfigurationBuilder()
  //Computes and collects statistics for the Cache Manager.
  .statistics().enable()
  //Exports collected statistics as gauge and histogram metrics.
  .metrics().gauges(true).histograms(true)
  .build();
Verification

For embedded caches, you must add the necessary MicroProfile API and provider JARs to your classpath to export Infinispan metrics.

Additional resources

3.3. Registering JMX MBeans

Infinispan can register JMX MBeans that you can use to collect statistics and perform administrative operations. You must also enable statistics otherwise Infinispan provides 0 values for all statistic attributes in JMX MBeans.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Add the jmx element or object to the cache container and specify true as the value for the enabled attribute or field.

  3. Add the domain attribute or field and specify the domain where JMX MBeans are exposed, if required.

  4. Save and close your client configuration.

JMX configuration

XML
<infinispan>
  <cache-container statistics="true">
    <jmx enabled="true"
         domain="example.com"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
JSON
{
  "infinispan" : {
    "cache-container" : {
      "statistics" : "true",
      "jmx" : {
        "enabled" : "true",
        "domain" : "example.com"
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
infinispan:
  cacheContainer:
    statistics: "true"
    jmx:
      enabled: "true"
      domain: "example.com"
GlobalConfigurationBuilder
GlobalConfiguration global = GlobalConfigurationBuilder.defaultClusteredBuilder()
   .jmx().enable()
   .domain("org.mydomain");

3.3.1. Enabling JMX remote ports

Provide unique remote JMX ports to expose Infinispan MBeans through connections in JMXServiceURL format.

You can enable remote JMX ports using one of the following approaches:

  • Enable remote JMX ports that require authentication to one of the Infinispan Server security realms.

  • Enable remote JMX ports manually using the standard Java management configuration options.

Prerequisites

  • For remote JMX with authentication, define user roles using the default security realm. Users must have controlRole with read/write access or the monitorRole with read-only access to access any JMX resources.

Procedure

Start Infinispan Server with a remote JMX port enabled using one of the following ways:

  • Enable remote JMX through port 9999.

    bin/server.sh --jmx 9999

    Using remote JMX with SSL disabled is not intended for production environments.

  • Pass the following system properties to Infinispan Server at startup.

    bin/server.sh -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9999 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false

    Enabling remote JMX with no authentication or SSL is not secure and not recommended in any environment. Disabling authentication and SSL allows unauthorized users to connect to your server and access the data hosted there.
Additional resources

3.3.2. Infinispan MBeans

Infinispan exposes JMX MBeans that represent manageable resources.

org.infinispan:type=Cache

Attributes and operations available for cache instances.

org.infinispan:type=CacheManager

Attributes and operations available for cache managers, including Infinispan cache and cluster health statistics.

For a complete list of available JMX MBeans along with descriptions and available operations and attributes, see the Infinispan JMX Components documentation.

Additional resources

3.3.3. Registering MBeans in custom MBean servers

Infinispan includes an MBeanServerLookup interface that you can use to register MBeans in custom MBeanServer instances.

Prerequisites

  • Create an implementation of MBeanServerLookup so that the getMBeanServer() method returns the custom MBeanServer instance.

  • Configure Infinispan to register JMX MBeans.

Procedure

  1. Open your Infinispan configuration for editing.

  2. Add the mbean-server-lookup attribute or field to the JMX configuration for the cache manager.

  3. Specify fully qualified name (FQN) of your MBeanServerLookup implementation.

  4. Save and close your client configuration.

JMX MBean server lookup configuration
XML
<infinispan>
  <cache-container statistics="true">
    <jmx enabled="true"
         domain="example.com"
         mbean-server-lookup="com.example.MyMBeanServerLookup"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
JSON
{
  "infinispan" : {
    "cache-container" : {
      "statistics" : "true",
      "jmx" : {
        "enabled" : "true",
        "domain" : "example.com",
        "mbean-server-lookup" : "com.example.MyMBeanServerLookup"
      }
    }
  }
}
YAML
infinispan:
  cacheContainer:
    statistics: "true"
    jmx:
      enabled: "true"
      domain: "example.com"
      mbeanServerLookup: "com.example.MyMBeanServerLookup"
GlobalConfigurationBuilder
GlobalConfiguration global = GlobalConfigurationBuilder.defaultClusteredBuilder()
   .jmx().enable()
   .domain("org.mydomain")
   .mBeanServerLookup(new com.acme.MyMBeanServerLookup());

4. Setting up Infinispan cluster transport

Infinispan requires a transport layer so nodes can automatically join and leave clusters. The transport layer also enables Infinispan nodes to replicate or distribute data across the network and perform operations such as re-balancing and state transfer.

4.1. Default JGroups stacks

Infinispan provides default JGroups stack files, default-jgroups-*.xml, in the default-configs directory inside the infinispan-core-13.0.21.Final.jar file.

File name Stack name Description

default-jgroups-udp.xml

udp

Uses UDP for transport and UDP multicast for discovery. Suitable for larger clusters (over 100 nodes) or if you are using replicated caches or invalidation mode. Minimizes the number of open sockets.

default-jgroups-tcp.xml

tcp

Uses TCP for transport and the MPING protocol for discovery, which uses UDP multicast. Suitable for smaller clusters (under 100 nodes) only if you are using distributed caches because TCP is more efficient than UDP as a point-to-point protocol.

default-jgroups-kubernetes.xml

kubernetes

Uses TCP for transport and DNS_PING for discovery. Suitable for Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift nodes where UDP multicast is not always available.

default-jgroups-ec2.xml

ec2

Uses TCP for transport and NATIVE_S3_PING for discovery. Suitable for Amazon EC2 nodes where UDP multicast is not available. Requires additional dependencies.

default-jgroups-google.xml

google

Uses TCP for transport and GOOGLE_PING2 for discovery. Suitable for Google Cloud Platform nodes where UDP multicast is not available. Requires additional dependencies.

default-jgroups-azure.xml

azure

Uses TCP for transport and AZURE_PING for discovery. Suitable for Microsoft Azure nodes where UDP multicast is not available. Requires additional dependencies.
Additional resources

4.2. Cluster discovery protocols

Infinispan supports different protocols that allow nodes to automatically find each other on the network and form clusters.

There are two types of discovery mechanisms that Infinispan can use:

  • Generic discovery protocols that work on most networks and do not rely on external services.

  • Discovery protocols that rely on external services to store and retrieve topology information for Infinispan clusters.
    For instance the DNS_PING protocol performs discovery through DNS server records.

Running Infinispan on hosted platforms requires using discovery mechanisms that are adapted to network constraints that individual cloud providers impose.
Additional resources

4.2.1. PING

PING, or UDPPING is a generic JGroups discovery mechanism that uses dynamic multicasting with the UDP protocol.

When joining, nodes send PING requests to an IP multicast address to discover other nodes already in the Infinispan cluster. Each node responds to the PING request with a packet that contains the address of the coordinator node and its own address. C=coordinator’s address and A=own address. If no nodes respond to the PING request, the joining node becomes the coordinator node in a new cluster.

PING configuration example
<PING num_discovery_runs="3"/>
Additional resources

4.2.2. TCPPING

TCPPING is a generic JGroups discovery mechanism that uses a list of static addresses for cluster members.

With TCPPING, you manually specify the IP address or hostname of each node in the Infinispan cluster as part of the JGroups stack, rather than letting nodes discover each other dynamically.

TCPPING configuration example
<TCP bind_port="7800" />
<TCPPING timeout="3000"
         initial_hosts="${jgroups.tcpping.initial_hosts:hostname1[port1],hostname2[port2]}"
          port_range="0"
          num_initial_members="3"/>
Additional resources

4.2.3. MPING

MPING uses IP multicast to discover the initial membership of Infinispan clusters.

You can use MPING to replace TCPPING discovery with TCP stacks and use multicasing for discovery instead of static lists of initial hosts. However, you can also use MPING with UDP stacks.

MPING configuration example
<MPING mcast_addr="${jgroups.mcast_addr:228.6.7.8}"
       mcast_port="${jgroups.mcast_port:46655}"
       num_discovery_runs="3"
       ip_ttl="${jgroups.udp.ip_ttl:2}"/>
Additional resources

4.2.4. TCPGOSSIP

Gossip routers provide a centralized location on the network from which your Infinispan cluster can retrieve addresses of other nodes.

You inject the address (IP:PORT) of the Gossip router into Infinispan nodes as follows:

  1. Pass the address as a system property to the JVM; for example, -DGossipRouterAddress="10.10.2.4[12001]".

  2. Reference that system property in the JGroups configuration file.

Gossip router configuration example
<TCP bind_port="7800" />
<TCPGOSSIP timeout="3000"
           initial_hosts="${GossipRouterAddress}"
           num_initial_members="3" />
Additional resources

4.2.5. JDBC_PING

JDBC_PING uses shared databases to store information about Infinispan clusters. This protocol supports any database that can use a JDBC connection.

Nodes write their IP addresses to the shared database so joining nodes can find the Infinispan cluster on the network. When nodes leave Infinispan clusters, they delete their IP addresses from the shared database.

JDBC_PING configuration example
<JDBC_PING connection_url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/database_name"
           connection_username="user"
           connection_password="password"
           connection_driver="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>

Add the appropriate JDBC driver to the classpath so Infinispan can use JDBC_PING.
Additional resources

4.2.6. DNS_PING

JGroups DNS_PING queries DNS servers to discover Infinispan cluster members in Kubernetes environments such as OKD and Red Hat OpenShift.

DNS_PING configuration example
<dns.DNS_PING dns_query="myservice.myproject.svc.cluster.local" />
Additional resources

4.2.7. Cloud discovery protocols

Infinispan includes default JGroups stacks that use discovery protocol implementations that are specific to cloud providers.

Discovery protocol Default stack file Artifact Version

NATIVE_S3_PING

default-jgroups-ec2.xml

org.jgroups.aws.s3:native-s3-ping

1.0.0.Final

GOOGLE_PING2

default-jgroups-google.xml

org.jgroups.google:jgroups-google

1.0.0.Final

AZURE_PING

default-jgroups-azure.xml

org.jgroups.azure:jgroups-azure

1.3.0.Final
Providing dependencies for cloud discovery protocols

To use NATIVE_S3_PING, GOOGLE_PING2, or AZURE_PING cloud discovery protocols, you need to provide dependent libraries to Infinispan.

Procedure

  • Add the artifact dependencies to your project pom.xml.

You can then configure the cloud discovery protocol as part of a JGroups stack file or with system properties.

Additional resources

4.3. Using the default JGroups stacks

Infinispan uses JGroups protocol stacks so nodes can send each other messages on dedicated cluster channels.

Infinispan provides preconfigured JGroups stacks for UDP and TCP protocols. You can use these default stacks as a starting point for building custom cluster transport configuration that is optimized for your network requirements.

Procedure

Do one of the following to use one of the default JGroups stacks:

  • Use the stack attribute in your infinispan.xml file.

    <infinispan>
  <cache-container default-cache="replicatedCache">
    <!-- Use the default UDP stack for cluster transport. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
               stack="udp"
               node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>

  • Use the addProperty() method to set the JGroups stack file:

    GlobalConfiguration globalConfig = new GlobalConfigurationBuilder().transport()
        .defaultTransport()
        .clusterName("qa-cluster")
        //Uses the default-jgroups-udp.xml stack for cluster transport.
        .addProperty("configurationFile", "default-jgroups-udp.xml")
        .build();
Verification

Infinispan logs the following message to indicate which stack it uses:

[org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack udp

4.4. Customizing JGroups stacks

Adjust and tune properties to create a cluster transport configuration that works for your network requirements.

Infinispan provides attributes that let you extend the default JGroups stacks for easier configuration. You can inherit properties from the default stacks while combining, removing, and replacing other properties.

Procedure

  1. Create a new JGroups stack declaration in your infinispan.xml file.

  2. Add the extends attribute and specify a JGroups stack to inherit properties from.

  3. Use the stack.combine attribute to modify properties for protocols configured in the inherited stack.

  4. Use the stack.position attribute to define the location for your custom stack.

  5. Specify the stack name as the value for the stack attribute in the transport configuration.

    For example, you might evaluate using a Gossip router and symmetric encryption with the default TCP stack as follows:

    <infinispan>
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Creates a custom JGroups stack named "my-stack". -->
    <!-- Inherits properties from the default TCP stack. -->
    <stack name="my-stack" extends="tcp">
      <!-- Uses TCPGOSSIP as the discovery mechanism instead of MPING -->
      <TCPGOSSIP initial_hosts="${jgroups.tunnel.gossip_router_hosts:localhost[12001]}"
             stack.combine="REPLACE"
             stack.position="MPING" />
      <!-- Removes the FD_SOCK protocol from the stack. -->
      <FD_SOCK stack.combine="REMOVE"/>
      <!-- Modifies the timeout value for the VERIFY_SUSPECT protocol. -->
      <VERIFY_SUSPECT timeout="2000"/>
      <!-- Adds SYM_ENCRYPT to the stack after VERIFY_SUSPECT. -->
      <SYM_ENCRYPT sym_algorithm="AES"
                   keystore_name="mykeystore.p12"
                   keystore_type="PKCS12"
                   store_password="changeit"
                   key_password="changeit"
                   alias="myKey"
                   stack.combine="INSERT_AFTER"
                   stack.position="VERIFY_SUSPECT" />
    </stack>
    <cache-container name="default" statistics="true">
      <!-- Uses "my-stack" for cluster transport. -->
      <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
                 stack="my-stack"
                 node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
   </cache-container>
  </jgroups>
</infinispan>

  6. Check Infinispan logs to ensure it uses the stack.

    [org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack my-stack

4.4.1. Inheritance attributes

When you extend a JGroups stack, inheritance attributes let you adjust protocols and properties in the stack you are extending.

  • stack.position specifies protocols to modify.

  • stack.combine uses the following values to extend JGroups stacks:

    Value Description

    COMBINE

    Overrides protocol properties.

    REPLACE

    Replaces protocols.

    INSERT_AFTER

    Adds a protocol into the stack after another protocol. Does not affect the protocol that you specify as the insertion point.

    Protocols in JGroups stacks affect each other based on their location in the stack. For example, you should put a protocol such as NAKACK2 after the SYM_ENCRYPT or ASYM_ENCRYPT protocol so that NAKACK2 is secured.

    INSERT_BEFORE

    Inserts a protocols into the stack before another protocol. Affects the protocol that you specify as the insertion point.

    REMOVE

    Removes protocols from the stack.

4.5. Using JGroups system properties

Pass system properties to Infinispan at startup to tune cluster transport.

Procedure

  • Use -D<property-name>=<property-value> arguments to set JGroups system properties as required.

For example, set a custom bind port and IP address as follows:

java -cp ... -Djgroups.bind.port=1234 -Djgroups.bind.address=192.0.2.0

When you embed Infinispan clusters in clustered WildFly applications, JGroups system properties can clash or override each other.

For example, you do not set a unique bind address for either your Infinispan cluster or your WildFly application. In this case both Infinispan and your WildFly application use the JGroups default property and attempt to form clusters using the same bind address.

4.5.1. Cluster transport properties

Use the following properties to customize JGroups cluster transport.

System Property Description Default Value Required/Optional

jgroups.bind.address

Bind address for cluster transport.

SITE_LOCAL

Optional

jgroups.bind.port

Bind port for the socket.

7800

Optional

jgroups.mcast_addr

IP address for multicast, both discovery and inter-cluster communication. The IP address must be a valid "class D" address that is suitable for IP multicast.

228.6.7.8

Optional

jgroups.mcast_port

Port for the multicast socket.

46655

Optional

jgroups.ip_ttl

Time-to-live (TTL) for IP multicast packets. The value defines the number of network hops a packet can make before it is dropped.

2

Optional

jgroups.thread_pool.min_threads

Minimum number of threads for the thread pool.

0

Optional

jgroups.thread_pool.max_threads

Maximum number of threads for the thread pool.

200

Optional

jgroups.join_timeout

Maximum number of milliseconds to wait for join requests to succeed.

2000

Optional

jgroups.thread_dumps_threshold

Number of times a thread pool needs to be full before a thread dump is logged.

10000

Optional
Additional resources

4.5.2. System properties for cloud discovery protocols

Use the following properties to configure JGroups discovery protocols for hosted platforms.

Amazon EC2

System properties for configuring NATIVE_S3_PING.

System Property Description Default Value Required/Optional

jgroups.s3.region_name

Name of the Amazon S3 region.

No default value.

Optional

jgroups.s3.bucket_name

Name of the Amazon S3 bucket. The name must exist and be unique.

No default value.

Optional
Google Cloud Platform

System properties for configuring GOOGLE_PING2.

System Property Description Default Value Required/Optional

jgroups.google.bucket_name

Name of the Google Compute Engine bucket. The name must exist and be unique.

No default value.

Required
Azure

System properties for AZURE_PING.

System Property Description Default Value Required/Optional

jboss.jgroups.azure_ping.storage_account_name

Name of the Azure storage account. The name must exist and be unique.

No default value.

Required

jboss.jgroups.azure_ping.storage_access_key

Name of the Azure storage access key.

No default value.

Required

jboss.jgroups.azure_ping.container

Valid DNS name of the container that stores ping information.

No default value.

Required
Kubernetes

System properties for DNS_PING.

System Property Description Default Value Required/Optional

jgroups.dns.query

Sets the DNS record that returns cluster members.

No default value.

Required

4.6. Using inline JGroups stacks

You can insert complete JGroups stack definitions into infinispan.xml files.

Procedure

  • Embed a custom JGroups stack declaration in your infinispan.xml file.

    <infinispan>
  <!-- Contains one or more JGroups stack definitions. -->
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Defines a custom JGroups stack named "prod". -->
    <stack name="prod">
      <TCP bind_port="7800" port_range="30" recv_buf_size="20000000" send_buf_size="640000"/>
      <MPING break_on_coord_rsp="true"
             mcast_addr="${jgroups.mping.mcast_addr:228.2.4.6}"
             mcast_port="${jgroups.mping.mcast_port:43366}"
             num_discovery_runs="3"
             ip_ttl="${jgroups.udp.ip_ttl:2}"/>
      <MERGE3 />
      <FD_SOCK />
      <FD_ALL timeout="3000" interval="1000" timeout_check_interval="1000" />
      <VERIFY_SUSPECT timeout="1000" />
      <pbcast.NAKACK2 use_mcast_xmit="false" xmit_interval="200" xmit_table_num_rows="50"
                      xmit_table_msgs_per_row="1024" xmit_table_max_compaction_time="30000" />
      <UNICAST3 conn_close_timeout="5000" xmit_interval="200" xmit_table_num_rows="50"
                xmit_table_msgs_per_row="1024" xmit_table_max_compaction_time="30000" />
      <pbcast.STABLE desired_avg_gossip="2000" max_bytes="1M" />
      <pbcast.GMS print_local_addr="false" join_timeout="${jgroups.join_timeout:2000}" />
      <UFC max_credits="4m" min_threshold="0.40" />
      <MFC max_credits="4m" min_threshold="0.40" />
      <FRAG3 />
    </stack>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container default-cache="replicatedCache">
    <!-- Uses "prod" for cluster transport. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
           stack="prod"
           node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>

4.7. Using external JGroups stacks

Reference external files that define custom JGroups stacks in infinispan.xml files.

Procedure

  1. Put custom JGroups stack files on the application classpath.

    Alternatively you can specify an absolute path when you declare the external stack file.

  2. Reference the external stack file with the stack-file element.

    <infinispan>
  <jgroups>
     <!-- Creates a "prod-tcp" stack that references an external file. -->
     <stack-file name="prod-tcp" path="prod-jgroups-tcp.xml"/>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container default-cache="replicatedCache">
    <!-- Use the "prod-tcp" stack for cluster transport. -->
    <transport stack="prod-tcp" />
    <replicated-cache name="replicatedCache"/>
  </cache-container>
  <!-- Cache configuration goes here. -->
</infinispan>

You can also use the addProperty() method in the TransportConfigurationBuilder class to specify a custom JGroups stack file as follows:

GlobalConfiguration globalConfig = new GlobalConfigurationBuilder().transport()
        .defaultTransport()
        .clusterName("prod-cluster")
        //Uses a custom JGroups stack for cluster transport.
        .addProperty("configurationFile", "my-jgroups-udp.xml")
        .build();

In this example, my-jgroups-udp.xml references a UDP stack with custom properties such as the following:

Custom UDP stack example
<config xmlns="urn:org:jgroups"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="urn:org:jgroups http://www.jgroups.org/schema/jgroups-4.2.xsd">
    <UDP bind_addr="${jgroups.bind_addr:127.0.0.1}"
         mcast_addr="${jgroups.udp.mcast_addr:192.0.2.0}"
         mcast_port="${jgroups.udp.mcast_port:46655}"
         tos="8"
         ucast_recv_buf_size="20000000"
         ucast_send_buf_size="640000"
         mcast_recv_buf_size="25000000"
         mcast_send_buf_size="640000"
         max_bundle_size="64000"
         ip_ttl="${jgroups.udp.ip_ttl:2}"
         enable_diagnostics="false"
         thread_naming_pattern="pl"
         thread_pool.enabled="true"
         thread_pool.min_threads="2"
         thread_pool.max_threads="30"
         thread_pool.keep_alive_time="5000" />
    <!-- Other JGroups stack configuration goes here. -->
</config>
Additional resources

4.8. Using custom JChannels

Construct custom JGroups JChannels as in the following example:

GlobalConfigurationBuilder global = new GlobalConfigurationBuilder();
JChannel jchannel = new JChannel();
// Configure the jchannel as needed.
JGroupsTransport transport = new JGroupsTransport(jchannel);
global.transport().transport(transport);
new DefaultCacheManager(global.build());

Infinispan cannot use custom JChannels that are already connected.
Additional resources

4.9. Encrypting cluster transport

Secure cluster transport so that nodes communicate with encrypted messages. You can also configure Infinispan clusters to perform certificate authentication so that only nodes with valid identities can join.

4.9.1. JGroups encryption protocols

To secure cluster traffic, you can configure Infinispan nodes to encrypt JGroups message payloads with secret keys.

Infinispan nodes can obtain secret keys from either:

  • The coordinator node (asymmetric encryption).

  • A shared keystore (symmetric encryption).

Retrieving secret keys from coordinator nodes

You configure asymmetric encryption by adding the ASYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration. This allows Infinispan clusters to generate and distribute secret keys.

When using asymmetric encryption, you should also provide keystores so that nodes can perform certificate authentication and securely exchange secret keys. This protects your cluster from man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks.

Asymmetric encryption secures cluster traffic as follows:

  1. The first node in the Infinispan cluster, the coordinator node, generates a secret key.

  2. A joining node performs certificate authentication with the coordinator to mutually verify identity.

  3. The joining node requests the secret key from the coordinator node. That request includes the public key for the joining node.

  4. The coordinator node encrypts the secret key with the public key and returns it to the joining node.

  5. The joining node decrypts and installs the secret key.

  6. The node joins the cluster, encrypting and decrypting messages with the secret key.

Retrieving secret keys from shared keystores

You configure symmetric encryption by adding the SYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration. This allows Infinispan clusters to obtain secret keys from keystores that you provide.

  1. Nodes install the secret key from a keystore on the Infinispan classpath at startup.

  2. Node join clusters, encrypting and decrypting messages with the secret key.

Comparison of asymmetric and symmetric encryption

ASYM_ENCRYPT with certificate authentication provides an additional layer of encryption in comparison with SYM_ENCRYPT. You provide keystores that encrypt the requests to coordinator nodes for the secret key. Infinispan automatically generates that secret key and handles cluster traffic, while letting you specify when to generate secret keys. For example, you can configure clusters to generate new secret keys when nodes leave. This ensures that nodes cannot bypass certificate authentication and join with old keys.

SYM_ENCRYPT, on the other hand, is faster than ASYM_ENCRYPT because nodes do not need to exchange keys with the cluster coordinator. A potential drawback to SYM_ENCRYPT is that there is no configuration to automatically generate new secret keys when cluster membership changes. Users are responsible for generating and distributing the secret keys that nodes use to encrypt cluster traffic.

4.9.2. Securing cluster transport with asymmetric encryption

Configure Infinispan clusters to generate and distribute secret keys that encrypt JGroups messages.

Procedure

  1. Create a keystore with certificate chains that enables Infinispan to verify node identity.

  2. Place the keystore on the classpath for each node in the cluster.

    For Infinispan Server, you put the keystore in the $ISPN_HOME directory.

  3. Add the SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE and ASYM_ENCRYPT protocols to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration, as in the following example:

    <infinispan>
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Creates a secure JGroups stack named "encrypt-tcp" that extends the default TCP stack. -->
    <stack name="encrypt-tcp" extends="tcp">
      <!-- Adds a keystore that nodes use to perform certificate authentication. -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE into the default TCP stack after VERIFY_SUSPECT. -->
      <SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE keystore_name="mykeystore.jks"
                        keystore_password="changeit"
                        stack.combine="INSERT_AFTER"
                        stack.position="VERIFY_SUSPECT"/>
      <!-- Configures ASYM_ENCRYPT -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert ASYM_ENCRYPT into the default TCP stack before pbcast.NAKACK2. -->
      <!-- The use_external_key_exchange = "true" attribute configures nodes to use the `SSL_KEY_EXCHANGE` protocol for certificate authentication. -->
      <ASYM_ENCRYPT asym_keylength="2048"
                    asym_algorithm="RSA"
                    change_key_on_coord_leave = "false"
                    change_key_on_leave = "false"
                    use_external_key_exchange = "true"
                    stack.combine="INSERT_BEFORE"
                    stack.position="pbcast.NAKACK2"/>
    </stack>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container name="default" statistics="true">
    <!-- Configures the cluster to use the JGroups stack. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
               stack="encrypt-tcp"
               node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
Verification

When you start your Infinispan cluster, the following log message indicates that the cluster is using the secure JGroups stack:

[org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack <encrypted_stack_name>

Infinispan nodes can join the cluster only if they use ASYM_ENCRYPT and can obtain the secret key from the coordinator node. Otherwise the following message is written to Infinispan logs:

[org.jgroups.protocols.ASYM_ENCRYPT] <hostname>: received message without encrypt header from <hostname>; dropping it
Additional resources

4.9.3. Securing cluster transport with symmetric encryption

Configure Infinispan clusters to encrypt JGroups messages with secret keys from keystores that you provide.

Procedure

  1. Create a keystore that contains a secret key.

  2. Place the keystore on the classpath for each node in the cluster.

    For Infinispan Server, you put the keystore in the $ISPN_HOME directory.

  3. Add the SYM_ENCRYPT protocol to a JGroups stack in your Infinispan configuration.

<infinispan>
  <jgroups>
    <!-- Creates a secure JGroups stack named "encrypt-tcp" that extends the default TCP stack. -->
    <stack name="encrypt-tcp" extends="tcp">
      <!-- Adds a keystore from which nodes obtain secret keys. -->
      <!-- Uses the stack.combine and stack.position attributes to insert SYM_ENCRYPT into the default TCP stack after VERIFY_SUSPECT. -->
      <SYM_ENCRYPT keystore_name="myKeystore.p12"
                   keystore_type="PKCS12"
                   store_password="changeit"
                   key_password="changeit"
                   alias="myKey"
                   stack.combine="INSERT_AFTER"
                   stack.position="VERIFY_SUSPECT"/>
    </stack>
  </jgroups>
  <cache-container name="default" statistics="true">
    <!-- Configures the cluster to use the JGroups stack. -->
    <transport cluster="${infinispan.cluster.name}"
               stack="encrypt-tcp"
               node-name="${infinispan.node.name:}"/>
  </cache-container>
</infinispan>
Verification

When you start your Infinispan cluster, the following log message indicates that the cluster is using the secure JGroups stack:

[org.infinispan.CLUSTER] ISPN000078: Starting JGroups channel cluster with stack <encrypted_stack_name>

Infinispan nodes can join the cluster only if they use SYM_ENCRYPT and can obtain the secret key from the shared keystore. Otherwise the following message is written to Infinispan logs:

[org.jgroups.protocols.SYM_ENCRYPT] <hostname>: received message without encrypt header from <hostname>; dropping it
Additional resources

4.10. TCP and UDP ports for cluster traffic

Infinispan uses the following ports for cluster transport messages:

Default Port Protocol Description

7800

TCP/UDP

JGroups cluster bind port

46655

UDP

JGroups multicast

Cross-site replication

Infinispan uses the following ports for the JGroups RELAY2 protocol:

7900

For Infinispan clusters running on Kubernetes.

7800

If using UDP for traffic between nodes and TCP for traffic between clusters.

7801

If using TCP for traffic between nodes and TCP for traffic between clusters.