Cluster rippled Servers

If you run multiple rippled servers in the same data center, you can configure them in a cluster to maximize efficiency. To configure clustering:

For each of your servers, note the IP address of the server.

For each of your servers, generate a unique seed using the validation_create method.

For example, using the commandline interface:

$ rippled validation_create

Loading: "/etc/rippled.cfg"
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:5005
{
   "result" : {
      "status" : "success",
      "validation_key" : "FAWN JAVA JADE HEAL VARY HER REEL SHAW GAIL ARCH BEN IRMA",
      "validation_public_key" : "n9Mxf6qD4J55XeLSCEpqaePW4GjoCR5U1ZeGZGJUCNe3bQa4yQbG",
      "validation_seed" : "ssZkdwURFMBXenJPbrpE14b6noJSu"
   }
}

Save the validation_seed and validation_public_key parameters from each response somewhere secure.

On each server, edit the config file, modifying the following sections:
1. In the [ips_fixed] section, list the IP address and port of each other member of the cluster. For each of those servers, the port number should match the protocol = peer port (usually 51235) from that server's rippled.cfg. For example:
```
[ips_fixed]
192.168.0.1 51235
192.168.0.2 51235
```
  This defines specific peer servers to which this server should always attempt to maintain a direct peer-to-peer connection.
  Note
  If you omit the port number, the server uses port 2459, the IANA-assigned port for the XRP Ledger protocol.
2. In the [node_seed] section, set the server's node seed to one of the validation_seed values you generated using the validation_create method in step 2. Each server must use a unique node seed. For example:
```
[node_seed]
ssZkdwURFMBXenJPbrpE14b6noJSu
```
  This defines the key pair the server uses to sign peer-to-peer communications, excluding validation messages.
3. In the [cluster_nodes] section, set the members of the server's cluster, identified by their validation_public_key values. Each server should list the public keys of all other members of the cluster here. Optionally, add a custom name for each server. For example:
```
[cluster_nodes]
n9McNsnzzXQPbg96PEUrrQ6z3wrvgtU4M7c97tncMpSoDzaQvPar keynes
n94UE1ukbq6pfZY9j54sv2A1UrEeHZXLbns3xK5CzU9NbNREytaa friedman
```
  This defines the key pairs the server uses to recognize members of its cluster.
After saving the config file, restart rippled on each server.
```
# systemctl restart rippled
```

To confirm that each server is now a member of the cluster, use the peers method. The cluster field should list the public keys and (if configured) the custom names for each server.

For example, using the commandline interface:

$ rippled peers

Loading: "/etc/rippled.cfg"
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:5005
{
  "result" : {
    "cluster" : {
        "n9McNsnzzXQPbg96PEUrrQ6z3wrvgtU4M7c97tncMpSoDzaQvPar": {
          "tag": "keynes",
          "age": 1
        },
        "n94UE1ukbq6pfZY9j54sv2A1UrEeHZXLbns3xK5CzU9NbNREytaa": {
          "tag": "friedman",
          "age": 1
        }
    },
    "peers" : [
      ... (omitted) ...
    ],
    "status" : "success"
  }
}