Installation Modes and Bridge Domain
The BRIDGE supports two installation modes: the Workstation Mode and the Server Mode. For notebooks or single workstations, we recommend the workstation mode. Most of the time, this is the case when working offline, for instance, in order to study the Bridge Development Tutorials. The workstation mode prevents problems if you are working offline with your notebook and no IP address is available. For all other systems (e.g. used for development, testing, and productive environments), you need to use the Server mode installation.
Bridge Domain
Depending on the Bridge installation mode you want to choose during the installation, you may define a Bridge domain.
A domain is an aggregation of several node instances. The advantages of domains are summarized as follows.
Several node instances can be aggregated in one domain. Each service running on different node instances can be managed from one Bridge installation. It is possible to deploy, start, and stop services even if they run on other node instances within the domain.
User and group access rights are shared between each node instance that belongs to the same domain.
Domains enable you to setup flexible configurations, e.g. load balancing configurations.
Workstation Mode
In Workstation Mode, the Bridge can only manage the local system. No static or dynamic IP address or machine name is used in the Bridge, but only localhost. There is no ability to manage other node instances. The menu item Node Instances in the navigation area of the Bridge is disabled.
If you choose this installation mode during the installation, you will not need to create a domain. A default domain called localhost will be created automatically during the installation and is not alterable by the user.
Server Mode
In Server Mode, the Bridge can manage multiple installations of itself on different systems, if the node instances are member of the same Bridge domain. You may define an individual domain name.
If you choose this installation mode and do not define a domain name during the installation, you will need to define it directly after login into the Bridge. In this case, refer to Creating a Bridge Domain in the Integration (Bridge) User's Guide.