Vertex group & Vertex cluster

• Vertex groups consist of 2 or more Vertex controllers. Vertexes in a group communicate internally with each other in the group with peer to peer (server/client) communication. A Vertex controller in a group ‘sees’ (knows only of the existence of) other Vertexes in the same group. Commands from other Vertex groups are not present, which reduces traffic on this internal XMPP bus. Communication between groups is though still possible. This is done via TCP/IP communication and is slightly slower in speed. Using groups is an optimization of communication, where you can separate and limit communication between floors, areas, etc.

• Vertex cluster is a system of up to 25 Vertex controllers. Communication between clusters is done via TCP/IP. All Vertexes in one cluster share the same cluster ID - CUID (a Node.js based identifier with collision-resistant communication). Vertexes in a cluster can be divided into groups.

To manage your cluster enter NetConfig: http://VERTEX_IP/netconfig/home

After that, you will see all units which you want to configure as groups. You have 15 Vertex groups in one network, so you can create up to 15 stand alone Vertex groups.

The last step is sending the configuration to Vertexes with CUID. You can choose to send the configuration with the old CUID or generate a new one (default). It is important when you are replacing one Vertex and don't want to change the setup of a network (generating a new CUID for Vertexes causes creating a new routing table).

For a better understanding, consider these two examples:

1. Vertex controllers in one Vertex group in one cluster in one network

2. 

   Vertex controllers in different Vertex group in one cluster in one network

   

Hardware explanation of clusters

See below the structure diagram of Vertex communication in the cluster. Prosody XMPP server due to routing table is able to transmit and receive commands or messages to other Vertex prosody XMPP server by ethernet connection.