One issue with the client method of connecting to the cluster is that most operations will require multiple hops in order to perform an action. This is as we only maintain a connection to a single node of the cluster and run all our operations through it. With the exception of operations performed on partitions owned by that node, all other activities must be handed off to the node responsible out in the wider cluster, with the single node acting as a proxy for the client.

This will add latency to the requests made to the cluster. Should that latency be too high, there is an alternative method of connecting to the cluster known as a lite member (originally known as a super client). This is effectively a non-participant member of the cluster, in that it maintains connections to all the other nodes in the cluster and will directly talk to partition owners, but does not provide any storage or computation to the cluster. This avoids the double hop required by the standard...