In this chapter, you have learned a new technique ArcGIS for Server offers; clustering can be useful if used with caution and on the right GIS servers. You now know how to create a cluster from the Server site, where these clusters define the spectrum of your GIS servers. You have learned that clustering can be categorized by the machine power or memory or even by networking factors. You have learned how to assign a service to a cluster of machines so that its instances run only on those machines. You also know the limitations of clustering: what it can or can't do and when to use it.

In addition to the Server site optimization skills you acquired in the previous chapter, you now know how to take advantage of individual machines and organize them so that they perform more effectively. There are, of course, other factors that affect Server, but they are outside the scope of this book.

In the next chapter, we move from optimizing to securing ArcGIS for Server, where you will learn how...