You can use Shared Memory Communications over RDMA (SMC-R) with the sysplex distributor function with no additional configuration requirements. TCP connections are set up as normal through the sysplex distributor node, and the connection endpoints exchange SMC-R rendezvous information as described in Rendezvous processing. The sysplex distributor node examines information that is passed in the rendezvous exchange to select the optimum server application for SMC-R protocols. After the TCP connection is established to the server application, rendezvous processing continues to determine whether SMC-R communications are possible, and to establish an SMC-R link group if necessary. After the TCP connection switches to SMC-R communications, the data does not flow through the sysplex distributor node, as shown in Figure 1. This bypassing of the distributor node represents a performance improvement for the sysplex distributor function when SMC-R protocols are used.
