Nodes and services introduction

Install nodes in the environment to enable the use of Spotfire web clients, Spotfire Automation Services, and the data function services.

The installed client, called Spotfire Analyst, can be used together with the Spotfire Server directly. To enable use of Spotfire web clients, Spotfire Automation Services, and the data function services (Spotfire Enterprise Runtime for R – Server Edition, Spotfire Service for R, or Spotfire Service for Python) one or more nodes must also be configured, preferably on dedicated computers, virtual machines or containers.

For each node, the administrator installs and enables a service with a specified capability. A node can have the service with the Spotfire Web Player capability, the Spotfire Automation Services capability, or one of the data function services capabilities.

The Web Player service enables users to perform analyses in a web browser, Automation Services can be used to automate multi-step tasks, and the data function services can be used for additional calculations and advanced analytics. The capabilities of the enabled services determine the functionality that the node provides to Spotfire end users, through the Spotfire Server.

Note: For production environments, we strongly advise that you deploy each of the different types of Spotfire services on separate, dedicated computers (physical computers, virtual machines, or containers).

If you still decide to deploy different services on the same computer (for example, for testing purposes), you must manage the resource allocation of the processes so they do not conflict with each other.

You can scale your Spotfire environment by adding or removing nodes and service instances.