sezaru
Hello,
Does it make sense to create a BEAM multi-node architecture if I plan to use it in one machine only?
To elaborate a bit more… In my system a have a complex and big supervisor tree with lots of processes etc. and I need to recreate this entire tree for each external source I support.
This means that if I call my sup tree SupA, and I support sources Source1, Source2 and Source3, I will have to duplicate SupA 3 times, one for each source.
Currently, I already have that implemented, I send the source name when creating the tree so I would get a unique name for each one (and for all processes and supervisors inside SupA too).
So, for example, for Source1, I have SupA.Source1 something like that.
Making all the processes and supervisors have a unique name and keep track of that to call the right one is kind of a pain (I do use Registry in some places to make it a little bit nicer) so I was thinking if I could instead of running everything in a single node, create a node for each one of the sources with its own BEAM.
Does this make sense? What are the pros and cons of such an approach? Is it even a good idea?
If it is, how can I handle the node initialization? Should I just create a script that starts each node for me with the correct parameters or there is something nicer that handles that for me?
Thanks!
Where Next?
Trending in Questions
Other Trending Topics
Latest on Elixir Forum
Sponsor Spotlight
Producing high quality Elixir screencasts since 2017.
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #library
- #deployment
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ecto-query
- #elixirconf-us
- #blog-post
- #ai
- #elixir-ls
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #api
- #forms
- #hex
- #security
- #metaprogramming
Our Sponsors
Build Elixir applications with speed and confidence.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Error tracking, logs, uptime, and Just Enough APM. Built for developers.
Elixir, Erlang & BEAM conferences from Code Sync - join us in 2026!
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges.
Producing high quality Elixir screencasts since 2017.
**Building the future of software with AI, trust, and human connection.**
The team behind Membrane, Popcorn, LiveDebugger. Available for hire.
Courses that'll move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"
Showing Posts 1 to 2- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
keathley
You certainly can run multiple instances of the BEAM on a single node. But my preference would be to run a single instance and use tools like dynamic supervisor and registry to start the different subtrees as needed. My primary concern with running multiple BEAMS would be performance since you’d be sharing your CPU. I also think that you’d be taking on a fair amount of operational complexity for not a lot of gain. But that might be me projecting since I’m better at managing elixir code and supervisors than I am with ops work.
tty
Besides the CPU / memory constrains there is no harm in organizing your platform in this manner. We typically split a separate node for external services which can be a tad flaky coughIBM MQcough. One other advantage is migrating the busier node to a separate server at a later date.
My preference is to have a master node and a controller process spawn slave nodes. The same controller process can also
monitor_noderestarting errant slaves.For your specific problem could you have one
Applicationper source ? It is also unnecessary to have unique names per process unless you want to specifically send messages to it by name. It is quite common to rely solely on Pids.