Hazelcast Configuration

To configure a Hazelcast cluster or client, you can choose either static or dynamic configuration. Explore the options and decide which one is best for your application.

Before configuring Hazelcast, we recommend trying the defaults, which are set in the hazelcast-default.xml and hazelcast-client-default.xml file of your Hazelcast package.

Static Configuration

Static configuration allows you to configure Hazelcast members and client before runtime by providing either configuration files or using the API.

To use static configuration, you have the following options:

The following topics are also relevant to static configuration:

Hazelcast performs schema validation through the hazelcast-config-5.5.1.xsd file, which comes with Hazelcast libraries. If an error occurs in declarative or programmatic configuration, Hazelcast throws a meaningful exception.

Static configuration cannot be changed at runtime. However, you can add dynamic configuration for some features.

Configuration Precedence

Hazelcast members and clients looks for static configuration options in the following order:

Order Member Client

1

Config object provided by programmatic configuration

Config object provided by programmatic configuration

2

hazelcast.config system property

hazelcast.client.config system property

3

hazelcast.xml declarative configuration file in the working directory

hazelcast-client.xml declarative configuration file in the working directory

4

hazelcast.xml declarative configuration file on the classpath

hazelcast-client.xml declarative configuration file on the classpath (Java)

5

hazelcast.yaml declarative configuration file in the working directory

hazelcast-client.yaml declarative configuration file in the working directory

6

hazelcast.yaml declarative configuration file on the classpath

hazelcast-client.yaml declarative configuration file on the classpath (Java)

If Hazelcast does not find any of these configuration options, it loads the default configuration file (hazelcast-default.xml), which comes with your Hazelcast package.

Dynamic Configuration

Dynamic configuration allows you to add configuration blocks for some features at runtime.

For more information, see Dynamic Configuration for Members.