Configuring a two node hazelcast cluster - avoiding multicast

Question

The context

• Two nodes of a Hazelcast cluster, each on a discrete subnet so multicast is not suitable nor working for node location.

Answer 1

I'm not familiar with hazelcast.conf files.

Mostly used is XML or Programmatic api. For good examples see:

https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast-code-samples/tree/master/network-configuration

Example of programmatic:

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args){
        Config config = new Config();
        config.getNetworkConfig().getJoin().getTcpIpConfig().addMember("localhost").setEnabled(true);
        config.getNetworkConfig().getJoin().getMulticastConfig().setEnabled(false);
        HazelcastInstance hz = Hazelcast.newHazelcastInstance(config);
    }
}

-- What is unclear is: is any XML configuration I supply overlaid upon the settings within hazelcast-default.xml - or simply used in its stead?

What do you mean? If you use the programmatic API, the rest is not relevant. If you don't provide an explicit Config object while constructing the HazelcastInstance, a defaulting mechanism is used. And eventually it defaults to hazelcast-default.xml.