Node Role

Return to Terms and Definitions

Discussion

A Node Role identifies the responsibility a Node performs within the architecture. Node Roles allow the architecture to describe what a Node does without binding that responsibility to a specific technology, process, container, pod, or deployment unit. A Node may perform one Node Role or multiple Node Roles. A logical architecture may keep several roles together within a single Node. At the same time, a later implementation or deployment profile may separate those roles across multiple Nodes for scaling, resilience, governance, jurisdictional separation, or operational control. Node Roles support traceability by connecting architectural responsibility to logical design, implementation artefacts, deployment artefacts, and evidence.

Definition

responsibility performed by a Node within the architecture

Source

Adapted from FX Demo Reference Architecture, Section 10, Node Role Framework; generalised for use in the Financial Systems Archetype conceptual layer.

Note

A Node Role is not itself a deployed participant. A Node performs a Node Role.

Example

Examples of Node Roles include service registration, health monitoring, transaction intake, validation, attestation, policy evaluation, release control, persistence, replay, audit recording, and provenance recording.