7.2 Node

Discussion:

A Node identifies an architectural participant in a distributed financial system. It provides a stable point of responsibility for communication, attribution, monitoring, governance, and traceability.

A Node performs one or more Node Roles, has a Node Identity, participates in one or more Runtime Planes, and exchanges information through one or more Communication Endpoints.

A Node exists at the conceptual level. Later parts may realise a Node as a process, container, pod, service, virtual machine, gateway, external interface, analytical engine, monitoring component, persistence service, or other deployed participant. Those realisations do not redefine the concept of Node.

A Node may host or use one or more software modules, analytical engines, rules engines, policy components, persistence mechanisms, or adapters. The Node remains distinct from the software modules or implementation artefacts that it uses.

Definition:

architectural participant in a distributed financial system

Source:

Adapted from FX Demo Reference Architecture, Section 2.1.1, Node; generalised from “deployed participant” to “architectural participant” for use in the Financial Systems Archetype conceptual layer.

Note:

A Node is not a Communication Endpoint, Data Structure Definition, Data Structure Instance, software module, container, pod, process, runtime host, or deployment artefact.

Example:

An FX validation service, ACTUS cash-flow computation service, policy release service, or health monitoring service may act as a Node in a later logical profile or implementation profile.