Pool management is a two-tier architecture that allows each Core to become either manager or a member of a pool. A Core can be part of only one pool. The pool is a single-level hierarchy with a flat structure, in which all members of the pool except the manager have equal priority and cannot themselves be managers of pools. The pool has a loose membership, in which pool members are not aware of one another, except for the manager. Any Core can be the manager of the pool, but the pool manager cannot be a member of any other pool. You can have up to 32 Cores in one pool, not including the manager.

The pool is dissolved when the manager is no longer available (unless the manager has an HA peer). Management of a pool can be taken over by a failover peer. However, a member failover peer cannot be managed by the member pool manager through the member, even if the failover peer is down.

From a performance prospective, it does not matter which Core you choose as the manager. The resources required by the pool manager have minor to no differences from regular Core operations.