4.4.2. Asynchronous and Synchronous Operations

When a clustered mode (such as invalidation, replication or distribution) is used, data is propagated to other nodes in either a synchronous or asynchronous manner.

If synchronous mode is used, the sender waits for responses from receivers before allowing the thread to continue, whereas asynchronous mode transmits data but does not wait for responses from other nodes in the cluster to continue operations.

Asynchronous mode prioritizes speed over consistency, which is ideal for use cases such as HTTP session replications with sticky sessions enabled. Such a session (or data for other use cases) is always accessed on the same cluster node, unless this node fails.