Classes in this package implement distribution in GemFire.
Every virtual machine working with distributed data (client
VMs, the GemFire console) has an
instance of {@link
org.apache.geode.distributed.internal.DistributionManager}
that is responsible for sending and receiving {@link
org.apache.geode.distributed.internal.DistributionMessage}s.
A DistributionManager has a unique {@link
org.apache.geode.distributed.internal.DistributionManager#getId
id} and uses a MembershipManager to discover the other members of the distributed system. It
also uses the MembershipManager to detect when a member has left the group.
While some messages may be broadcast to all
members of the group, the vast majority of messages are only intended
for a subset of the group are sent point-to-point.