Which area of PingAM does affinity mode relate to?

Affinity mode, also known as session stickiness, is a load balancing strategy. When PingAM is deployed in a cluster behind a load balancer, affinity mode ensures that all requests from a user within the same session are directed to the same PingAM server node. This is critical for maintaining session state, especially for client-side sessions, as the session information is not replicated across all nodes in the cluster. Without affinity, a user's request might be sent to a server that has no knowledge of their session, causing authentication to fail.

A. Authentication: Affinity mode supports the session after authentication has occurred; it is not part of the authentication mechanism itself.

C. Self-service: Self-service processes rely on a valid session, but affinity is a broader infrastructure concept for managing that session across a cluster.

D. Authorization: Authorization decisions depend on a valid session, but affinity mode's purpose is to maintain the session's integrity at the load balancer level.

1. Ping Identity, ForgeRock AM 7 Documentation, Setup and Maintenance Guide, Chapter 3: Configuring Sites and Clusters, Section: "To Configure a Site". The documentation specifies, "When AM is deployed in a site configuration, a load balancer must be configured to provide session affinity (or stickiness)."

2. Ping Identity, ForgeRock AM 7 Documentation, Deployment Guide, Chapter 2: Planning the Deployment, Section: "Load Balancers". This section details the requirement for session stickiness for traffic to AM servers.