Join the cluster before updating the farm directory

Deploy it

You configured a cluster of JBoss servers and want to deploy an application to the cluster.  You can copy the application archive into the farm deployment directory on one of the running cluster server nodes.  Magic happens and the application archive is copied to the farm deployment directory of the other nodes which triggers deployment of the application on each node.  If a new node joins the cluster, the application archive will be copied to it.

Undeploy

To remove an application from the cluster, delete the application archive file from the farm deployment directory on one of the running cluster server nodes.  More magic happens and the application will be undeployed from all cluster server nodes.

Questions

I have multiple nodes running in a cluster.  On one of the nodes that were down, I copied a new application archive to the farm deployment directory and then started the server.  Why didn't the new application deploy to other cluster server nodes?

Its not supposed to, you have to start the server before updating the farm deployment directory.  After starting the server, copy the application archive again to the farm deployment directory (or touch it).  The application will then be deployed on the cluster as mentioned above.

I deleted an application from the farm deployment directory and then started the server.  Why didn't the application get deleted from other cluster server nodes?

Its not supposed to, you have to start the server before updating the farm deployment directory.  After starting the server, delete the application archive from the farm deployment directory.  The application will then be removed from other cluster server nodes.

I deleted an application from the cluster but one of the server nodes was down at the time, when I started that node, the application was still on it.  How do I delete the application from that node?

You have to manually delete the application from the node(s) that were down when the application was removed from the cluster.  Delete the application archive from the farm deployment directory on the node(s) that were down.