Buddy Replication uses an instance of a org.jboss.cache.buddyreplication.BuddyLocator which contains the logic used to select buddies in a network. JBoss Cache currently ships with a single implementation, org.jboss.cache.buddyreplication.NextMemberBuddyLocator, which is used as a default if no implementation is provided. The NextMemberBuddyLocator selects the next member in the cluster, as the name suggests, and guarantees an even spread of buddies for each instance.
The NextMemberBuddyLocator takes in 2 parameters, both optional.
numBuddies - specifies how many buddies each instance should pick to back its data onto. This defaults to 1.
ignoreColocatedBuddies - means that each instance will try to select a buddy on a different physical host. If not able to do so though, it will fall back to colocated instances. This defaults to true.