---
title: "Stretched Cluster"
type: concept
tags:
  - VMware
  - High-Availability
  - AWS
last_updated: 2026-04-25
---

## Stretched Cluster

A cluster architecture that spans multiple availability zones, providing high availability and disaster recovery capabilities across geographic locations.

## Definition
In the context of VMware Cloud on AWS, a stretched cluster extends across availability zones (AZs) to provide increased resilience. If one AZ experiences failure, workloads can continue running in the other AZ.

## Key Characteristics
- **Cross-AZ Deployment**: Cluster nodes distributed across multiple availability zones
- **High Availability**: Automatic failover if one AZ becomes unavailable
- **Disaster Recovery**: Built-in DR capability without additional configuration
- **Low Latency**: AWS AZs are designed for low latency interconnectivity

## Use Cases
- Mission-critical applications requiring high availability
- Disaster recovery planning
- Compliance requirements for geographic redundancy
- Applications with strict RTO/RPO requirements

## Connections
- [[VMware-Cloud-on-AWS]] ← enables ← [[Stretched-Cluster]]
- [[ctp-topic-43-vmware-cloud-on-aws]] ← source ← [[Stretched-Cluster]]
- [[High-Availability]] ← implements ← [[Stretched-Cluster]]
- [[Disaster-Recovery]] ← supports ← [[Stretched-Cluster]]

## Sources
- [[ctp-topic-43-vmware-cloud-on-aws]]