Byte array based transfer was a default and only transfer methodology for cache in all previous releases up to 2.0. Byte array based transfer loads entire state transferred into a byte array and sends it to a state receiving member. Major limitation of this approach is that the state transfer that is very large (>1GB) would likely result in OutOfMemoryException. Streaming state transfer provides an InputStream to a state reader and an OutputStream to a state writer. OutputStream and InputStream abstractions enable state transfer in byte chunks thus resulting in smaller memory requirements. For example, if application state is represented as a tree whose aggregate size is 1GB, rather than having to provide a 1GB byte array streaming state transfer transfers the state in chunks of N bytes where N is user configurable.

Byte array and streaming based state transfer are completely API transparent, interchangeable, and statically configured through a standard cache configuration XML file. Refer to JGroups documentation on how to change from one type of transfer to another.