Shard transport options for DSE Search communications

A custom, TCP-based communications layer for Solr is the default type in DataStax Enterprise. To improve DSE Search inter-node communications and avoid distributed deadlock during queries, switch from the HTTP-based communications to the netty non-blocking communications layer.

A custom, TCP-based communications layer for Solr is the default type in DataStax Enterprise. The TCP-based type, netty, is an alternative to the slower more resource intensive HTTP-based, Tomcat-backed interface. The netty communications layer improves DSE Search inter-node communications in several ways:

• Lowers latency
• Reduces resource consumption
• Increases throughput even while handling thousands of concurrent requests
• Provides nonblocking I/O processing

To avoid distributed deadlock during queries, switch from the HTTP-based communications to the netty non-blocking communications layer.

The TCP-based communications layer for DSE Search supports client-to-node and node-to-node encryption using SSL, but does not support Kerberos.

Configure the shard transport options in the dse.yaml file to select HTTP- or TCP-based communication.

The shard_transport_options in the dse.yaml file for managing inter-node communication between DSE Search nodes are:

• type: netty or http

  The default type, netty, configures TCP-based Solr communications. Choosing http configures Solr communication that uses the standard HTTP-based communications interface. Accept the netty default so that the following netty options are applicable.

• netty_server_port: 8984

  The TCP listen port, mandatory to use the netty type. To use the http type indefinitely, either comment netty_server_port or set it to -1.

• netty_server_acceptor_threads

  The number of server acceptor threads. The default is the number of available processors.

• netty_server_worker_threads

  The number of server worker threads. The default is the number of available processors times 8.

• netty_client_worker_threads

  The number of client worker threads. The default is the number of available processors times 8.

• netty_client_max_connections

  The maximum number of client connections. The default is 100.

• netty_client_request_timeout

  The client request timeout in milliseconds. The default is 60000.