Creating a cluster

Instructions on how to provision a new cluster using OpsCenter.

OpsCenter can provision new Cassandra and DataStax Enterprise clusters. To do this, each node in the cluster must meet the following requirements:

  • Have Oracle Java 7 installed.
  • Cannot have Cassandra or DSE installed.
  • Have a user capable of using sudo for local clusters, unless you've configured OpsCenter to not use sudo (see the runs_sudo option described in OpsCenter configuration properties).
  • When provisioning on EC2 nodes, the OpsCenter machine needs access to port 61621 on the managed nodes, and the nodes need access to port 61620 on the OpsCenter machine.

Procedure

  1. Click New Cluster.
  2. Click Create Brand New Cluster.
    The Create Cluster dialog displays.
  3. (Optional) Choose whether to provision a cluster in the cloud or to a local machine by selecting the Cloud or Local. The Cloud option only appears if you are running OpsCenter on an EC2 instance.

    The Cloud and Local buttons only appear if OpsCenter is running in the cloud.

  4. Fill out the form as appropriate.
    • If you select Local the Local pane displays. The DataStax credentials are the ones which were emailed to you, when you signed up, while the node credentials are the user id on each node with sudo privileges.

    • If you select Cloud the Cloud pane displays. (OpsCenter currently only supports the AWS EC2 cloud.)

    Fill out the form as appropriate.

    New cluster fields
    Field Description
    Name My Cluster
    Package The version of DSE or Cassandra to install on the nodes.
    DataStax Credentials <userid> and <password> that were in the email you received from DataStax when registering to download DataStax Enterprise.
    Nodes (Local only) A list of existing machines on which to install the cluster. (Only when provisioning locally.)
    Total Nodes (Cloud only) Total number of DSE or Cassandra nodes for the cluster. (Only when provisioning to the cloud.)
    # Solr Nodes Total number of Solr nodes for the cluster.
    # Hadoop Nodes Total number of Hadoop nodes for the cluster.
    Node Credentials (Local only) The <userid> and <password> of the user with sudo permission on the nodes. (Only when provisioning locally.)
    Private SSH Key (Local only) The private SSH key to use instead of Node Credentials. (Only when provisioning locally.)
    Amazon EC2 Credentials (Cloud only) The <access-jey-id> and <secret-access-key> to use to authenticate on AWS EC2.
    Availability Zone (Cloud only) Which availability zone to use to create the cluster. (The dropdown list is only populated after entering your EC2 credentials.)
    Size (Cloud only) Which size image to use.
    AMI (Cloud only) Which image to use.
    Use OpsCenter specific security group (Cloud only) Determines whether OpsCenter creates its own specific security group or allows you to select one which is available using your EC2 credentials.
    Use OpsCenter specific keypair (Cloud only) Determines whether OpsCenter creates its own specific keypair or allows you to select one which is available using your EC2 credentials.
  5. Click Build Cluster.

Results

The new cluster is now available.

If the agent fails to install, check opscenterd.log and /var/log/datastax-agent/installer.log on the affected nodes. Also verify that the correct ports are open between machines as described in OpsCenter and DataStax agent ports.

If the agent installs successfully, but there is an issue with the Cassandra or DSE setup process, check opscenterd.log, /var/log/datastax-agent/agent.log, /var/log/cassandra/output.log, and /var/log/cassandra/system.log for any errors.