Running a DSE installation job using LCM

Submit a DataStax Enterprise install job to run on a cluster, datacenter, or node in Lifecycle Manager.

Submit a DataStax Enterprise install job to run on a cluster, datacenter, or node. An install job includes running a configuration job and by default, installing Java and the JCE Policy files required to enable unlimited strength encryption.

Lifecycle Manager runs jobs concurrently for different clusters; however, jobs for the same cluster execute sequentially and remain in the Pending state while other install or configure jobs are currently running.

Lifecycle Manager pushes configuration jobs to a single node at a time and restarts DataStax Enterprise on that node. For a newly added cluster, the very first install job runs on several concurrent nodes. The concurrency speeds the initial install process and is safe because the new cluster cannot serve clients until it has been installed for the first time. After that, install and configure jobs proceed one-node-at-a-time to ensure cluster availability. The job does not progress to the next node until the current node successfully restarts (that is, the node is responding on the native_transport_port). By default, the job gracefully stops prematurely if a job fails for a single node. Jobs that are already running on nodes are allowed to finish, but the job does not continue running on any remaining nodes for that job. Doing so prevents any potential configuration problems from bringing down multiple nodes, or even the entire cluster. If required, override this default behavior with the Continue on error option, which will attempt to run the job on all nodes, regardless of failure.

Install jobs that expand an existing cluster are throttled to one node at a time to prevent too much data from streaming concurrently.

Note: If the version of DataStax Enterprise associated with a configuration profile being pushed differs from the installed version, the job fails. Version upgrades or downgrades of DataStax Enterprise are not supported within Lifecycle Manager.

Prerequisites

Complete the following tasks before running any install jobs in Lifecycle Manager.

  1. Create all credentials, both SSH and repositories.
  2. Define configuration profiles.
  3. Build the cluster topology model or import an existing model.
  4. An installed version of Python 2.6 through 2.7 is required on the target nodes. LCM does not automate the installation of Python. Install jobs fail if Python is not installed.
  5. Check the clock drift rule in the Best Practice Service to ensure clocks are in sync before proceeding. Clock drift can interfere with LCM generating TLS certificates.
  6. Ensure that the SSH server on each node allows file transfer:
    • For OpsCenter 6.0.0-6.0.x, 6.1.0-6.1.x, and 6.5.0-6.5.3, the SSH server on target nodes must allow SFTP transfers.
    • For OpsCenter 6.5.4-6.5.x, the SSH server on the target node must allow file transfer by either SCP or SFTP. LCM tries SFTP first and falls back to SCP.

LCM does not create data directories or manage their permissions. See Creating custom data directories for steps to use a custom data directory.

Procedure

  1. Click Clusters from the Lifecycle Manager navigation menu.
  2. Select the cluster, datacenter, or node to run an install on.
  3. Click Install from the drop menu.
    The Install Job dialog appears.

  4. Upon encountering an error on any given node, the job ceases running on additional nodes. Any nodes that are already running continue to completion. To override this default behavior, select Continue on error, which will continue running the job on subsequent nodes until all are finished.
  5. Optional: Enter a description about the job.
  6. Enter a password in the New DSE password box to replace the default password for the cassandra user.
  7. If LDAP authentication is configured for a DSE cluster, you are prompted to enter your LDAP Username and LDAP Password the first time an install job is run on the cluster. Providing the LDAP credentials is necessary for OpsCenter to connect to the cluster for monitoring.
  8. Select an auto_bootstrap option in cassandra.yaml. To override the LCM smart default, choose True or False as required.
    • LCM Default: Following best practices for data integrity, sets auto_bootstrap to True for new nodes, requiring new nodes to be started sequentially. The default job concurrency policy ensures that nodes start sequentially.

      This default is different from previous OpsCenter versions.

      Warning: When adding a node to an existing datacenter that has already been converged (that is, an install job has already been run) in LCM, a tooltip warning appears: New nodes that list themselves as seeds will fail to bootstrap and will require immediately running a repair on the node. DataStax recommends designating the node as a seed after the node has bootstrapped into the cluster.
    • True: Explicitly sets auto_bootstrap to True.
    • False: Explicitly sets auto_bootstrap to False.
  9. Click Submit.
    The job is submitted. A dialog informs you the job is in the queue to run.
  10. Click View Job Summary to navigate quickly to the Jobs page to monitor the job progress. Click Close if you do not want to immediately monitor the job and prefer to remain in the Clusters workspace.