Managing database clusters

• 1: Viewing cluster infrastructure
• 2: Viewing and managing your cluster
• 3: Importing an existing database into MC

1 - Viewing cluster infrastructure

For a summary of all databases and clusters currently monitored by MC, click View Infrastructure on the MC Home page.

The first tab on the Infrastructure page, Database and Cluster View, is overview of the infrastructure of all the clusters and databases currently monitored by MC.

Three rows are displayed: Infrastructure, Clusters, and Databases.

• Infrastructure. Specifies the type of environment on which your clusters reside:

  • Cloud: Displays the name of the cloud platform, such as AWS or GCP

  • On premises: Displays "Data Center"

  • Apache Hadoop: Displays "Hadoop Environment"

• Clusters. You can click a cluster to see its full details. From the dialog that opens, you can:

  • Add the cluster's master API key

  • View or Manage the cluster page

  • Remove the cluster from MC monitoring

  • Create a new database on the cluster (if all other databases on the cluster are stopped)

• Databases. A numbered badge on the top right displays the number of highest-priority messages from that database that are in your inbox. If a handshake icon () displays next to "Type," that indicates the database is running in Eon Mode. If the handshake is absent, the database is running in Enterprise Mode. Click any database for more details. From the dialog that opens, you can:

  • View the database's Overview page

  • Stop or start the database

  • Drop the database (if the database is stopped)

  • Remove the database from MC monitoring

In the illustration below, MC is monitoring two different clusters that both reside on an AWS environment. One database is running on each cluster. The DemoDB database, displayed on the left, has a handshake icon next to its "Type" label that indicates it is running in Eon Mode. The VMart database on the 3-node cluster, displayed on the right, is running in Enterprise Mode.

2 - Viewing and managing your cluster

The Cluster page in Management Console shows a node-based visualization of your cluster. This page shows the cluster's host addresses, the installed version of Vertica running, and a list of the databases on the cluster that MC is currently monitoring.

From the Cluster page, you can also create a new empty database on the cluster, or import any existing databases MC discovers on the cluster. (These features are currently available only on AWS and GCP.)

MC displays different options depending on whether you imported the cluster to MC, or created the cluster using MC:

• Imported cluster: MC displays monitoring information about the cluster.

• Cluster created using MC: MC displays both monitoring information and management options for third-party cloud platforms such as AWS. For clusters you created using the current MC, the Cluster page provides cluster and instance management options.

Cluster and instance management option availability

For Eon Mode databases, MC supports actions for subcluster and node management for the following public and private cloud providers:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

• Microsoft Azure

• Pure Storage FlashBlade

For Enterprise Mode databases, MC supports these actions:

• In the cloud on AWS: Add Node action, Add Instance action.

• On-premises: Add Node action.

Go to the cluster page

To view the Cluster page:

1. On the MC Home page, click View Infrastructure to go to the Infrastructure page. This page lists all the clusters the MC is monitoring.

2. Click any cluster shown on the Infrastructure page.

3. Select View or Manage from the dialog that displays, to view its Cluster page. (In a cloud environment, if MC was deployed from a cloud template the button says "Manage". Otherwise, the button says "View".)

   Note

   You can click the pencil icon beside the cluster name to rename the cluster. Enter a name that is unique within MC.

Monitor imported clusters

Whether you have imported or created a cluster using MC, you can view information about it through the Cluster page.

This page includes the following information:

• Node visualization: A visualization of all nodes within the cluster. Icons at the top right of each node indicate if the nodes are up. Click any node to see details about its host name, CPU information and total memory. If there are many nodes in the cluster, use the Zoom Level slider at the bottom right of the page to zoom the visualization in or out.

• Instance List: A list of all the instance IPs within the cluster. Click any instance in the list to see details about it.

• Cluster Summary: A summary of details about the cluster, including the version of Vertica running on the cluster and the number of hosts. If the cluster is running on cloud-platform resources such as AWS, you can also see region and instance type information.

• Databases: Lists all databases monitored by MC and their current state.

  • At the bottom of the Databases section, click Create New to create a new empty database.

  • This section also lists any Vertica databases on this cluster, if existing, that are not yet monitored by Management Console. See Importing an existing database into MC for the process of importing a discovered database.

The following image shows an overview of a 7-node cluster, which was created in MC using a Cloud Formation Template. This cluster has a running Eon Mode database on it.

Manage a cluster created on AWS with the cluster creation wizard

If you installed Vertica from the AWS Marketplace using AWS resources, MC offers cluster management operations that are specific to the cloud. Using MC, you can manage a cluster running on AWS without going to the AWS console.

In the screen capture below, the Cluster page shows a 7-node cluster, which was provisioned using the Cluster Creation wizard. Use the wizard to create an Eon Mode or Enterprise Mode.

Cluster management actions (Eon Mode and Enterprise Mode)

You can perform the following operations on your cluster through the Cluster page. These options are available at the top of the Cluster page or in the Advanced menu at the top of the page:

You can perform the following operations on your cluster through the cluster page:

• Start Cluster: Start all the instances in the cluster. Available at the top of the Cluster page.

• Stop Cluster: Stop all the instances in the cluster. You must first stop any running database on the cluster. Available at the top of the cluster page.

• Reboot Cluster: Restart all instances in the cluster. Available under the Advanced menu at the top of the page. Note: Reboot Cluster is currently available only on AWS.

• Terminate Cluster: Terminate all instances in the cluster, the databases on it, and all AWS resources from the cluster. The Terminate Cluster operation is available under the Advanced menu at the top of the page.

  • For Enterprise Mode databases, this operation permanently deletes any data you had on the cluster or its databases.

  • For Eon Mode databases, the data is preserved in communal storage and you can later revive the database in a new cluster. When you choose to terminate the cluster, MC gives you the option to also stop the database before termination, which is recommended in order to safely revive later.

View cluster instance details

You can view the details for any instance in your cluster. Select the IP address of an instance in the Instance List. MC displays a popup beside that instance showing information about its private and public IP addresses, host name, total memory, and other details.

Manage individual instances/nodes in Eon Mode

If your database is Eon Mode, you use actions available on the Database > Manage > Subclusters tab in MC to manage individual nodes.

To change the state of individual nodes in your Eon Mode database, you can:

• Start, stop, or terminate a node in a subcluster.

See Node action rules in MC.

To change the number of nodes in your Eon Mode database, you can:

• Add or subtract individual nodes from a subcluster by scaling the subcluster up or down.

• Add or terminate an entire subcluster.

See Subcluster action rules in MC.

Manage individual instances in Enterprise Mode

If your database is Enterprise Mode, the Cluster page Instance List includes action icons you use to manage individual instances in your cluster.

In the Instance List panel of the Cluster page, select the IP address of any instance in your cluster that you want to perform the action on. Then click an icon from the icon menu at the top of the panel. Hover over an icon to read the action it performs.

• Start Instance: Start an individual instance in the cluster.

• Stop Instance: Stop an individual instance in the cluster.

• Add Instance: Add another instance to your cluster. When you select this action, Management Console opens the Add AWS Instance wizard, where you specify volume and storage information for the instance. You must supply your AWS key pair (and a Vertica Premium Edition license if you are adding more nodes to the cluster than a Community Edition license allows). You can add up to 10 instances at a time using the Add Instance action.

• Restart Instance: Restart an individual instance in the cluster.

• Terminate Instance: Permanently remove the instance from your cluster.

3 - Importing an existing database into MC

If you have already created a Vertica database, you can import it into MC to monitor its health and activity.

When you install MC on the same cluster as the existing database you intend to monitor, MC automatically discovers the cluster and any databases installed on it, whether those databases are currently running or are down.

Import a database existing on a monitored cluster

The following procedure describes how to import an existing database that is on a cluster MC is already monitoring.

1. Connect to Management Console and sign in as an MC administrator.

2. On the MC Home page, click View Your Infrastructure.

3. On the Databases and Clusters page, click the cluster and click View in the dialog box that opens.

4. On the left side of the page under the Databases heading, click Import Discovered.

   Tip

   A running database appears as Monitored; any non-running databases appear as Discovered. MC supports only one running database on a single cluster at a time. You must shut down a running database on a cluster in order to monitor another database on that cluster.

5. In the Import Database dialog box:

   • Select the database you want to import.

   • Optionally clear auto-discovered databases you don't want to import.

   • Supply the database administrator username and password and click Import. (Supplying a non-administrator username prevents MC from displaying some charts after import.)

   • If the Vertica database is configured for TLS security, you need to configure TLS for all Management Console connections to this database over JDBC. Click Use TLS. Management Console launches the Certificates wizard. See MC certificates wizard.

After Management Console connects to the database it opens the Manage page, which provides a view of the cluster nodes. See Monitoring Cluster Status for more information.

You perform the import process once per existing database. Next time you connect to Management Console, your database appears under the Recent Databases section on the Home page, as well as on the Databases and Clusters page.

Import a database existing on a new cluster

If the database you intend to monitor is on a cluster MC is not currently monitoring, MC cannot automatically discover it. You can import it with the following procedure.

1. Connect to Management Console and sign in as an MC administrator.

2. On the MC Home page, click Import a Vertica Database Cluster.

3. Enter the IP address of one of the database's cluster nodes.

4. Enter the master API key for the cluster. Find the key here: /opt/vertica/config/apikeys.dat

5. In the Import Database dialog box:

   • Select the database you want to import.

   • Optionally clear auto-discovered databases you don't want to import.

   • Supply the database administrator username and password and click Import. (Supplying a non-administrator username prevents MC from displaying some charts after import.)

   • To configure TLS security for all Management Console connections to this database over JDBC, click Use TLS. Management Console launches the Certificates wizard. For instructions on completing the wizard, see Configuring TLS while importing a database on MC.