Subclusters in MC

• 1: Charting subcluster resource usage in MC
• 2: Viewing subcluster layout in MC
• 3: Adding subclusters in MC
• 4: Rebalancing data using Management Console
• 5: Subcluster action rules in MC
• 6: Starting and stopping subclusters in MC
• 7: Scaling subclusters in MC
• 8: Terminating subclusters in MC
• 9: Node action rules in MC
• 10: Starting, stopping, and restarting nodes in MC

1 - Charting subcluster resource usage in MC

On the Database Overview page, in the CPU/Memory/Disk I/O chart and the Database General Pool Usage chart, you can use the dropdown in the title bar to focus the chart on:

• All nodes in the database

• All subclusters in the database

• An individual subcluster, by name

For example, the CPU/Memory/Disk I/O chart dropdown allows you to choose the database nodes, one named subcluster, or all subclusters.

If you choose Database - Subclusters, the line in a given color represents the trend of all subclusters averaged together for that statistic, and each dot of the same color represents an individual subcluster at a certain time, for that same statistic.

For more in-depth information on how expand detail areas of charts and drill into the details, see Viewing the overview page.

2 - Viewing subcluster layout in MC

The MC Database Manage page displays two tabs, the Subclusters tab and the Database tab.

This topic describes the monitoring functions of the Subclusters tab. To monitor your subclusters, on the Subclusters tab you can view, sort, and search for subclusters and view their layout and statistics.

For information about using the Subclusters tab to make changes — adding, rebalancing, stopping and starting, scaling up or down, or terminating subclusters — see Subclusters in MC and its subtopics.

The Subclusters tab includes the following statistics in table form for the nodes in each subcluster:

• Node name

• Private IP address

• Status (UP or DOWN)

• CPU Usage %

• Memory Usage %

• Disk Usage %

Searching for nodes

To find a particular node, enter its node name or IP address in the "node name or IP" search field at the top right of the Subclusters tab. Searching for nodes is especially helpful if your cluster is very large. To find a specific node, enter its complete node name or IP address. You can enter a partial node name or IP address to find all nodes whose name or IP address contains that string. For example, if you enter "240" in the search field, MC would find both of the following nodes:

• Node name: MyNode24018

• Node IP address: 1.160.10.240

Starting, stopping, or removing nodes

The right column provides icons for executing node actions. You can start, stop, or remove a node in the subcluster. Removing a node also removes it from the database. Only the Start, Stop, and Remove actions are available on this page. For details, see Starting, stopping, and restarting nodes in MC

Sorting nodes within a subcluster

You can sort the nodes within each subcluster by the values in any column, by clicking on the column heading.

Collapsing or expanding a subcluster, or the entire table

To collapse a subcluster section to one summary row, click the minus icon or the subcluster heading. To collapse the entire table to summary rows, click the minus icon or "Collapse All".

To expand a collapsed subcluster section, click the plus icon or the subcluster heading. To expand the entire table, click the plus icon or Expand All.

3 - Adding subclusters in MC

You can add a subcluster to an Eon Mode database on-premises or in the cloud, to provide your database with more compute power, and to separate workloads.

For more information about the rules governing subclusters, see Subclusters.

Adding a subcluster on a cloud platform

When you use MC to add an Eon Mode subcluster on a cloud platform, MC provisions the requested instances, configures them as nodes in your database cluster, and forms those nodes into a new subcluster.

You can add a second primary subcluster in order to stop the original primary. Be sure to make the replacement primary subcluster at least one node larger than the original. (If you make them the same size, they both count equally toward the quorum, and stopping either would violate the quorum, so you cannot stop either one. For more information, see Data integrity and high availability in an Eon Mode database.)

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The following steps add a subcluster on AWS:

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Add Subcluster to open the Add Subcluster window.

2. On Enter AWS Credentials and preferences, some values might populate based on your current configuration. Accept the defaults or enter the following values:

   • AWS Region: Enter the same region as your cluster.

   • AWS Subnet: The subnet for your cluster. By default, Vertica creates your cluster in the same subnet as your MC instance.
     

     Important

     Use security groups and network access control lists (ACLs) to secure your subnet. For details, see the Amazon documentation.

   • AWS Key Pair: Your Amazon key pair for SSH access to EC2 instances.

3. Select Next. On the Specify Subcluster Information screen, supply the following information:

   • Subcluster Name: Enter a name for your subcluster.

   • Subcluster type from the dropdown list. Select Primary or Secondary.

   • Number of instances in this subcluster: Select the number of nodes that you want in the subcluster. If you are using the free Community Edition license, you are limited to 3 nodes. If you enter a value greater than 3, you are prompted to enter an upgraded license to continue.

   • Vertica License: Click Browse to locate and upload your Vertica license key file.

     If you do not supply a license key file here, the MC uses the Vertica Community Edition license. This license has a three node limit, so the value in Number of instances in this subcluster cannot be larger than 3 if you do not supply a license. See Managing licenses for more information.

   • Node IP setting: Choose a node IP setting. If you choose Public IP, the address is not persistent across instance stop and start.
     

4. Select Next. On the Specify cloud instance and data storage info screen, Database Depot Path is populated to match the original cluster configuration. Choose or enter a value in the following:

   • EC2 Instance Type: For recommended instance types, see Choosing AWS Eon Mode Instance Types. For a comprehensive list of Vertica supported instance types, see Supported AWS instance types.

   • Database Depot Path: This field is populated with the existing subcluster's depot path.

   • EBS Volume Type: This field is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type. Select a new value to change the default.

   • EBS Volume Size (GB) per Volume per Available Node: This field is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type. Enter a new value to change the default.

5. Select Next. On the Specify additional storage and tag info screen, the following fields are populated:

   • Database Catalog Path: The path to a persistent storage location.

   • Database Temp Path: The path to an ephemeral storage location if the node instance type includes the ephemeral storage option.
     Under each path, there are EBS Volume Type and EBS Volume Size (GB) per Volume per Available Node fields that are populated with volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type. Select or enter a new value to change the default path.

   • Optionally, select Tag EC2 Instances to assign distinctive, searchable metadata tags to the instances in your new subcluster. Existing tags are displayed.

6. Select Next. On Review 'Add Subcluster' information, confirm the configuration details for your new subcluster.

7. Select Add Subcluster to create the subcluster.

After the subcluster is created, The Subcluster page displays. The MC automatically subscribes the nodes in your new subcluster to shards so that the nodes are ready to use.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

The following steps add a subcluster on GCP:

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Add Subcluster to open the Add Subcluster window.

2. On Specify Subcluster Information, supply the following information:

   • Subcluster Name: Enter a name for your subcluster.

   • Subcluster type from the dropdown list. Select Primary or Secondary.

   • Number of instances in this subcluster: Select the number of nodes that you want in the subcluster. If you are using the free Community Edition license, you are limited to 3 nodes. If you enter a value greater than 3, you are prompted to enter an upgraded license to continue.

   • Vertica License: Click Browse to locate and upload your Vertica license key file.

     If you do not supply a license key file here, the MC uses the Vertica Community Edition license. This license has a three node limit, so the value in Number of instances in this subcluster cannot be larger than 3 if you do not supply a license. See Managing licenses for more information.

   • Node IP setting: Choose a node IP setting. If you choose Public IP, the address is not persistent across instance stop and start.

3. Select Next. Cluster configuration might take a few minutes.

4. On Specify cloud instance and depot storage info, supply the following information:

   • Instance Type: Select the instance type. For recommended instance types, see GCP Eon Mode instance recommendations. For a comprehensive list of Vertica supported instance types, see Supported GCP machine types.

   • Database Depot Path: This value is populated to match the original cluster configuration.

   • Disk Type: Volume type for each node. This value is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type.

   • Volume Size (GB) per Volume per Available Node: Volume size for each node. This value is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type.

5. Select Next. On Specify additional storage and label info, supply the following:

   • Database Catalog Path: The path to a persistent storage location.

   • Disk Type: Volume type for the database catalog.

   • Size (GB) per Available Node: Volume size for the database catalog.

   • Database Temp Path: The path to an ephemeral storage location if the node instance type includes the ephemeral storage option.

   • Disk Type: Volume type for the database temp storage location.

   • Size (GB) per Available Node: Volume size for the database temp storage location.

   • Label Instances: Optional. Assign distinctive, searchable metadata tags to the instances in your new subcluster. Existing tags are displayed.

6. Select Next. On Review Information, confirm the configuration details for your new subcluster, and accept the terms and conditions.

7. Select Add Subcluster to create the subcluster.

After the subcluster is created, The Subcluster page displays. The MC automatically subscribes the nodes in your new subcluster to shards so that the nodes are ready to use.

Microsoft Azure

The following steps add a subcluster on Azure:

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Add Subcluster to open the Add Subcluster window.

2. On Specify Subcluster Information, supply the following information:

   • Subcluster Name: Enter a name for your subcluster.

   • Subcluster type from the dropdown list. Select Primary or Secondary.

   • Number of instances in this subcluster: Select the number of nodes that you want in the subcluster. If you are using the free Community Edition license, you are limited to 3 nodes. If you enter a value greater than 3, you are prompted to enter an upgraded license to continue.

   • Vertica License: Click Browse to locate and upload your Vertica license key file.

     If you do not supply a license key file here, the MC uses the Vertica Community Edition license. This license has a three node limit, so the value in Number of instances in this subcluster cannot be larger than 3 if you do not supply a license. See Managing licenses for more information.

   • Node IP setting: Choose a node IP setting. If you choose Public IP, the address is not persistent across instance stop and start.

3. Select Next. Cluster configuration might take a few minutes.

4. On Specify cloud instance and depot storage info, supply the following information:

   • Virtual Machine (VM) Size: Select the instance type. For a comprehensive list of Vertica supported instance types, see Recommended Azure VM types and operating systems.

   • Database Depot Path: This value is populated to match the original cluster configuration.

   • Managed Disk Volume Type: Volume type for each node. This value is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type.

   • Managed Disk Volume Size (GB) per Volume per Available Node: Volume size for each node. This value is populated with the volume configuration defaults for the associated instance type.

5. Select Next. On Specify additional storage and label info, supply the following:

   • Database Catalog Path: The path to a persistent storage location.

   • Managed Disk Volume Type: Volume type for the database catalog.

   • Managed Disk Volume Size (GB) per Available Node: Volume size for the database catalog.

   • Database Temp Path: The path to an ephemeral storage location if the node instance type includes the ephemeral storage option.

   • (E16_v4 VMs only) Managed Disk Volume Type: Volume type for the database temp storage location.

   • (E16_v4 VMs only) Managed Disk Volume Size (GB) per Available Node: Volume size for the database temp storage location.

   • Label Instances: Optional. Assign distinctive, searchable metadata tags to the instances in your new subcluster. Existing tags are displayed.

6. Select Next. On Review Information, confirm the configuration details for your new subcluster.

7. Select Add Subcluster to create the subcluster.

After the subcluster is created, The Subcluster page displays. The MC automatically subscribes the nodes in your new subcluster to shards so that the nodes are ready to use.

On-premises

For an Eon Mode database on-premises, you can use MC to create additional subclusters. MC displays all available Vertica hosts that are not part of the database. It configures the ones you select to become the nodes in the new subcluster in your database.

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Create Subcluster at top left. MC opens the Create Subcluster wizard.

2. In the first screen, respond in the following fields:

   • **Subcluster Name:**Enter a name for the new subcluster.

   • **Subcluster type dropdown (unlabeled):**Select Primary or Secondary.

   • **Select nodes that will be added to a subcluster:**Select from the list of IP addresses. MC displays all available Vertica hosts within the cluster that are not currently members of a database.

   • **Confirmation:**Click the Confirmation check box to indicate that you want to create the named subcluster, to include the Vertica hosts you selected as nodes.

3. After you click the Confirmation check box, the Proceed button becomes active. Click Proceed.

MC displays a progress screen while it creates the requested subcluster. Wait for all steps to complete.

See also

4 - Rebalancing data using Management Console

Vertica can rebalance your subcluster when you add or remove nodes. If you notice data skew where one node shows more activity than another (for example, most queries processing data on a single node), you can manually rebalance the sublcluster using MC if the database is imported into the MC interface.

On the Management Console Manage page in the Subclusters tab, click Rebalance above the subcluster to initiate the rebalance operation.

During a rebalance operation, you cannot perform any other activities on the database, such as start, stop, add, or remove nodes.

5 - Subcluster action rules in MC

The table below summarizes when each subcluster action is available for the primary subcluster or a secondary subcluster.

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

In the cloud

The explanations in this table apply to subcluster actions in the cloud. For the differences on-premises, see On-Premises further below.

On-premises

When you scale up a subcluster on-premises, the MC wizard displays a list of the available Vertica host machines that are not currently part of a database. You select the ones you want to add to the subcluster as nodes, then confirm that you want to scale up the subcluster.

When you scale down a subcluster on-premises, MC removes the nodes from the subcluster in the database, but does not terminate the Vertica host machines. The hosts are now available for scaling up other subclusters.

6 - Starting and stopping subclusters in MC

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

On the Manage > Subclusters tab, the tool bar displays the available subcluster actions above each subcluster. For example, the screen capture below shows the available actions for the default subcluster, which is also the primary subcluster: Rebalance, Stop (grayed out), Scale Up, Scale Down, and Terminate (grayed out).

Why are some actions grayed out?

Stop and Terminate are grayed out in this example because if you stopped or terminated the only primary subcluster, the database would shut down. For each subcluster, Stop displays if the subcluster is currently running, or Start displays if the subcluster is currently stopped. Both Stop and Terminate are grayed out if their execution would be unsafe for the database.

Starting a subcluster in the cloud

You can start any subcluster that is currently stopped.

1. In the Manage > Subclusters tab, locate the subcluster you want to start.

2. Just above it on the right, click Start.

3. In the Start Subcluster screen, click the check box to confirm you want to start the subcluster.

   MC displays a progress screen while the startup tasks are executing.

4. When all the tasks are checked, click Close.

   The Manage > Subclusters tab shows that your subcluster is started and its nodes are up.

Stopping a subcluster in the cloud

You can stop a primary subcluster only if there is another primary subcluster in the database with node count greater at least by 1 node, to maintain K-safety.

You can add a second primary subcluster in order to stop the original primary. Be sure to make the replacement primary subcluster at least one node larger than the original. (If you make them the same size, they both count equally toward the quorum, and stopping either would violate the quorum, so you cannot stop either one. For more information, see Data integrity and high availability in an Eon Mode database.)

You can stop a secondary subcluster anytime, to save money on cloud resources.

1. In the Manage > Subclusters tab, locate the subcluster you want to stop.

   If the Stop button is displayed but grayed out, you cannot stop this subcluster because doing so would shut down the database.

2. Just above the subcluster on the right, click Stop.

3. In the Stop Subcluster window, click the check box to confirm you want to stop the subcluster.

   MC displays a progress screen while the subcluster stopping tasks are executing.

4. When all the tasks are checked, click Close.

   The Manage > Subclusters tab shows that your subcluster is stopped and its nodes are down.

Starting or stopping a subcluster on premises

See also

7 - Scaling subclusters in MC

You can scale an Eon Mode subcluster up or down, to increase or decrease the number of nodes in the subcluster. This lets you add compute capacity when you need it, and reduce it to save money or redirect resources when you don't.

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

Scaling up in the cloud

When you scale up a subcluster, MC adds one or more cloud instances to your database cluster as hosts, and adds them to your subcluster as nodes.

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Scale Up immediately above the subcluster you want to enlarge. MC launches the Scale Up wizard.

2. Wait a moment or two while MC pre-populates the fields on the Enter AWS Credentials and preferences screen with your credentials, then click Next.

3. On the Specify Subcluster information screen, enter the number of instances you want to add to the subcluster in Number of Instances to Add. MC pre-populates the number of existing hosts in the cluster.

4. Click Browse and select your Vertica license to insert in the license field, then click Next.

5. The Specify cloud instance and data storage info screen has fields that specify the cloud instance and data storage information. MC sets all the fields to the same values as the existing instances in your subcluster. Select Next to accept the existing values.

6. The Specify additional storage and tag info screen displays any tags you specified for your instances when you created the database cluster. You can use the same tags for the instances you are adding, or use the fields on the screen to add new tags for these instances. You can keep and apply or delete the existing tags. If you delete tags, they are not used for the instances you are adding now. When you are done modifying the tags, click Next.

7. MC displays the Review 'Scale Up' information screen for your approval. If the information is correct, click Scale Up to add the instances to the subcluster.

8. Wait until all operations on the progress screen show check marks, then click Close.

Scaling down in the cloud

When you scale down a subcluster, MC removes the requested number of nodes from the subcluster, and removes their hosts from the database cluster. It then terminates the underlying cloud instances. Scaling down a subcluster is allowed only when doing so will not cause the database to shut down.

For details on when Scale Down is or is not available for a subcluster, see Subcluster action rules in MC.

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Scale Down above the subcluster to launch the Scale Down page:

   

2. In the Number of hosts to remove field, enter the number of hosts you would like to remove from the subcluster.

3. Under Confirmation, click the checkbox to affirm that you want to scale down the named subcluster, and terminate the instances the nodes were using.

4. Click Scaledown Subcluster.

   The scale down operation may take a little time. When it finishes, the progress screen displays the details about the removed nodes and their hosts and the terminated instances.

5. When all steps show check marks, click Close.

Scaling on-premises

When you scale up a subcluster on-premises, the MC wizard displays a list of the available Vertica host machines that are not currently part of a database. You select the ones you want to add to the subcluster as nodes, then confirm that you want to scale up the subcluster.

When you scale down a subcluster on-premises, MC removes the nodes from the subcluster in the database, but does not terminate the Vertica host machines. The hosts are now available for scaling up other subclusters.

8 - Terminating subclusters in MC

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

In the cloud

The Terminate action for subclusters is available for Eon Mode databases only in the cloud.

You can terminate any subcluster that will not cause the database to go down. You can terminate:

• Any secondary subcluster.

• A primary subcluster, provided that:

  • There is at least one other primary subcluster in the database.

  • The other primary subcluster is at least one node larger than the one you want to terminate.

Terminate a subcluster

1. On the Manage > Subclusters tab, click Terminate immediately above the target subcluster.

2. In the Terminate Subcluster window, click the check box to confirm you want to delete the chosen subcluster and terminate its instances.

3. Click Terminate Subcluster.

   MC displays a progress window that shows the steps it is executing to terminate the subcluster.

4. When all the steps are checked, click Close.

On-premises

The Terminate action for subclusters is not available for Eon Mode on-premises. You can stop a subcluster on-premises, provided doing so will not bring down the database. You cannot terminate a subcluster on-premises, because terminating a subcluster stops the nodes and then terminates the cloud instances those nodes reside on. MC cannot terminate on-premises Vertica host machines.

To free up some of the Vertica host machines in an on-premises subcluster, scale down the subcluster.

See also

9 - Node action rules in MC

The table below summarizes when each node action is available for nodes in the primary subcluster or in a secondary subcluster.

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.

When you start or stop a node on-premises, MC starts or stops the node in the database, but does not start or stop the Vertica host machine. The Restart Node action is not available for on-premises Eon Mode databases.

See also

10 - Starting, stopping, and restarting nodes in MC

In MC you can start, stop, and restart nodes in a subcluster in your database. This allows you to tailor the amount of compute power you are using to the current demands for the workload assigned to that subcluster.

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.

On the Manage > Subcluster page in the right column, the Node Actions column displays icons that let you start, stop, or restart a node and the underlying cloud machine. Hover over an icon to read the action it performs. If an icon is grayed out, that action is not available for that node.

• Start Node. Start an individual node in the subcluster.

• Stop Node. Stop an individual node in the subcluster.

• Restart Node (GCP only). Restart an individual node in the subcluster.

See also