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3.3. Creating A Cluster

Creating a cluster with luci consists of naming a cluster, adding cluster nodes to the cluster, entering their passwords, and submitting the request to create a cluster. If the node information and passwords are correct, Conga automatically installs software into the cluster nodes and starts the cluster. Create a cluster as follows:
  1. Click Manage Clusters from the menu on the left side of the luci Homebase page. The Clusters screen appears, as shown in Figure 3.2, “luci cluster management page”.
    luci cluster management page
    The luci cluster management page.
    Figure 3.2. luci cluster management page

  2. Click Create. The Create a Cluster screen appears, as shown in Figure 3.3, “luci cluster creation screen”.
    luci cluster creation screen
    The luci cluster creation page.
    Figure 3.3. luci cluster creation screen

  3. Enter the following parameters on the Create a Cluster screen, as necessary:
    • At the Cluster Name text box, enter a cluster name. The cluster name cannot exceed 15 characters.
    • If each node in the cluster has the same root password, you can check Use same password for all nodes to autofill the password field as you add nodes.
    • Enter the node name for a node in the cluster in the Node Hostname column and enter the root password for the node in the Root Password column. If you are using a different port for the ricci agent than the default of 11111, you can change that parameter.
    • Click on Add Another Node and enter the node name and root password for each additional node in the cluster.
    • If you do not want to upgrade the cluster software packages that are already installed on the nodes when you create the cluster, leave the Use locally installed packages option selected. If you want to upgrade all cluster software packages, select the Download Packages option.

      Note

      Whether you select the Use locally installed packages or the Download Packages option, if any of the base cluster components are missing (cman, rgmanager, modcluster and all their dependencies), they will be installed. If they cannot be installed, the node creation will fail.
    • Select Enable shared storage support if clustered storage is required; This downloads the packages that support clustered storage and enables clustered LVM. You should select this only when you have access to the Resilient Storage Add-On or the Scalable File System Add-On.
  4. Click Submit. Clicking Submit causes the following actions:
    1. The cluster software packages are downloaded onto the added node.
    2. Cluster software is installed onto the added node (or it is verified that the appropriate software packages are installed).
    3. The cluster configuration file is updated and propagated to each node in the cluster — including the added node.
    4. The added node joins the cluster.
    A message is displayed indicating that the cluster is being created. Refresh the page to see the current status of the cluster creation. When the cluster is ready, the display shows the status of the newly created cluster.
    Click on the cluster name to display the nodes that make up the cluster, as shown in Figure 3.4, “Cluster node display”.
    Cluster node display
    The luci cluster node display
    Figure 3.4. Cluster node display

  5. After clicking Submit to create the cluster, you can still add or delete nodes from the cluster by clicking the Add or Delete function from the menu at the top of the cluster node display page. For information on deleting a node from an existing cluster that is currently in operation, see Section 4.2.4, “Deleting a Member from a Cluster”.