WEKA legacy system installation process

This page describes the stages in the installation process for the WEKA legacy system (single container architecture) using the CLI.

Workflow

1. Install the WEKA software on each server

2. Create a cluster from the containers

3. Set a name for the cluster (optional)

4. Enable event notifications to the cloud (optional)

5. Set containers dedicated to the cluster (optional)

6. Configure the networking

7. Configure the SSDs

8. Configure the CPU resources

9. Configure the memory (optional)

10. Configure failure domains (optional)

11. Configure WEKA system protection scheme (optional)

12. Configure hot spare (optional)

13. Apply containers configuration

14. Verify the containers configuration

15. Set a license

16. Run the Start IO command

17. Bypass the proxy server

1. Install the WEKA software on each server

Run the untar command and install.sh command, according to the instructions, on each server.

On completion of this stage in the installation process, the WEKA software is installed on all the allocated servers and running in the stem mode. That is, no cluster is attached and the WEKA system is awaiting instructions.

Note: If a failure occurs during this installation stage, an error message detailing the source of the failure is received. If possible, try to recover this error or alternatively, contact the Customer Success Team.

Stage 2: Formation of a cluster from the containers

2. Create a cluster from the containers

Command: weka cluster create

This stage involves the formation of a cluster from containers. It is performed using the following command line:

weka cluster create <hostnames> [--host-ips <ips | ip+ip+ip+ip>]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
hostnames	Space-separated strings	Hostnames or IP addresses	Need at least 6 strings, as this is the minimal cluster size	Yes
host-ips	Comma-separated IP addresses	IP addresses of the management interfaces. Use a list of ip+ip addresses pairs of two cards for HA configuration. In case the cluster is connected to both IB and Ethernet, it is possible to set up to 4 management IPs for redundancy of both the IB and Ethernet networks using a list of ip+ip+ip+ip addresses.	The same number of values as in hostnames.	No	IP of the first network device of the container

Note: It is possible to use either a hostname or an IP address; this string serves as the identifier of the container in subsequent commands.

Note: If a hostname is used, make sure that the hostname to IP resolution mechanism is reliable since a failure of this mechanism will cause a loss of service in the cluster. It is recommended to add the hostnames to /etc/hosts.

Note: Once the command is completed successfully, the cluster is in the initialization phase, and some commands can only run in this phase.

Note: For configuring HA, at least two cards must be defined for each container.

On successful completion of the formation of the cluster, every container receives an ID. To display a list of the containers and their IDs, run the command line weka cluster container.

Note: In IB installations the --hosts-ips parameter must specify the IP addresses of the IPoIB interfaces.

3. Set a name for the cluster (optional)

Command: weka cluster update

This command is used to give the cluster a name. Although this is optional, it is highly recommended, because the name enables cloud event notification and increases the ability of the Weka Support Team to resolve any issues that may occur. To perform this operation, use the following command line:

weka cluster update --cluster-name=<cluster-name>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
cluster-name	String	Identifier of the cluster name	Must be a valid identifier	No

4. Enable event notifications to the cloud (optional)

Enable support through Weka Home

Command: weka cloud enable

This command enables cloud event notification (via Weka Home), which increases the ability of the Weka Support Team to resolve any issues that may occur.

To learn more about this and how to enable cloud event notification, refer to Weka Support Cloud.

Enable support through a private instance of Weka Home

In closed environments, such as dark sites and private VPCs, it is possible to install a private instance of Weka Home.

Command: weka cloud enable --cloud-url=http://<weka-home-ip>:<weka-home-port>

This command enables the use of a private instance of Weka Home.

For more information, refer to Private Instance of Weka Home and contact the Customer Success Team.

Stage 5: Set containers dedicated to the cluster (optional)

5. Set containers dedicated to the cluster (optional)

Command: weka cluster container dedicate

It is possible to set the container as dedicated to the Weka cluster. By setting the container to dedicated, no other application is expected to run on it, and the Weka system optimizes it for performance and stability. For example, the container can be rebooted by the system at need, and all the container's memory is allocatable by the Weka processes.

6. Configure the networking

Command: weka cluster container net add

When PKEYs are used, the device name for InfiniBand should follow the name.PKEY convention.

Note: Although devices can generally be renamed arbitrarily, Weka only functions correctly if the .PKEY naming convention is followed.

The networking type can be either Ethernet (direct over DPDK) or InfiniBand (IB), and can be mixed in the same container (by running multiple cluster container net add commands for the same container). A physical network device must be specified for both types. This can be a device dedicated to the Weka system or a device also being used for other purposes in parallel. For IP over DPDK, the standard routing parameters can be specified for routed networks.

To perform this operation, the cluster container net addcommand must be run for each container. The commands can run from one container configuring another container, so they can all run on a single container. The IP addresses specified using this command are the data plane IPs allocated in the planning stage. To perform this operation, use the following command line:

weka cluster container net add <container-id> <device> [--ips-type=<POOL|USER>] [--ips=<ips>]... [--gateway=<gateway>] [--netmask=<netmask>] [--label=<label>]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-id	String	Identifier of the container to which a network interface will be added	Must be a valid container identifier	Yes
device	String	A device, or bond-device e.g., eth1 or bond0	Must be a valid Unix network device name	Yes
ips-type	String	POOL or USER	Must be one of the two options	No	POOL
ips	Comma-separated IP address	The data plane IP addresses for internal Weka system traffic. In IB, use the IPoIB address	Must be part of the data plane IP pool defined in the planning phase. See Weka Networking and Networking Prerequisites.	No	From Pool
netmask	Number	Number of bits in the netmask	Describes the number of bits that identify a network ID (also known as CIDR). Not relevant for IB / L2 non-routable networks, and must be supplied for the ethernet NICs if the cluster is set to use both ethernet and IB interfaces.	No
gateway	IP address	The IP address of the default routing gateway	The gateway must reside within the same IP network of ips (as described by netmask). Not relevant for IB / L2 non-routable networks.	No
label	String	A label to describe the network device connectivity.	The Weka system will prefer to use paths with the same labels to send data. This is useful when the system is configured with HA networking, to hint the system to send between containers through the same switch rather than using the ISL.	No

The number of IP addresses should be according to Weka Networking and Networking Prerequisites.

Note: Additional IP addresses may be assigned for each container if IP per core is needed. In this case, unused IP addresses are reserved for future expansions and can be automatically assigned if the number of cores assigned to the Weka system on that container is increased.

Note: For HA configurations, this command has to be run separately for each interface.

Optional: Configure default data networking

Command: weka cluster default-net set

Instead of explicit IP address configuration per each network device, dynamic IP address allocation is supported. Weka supports adding a range of IP addresses to a dynamic pool, from which the IP addresses can be automatically allocated on demand.

For Ethernet networking only, a mixed approach is supported: for certain network devices the IP addresses are assigned explicitly by the administrator, while the other devices in the cluster get an automatic allocation from the IP range. Such an approach could be useful in an environment where clients are being spawned automatically.

weka cluster default-net set --range <range> [--gateway=<gateway>] [--netmask-bits=<netmask-bits>]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
range	IP address range	A range of IP addresses that can be used for dynamic allocation across the whole cluster	Format: A.B.C.D-E E.g., 10.10.0.1-100	Yes
netmask-bits	Number	Number of bits in the netmask	Describes the number of bits that identify a network ID (also known as CIDR).	Yes
gateway	IP address	The IP address of the default routing gateway	The gateway must reside within the same IP network of IPs in range (as described by netmask-bits). Not relevant for IB / L2 non-routable networks.	No

To view the current default data networking settings use the command weka cluster default-net.

If a default data networking was previously configured on a cluster and is no longer needed, it is possible to remove it using the command weka cluster default-net reset.

7. Configure the SSDs

Command: weka cluster drive add

This stage in the installation process is used to add a local SSD to be used by a Weka filesystem. The same command can be used for adding multiple drive paths. To perform this operation, use the following command line:

weka cluster drive add <container-id> <device-paths>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-id	String	Identifier of the container to which a local SSD will be added	Must be a valid container identifier	Yes
device-paths	Space-separated list of strings	List of block devices that identify local SSDs, e.g., /dev/nvme0n1 /dev/nvme1n1	Must be a valid Unix network device name	Yes

Note: If, due to some technical limitation, the use of an NVMe device through the kernel is required, contact the Customer Success Team.

8. Configure the CPU resources

Command: weka cluster container cores

This stage in the installation process is used to configure the number of CPU resources, which are physical rather than logical cores. To perform this operation, use the following command line:

weka cluster container cores <container-id> <cores> [--frontend-dedicated-cores <frontend-dedicated-cores>] [--drives-dedicated-cores <drives-dedicated-cores>] [--cores-ids <cores-ids>] [--compute-dedicated-cores <compute-dedicated-cores>] [--only-drives-cores] [--only-compute-cores] [--only-frontend-cores]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-id	String	Identifier of the container in which a core count is configured	Must be a valid container identifier	Yes
cores	Number	Number of physical cores allocated to the Weka system	Must be less than the number of physical cores in the container (leaving 1 core for the OS). Maximum 19 cores	Yes
frontend-dedicated-cores	Number	Number of physical cores dedicated to FrontEnd processes	The total of frontend, drives, and compute cores cannot exceed the cores value	No	zero
drives-dedicated-cores	Number	Number of physical cores dedicated to Drive/SSD processes	The total of frontend, drives, and compute cores cannot exceed the cores value	No	Typically 1 core per drive or 1/2 core per drive/SSD
compute-dedicated-cores	Number	Number of physical cores dedicated to compute processes	The total of frontend, drives, and compute cores cannot exceed the cores value	No
cores-ids	A comma-separated list of numbers	Physical Core numbers	Specification of which cores to use.	No	Select cores automatically
only-drives-cores	Boolean	Determines whether all cores in the container are dedicated only to drive processes		No
only-compute-cores	Boolean	Determines whether all cores in the container are dedicated only to compute processes		No
only-frontend-cores	Boolean	Determines whether all cores in the container are dedicated only to FrontEnd processes		No

Note: cores-ids are distributed in the following order: first, all the FrontEnd processes. Second, all the Compute processes. And last, all the Drive processes. By ordering the cores-ids list, it is possible to determine the exact assignment of cores to processes (e.g., for taking into account NUMA distribution).

Example: If we have 1 FrontEnd, 2 Compute, and 3 Drive, setting cores-ids to 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6 will put the FrontEnd on core 1, Compute on cores 2 and 4, and Drive on cores 3, 5 and 6. Assuming cores 1, 2, 3 are at NUMA 0 and cores 4, 5, 6 are at NUMA 1, we will have the following distribution of processes:

• NUMA 0: FrontEnd, Compute, Drive

• NUMA 1: Compute, Drive, Drive

Note: Performance can be optimized by assigning different functions to the various Weka cores. If necessary, contact the Customer Success Team. for more information.

Note: Weka supports more than 19 cores per server. This option enables taking advantage of all server core resources. To set the system with more than 19 cores, contact the Customer Success Team.

9. Configure the memory (optional)

Command: weka cluster container memory

As defined in the memory requirements, the fixed memory per container and the per compute/SSD cores memory are automatically calculated by the Weka system. By default, 1.4 GB is allocated per compute core, of which 0.4 GB is left for capacity-oriented memory. If the container is set as dedicated, all the memory left after reductions, as described in Memory Resource Planning, is automatically allocated for the Weka system.

If capacity requirements mandate more memory, the following command should be used:

weka cluster container memory <container-id> <capacity-memory>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-id	String	Identifier of the container in which the memory configuration has to be defined.	Must be a valid container identifier	Yes
capacity-memory	Number	The dedicated memory to Weka in bytes. It is possible to set the format in other units. For example, 1MB, 1GB, 1MiB, 1GiB.	Setting it to 0 determines this value automatically	Yes

Note: This command is given the memory per container and will later be distributed by the system per compute core. Out of this value, 1 GB per compute core is reserved for other purposes (as cache) and not used for capacity.

10. Configure failure domains (optional)

Command: weka cluster container failure-domain

Use this command to assign a container to a failure domain.

Follow these guidelines:

• Containers not assigned to any failure domain are considered by the system as additional failure domains.

• As a best practice, assign each container to a single failure domain or do not assign any container.

• If you specify in the command a failure domain that does not exist, the system creates it.

• If you specify a container already assigned to another failure domain, the system reassigns it.

• If you do not specify a failure domain for the container, the system assigns the failure domain according to the server.

Run the following command line:

weka cluster container failure-domain <container-id> [--name <name>] | [--auto]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-id	String	The identifier of the container to assign to the failure domain.	Must be a valid container identifier	Yes
name	String	The failure domain name for the container to assign.	Maximum 16 characters	Yes (either --name OR --auto must be specified)
auto	Boolean	Automatically assign a failure domain ID.		Yes (either --name OR --auto must be specified)

11. Configure WEKA system protection scheme (optional)

Command: weka cluster update

To configure the WEKA system protection scheme, use the following command line:

weka cluster update [--data-drives=<data-drives>] [--parity-drives=<parity-drives>]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
data-drives	Number	Protection stripe width	Between 3-16. The stripe width + the protection level cannot exceed the number of failure domains.	No	#failure domains - protection level; no more than 16
parity-drives	Number	Protection level	Either 2 or 4. The stripe width + the protection level cannot exceed the number of failure domains.	No	2

Note: This command can only be used in the initialization phase.

12. Configure hot spare (optional)

Command: weka cluster hot-spare

To configure the WEKA system hot spare, use the following command line:

weka cluster hot-spare <count>

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
count	Number	Hot spare		No	1

Stage 13: Apply containers configuration

13. Apply containers configuration

Command: weka cluster container apply

This command is used to apply the WEKA system cluster containers' configuration. In the install phase, all containers must be added so the --all parameter can be used.

To activate the cluster containers, use the following command line:

weka cluster container apply [--all] [<container-ids>...] [--force]

Parameters

Name	Type	Value	Limitations	Mandatory	Default
container-ids	Comma-separated strings	Comma-separated container identifiers		Either container-ids or all must be specified
all	Boolean	Apply all containers		Either container-ids or all must be specified
force	Boolean	Do not prompt for confirmation		No	Off

14. Verify the containers configuration

Command: weka alerts

Run the command and verify that the ResourcesNotAppliedalert alert does not show.

Related topics

Alerts

15. Set a license

Command: weka cluster license set / payg

To run IOs against the cluster, a valid license must be set. Obtain a valid license, classic or PAYG, and set it to the WEKA cluster. For details, see License overview.

16. Run the Start IO command

Command: weka cluster start-io

To start the system IO and exit from the initialization phase, use the following command line:

weka cluster start-io

Once the start-io process is completed successfully, the system exits the initialization state and accepts IOs from the user applications.

17. Bypass the proxy server

See #14.-bypass-the-proxy-server