Manually configure the WEKA cluster using the resources generator

Detailed workflow for manually configuring the WEKA cluster using the resource generator in a multi-container backend architecture.

Perform this workflow using the resources generator only if you are not using the automated WMS, WSA, or WEKA Configurator.

The resources generator generates three resource files on each server in the /tmp directory: drives0.json, compute0.json, and frontend0.json. Then, you create the containers using these generated files of the cluster servers.

Before you begin

1. Download the resources generator from the GitHub repository to your local server: https://github.com/weka/tools/blob/master/install/resources_generator.py.

Example:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/weka/tools/master/install/resources_generator.py

1. Copy the resources generator from your local server to all servers in the cluster.

Example for a cluster with 8 servers:

for i in {0..7}; do scp resources_generator.py weka0-$i:/tmp/resources_generator.py; done

1. To enable execution, change the mode of the resources generator on all servers in the cluster.

Example for a cluster with 8 servers:

pdsh -R ssh -w "weka0-[0-7]" 'chmod +x /tmp/resources_generator.py'

Workflow

1. Remove the default container

2. Generate the resource files

3. Create drive containers

4. Create a cluster

5. Configure the SSD drives

6. Create compute containers

7. Create frontend containers

8. Configure number of data and parity drives

9. Configure number of hot spares

10. Name the cluster

1. Remove the default container

Command: weka local stop default && weka local rm -f default

Stop and remove the auto-created default container created on each server.

2. Generate the resource files

Command: resources_generator.py

To generate the resource files for the drive, compute, and frontend processes, run the following command on each backend server:

./resources_generator.py --net <net-devices> [options]

The resources generator allocates the number of cores, memory, and other resources according to the values specified in the parameters.

The best practice for resources allocation is as follows:

• 1 drive core per NVMe device (SSD).

• 2-3 compute cores per drive core.

• 1-2 frontend cores if deploying a protocol container. If there is a spare core, it is used for a frontend container.

• Minimum of 1 core for the OS.

Example 1: according to the best practice

For a server with 24 cores and 6 SSDs, allocate 6 drive cores and 12 compute cores, and optionally you can use 2 cores of the remaining cores for the frontend container. The OS uses the remaining 4 cores.

Run the following command line: ./resources_generator.py --net eth1 eth2 --drive-dedicated-cores 6 --compute-dedicated-cores 12 --frontend-dedicated-cores 2

Example 2: a server with a limited number of cores

For a server with 14 cores and 6 SSDs, allocate 6 drive cores and 6 compute cores, and optionally you can use 1 core of the remaining cores for the frontend container. The OS uses the remaining 1 core.

Run the following command line: ./resources_generator.py --net eth1 eth2 --drive-dedicated-cores 6 --compute-dedicated-cores 6 --frontend-dedicated-cores 1

Contact Professional Services for the recommended resource allocation settings for your system.

Parameters

Name	Value	Default
compute-core-ids	Specify the CPUs to allocate for the compute processes. Format: space-separated numbers
compute-dedicated-cores	Specify the number of cores to dedicate for the compute processes.	The maximum available cores
compute-memory	Specify the total memory to allocate for the compute processes. Format: value and unit without a space. Examples: 1024B, 10GiB, 5TiB.	The maximum available memory
core-ids	Specify the CPUs to allocate for the WEKA processes. Format: space-separated numbers.
drive-core-ids	Specify the CPUs to allocate for the drive processes. Format: space-separated numbers.
drive-dedicated-cores	Specify the number of cores to dedicate for the drive processes.	1 core per each detected drive
drives	Specify the drives to use. This option overrides automatic detection. Format: space-separated strings.	All unmounted NVME devices
frontend-core-ids	Specify the CPUs to allocate for the frontend processes. Format: space-separated numbers.	-
frontend-dedicated-cores	Specify the number of cores to dedicate for the frontend processes.	1
max-cores-per-container	Override the default maximum number of cores per container for IO processes (19). If provided, the new value must be lower.	19
minimal-memory	Set each container's hugepages memory to 1.4 GiB * number of IO processes on the container.
net*	Specify the network devices to use. Format: space-separated strings.
no-rdma	Don't take RDMA support into account when computing memory requirements.	False
num-cores	Override the auto-deduction of the number of cores.	All available cores
path	Specify the path to write the resource files.	'.'
spare-cores	Specify the number of cores to leave for OS and non-WEKA processes.	1
spare-memory	Specify the memory to reserve for non-WEKA requirements. Argument format: a value and unit without a space. Examples: 10GiB, 1024B, 5TiB.	The maximum between 8 GiB and 2% of the total RAM
weka-hugepages-memory	Specify the memory to allocate for compute, frontend, and drive processes. Argument format: a value and unit without a space. Examples: 10GiB, 1024B, 5TiB.	The maximum available memory

3. Create drive containers

Command: weka local setup container

For each server in the cluster, create the drive containers using the resources generator output file drives0.json.

The drives JSON file includes all the required values for creating the drive containers. Only the path to the JSON resource file is required (before cluster creation, the optional parameter join-ips is not relevant).

weka local setup container --resources-path <resources-path>/drives0.json

Parameters

Name	Value
resources-path*	A valid path to the resource file.

4. Create a cluster

Command: weka cluster add

To create a cluster of the allocated containers, use the following command:

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

Parameters

Name	Value	Default
hostnames*	Hostnames or IP addresses. If port 14000 is not the default for the drives, you can specify hostnames:port or ips:port. Minimum cluster size: 6 Format: Space-separated strings
host-ips	IP addresses of the management interfaces. Use a list of ip+ip address pairs for HA configuration. If the cluster is connected to both IB and Ethernet, you can specify up to four management IPs (ip+ip+ip+ip) for redundancy across both networks. Format: Comma-separated IP addresses.	IP of the first network device of the container

Notes:

• The command preserves existing valid IP configurations in the host's resource.json file, only modifying entries that are empty or contain the default local address 127.0.0.1. This allows preconfigured addresses in the resource file to be used without requiring manual input. To force overwriting the ips field, use the --overwrite_resource_ips flag.

• It is possible to use a hostname or an IP address. This string serves as the container's identifier in subsequent commands.

• If a hostname is used, ensure the hostname to IP resolution mechanism is reliable.

• Once the cluster creation is successfully completed, the cluster is in the initialization phase, and some commands can only run in this phase.

• To configure high availability (HA), at least two cards must be defined for each container.

• On successful completion of the formation of the cluster, every container receives a container-ID. To display the list of the containers and IDs, run weka cluster container.

• In IB installations the --containers-ips parameter must specify the IP addresses of the IPoIB interfaces.

5. Configure the SSD drives

Command: weka cluster drive add

To configure the SSD drives on each server in the cluster, or add multiple drive paths, use the following command:

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

Parameters

Name	Value
container-id*	The Identifier of the drive container to add the local SSD drives.
device-paths*	List of block devices that identify local SSDs. It must be a valid Unix network device name. Format: Space-separated strings. Example, /dev/nvme0n1 /dev/nvme1n1

6. Create compute containers

Command: weka local setup container

For each server in the cluster, create the compute containers using the resources generator output file compute0.json.

weka local setup container --join-ips <IP addresses> --resources-path <resources-path>/compute0.json

Parameters

Name	Value
resources-path*	A valid path to the resource file.
join-ips	IP:port pairs for the management processes to join the cluster. In the absence of a specified port, the command defaults to using the standard WEKA port 14000. Set the values, only if you want to customize the port. To restrict the client’s operations to only the essential APIs for mounting and unmounting operations, connect to WEKA clusters through TCP base port + 3 (for example, 14003). The IP:port value must match the value used to create the container. Format: comma-separated IP addresses. Example: --join-ips 10.10.10.1,10.10.10.2,10.10.10.3:15000

7. Create frontend containers

Command: weka local setup container

For each server in the cluster, create the frontend containers using the resources generator output file frontend0.json.

weka local setup container --join-ips <IP addresses> --resources-path <resources-path>/frontend0.json

Command example for installing a stateful client with restricted privileges

weka local setup container --client --auto-remove-timeout <auto-remove-timeout> --restricted --join-ips <IP addresses> --resources-path <resources-path>/frontend0.json

Parameters

Name	Value
resources-path*	A valid path to the resource file.
join-ips	IP:port pairs for the management processes to join the cluster. In the absence of a specified port, the command defaults to using the standard WEKA port 14000. Set the values, only if you want to customize the port. Format: comma-separated IP addresses. Example: --join-ips 10.10.10.1,10.10.10.2,10.10.10.3:15000
client	Set the container as a client.
auto-remove-timeout	Specify timeout (in seconds) for automatically removing inactive client containers. Only applicable when used with the --client flag.
restricted	Set a client container with restricted privileges as a regular user regardless of the logged-in role.

8. Configure the number of data and parity drives

Command: weka cluster update --data-drives=<count> --parity-drives=<count>

Example: weka cluster update --data-drives=4 --parity-drives=2

9. Configure the number of hot spares

Command: weka cluster hot-spare <count>

Example: weka cluster hot-spare 1

10. Name the cluster

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

What to do next?

Perform post-configuration procedures