Create a Scylla Cluster - Multi Data Centers (DC)¶

Prerequisites¶

• Make sure that all the ports are open.

• Obtain the IP addresses of all nodes which have been created for the cluster.

• Select a unique name as cluster_name for the cluster (identical for all the nodes in the cluster).

• Choose which snitch to use (identical for all the nodes in the cluster). For a production system, it is recommended to use a DC-aware snitch, which can support a NetworkTopologyStrategy replication-strategy for your Keyspaces.

• Decide the name of the rack, for example, RACK1, RACK2 or RC1, RC2.

• Decide the name of the data center, for example, DC1, DC2 or US-DC, ASIA-DC.

Choose the data center name carefully. It is not possible to rename a data center later

When working with production environments, you must choose one of the snitches below:

• Ec2multiregionsnitch - for AWS cloud-based, multi-data-center deployments.

• GossipingPropertyFileSnitch - for bare metal and cloud (other than AWS) deployments.

Procedure¶

These steps need to be done for each of the nodes in the new cluster.

1. Install Scylla on a node, see Getting Started for further instructions, create as many nodes that you need. Follow the Scylla install procedure up to scylla.yaml configuration phase.

In case that your node starts during the process follow these instructions

2. In the scylla.yaml file edit the parameters listed below, the file can be found under /etc/scylla/

• cluster_name - Set the selected cluster_name

• seeds - Specify the IP of the first node and only the first node. New nodes will use the IP of this seed node to connect to the cluster and learn the cluster topology and state.

• listen_address - IP address that the Scylla use to connect to other Scylla nodes in the cluster

• auto_bootstrap - By default, this parameter is set to true, it allows new nodes to migrate data to themselves automatically

• endpoint_snitch - Set the selected snitch

• rpc_address - Address for client connection (Thrift, CQLSH)

3. In the cassandra-rackdc.properties file, edit the rack and data center information. The file can be found under /etc/scylla/.

To save bandwidth, add the prefer_local=true parameter. Scylla will use the node private (local) IP address when the nodes are in the same data center.

4. After you have installed and configured Scylla and edit scylla.yaml on all nodes, using one node as a seed. Start the seed node, and once it is in UN state, repeat for all the other nodes, each after the previous is in UN state.

sudo systemctl start scylla-server

docker exec -it some-scylla supervisorctl start scylla

5. Verify that the node added to the cluster nodetool status

6. If you are running a Scylla version earlier than Scylla Open Source 4.3 or Scylla Enterprise 2021.1, you need to update the seeds parameter in each node’s scylla.yaml file to include the IP of at least one more seed node. See Older Version Of Scylla for details. You should specify at least two seed nodes per DC. Remember to use public IPs.

For Example:

In this example, we will show how to install a nine nodes cluster.

1. Installing nine Scylla nodes, three nodes in each data center (U.S, ASIA, EUROPE). The IP’s are:

U.S Data-center
Node# Private IP    Public IP
Node1 192.168.1.201 54.187.36.59 (seed)
Node2 192.168.1.202 54.187.142.201
Node3 192.168.1.203 54.187.168.20

ASIA Data-center
Node# Private IP    Public IP
Node4 192.168.1.204 54.191.72.56
Node5 192.168.1.205 54.187.25.99
Node6 192.168.1.206 54.191.2.121

EUROPE Data-center
Node# Private IP    Public IP
Node7 192.168.1.207 54.160.174.243
Node8 192.168.1.208 54.235.9.159
Node9 192.168.1.209 54.146.228.25

2. In each Scylla node, edit the scylla.yaml file. See Single Multi Data Centers Configuration Table for reference.

U.S Data-center - 192.168.1.201

cluster_name: 'multi_dc_demo'
seeds: "54.187.36.59"
endpoint_snitch: GossipingPropertyFileSnitch
rpc_address: "192.168.1.201"
listen_address: "192.168.1.201"
broadcast_address: "54.187.36.59"
broadcast_rpc_address: "54.187.36.59"
listen_on_broadcast_address: true (optional)

ASIA Data-center - 192.168.1.204

cluster_name: 'multi_dc_demo'
seeds: "54.187.36.59"
endpoint_snitch: GossipingPropertyFileSnitch
rpc_address: "192.168.1.204"
listen_address: "192.168.1.204"
broadcast_address: "54.191.72.56"
broadcast_rpc_address: "54.191.72.56"
listen_on_broadcast_address: true (optional)

EUROPE Data-center - 192.168.1.207

cluster_name: 'multi_dc_demo'
seeds: "54.187.36.59"
endpoint_snitch: GossipingPropertyFileSnitch
rpc_address: "192.168.1.207"
listen_address: "192.168.1.207"
broadcast_address: "54.160.174.243"
broadcast_rpc_address: "54.160.174.243"
listen_on_broadcast_address: true (optional)

3. In each Scylla node, edit the cassandra-rackdc.properties file with the relevant rack and data center information

Nodes 1-3

dc=US-DC
rack=RACK1

Nodes 4-6

dc=ASIA-DC
rack=RACK1

Nodes 7-9

dc=EUROPE-DC
rack=RACK1

4. Starting Scylla nodes, starting with the seed node, wait until it is in UN state, and repeat for the other nodes.

sudo systemctl start scylla-server

docker exec -it some-scylla supervisorctl start scylla

5. Verify that the node added to the cluster by using the nodetool status command

nodetool status

Datacenter: US-DC
=========================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--   Address         Load            Tokens  Owns            Host ID                                 Rack
UN   54.191.2.121    120.97 KB       256     ?               c84b80ea-cb60-422b-bc72-fa86ede4ac2e    RACK1
UN   54.191.72.56    109.54 KB       256     ?               129087eb-9aea-4af6-92c6-99fdadb39c33    RACK1
UN   54.187.25.99    104.94 KB       256     ?               0540c7d7-2622-4f1f-a3f0-acb39282e0fc    RACK1

Datacenter: ASIA-DC
=======================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--   Address         Load            Tokens  Owns            Host ID                                 Rack
UN   54.160.174.243  109.54 KB       256     ?               c7686ffd-7a5b-4124-858e-df2e61130aaa    RACK1
UN   54.235.9.159    109.75 KB       256     ?               39798227-9f6f-4868-8193-08570856c09a    RACK1
UN   54.146.228.25   128.33 KB       256     ?               7a4957a1-9590-4434-9746-9c8a6f796a0c    RACK1

Datacenter: EUROPE-DC
=========================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--   Address         Load            Tokens  Owns            Host ID                                 Rack
UN   54.187.36.59    114.35 KB       256     ?               4c3e1533-1b78-45bf-8bd4-818090f019ab    RACK1
UN   54.187.142.201  109.54 KB       256     ?               d99967d6-987c-4a54-829d-86d1b921470f    RACK1
UN   54.187.168.20   109.54 KB       256     ?               2329c2e0-64e1-41dc-8202-74403a40f851    RACK1

See also:

Create a Scylla Cluster - Single Data Center (DC)