# Initialize cluster
With the cio software installed on all nodes, the next step is to configure a cluster and then initialize the cluster for use. As part of cluster creation, cio will automatically discover and add drive resources from each node into a storage pool. Drives that are partitioned or have a file system will not be added.
Start configuring a cio storage cluster with the cioctl create command. This generates two command strings.
The cioctl join command string is used to configure additional nodes into the cluster. After configuration, the cioctl init command finishes initialization so the cluster is ready for running applications.
Example:
[root@c1 ~]# cioctl create
Cluster started. The current node is now the primary controller node. To add a storage node to this cluster, run the following command:
cioctl join 192.168.3.95 root f26e695d
After adding all storage nodes, return to this node and run following command to initialize the cluster:
cioctl init f26e695d
Note: For Kubernetes, run cioctl create --kubernetes
The first node, from which the cioctl create command is run, becomes the sds controller node (c1 in example above). This node is identified as the sds node when the cio node ls command is run.
Single node cluster
To configure a single node cluster, just run cioctl create --single-node to create the cluster and automatically complete initialization.
root@ubuntu-16:~# cioctl create --single-node
Key Generation setup
Configuring Docker Swarm cluster with Portainer and Agent services
<13>Aug 24 15:15:36 cluster: initialization started
<13>Aug 24 15:15:37 cluster: Start node initialization
<13>Aug 24 15:15:38 node: Clear drives
<13>Aug 24 15:15:39 node: Load module
<13>Aug 24 15:15:39 node: Add node backup relationship
<13>Aug 24 15:15:43 node: Check drives
Adding disk /dev/sdb SSD to storage pool
Adding disk /dev/sdc SSD to storage pool
Adding disk /dev/sdd SSD to storage pool
<13>Aug 24 15:15:54 node: Collect drive IOPS and BW: Total IOPS:32553 Total BW:2175.7MB/s
<13>Aug 24 15:15:54 node: Initializing metadata
<13>Aug 24 15:15:54 cluster: Node initialization completed
<13>Aug 24 15:15:55 cluster: Start cio daemon
<13>Aug 24 15:15:59 cluster: Succeed: Add vd0: Type:2-copy, Size:20GB
<13>Aug 24 15:16:00 cluster: MongoDB ready
<13>Aug 24 15:16:01 cluster: Synchronizing VID files
<13>Aug 24 15:16:05 cluster: Starting API
<13>Aug 24 15:16:12 cluster: Starting Portainer and Agent
Multi node cluster
The output of the create sub-command includes a cioctl join command to add new nodes to the cluster. Add nodes by running the cioctl join command on each new node.
Example four node cluster with new nodes c2, c3, c4:
[root@c2 ~]# cioctl join 192.168.3.95 root f26e695d
Adding this node to cluster as a storage node
[root@c3 ~]# cioctl join 192.168.3.95 root f26e695d
Adding this node to cluster as a storage node
[root@c4 ~]# cioctl join 192.168.3.95 root f26e695d
Adding this node to cluster as a storage node
Return to the sds controller node and run the cioctl init command to complete initialization of the cluster.
[root@c1 ~]# cioctl init f26e695d
cluster: initialization started
...
cluster: Node initialization completed
cluster: Start cio daemon
cluster: Succeed: Add vd0: Type:3-copy, Size:20GB
cluster: MongoDB ready
cluster: Synchronizing VID files
cluster: Starting API
Initializing bare metal servers with SSDs
The initialization process will take a few minutes to complete for virtual servers. The cio software currently does not characterize performance on virtual servers. A 'virtual' IOPS budget is used instead.
When the cio software is installed on physical servers with high performance devices such as SSDs, the first initialization of the cluster will take about 30 minutes. This extra time is used to characterize the available performance. This performance information is used in the quality-of-service (QoS) feature to deliver guaranteed performance for individual applications.
Login dashboard
If Kubernetes is not detected, the cio software will automatically configure a Docker Swarm cluster. The following example shows a Swarm cluster with three manager nodes and one worker node.
[root@c1 ~]# docker node ls
ID HOSTNAME STATUS AVAILABILITY MANAGER STATUS
gpx9996b1usy7a0h6cd686g62 * c1 Ready Active Leader
p917q3v1w3gapqx2zn87652f3 c2 Ready Active Reachable
velj1g30557mhayy1hkoqqc75 c3 Ready Active Reachable
jw4robjsehwzw7en48rw2mjie c4 Ready Active
At the end of initialization, a Portainer service is launched to provide an GUI for cluster management.
[root@c1 ~]# docker service ps portainer
ID NAME IMAGE NODE DESIRED STATE CURRENT STATE ERROR PORTS
9jpoaen6ddke portainer.1 portainer/portainer:latest c1 Running Running 8 minutes ago
Login to the Portainer UI by pointing your browser at any node IP and port 9000. The node IPs can be confirmed with the cio node ls command:
[root@c1 ~]# cio node ls
NODENAME IP NODE_ID ROLE STATUS
c1 192.168.3.95 4132353b sds normal
c2 192.168.3.53 dceacd20 backup1 normal
c3 192.168.3.145 9ee22782 backup2 normal
c4 192.168.3.129 d2004822 standard normal
In this example the browser can be pointed at 192.168.3.95:9000, where 9000 is the default Portainer service port number.