Convert an existing Explore cluster that has manager-only nodes

If your Explore cluster was configured with a single manager-only node or you converted full-sized nodes to serve as dedicated managers, complete the procedures in this guide to convert your existing nodes to data-only and add three dedicated manager-only nodes.

Depending on your cluster configuration, you might need to convert former manager nodes (such as a physical node or larger virtual node configured as manager-only node) to data-only nodes or you might need to remove a former manager-only node from the cluster.

  • If the cluster has a manager-only node with insufficient resources, you should remove that node from the cluster.
  • If the cluster has a single manager-only node that meets the resource specifications, you only need to deploy two other manager-only nodes.
  • If the cluster has a manager-only node with the full resources required for a data-only node, you can repurpose the higher-resourced node as a data-only node and deploy three new manager-only nodes.

Before you begin

Disable record ingest

  1. Log in to the Administration settings on any data-only node.
  2. In the Explore Cluster Settings section, click Cluster Data Management.
  3. Click Disable Record Ingest.

Update the Running Config for all existing nodes

  1. Log in to the Administration settings through https://<extrahop-hostname-or-IP-address>/admin on an existing node in the cluster.
  2. In the Appliance Settings section, click Running Config.
  3. Click Edit Config.
  4. In the section for cluster, delete any entries for "min_master_nodes" or "master": false.
  5. Click Update.
  6. Click Done.
  7. Click Save config and then click Save.
  8. In the Appliance Settings section, click Shutdown or Restart.
  9. Next to the Search service, click Restart.
  10. Repeat these steps on each existing node in the cluster.

Next steps

Join each manager-only node to the existing cluster and then continue to configure the new manager-only nodes.

Configure three manager-only nodes

  1. Log in to the Administration settings on a node intended for cluster task management.
  2. In the Appliance Settings section, click Running Config.
  3. Click Edit config.
  4. Add an entry to the running configuration file by completing the following steps:
    1. Add a comma after the second to last curly brace (}).
    2. Press ENTER to create a new line.
    3. Paste the following code on the new line before the final curly brace:
      "cluster": {
              "data": false,
              "min_master_nodes": 2
          }
      
  5. Click Update.
  6. Click Done.
  7. Click Save config and then click Save.
  8. In the Appliance Settings section, click Shutdown or Restart.
  9. Next to the Search service, click Restart.
  10. Repeat these steps on each manager-only node.

Configure the data-only nodes

  1. Log in to the Administration settings on a node intended for data storage.
  2. In the Appliance Settings section, click Running Config.
  3. Click Edit config.
  4. Add an entry to the running configuration file by completing the following steps:
    1. Add a comma after the second to last curly brace (}).
    2. Press ENTER to create a new line.
    3. Paste the following code on the new line before the final curly brace:
      "cluster": {
              "master": false,
              "min_master_nodes": 2
          }
  5. Click Update.
  6. Click Done.
  7. Click Save config and click Save.
  8. In the Appliance Settings section, click Shutdown or Restart.
  9. Next to the Search service, click Restart.
  10. Repeat these steps on each data-only node.

Next steps

After all of the nodes are configured with their designated role, connect each data-only node to ExtraHop packet sensors and ExtraHop consoles. Manager nodes should not be connected to sensors or consoles.
Tip:Learn how to add or remove nodes from a cluster that has manager-only nodes.

Enable record ingest

  1. Log in to the Administration settings on any data-only node.
  2. In the Explore Cluster Settings section, click Cluster Data Management.
  3. Click Enable Record Ingest.

Verify Running Config settings for all nodes

It is critical that only three nodes in the cluster section have entries for "data": false.

  1. Log in to the Administration settings through https://<extrahop-hostname-or-IP-address>/admin on an existing node in the cluster.
  2. In the Appliance Settings section, click Running Config.
  3. Click Edit Config.
  4. Review the entry in the section for cluster and verify that the node has the correct entry for the node role (such as "data": false for manager-only nodes and "master":false for data-only nodes). Repeat these steps for each node in the cluster. If more than three nodes in the cluster have an entry for "data": false, review your node specifications and update the entries.
If more than three nodes in the cluster have an entry for "data": false, review your node specifications and update the entries.
Last modified 2023-11-07