Cluster Deployment

You can deploy an ArangoDB cluster in different ways:

• Using the ArangoDB Starter
• Manual Start
• Kubernetes
• ArangoGraph Insights Platform , fully managed, available on AWS and GCP

Preliminary Information For Debian/Ubuntu Systems

Use a different configuration file for the Cluster instance

The configuration file used for the standalone instance is /etc/arangodb3/arangod.conf (on Linux), and you should use a different one for the cluster instance(s). If you are using the Starter binary arangodb, that is automatically the case. Otherwise, you might have to copy the configuration somewhere else and pass it to your arangod cluster instance via --configuration.

Use a different data directory for the standalone instance

The data directory is configured in arangod.conf:

[database]
directory = /var/lib/arangodb3

You have to make sure that the Cluster instance uses a different data directory as the standalone instance. If that is not already the case, change the database.directory entry in arangod.conf as seen above to a different directory

# in arangod.conf:
[database]
directory = /var/lib/arangodb3.standalone

and create it with the correct permissions:

$ mkdir -vp /var/lib/arangodb3.standalone
$ chown -c arangodb:arangodb /var/lib/arangodb3.standalone
$ chmod -c 0700 /var/lib/arangodb3.standalone

Use a different socket for the standalone instance

The standalone instance must use a different socket, i.e. it cannot use the same port on the same network interface than the Cluster. For that, change the standalone instance’s port in /etc/arangodb3/arangod.conf

[server]
endpoint = tcp://127.0.0.1:8529

to something unused, e.g.

[server]
endpoint = tcp://127.1.2.3:45678

.

Use a different init script for the Cluster instance

This section applies to SystemV-compatible init systems (e.g. sysvinit, OpenRC, upstart). The steps are different for systemd.

The package install scripts use the default init script /etc/init.d/arangodb3 (on Linux) to stop and start ArangoDB during the installation. If you are using an init script for your Cluster instance, make sure it is named differently. In addition, the installation might overwrite your init script otherwise.

If you have previously changed the default init script, move it out of the way

$ mv -vi /etc/init.d/arangodb3 /etc/init.d/arangodb3.cluster

and add it to the autostart; how this is done depends on your distribution and init system. On older Debian and Ubuntu systems, you can use update-rc.d:

$ update-rc.d arangodb3.cluster defaults

Make sure your init script uses a different PIDFILE than the default script!