140 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
140 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
[[modules-discovery-voting]]
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=== Voting configurations
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Each {es} cluster has a _voting configuration_, which is the set of
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<<master-node,master-eligible nodes>> whose responses are counted when making
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decisions such as electing a new master or committing a new cluster state.
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Decisions are made only after a majority (more than half) of the nodes in the
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voting configuration respond.
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Usually the voting configuration is the same as the set of all the
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master-eligible nodes that are currently in the cluster. However, there are some
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situations in which they may be different.
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IMPORTANT: To ensure the cluster remains available, you **must not stop half or
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more of the nodes in the voting configuration at the same time**. As long as more
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than half of the voting nodes are available, the cluster can work normally. For
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example, if there are three or four master-eligible nodes, the cluster
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can tolerate one unavailable node. If there are two or fewer master-eligible
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nodes, they must all remain available.
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After a node joins or leaves the cluster, {es} reacts by automatically making
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corresponding changes to the voting configuration in order to ensure that the
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cluster is as resilient as possible. It is important to wait for this adjustment
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to complete before you remove more nodes from the cluster. For more information,
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see <<modules-discovery-adding-removing-nodes>>.
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The current voting configuration is stored in the cluster state so you can
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inspect its current contents as follows:
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[source,console]
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--------------------------------------------------
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GET /_cluster/state?filter_path=metadata.cluster_coordination.last_committed_config
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--------------------------------------------------
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NOTE: The current voting configuration is not necessarily the same as the set of
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all available master-eligible nodes in the cluster. Altering the voting
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configuration involves taking a vote, so it takes some time to adjust the
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configuration as nodes join or leave the cluster. Also, there are situations
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where the most resilient configuration includes unavailable nodes or does not
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include some available nodes. In these situations, the voting configuration
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differs from the set of available master-eligible nodes in the cluster.
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Larger voting configurations are usually more resilient, so Elasticsearch
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normally prefers to add master-eligible nodes to the voting configuration after
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they join the cluster. Similarly, if a node in the voting configuration
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leaves the cluster and there is another master-eligible node in the cluster that
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is not in the voting configuration then it is preferable to swap these two nodes
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over. The size of the voting configuration is thus unchanged but its
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resilience increases.
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It is not so straightforward to automatically remove nodes from the voting
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configuration after they have left the cluster. Different strategies have
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different benefits and drawbacks, so the right choice depends on how the cluster
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will be used. You can control whether the voting configuration automatically
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shrinks by using the
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<<modules-discovery-settings,`cluster.auto_shrink_voting_configuration` setting>>.
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NOTE: If `cluster.auto_shrink_voting_configuration` is set to `true` (which is
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the default and recommended value) and there are at least three master-eligible
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nodes in the cluster, Elasticsearch remains capable of processing cluster state
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updates as long as all but one of its master-eligible nodes are healthy.
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There are situations in which Elasticsearch might tolerate the loss of multiple
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nodes, but this is not guaranteed under all sequences of failures. If the
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`cluster.auto_shrink_voting_configuration` setting is `false`, you must remove
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departed nodes from the voting configuration manually. Use the
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<<voting-config-exclusions,voting exclusions API>> to achieve the desired level
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of resilience.
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No matter how it is configured, Elasticsearch will not suffer from a
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"split-brain" inconsistency. The `cluster.auto_shrink_voting_configuration`
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setting affects only its availability in the event of the failure of some of its
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nodes and the administrative tasks that must be performed as nodes join and
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leave the cluster.
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[float]
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==== Even numbers of master-eligible nodes
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There should normally be an odd number of master-eligible nodes in a cluster.
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If there is an even number, Elasticsearch leaves one of them out of the voting
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configuration to ensure that it has an odd size. This omission does not decrease
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the failure-tolerance of the cluster. In fact, improves it slightly: if the
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cluster suffers from a network partition that divides it into two equally-sized
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halves then one of the halves will contain a majority of the voting
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configuration and will be able to keep operating. If all of the votes from
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master-eligible nodes were counted, neither side would contain a strict majority
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of the nodes and so the cluster would not be able to make any progress.
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For instance if there are four master-eligible nodes in the cluster and the
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voting configuration contained all of them, any quorum-based decision would
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require votes from at least three of them. This situation means that the cluster
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can tolerate the loss of only a single master-eligible node. If this cluster
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were split into two equal halves, neither half would contain three
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master-eligible nodes and the cluster would not be able to make any progress.
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If the voting configuration contains only three of the four master-eligible
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nodes, however, the cluster is still only fully tolerant to the loss of one
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node, but quorum-based decisions require votes from two of the three voting
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nodes. In the event of an even split, one half will contain two of the three
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voting nodes so that half will remain available.
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[float]
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==== Setting the initial voting configuration
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When a brand-new cluster starts up for the first time, it must elect its first
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master node. To do this election, it needs to know the set of master-eligible
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nodes whose votes should count. This initial voting configuration is known as
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the _bootstrap configuration_ and is set in the
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<<modules-discovery-bootstrap-cluster,cluster bootstrapping process>>.
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It is important that the bootstrap configuration identifies exactly which nodes
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should vote in the first election. It is not sufficient to configure each node
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with an expectation of how many nodes there should be in the cluster. It is also
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important to note that the bootstrap configuration must come from outside the
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cluster: there is no safe way for the cluster to determine the bootstrap
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configuration correctly on its own.
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If the bootstrap configuration is not set correctly, when you start a brand-new
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cluster there is a risk that you will accidentally form two separate clusters
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instead of one. This situation can lead to data loss: you might start using both
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clusters before you notice that anything has gone wrong and it is impossible to
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merge them together later.
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NOTE: To illustrate the problem with configuring each node to expect a certain
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cluster size, imagine starting up a three-node cluster in which each node knows
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that it is going to be part of a three-node cluster. A majority of three nodes
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is two, so normally the first two nodes to discover each other form a cluster
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and the third node joins them a short time later. However, imagine that four
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nodes were erroneously started instead of three. In this case, there are enough
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nodes to form two separate clusters. Of course if each node is started manually
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then it's unlikely that too many nodes are started. If you're using an automated
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orchestrator, however, it's certainly possible to get into this situation--
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particularly if the orchestrator is not resilient to failures such as network
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partitions.
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The initial quorum is only required the very first time a whole cluster starts
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up. New nodes joining an established cluster can safely obtain all the
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information they need from the elected master. Nodes that have previously been
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part of a cluster will have stored to disk all the information that is required
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when they restart.
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