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vMware vSphere Bitfusion – Cluster Destroy and Downsizing Demo

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Till now I have covered:

  1. Bitfusion Installation Gotchas
  2. Setup of the First Server Node
  3. Setup of the additional Server Nodes

In this blog we will cover the Cluster Downsizing and destroy operations with a demo

The steps to Downsize a VMware vSphere Bitfusion cluster are as under:
  1. Delete a node using VMware vSphere Bitfusion plugin
  2. Check the output of “nodetool status” on one of the remaining nodes
  3. Once the Node deleted using the vSphere Bitfusion plugin is no longer present in the output of “nodetool status”
    • Power Off the Node
    • Delete from disk or inventory (Optional)
      • If you keep the VM, do not power it on without adding it back to cluster
      • An accidental power on of this VM may overwrite the VMware vSphere Bitfusion plugin
  4. Repeat Step 1 to Step 3 for every node you would like to delete

Destroying a VMware vSphere Bitfusion cluster is much simpler as compared to Downsizing.

The steps to destroy a VMware vSphere Bitfusion cluster are as under:
  1. Power off the last or All VMware vSphere Bitfusion Nodes
  2. Unregister the Plugin using vCenter server MOB
Gotcha:

Patience is a virtue in almost all walks of the life. Setting up and working with Bitfusion needs a lot of it. While downsizing if you powered off a node before it is no longer present in the output of “nodetool status” vSphere Bitfusion plugin may become unstable. To recover from this situation, you will need to use “bitfusion removenode” command

The steps to do this are as under:
  1. Connect to any remaining Bitfusion server node using SSH client like putty
  2. Execute “sudo bitfusion removenode”
  3. Wait for 5 minutes
  4. Check the output of “nodetool status” and make sure all decommissioned nodes are gone
  5. Reboot remaining Bitfusion server nodes
Sample execution
customer@bitfusionsrv01 [ ~ ]$ sudo bitfusion removenode
Running removenode...
Running update replication factor...
Running nodetool repair...

2 comments

  1. Hi Akshay Kalia
    I have tried a few times when i shtutdown one of the additional bitfusion server to reduce or increase GPU . After a boot up it will take over as First server . Please do advise how can i avoiding to reinstall the bitfusion setup again .
    Another question is how to perform a proper power down and up on the Bitfusion servers to prevent any configuration been overwritten .

    1. This generally happens due to errors before the first boot of the vAPP. Can’t be sure why working node would overwrite the plugin without looking at the logs.
      However, to prevent this you may follow the steps below
      1. Remove the node from bitfusion cluster using UI
      2. Monitor the output of “nodetool status” on one of the remaining nodes
      3. Once the deleted node disappears shut it down
      4. Add the GPUs
      5. Enable bitfusion
      6. Power on

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