Creating a Cluster

To create a cluster, navigate to the Clusters page and select the + New Cluster button. When the Create New Cluster page opens, provide a unique name for the cluster in the Cluster Name field.

Use the drop-down listbox in the Cloud Account field to select the cloud provider account used to provision the cluster.

Select up to 5 availability zones in any regions accessible from the cloud provider account. Use the Show map toggle to enable the map for location selection.

To define the cluster deployment using the drop-down fields, first select the region for node deployment. The region name is displayed in the list of selected Regions after selection.

Use the +/- control or the drop-down list to the right of the Region name to select from the supported Availability Zones for node deployment. One node is deployed in each listed zone; use the X in the zone icon to remove a zone from the deployment list.

Each region in which the cluster is deployed is represented by a pane in the Network Settings section; within each region, subnet details for each availability zone are displayed. Toggles at the top of the Network Settings section control the network assignments for the cluster:

• Use the Configuration toggle to accept the Default configuration for address assignments, or move the toggle to Manual configuration to specify custom address assignments.

• Use the Network Type toggle to specify whether the connection values for the cluster use Public or Private addresses:

• Public network clusters have IP addresses assigned to each node that are accessible from the public internet.

• Private network clusters are not accessible from the public internet.

Within each pane, the Node Network Assignment label lists the provider-assigned region, the node name (n followed by a number), and a toggle that specifies the network assignment for that node.

Specify the vendor-specific deployment details for the cluster.

• Use the Instance Type drop-down to select the size and configuration of the cluster instance type. Each node in the cluster resides on the selected instance type; the instance type is one factor in determining the operating cost of the cluster.

• Use the Volume Size (GB) field to specify the size of the data volume for each node of the cluster. Volume size must be between 8 GB and 10 TB.

• Use the SSH Key drop-down to select a key pair from the list of imported key pairs. A key pair is required to SSH to a cluster; without a key, connections to databases provisioned on the cluster are available, but SSH connections to the host are not.

Optionally, select the Backup Stores available for database backups and log file backups for the new cluster.

As you define backup stores, remember that selecting backup stores near your cluster nodes will reduce network latency during the backup process. Use the drop-down field or select locations on the map to include a specific store.

A Resource Tag is a user-defined key/value pair attached to a cluster definition. The tag is displayed under the cluster name on the Clusters page. Use tags to categorize cloud resources or search for resources used by specific teams or applications. For example, a tag that specifies team/db-ops makes it easy to identify resources used by the db-ops team.

To add a resource tag, select Add Resource Tag and specify the Key and Value; the terms are displayed with a / delimiter.

Define a VPC association to configure VPC peering and, if needed, private zone routing between any defined VPCs and the pgEdge cluster network. Peering allows an application to connect seamlessly to any node across regions, enabling latency routing and DNS failover. VPC associations are currently only available for AWS.

Use the VPC Associations fields to add any defined VPCs that require access to the cluster.

Use the Firewall Rules field to open ports on each node of the cluster for connections. Select the + Add Firewall Rule icon to add a rule.

• Use the Type drop-down to select the connection type for the rule:

  • Select PostgreSQL to create a connection to port 5432; this is the default port used by clients that query the database.
  • Select HTTPS to open port 443 for secure communication between PostgreSQL and a web server.
  • Select SSH to open port 22 for SSH connections.

• Use the Source Type selector in the right column to specify the type of connection source allowed to connect with this rule. The following options are available:

  • An IP address, specifying a single host or CIDR block.
  • A prefix list, specifying a managed set of CIDR blocks.
  • A security group, specifying a set of AWS instances.

• Use the Sources field in the left column to specify the connection source allowed access to the cluster with the rule:

  • To remove a source, select the X in the rule's Sources field.
  • To add a source, select the Sources field and choose from the predefined options, or type directly in the field.

• Use the Applies To selector to choose the node or nodes to which the rule applies.

After providing rule details, select the + Add Firewall Rule button to add another rule to the list. To remove a rule from the list, select the X in the upper-right corner of the rule box.

The Options section provides the option to create the cluster as a single-database cluster.

Single database clusters provide the following benefits:

• A single-database cluster allows connections to the database with an IP address rather than a domain name.
• A single-database cluster allows connections via DNS names and records created outside of the pgEdge console.
• A single-purpose, dedicated cluster guarantees that all cluster resources are available for the single database.

After completing the dialog, select the Deploy Cluster button to deploy a provisioned cluster.

A progress bar tracks the deployment through each step; when the cluster is ready to use, it is added to the list of clusters in the navigation tree.

If errors occur during cluster creation, see the Troubleshooting section.