Docker 1.12 introduced Services. A replicated, distributed and load balanced service can be easily created using docker service create
command. A “desired state” of the application, such as run 3 containers of Couchbase, is provided and the self-healing Docker engine ensures that that many containers are running in the cluster. If a container goes down, another container is started.
If a node goes down, containers on that node are started on a different node. This blog will show how to setup a Couchbase cluster using Docker Services. Many thanks to @marcosnils, another fellow Docker Captain,
to help me debug the networking!
Couchbase Cluster
A cluster of Couchbase Servers is typically deployed on commodity servers. Couchbase Server has a peer-to-peer topology where all the nodes are equal and communicate to each other on demand. There is no concept of master nodes, slave nodes, config nodes,
name nodes, head nodes, etc, and all the software loaded on each node is identical. It allows the nodes to be added or removed without considering their “type”. This model works particularly well with cloud infrastructure in general.
- Start Couchbase: Start n Couchbase servers
- Create cluster: Pick any server, and add all other servers to it to create the cluster
- Rebalance cluster: Rebalance the cluster so that data is distributed across the cluster
be accessible from outside the cluster.
Setup Swarm Mode on Ubuntu
- Launch an Ubuntu instance on Amazon. This blog used
mx4.large
size for the AMI. - Install Docker:
1curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | sh - Docker Swarm mode is an optional feature and need to be explicitly enabled. Initialize Swarm mode:
1docker swarm init
Create Couchbase “master” Service
- Create an overlay network:
1docker network create -d overlay couchbase
This is required so that multiple Couchbase Docker containers in the cluster can talk to each other. - Create a “master” service:
1docker service create --name couchbase-master -p 8091:8091 --replicas 1 --network couchbase -e TYPE=MASTER arungupta/couchbase:swarmThis image is created using the Dockerfile here. This Dockerfile uses a configuration script to
configure the base Couchbase Docker image. First, it uses Couchbase REST API to setup memory quota, setup index, data and
query services, security credentials, and loads a sample data bucket. Then, it invokes the appropriate Couchbase CLI commands to add the
Couchbase node to the cluster or add the node and rebalance the cluster. This is based upon three environment variables:TYPE
: Defines whether the joining pod is worker or masterCOUCHBASE_MASTER
: Name of the master serviceAUTO_REBALANCE
: Defines whether the cluster needs to be rebalanced
For this first configuration file, the TYPE environment variable is set to MASTER and so no additional configuration is done on the Couchbase image.This service also uses the previously created overlay network named
couchbase
. It exposes the port 8091 that makes the Couchbase Web Console accessible outside the cluster. This service contains only one replica of the container. - Check status of the Docker service:
123ubuntu@ip-172-31-26-234:~$ docker service lsID NAME REPLICAS IMAGE COMMANDcecl1rl5ecyr couchbase-master 1/1 arungupta/couchbase:swarm
It shows that the service is running. The “desired” and “expected” number of replicas are 1, and thus are matching.
- Check the tasks in the service:
123ubuntu@ip-172-31-26-234:~$ docker service ps couchbase-masterID NAME IMAGE NODE DESIRED STATE CURRENT STATE ERROR2xuw1h0jvantsgj9f8zuj03k8 couchbase-master.1 arungupta/couchbase:swarm ip-172-31-26-234 Running Running 30 seconds ago
This shows that the container is running.
- Access Couchbase Web Console using public IP address and it should look like:
The image used in the configuration file is configured with theAdministrator
username andpassword
password. Enter the credentials to see the console:
- Click on Server Nodes to see how many Couchbase nodes are part of the cluster. As expected, it shows only one node:
Create Couchbase “worker” Service
- Create “worker” service:
1docker service create --name couchbase-worker --replicas 1 -e TYPE=WORKER -e COUCHBASE_MASTER=couchbase-master.couchbase --network couchbase arungupta/couchbase:swarm
This RC also creates a single replica of Couchbase using the same
arungupta/couchbase:swarm
image. The key differences here are:TYPE
environment variable is set toWORKER
. This adds a worker Couchbase node to be added to the cluster.COUCHBASE_MASTER
environment variable is passed the name of the master service,couchbase-master.couchbase
in our case. This uses the service discovery mechanism built into Docker for the worker and
the master to communicate.
- Check service:
1234ubuntu@ip-172-31-26-234:~$ docker service lsID NAME REPLICAS IMAGE COMMANDaw22g79o3u8z couchbase-worker 1/1 arungupta/couchbase:swarmcecl1rl5ecyr couchbase-master 1/1 arungupta/couchbase:swarm - Checking the Couchbase Web Console shows the updated output:
It shows that one server is pending to be rebalanced.During the worker service creation,AUTO_REBALANCE
environment variable could have been set totrue
orfalse
to
enable rebalance. This ensures that the node is only added to the cluster but the cluster itself is not rebalanced. Rebalancing the cluster requires to
re-distribute the data across multiple nodes of the cluster. The recommended way is to add multiple nodes, and then manually rebalance the cluster using the Web Console.
Add Couchbase Nodes by Scaling Docker Service
- Scale the service:
1docker service scale couchbase-worker=2 - Check the service:
1234ubuntu@ip-172-31-20-209:~$ docker service lsID NAME REPLICAS IMAGE COMMAND1k650zjrwz00 couchbase-master 1/1 arungupta/couchbase:swarm5o1i4eckr9d3 couchbase-worker 2/2 arungupta/couchbase:swarm
This shows that 2 replicas of worker are running. - Check the Couchbase Web Console:
As expected, two servers are now added in the cluster and pending rebalance. - Optionally, you can rebalance the cluster by clicking on the
Rebalance
button. and it will show like:
After the rebalancing is complete, the Couchbase Web Console is updated to as as shown:
- See all the running containers using
docker ps
:
12345ubuntu@ip-172-31-26-234:~$ docker psCONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMESa0d927f4a407 arungupta/couchbase:swarm "/entrypoint.sh /opt/" 21 seconds ago Up 20 seconds 8091-8094/tcp, 11207/tcp, 11210-11211/tcp, 18091-18093/tcp couchbase-worker.2.4ufdw5rbdcu87whgm94yfv9yk22bde7f6471c arungupta/couchbase:swarm "/entrypoint.sh /opt/" 2 minutes ago Up 2 minutes 8091-8094/tcp, 11207/tcp, 11210-11211/tcp, 18091-18093/tcp couchbase-worker.1.f22c2gghu88bnbjl5ko1wlru5f97e8bc091c3 arungupta/couchbase:swarm "/entrypoint.sh /opt/" 7 minutes ago Up 7 minutes 8091-8094/tcp, 11207/tcp, 11210-11211/tcp, 18091-18093/tcp couchbase-master.1.2xuw1h0jvantsgj9f8zuj03k8
In addition to creating a cluster, Couchbase Server supports a range of high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) strategies. Most HA/DR strategies
rely on a multi-pronged approach of maximizing availability, increasing redundancy within and across data centers, and performing regular backups. Now that your Couchbase cluster is ready, you can run your first sample application.
Learn more about Couchbase and Containers:
- Couchbase on Containers
- Follow us on @couchbasedev or @couchbase
- Ask questions on Couchbase Forums
Hi,
thanks for the guide and couchbase :)
I’m trying this solution on my swarm. My goal is to NOT use persistent volumes and be sure that at least 1 container is preserving the data so the other instances could recover their data by them. With your solution it seems faseable, but, how i can store the configuration of all the nodes? I need to pass an ini file to every one, right? Can i set password or other configuration on boot by environment vars?