Add Cluster

This section explains how to add a cluster to an Exasol SaaS Enterprise edition database.

Adding more clusters to a database is also referred to as horizontal scaling. For more information and use cases, see Database scalability.

Exasol SaaS Standard edition only supports a single cluster (the MAIN cluster). With Enterprise edition you can add 2 additional clusters for a total of 3 clusters. If you need more than 3 clusters, click on Help > Support in the web console to open a support request.

For more information about Exasol SaaS editions, see SaaS Editions Overview.

Prerequisites

  • You must have an Exasol SaaS Enterprise edition subscription

  • You must be logged in as a user with the Owner role

  • The MAIN cluster must be running

Procedure

  1. On the Databases page, click on More on the database and select Add cluster from the dropdown menu.

    add cluster

  2. Enter a unique name for the cluster. The name can contain lowercase and uppercase letters a-z/A-Z, numbers, hyphens, dots, and underscores (_).

    add new cluster

  3. Choose an instance type for the cluster from the dropdown menu.

    The optimal cluster size for an Exasol database is based on usage patterns. As a rule of thumb, start with a RAM size that corresponds to about 10 percent of the size of your raw data. For example, if you want to process about 1 TB of raw data, the cluster size Small may be a good starting point.

    Depending on your workload, you may need a larger cluster size to use additional CPU and memory. Sometimes, a smaller cluster may however also meet your requirements and be more cost-effective. You can dynamically test which size best fits your needs by resizing a cluster.

    Verify that the estimated hourly, weekly, and monthly cost for your cluster meets your expectations. If needed, change the cluster size to see the new estimated cost.

  4. If desired, change the Auto-Stop Settings to change the timeout value or to disable the cluster auto-stop feature.

    Disabling the auto-stop feature may result in increased cloud resource usage.

  5. Click on Add cluster to add the cluster to the database, or click on Close to cancel the operation.