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MariaDB Galera Cluster

This is currently being tested, use at your own risk.

LibreNMS can be used with a MariaDB Galera Cluster. This is a Multi Master cluster, meaning each node in the cluster can read and write to the database. They all have the same ability. LibreNMS will randomly choose a working node to read and write requests to.

For more information see https://laravel.com/docs/database#read-and-write-connections

Getting Started

  • It is best practice to have a minimum of 3 nodes in the cluster, A odd number of nodes is recommended in the event nodes have a disagreement on data, they will have a tie breaker.
  • It's recommended that all servers be similar in hardware performance, cluster performance can be affected by the slowest server in the cluster.
  • Backup the database before starting, and backing up the database regularly is still recommended even in a working cluster environment.

Install and Configure Galera

Install Galera4 and MariaDB Server

These can be obtained from your OS package manager. For example in Ubuntu. 

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client galera-4

Create Galera Config

Create a new file /etc/mysql/conf.d/galera.conf on each node

[mysqld]
binlog_format=ROW
default-storage-engine=innodb
innodb_autoinc_lock_mode=2
bind-address=0.0.0.0

# Galera Provider Configuration
wsrep_on=ON
wsrep_provider=/usr/lib/galera/libgalera_smm.so

# Galera Cluster Configuration
wsrep_cluster_name="librenms_cluster"
wsrep_cluster_address="gcomm://192.168.1.35,192.168.1.36,192.168.1.37,192.168.1.38,192.168.1.39"

# Galera Synchronization Configuration
wsrep_sst_method=rsync

# Galera Node Configuration
wsrep_node_address="192.168.1.35"
wsrep_node_name="librenms1.35"
Change the following values for your environment. * wsrep_cluster_address - All the IP address's of your nodes. * wsrep_cluster_name - Name of cluster, should be the same for all nodes * wsrep_node_address - IP address of this node. * wsrep_node_name - Name of this node.

Edit LibreNMS .env

LibreNMS supports up to 9 galera nodes, you define these nodes in the .env file. For each node we have the ability to define if this librenms installation/poller is able to write, read or both to that node. The galera nodes you define here can be the same or differnt for each librenms poller. If you have a poller you only want to write/read to one galera node, you would simply add one DB_HOST, and omit all the rest. This allows you to precisely control what galera nodes a librenms poller is reading and or writing too.

  • DB_HOST is always set to read/write.
  • DB_HOST must be set, however, it does not have to be the same on each poller, it can be different as long as it's part of the same galera cluster.
  • If the node that is set to DB_HOST is down, things like lnms db command no longer work, as they only use DB_HOST and don't failover to other nodes.
  • Set DB_CONNECTION=mysql_cluster to enable
  • DB_STICKY can be used if you are pulling out of sync data form the database in a read request. For more information see https://laravel.com/docs/database#the-sticky-option

The below example setting up 5 nodes

DB_HOST=192.168.1.35
DB_HOST_R2=192.168.1.36
DB_HOST_R3=192.168.1.37
DB_HOST_R4=192.168.1.38
DB_HOST_R5=192.168.1.39
DB_HOST_W2=192.168.1.36
DB_HOST_W3=192.168.1.37

DB_STICKY=true
DB_CONNECTION=mysql_cluster
DB_DATABASE=librenms
DB_USERNAME=librenms
DB_PASSWORD=password
The above .env on a librenms installation/poller would communicate to each galera node as follows.

  • 192.168.1.35 - Read/Write
  • 192.168.1.36 - Read/Write
  • 192.168.1.37 - Read/Write
  • 192.168.1.38 - Read Only
  • 192.168.1.39 - Read Only

Starting Galera Cluster for the first time.

1) Shutdown MariaDB server on ALL nodes. 

sudo systemctl stop mariadb-server
2) On the server with your existing database or any mariadb server if you are starting without existing data, run the following command 
sudo galera_new_cluster
3) Start the rest of the nodes normally. 
sudo systemctl start mariadb-server

Galera Cluster Status

To see some stats on how the Galera cluster is preforming run the following.

lnms db
In the database run following mysql query 
SHOW GLOBAL STATUS LIKE 'wsrep_%';

Variable Name Value Notes
----------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
wsrep_cluster_size 2 Current number of nodes in Cluster
wsrep_cluster_state_uuid e71582f3-cf14-11eb-bcf6-a23029e16405 Last Transaction UUID, Should be the same for each node
wsrep_connected On On = Connected with other nodes
wsrep_local_state_comment Synced Synced with other nodes

Restarting the Entire Cluster

In a cluster environment, steps should be taken to ensure that ALL nodes are not offline at the same time. Failed nodes can recover without issue as long as one node remains online. In the event that ALL nodes are offline, the following should be done to ensure you are starting the cluster with the most up-to-date database. To do this login to each node and running the following

sudo cat /var/lib/data/grastate.dat

# GALERA saved state
version: 2.1
uuid:    e71582f3-cf14-11eb-bcf6-a23029e16405
seqno:   -1
safe_to_bootstrap: 1

If the safe_to_bootstrap = 1, then Galera determined that this node has the most up-to-date database and can be safeley used to start the cluster.

Once you have found a node that can be used for starting the cluster, follow the steps in starting for the first time.