Installation

Kinetica installation and configuration instructions.

System Requirements

Operating system, hardware, and network requirements to run Kinetica.

Certified OS List

CPU Platform	Linux Distribution	Versions
x86	RHEL	6.x, 7.x
x86	Centos	6.x, 7.x
x86	Ubuntu	14.x LTS , 16.x LTS
x86	SUSE	12, 12 SP1, 12 SP2
x86	Debian	8.x
ppc64le	RHEL	7.2
ppc64le	Centos	6.x, 7.x
ppc64le	Ubuntu	14.04 LTS , 16.x LTS

Minimum Operating System Requirements

Kinetica runs on the following 32 or 64-bit Linux-based operating systems.

OS	Supported Versions
Amazon AMI	2012
CentOS	6, 7
Fedora	20+
RedHat	6, 7
SUSE Linux Enterprise	12+
Ubuntu	12+

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Component	Specification
CPU	Two socket based server with at least 8 cores Intel x86-64, Power PC 8le, or ARM processor
GPU	Nvidia K20, K40, K80, P100, GTX Ti780, Tegra, or similar
Memory	Minimum 8GB
Hard Drive	SSD or SATA 7200RPM hard drive with 4X memory capacity

Capacity Planning

It's recommended that swap space equal to 25-50% of the available memory of a machine is available to avoid disk spilling and out-of-memory issues.

Check if there is active swap using the command:

free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15G        2.0G        5.3G         32M        8.2G         13G
Swap:          6.5G          0B        6.5G

To create a new swap file:

1. As root, run the dd command with bs set to the desired read and write limit in bytes (usually 1024) and count set to the desired file size in megabytes:

   sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=</swapfile/path> bs=1024 count=<file-size>
   

2. Make the file only accessible to root

   sudo chmod 600 </swapfile/path>
   

3. Mark the file as swap space:

   sudo mkswap </swapfile/path>
   

4. Enable the swap file:

   sudo swapon </swapfile/path>
   

5. Backup the /etc/fstab file and then add the swap file to it to make the swap file permanent:

   sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
   echo `</swapfile/path> none swap sw 0 0` | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
   

Prepare Your Cluster

There are some steps that should be followed to set up your network and server configuration before installing Kinetica.

The first step is to collect the IP addresses of the server or servers that will be running Kinetica. If deploying to a cluster, one server must be designated as the head node. This server receives user requests and parcels them out to the other worker nodes of the system. The head node of the cluster (or only node in a single-node system) will also be used for administration of the system, host all services & applications, and as such, will require special handling during the installation process.

Networking Configuration

The Kinetica head node will require a number of ports to be open in order to communicate with its applications & services.

Any worker nodes will need ports opened to communicate with the head node and each other, though this set of ports will be smaller than that of the head node.

Default Ports

The default ports used for communication with Kinetica (and between servers, if operating in a cluster) follow. The Nodes column will list either Head--that the corresponding port only needs to be opened on the head node, or All--that the corresponding port needs to be opened on the head node & worker nodes.

Port	Function	Nodes	Usage
2003	This port must be open to collect the runtime system statistics.	Head	Required Internally
4000+N	For installations which have the external text search server enabled and communicating over TCP (rankN.text_index_address = tcp://…), there will be one instance of the text search server listening for each rank on every server in the cluster. Each of these daemons will be listening on a port starting at 4000 on each server and incrementing by one for each additional rank.	All	Optional Internally
5552	Host Manager status notification channel	All	Required Internally
5553	Host Manager message publishing channel	All	Required Internally
6555+N	Provides distributed processing of communications between the network and different ranks used in Kinetica. There is one port for each rank running on each server, starting on each server at port 6555 and incrementing by one for each additional rank.	All	Required Internally
8080	The Tomcat listener for the Kinetica Administration Application (GAdmin)	Head	Optional Externally
8082	In installations where users need to be authenticated to access the database, a preconfigured HTTPd instance listens on this port, which will authenticate incoming HTTP requests before passing them along to Kinetica. When authorization is required, all requests to Kinetica should be sent here, rather than the standard 9191+ ports.	All	Optional Externally
8088	This is the port on which Kinetica Reveal is exposed. For installations which have this feature enabled, it should be exposed to users.	Head	Optional Externally
8181	This is the port used to host the system and process stats server	Head	Optional Externally
9001	Database trigger ZMQ publishing server port. Users of database triggers will need the ability to connect to this port to receive data generated via the trigger.	Head	Optional Externally
9002	Table monitor publishing server port. Users of database table monitors will need the ability to connect to this port to receive data generated via the table monitor.	Head	Optional Externally
9191+N	The primary port(s) used for public and internal Kinetica communications. There is one port for each rank running on each server, starting on each server at port 9191 and incrementing by one for each additional rank. These should be exposed for any system using the Kinetica APIs without authorization and must be exposed between all servers in the cluster. For installations where users should be authenticated, these ports should NOT be exposed publicly, but still should be exposed between servers within the cluster.	All	Required Internally, Optional Externally
9292	Port on which the ODBC Server listens for connections	Head	Optional Externally
9300	Port used to query Host Manager for status	All	Required Internally

Port Usage Scenarios

Kinetica highly encourages that proper firewalls be maintained and used to protect the database and the network at large. A full tutorial on how to properly set up a firewall is beyond the scope of this document, but the following are some best practices and starting points for more research.

All machines connected to the Internet at large should be protected from intrusion. As shown in the list above, there are no ports which are necessarily required to be accessible from outside of a trusted network, so we recommend only opening ports to the Internet and/or untrusted network(s) which are truly needed based on requirements.

There are some common scenarios which can act as guidelines on which ports should be available.

Connection to the Internet

If Kinetica is running on a server where it will be accessible to the Internet at large, it is our strong suggestion that security and authentication be used and ports 9191+N and 8080 are NOT exposed to the public, if possible. Those ports can potentially allow users to run commands anonymously and unless security is configured to prevent it, any users connecting to them will have full control of the database.

Dependence on Kinetica via the API

For applications in which requests are being made to Kinetica via client APIs that do not use authentication, the 9191+N ports should be made available to the relevant set of servers. For applications using authentication via the bundled version of httpd, port 8082 should be opened. It is possible to have both ports open at the same time in cases where anonymous access is permitted, however the security settings should be carefully set in this case to ensure that anonymous users have the appropriate access limitations.

Additionally, if the API client is using table monitors or triggers, ports 9001 and/or 9002 should also be opened as needed.

Reveal

In cases where the GUI interface to Reveal is required, the 8088 port should be made available.

Administration

System administrators may wish to have access to the administrative web interface, in which case port 8080 should be opened, but carefully controlled.

Adjusting the Firewall

RHEL 6

RHEL 6 uses iptables by default to configure its firewall settings. These can be updated using the /etc/sysconfig/iptables file, or, if you have X Server running, there is also a GUI for editing the firewall that can be run using the command:

system-config-firewall

RHEL 7

RHEL 7 continues to use iptables under the hood, but the preferred way to interact with iptables was updated to using the firewall-cmd command or firewall-config GUI. For example, the following commands will open up port 8082 publicly:

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=8082/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Ubuntu 12 & Debian 8.x (Jessie)

Ubuntu 12 uses iptables by default to configure its firewall settings. These can be updated using the /etc/sysconfig/iptables file, or you can use the iptables command:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8181 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables-save

Ubuntu 14 & 16

Ubuntu 14 & 16 come with a ufw (Uncomplicated FireWall) command, which controls the firewall, for example:

sudo ufw allow 8181

Node Configuration

Each server in the Kinetica cluster should be properly prepared before installing Kinetica.

Recommended System Settings

While every system is unique, there are several system parameters which are generally recommended to be set on every installation.

CPU Performance Throttling

For optimal performance, the power scaling setting should be set to performance in the file /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor to disable the on-demand CPU throttling:

sudo bash -c 'for i in {0..7}; do cpufreq-set -c $i -g performance; done'

Verify that the setting was updated:

cpufreq-info

Transparent Huge Pages

Transparent Huge Pages are the kernel’s attempt to reduce the overhead of Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) lookups by increasing the size of memory pages. This setting is enabled by default, but can lead to sparse memory usage and decreased performance.

sudo sh -c 'echo "never" > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled'

Install Nvidia Drivers

If Nvidia GPUs are present in the target servers, but the drivers have not been installed yet, they should be installed now. See either Install Nvidia Drivers on RHEL or Install Nvidia Drivers on Debian/Ubuntu for details.

Install Kinetica

Installation of Kinetica involves the deployment of the installation package, and either a browser-based or console-driven initialization step. Afterwards, passwordless SSH should be configured for ease of management of the system.

The installation process also requires a license key. To receive a license key, contact support at support@kinetica.com.

Deploy

The Kinetica application needs to be deployed to all servers in the target cluster. Deploy the package using the standard procedures for a local package.

• On RHEL:

  sudo yum install ./gpudb-<gpuhardware>-<licensetype>-<version>-<release>.<architecture>.rpm
  

• On Debian/Ubuntu:

  sudo apt install ./gpudb-<gpuhardware>-<licensetype>-<version>-<release>.<architecture>.deb
  

This installs the package to the directory /opt/gpudb, creates a group named gpudb, and two users (gpudb & gpudb_proc) whose home directory is located at /home/gpudb. SSH keys are also created to allow password-less SSH access between servers for the gpudb user when configured as a cluster. This will also register two services: gpudb & gpudb_host_manager.

Configure

Once the application has been deployed, choose the configuration method:

• Visual Initialization - for installations where the head node has web browser access
• Console Initialization - for installations without web browser access on the head node

Visual Initialization

The Visual Installer is run through the Kinetica Administration Application (GAdmin) and simplifies the installation of Kinetica across a cluster.

Browse to the head node, using IP or host name:

http://localhost:8080/

Once you've arrived at the login page, you'll need to change your password and initialize the system using the following steps:

1. Log into the admin application

   1. Enter Username: admin
   2. Enter Password: admin
   3. Click Login

2. If a license key has not already been configured, a Product Activation page will be displayed, where the license key is to be entered:

   
   1. Enter the license key under Enter License Key
   2. When complete, click Activate, then confirm the activation

3. At the Setup Wizard page, configure the system basics:

   1. Enter the IP Address and number of GPUs (if any) for each server in the cluster
   2. Optionally, select the Public Head IP Address checkbox and update the address as necessary
   3. The license key under Configure License Key should already be populated
   4. When complete, click Save

   Important

   For additional configuration options, see the Configuration Reference.

4. Start the system. This will start all Kinetica processes on the head node, and if in a clustered environment, the corresponding processes on the worker nodes.

   1. Click Admin on the left menu
   2. Click Start.

5. Follow instructions here to update the administration account's password.

Skip ahead to Passwordless SSH.

Console Initialization

System configuration is done primarily through the configuration file /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf, and while all nodes in a cluster have this file, only the copy on the head node needs to be modified.

1. Log in to the head node and open /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf in an editor.

2. Specify the head node IP address, the total number of database ranks, and the distribution of ranks across hosts. In this example, there are two servers with three ranks on the first and two ranks on the second:

   number_of_ranks = 5
   
   rank0.host = 192.168.0.100
   rank1.host = 192.168.0.100
   rank2.host = 192.168.0.100
   rank3.host = 192.168.0.101
   rank4.host = 192.168.0.101
   
   head_ip_address = 192.168.0.100
   

3. For CUDA builds, the GPUs need to be assigned to ranks. To display the installed GPUs and their status run:

   nvidia-smi
   

   If the program is not installed or doesn't run, see Install Nvidia Drivers.

   Once the number of GPUs on each server has been established, enter them into the configuration file by associated rank. In this example, there are two servers with a GPU assigned to each of two ranks per host (none for rank0):

   rank0.gpu = 0 # This GPU can be shared with a worker rank, typically rank 1.
   
   rank1.taskcalc_gpu = 0
   rank2.taskcalc_gpu = 1
   rank3.taskcalc_gpu = 0 # On new host, restart at 0
   rank4.taskcalc_gpu = 1
   

4. For non-CUDA builds, the Numa CPUs need to be assigned to ranks. To display the Numa nodes, run:

   numactl -H
   

   Once the number of Numa nodes on each server has been established, enter them into the configuration file by associated rank. In this example, there are two servers with a Numa node assigned to each of two ranks per host (none for rank0):

   rank0.numa_node =        # Preferring a node for the head node HTTP server is often not necessary.
   
   rank1.base_numa_node = 0
   rank2.base_numa_node = 1
   rank3.base_numa_node = 0 # On new host, restart at 0
   rank4.base_numa_node = 1
   
   rank1.data_numa_node = 0
   rank2.data_numa_node = 1
   rank3.data_numa_node = 0 # On new host, restart at 0
   rank4.data_numa_node = 1
   

5. Determine the directory in which database files will be stored. It should meet the following criteria:

   • Available disk space that is 4x memory
   • Writable by the gpudb user
   • Consist of raided SSDs
   • Not be part of a network share or NFS mount

6. Enter the database file directory path into the configuration:

   persist_directory = /opt/gpudb/persist
   

7. Set the license key:

   license_key = ...
   

Important

For additional configuration options, see the Configuration Reference.

To bring up the system, start the gpudb service:

service gpudb start

This will start all Kinetica processes on the head node, and if in a clustered environment, processes on the worker nodes.

Passwordless SSH

If Kinetica is installed in a clustered environment, configuring passwordless SSH will make management considerably easier. Run the following command on the head node to set up passwordless SSH between the head node and the worker nodes for the gpudb users created during deployment:

sudo /opt/gpudb/core/bin/gpudb_hosts_ssh_copy_id.sh

Validate the Installation

To validate that Kinetica has been installed and started properly, you can perform the following tests.

Curl Test

To ensure that Kinetica has started (you may have to wait a moment while the system initializes), you can run curl on the head node to check if the server is responding and port is available with respect to any running firewalls:

$ curl localhost:9191
Kinetica is running!

API Test

You can also run a test to ensure that the API is responding properly. There is an admin simulator project in Python provided with the Python API, which pulls statistics from the Kinetica instance. Running this on the head node, you should see:

$ python /opt/gpudb/api/python/gpudb/gadmin_sim.py
**********************
Total tables:              0
Total top-level tables:    0
Total collections:         0
Total number of elements:  0
Total number of objects:   0

GAdmin Status Check

The administrative interface itself can be used to validate that the system is functioning properly. Simply log into GAdmin. Browse to Dashboard to view the status of the overall system and Ranks to view the status breakdown by rank.

Troubleshooting

Error Logging

The log file located at /opt/gpudb/core/logs/gpudb.log should be the first place to check for any system errors. Any issues which would prevent successful start-up of Kinetica will be logged as ERROR in the log. Consequently, running the following command will return enough information to provide a good starting point for further investigation:

grep ERROR /opt/gpudb/core/logs/gpudb.log | head -n 10

Uninstallation

Should you need to uninstall Kinetica, you'll need to shut down the system, remove the package, and remove related files, directories, & user accounts.

1. Stop the system

2. Remove the package from your machine

   • On RHEL:

     sudo yum remove gpudb-<gpuhardware>-<licensetype>.<architecture>
     

   • On Debian-based:

     sudo dpkg -r gpudb-<gpuhardware>-<licensetype>.<architecture>
     

3. Remove any user-defined persist directories (these directories are set in /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf)

4. Clean-up all Kinetica artifacts (for both RHEL and Debian-based):

   sudo rm -rf /opt/gpudb
   

5. Remove the gpudb & gpudb_proc users from the machine

   • On RHEL:

     sudo userdel -r gpudb
     sudo userdel -r gpudb_proc
     

   • On Debian-based:

     sudo deluser --remove-home gpudb
     sudo deluser --remove-home gpudb_proc
     

6. Remove the gpudb group from the machine:

   groupdel gpudb