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Admin guide overview

This guide shows you how to create, run, and manage Clustron Zaris stores from the AdminShell PowerShell module. It covers the day-to-day operational tasks: connecting to managers, creating and starting stores, running across multiple nodes, understanding ports, and monitoring and troubleshooting a live cluster.

A store is a distributed key-value database made up of one or more nodes. You administer a store through managers — control-plane services that create the nodes and start, stop, and report on them. You never edit node configuration files directly; you issue cmdlets, and the managers apply the change across the cluster.

The administrative workflow​

Managing a store follows the same order every time. Each step depends on the one before it.

  1. Activate a workspace with New-ZrWorkspace <name> @('host:7801') -Activate (or Use-ZrWorkspace for one that already exists). Without -Activate the workspace is only saved, not made active. This points every other admin cmdlet at the cluster's managers.
  2. Create the store with New-ZrStore. This registers the node topology but does not start anything.
  3. Start the store with Start-ZrStore. This launches the nodes and forms the cluster.
  4. Verify and monitor with Get-ZrStore and Watch-ZrStoreMetrics.
  5. Stop the store with Stop-ZrStore when you no longer need it.

Managers and nodes​

Clustron separates the control plane from the data plane.

  • A manager runs on each server, listens on the management port (default 7801), and controls the stores on that server. It creates, starts, and stops nodes, and reports their status.
  • A node (also called a store instance) is a running process that holds data and coordinates with the other nodes in the store. Each node listens on its own cluster port and client port.
Server
  ├── Manager (7801)
  └── Node(s) (cluster port + client port each)

One manager runs per server. In a cluster that spans several servers, you connect to all of the managers at once so that every administrative change is applied consistently across the whole cluster.

The AdminShell cmdlets​

You administer Zaris with the Clustron.Zaris.AdminShell PowerShell module. Import it once per session:

Import-Module Clustron.Zaris.AdminShell

The core cmdlets map directly to the workflow above.

CmdletPurpose
New-ZrWorkspace <name> @('host:7801') -ActivateCreate and activate a workspace targeting one or more managers (-Activate makes it the session's target; omit it to only save)
Use-ZrWorkspaceReactivate or join an existing workspace
New-ZrStoreCreate a store and its node topology
Start-ZrStoreStart all nodes of a store, or one named node
Stop-ZrStoreStop all nodes of a store, or one named node
Get-ZrStoreReport store status, node counts, and health
Watch-ZrStoreMetricsShow live per-node throughput and latency

Single-server and multi-server topologies​

You can run Zaris on one server or across many. The topology you choose determines how you set -PartitionsPerNode and -ReplicationFactor when you create the store.

  • Single server, multiple nodes. One manager runs several node processes on the same machine, controlled with -PartitionsPerNode (and the replication factor). Use this for development and testing.
  • Multiple servers. One manager runs on each server, and each server runs its share of the partitions and replicas. Use this for production, higher capacity, and fault tolerance.

Both models are covered in detail in Multi-node configuration.

Ports at a glance​

A Zaris server divides the 7801–7899 span into three ranges, one per kind of traffic. The installer opens the whole span in the local firewall.

  • Management (7801–7810) — administrators, the manager-to-manager control plane, and the Web Console (7810).
  • Cluster (7811–7850) — node-to-node coordination and data movement, from -BaseClusterPort (default 7811).
  • Client (7861–7899) — where applications and the ClientShell connect, from -BaseClientPort (default 7861).

See Ports and networking for the full ranges and firewall guidance.

Next steps​