General User Guide

• 1: How to Create an Account
• 2: How to Login
• 3: How to Logout
• 4: Account Settings
• 5: Billing
• 6: Clusters View
• 7: Clusters Reference
• 7.1: View Cluster Details
• 7.2: Cluster Actions
• 7.2.1: Upgrade Cluster
• 7.2.2: Rescale Cluster
• 7.2.3: Stop and Start a Cluster
• 7.2.4: Export Cluster Settings
• 7.2.5: Replicate a Cluster
• 7.2.6: Destroy Cluster
• 7.3: Cluster Settings
• 7.4: Configure Cluster
• 7.4.1: How to Configure Cluster Settings
• 7.4.2: How to Configure Cluster Profiles
• 7.4.3: How to Configure Cluster Users
• 7.5: Launch New Cluster
• 7.6: Cluster Alerts
• 7.7: Cluster Health Check
• 7.8: Cluster Monitoring
• 7.9: Cluster Logs
• 7.10: Cluster Explore Guide
• 7.10.1: Query Tool
• 7.10.2: Schema View
• 7.10.3: Processes
• 8: Notifications
• 9: System Status
• 10: Uptime Schedule Settings

1 - How to Create an Account

To create an Altinity.Cloud account, visit the Altinity.Cloud info page and select Free Trial. Fill in your contact information, and our staff will reach out to you to create a test account.

If you’re ready to upgrade to a full production account, talk to one of our consultants by filling out your contact information on our Consultation Request page.

2 - How to Login

Altinity.Cloud provides the following methods to login to your account:

• Username and Password
• Auth0

Login with Username and Password

To login to Altinity.Cloud with your Username and Password:

1. Open the Altinity.Cloud website.
2. Enter your Email Address registered to your Altinity.Cloud account.
3. Enter your Password.
4. Click Sign In.

Once authenticated, you will be logged into Altinity.Cloud.

Login with Auth0

Auth0 allows you to use your existing Altinity account using trust authentication platforms such as Google to verify your identity.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: This requires that your Altinity.Cloud account matches the authentication platform you are using. For example, if your email address in Altinity.Cloud is listed as Nancy.Doe@gmail.com, your Gmail address must also be Nancy.Doe@gmail.com.

To login using Auth0:

1. Open the Altinity.Cloud website.
2. Select Auth0.
3. Select which authentication platform to use from the list (for example: Google).
   1. If this is your first time using Auth0, select which account to use. You must be already logged into the authentication platform
4. You will be automatically logged into Altinity.Cloud.

3 - How to Logout

To logout:

1. Select your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Select Log out.

Your session will be ended, and you will have to authenticate again to log back into Altinity.Cloud.

4 - Account Settings

Access My Account

To access your account profile:

1. Select your user profile in the upper right hand corner.

2. Select My Account.

   

My Account Settings

From the My Account page the following settings can be viewed:

• Common Information. From here you can update or view the following:
  • Email Address View Only: Your email address or login
  • Password settings.
  • Dark Mode: Set the user interface to either the usual or darker interface.
• API Access: The security access rights assigned to this account.
• Access Rights: What security related actions this account can perform.

Update Password

To update your account password:

1. Click your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.

2. Select My Account.

3. In the Common Information tab, enter the new password in the Password field.

4. Select Save.

   

API Access Settings

Accounts can make calls to Altinity.Cloud through the API address at https://acm.altinity.cloud/api, and the Swagger API definition file is available at https://acm.altinity.cloud/api/reference.json.

Access is controlled through API access keys and API Allow Domains.

API Access Keys

Accounts can use this page to generate one or more API keys that can be used without exposing the accounts username and password. They allow API calls made to Altinity.Cloud to be made by the same Account as the keys were generated for.

When an Altinity.Cloud API key is generated, an expiration date is set for the key. By default, the expiration date is set 24 hours after the key is generated, with the date and time set to GMT. This date can be manually adjusted to allow the expiration date to make the API key invalid at the date of your choosing.

To generate a new API key:

1. Click your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Select My Account.
3. In the API Access tab, select + Add Key. The key will be available for use with the Altinity.Cloud API.

To change the expiration date of an API key:

1. Click your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Select My Account.
3. In the API Access tab, update the date and time for the API key being modified. Note that the date and time are in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

To remove an API key:

1. Click your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Select My Account.
3. In the API Access tab, select the trashcan icon next to the API key to delete. The key will no longer be allowed to connect to the Altinity.Cloud API for this account.

API Allow Domains

API submissions can be restricted by the source domain address. This provides enhanced security by keeping API communications only between authorized sources.

To update the list of domains this account can submit API commands from:

1. Click your profile icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Select My Account.
3. In the API Access tab, list each URL this account can submit API commands from. Each URl is a separate line.
4. Click Save to update the account settings.

Access Rights

The Access Rights page displays which permissions your account has. These are listed in three columns:

• Section: The area of access within Altinity.Cloud, such as Accounts, Environments, and Console.
• Action: What actions the access right rule allows within the section. Actions marked as * include all actions within the section.
• Rule: Whether the Action in the Section is Allow (marked with a check mark), or Deny (marked with an X).

5 - Billing

Accounts with the role orgadmin are able to access the Billing page for their organizations.

To access the Billing page:

1. Login to your Altinity.Cloud with an account with the orgadmin role.
2. From the upper right hand corner, select the Account icon, and select Billing.

From the billing page, the following Usage Summary and the Billing Summary are available for the environments connected to the account.

Usage Summary

The Usage Summary displays the following:

• Current Period: The current billing month displaying the following:
  • Current Spend: The current total value of charges for Altinity.Cloud services.
  • Avg. Daily Spend: The average cost of Altinity.Cloud services per day.
  • Est. Monthly BIll: The total estimated value for the current period based on Current Spend and if usage continues at the current rate.
• Usage for Period: Select the billing period to display.
• Environment: Select the environment or All environments to display billing costs for. Each environment, its usage, and cost will be displayed with the total cost.

Billing Summary

The Billing Summary section displays the payment method, service address, and email address used for billing purposes. Each of these settings can be changed as required.

6 - Clusters View

15 May 2023 · Read time 2 min

Introduction

The Clusters view page allows you to view your ClickHouse clusters. The top navigation bar includes access to your Account menu. When you are logged into the Altinity Cloud Manager (ACM), select the Altinity.Cloud logo at the top left to take you to the Clusters view page.

1. Create Clusters - (Launch New Cluster guide)
2. Clusters - (Cluster Explore guide)
3. Environment - (Administrator Guide guide)
4. User Management - (Account Settings guide)

Figure 1 - Clusters View page showing the LAUNCH CLUSTER button, the cluster panels, the Environment menu, and the login user management menu.

Create Clusters

For more information on how to create new clusters, see:

• Administrator Guide

Clusters

Clusters are displayed as panels or tiles or in a list format. Each cluster that is associated with your Altinity.Cloud account is listed in either tile format, or in a table listing.

• For details on how to launch and manage clusters, see: Administrator Guide for Clusters.

Environment

Environments are groups of several clusters. Change the environment name to display only those clusters that are members.

• Accounts that are assigned to multiple Altinity.Cloud environments can select which environment’s clusters they are viewing.

• For more information on managing environments, see: Administrator Guide.

To change to a different Environment:

1. From the upper right-hand corner of the ACM, select a name (Example: demo) from the Environment.
2. Or, select the Environments from the left navigation panel, then select an Environment Name (Example: demo).

Figure 2 - Environments view showing the tabular listing of all your environment names and status.

User Management

Your account menu is where you edit your account settings. Options include:

• My Account - (Email, Role, Password change, Theme)
• Notifications - (Notices of seminars and access level changes)
• Billing - (Overview & Summary, Usage Details, Invoices)
• System Status - (Uptime history bar chart)
• Documentation - (Altinity.Cloud documentation site)
• About (the Altinity.Cloud Manager version)
• Log out

For information about your account profile and settings, see:

• Account Settings

Organization Administrators

Organizational Admins have additional options in the left navigation panel that allows them to select the Accounts, Environments, and Clusters connected to the organization’s Altinity.Cloud account.

7 - Clusters Reference

ClickHouse databases are managed through clusters, which harness the power of distributed processing to quickly deliver results on even the most complex and data intensive queries.

Altinity.Cloud users can create their own ClickHouse Clusters tailored to their organization’s needs.

7.1 - View Cluster Details

8 May 2023 · Read time 3 min

Cluster Dashboard

The left-hand option labeled Clusters, is what you select to view your clusters. Selecting a cluster displays its Dashboard.

• The left side includes the Endpoint with a Connection Details link, Layouts that summarize the nodes, shards and replication, the Replication count, the Version of ClickHouse installed, the Latest Backup date, the Last Query date, the Last Insert date,

• The right side includes Monitoring with a link to View in Grafana, the number of Nodes, the type of Load Balancer, the Node Type, the Node Storage capacity in GB and type, the Node Memory in GB, and the Node CPU count.

• The bottom shows pie charts for Volume (disk space used for each replica) and Memory used by each replica.

More Information

• Clusters View

The following screen shot is what you see when you select Clusters from the left-hand navigation panel.

Figure 1 - Cluster Dashboard

The sections in Figure 1 are detailed as follows:

(A) Cluster Management

The top menu bar provides cluster management functions.

• Actions menu - Includes options to Upgrade, Rescale, Resume, Restart, Export Configuration, Publish ConfigurationPublish Configuration, Launch a Replica Cluster, and Destroy a cluster Addition functions for authorized users will show Restore a Backup and Create Backup. Contact Altinity for more information.
• Configure menu - includes Settings, Profiles, Users, Connections, and Uptime Schedule.
• Explore button - contains work areas for Query, Schema , Workload, and DBA Tools.
• Alerts
• Logs

(B) Health

• Check Cluster Health.

(C) Access Point

• View the cluster’s Access Point.

(D) Monitoring, Queries

• Monitor the Cluster and its Queries.

(E) Summary Information

• View summary details for the Cluster or Node.
• Select Nodes to view details on the cluster’s Nodes.

Nodes Summary

The Nodes tab displays detailed information for each of your nodes in the cluster.

Details for each node include:

• Endpoint with a link to a node’s Connection Details
• Version of ClickHouse installed
• Type CPU Processor used
• Node Storage size in GB
• Memory allocated RAM for the node
• Availability Zone that is set in your AWS or GKE cloud provider

Select Node View or View for the specific node to access:

• Node Dashboard
• Node Metrics
• Node Schema

Figure 2 - The Nodes tab from the Clusters page.

Node Connection

For the selected Node, Connection Details lists connection strings for use by various clients, including the clickhouse-client, JDBC drivers, HTTPS, and Python.

Similar to the Cluster Access Point, this page provides connection information to a specific node.

Figure 3 - Display of client Connection Details for a specific Node.

Node Dashboard

From the Node Dashboard Page users can:

Figure 4 - Node Dashboard.

(A) Manage Nodes

• Actions menu
• Tables and structure with Explore
• Logs

(B) Node Heath

• Online/Offline status
• health checks passed status

(C) Metrics

• View a node’s metrics, summary details, and its Schema.

Node Metrics

Node Metrics provides a breakdown of the node’s performance, such as CPU data, active threads, etc.

Node Schema

The Node Schema provides a view of the databases’ schema and tables.

More Information For more information on how to interact with a Node by submitting queries, viewing the schema of its databases and tables, and viewing process, see the Cluster Explore Guide.

7.2 - Cluster Actions

Launched clusters can be have different actions applied to them based on your needs.

7.2.1 - Upgrade Cluster

Clusters can be upgraded to versions of ClickHouse other than the one your cluster is running.

When upgrading to a ClickHouse Altinity Stable Build, review the release notes for the version that you are upgrading to.

How to Upgrade an Altinity Cloud Cluster

To upgrade a launched cluster:

1. Select Actions for the cluster to upgrade.

2. Select Upgrade.

3. Select the ClickHouse version to upgrade to.

4. Select Upgrade to start the process.

   

The upgrade process completion time varies with the size of the cluster, as each server is upgraded individually. This may cause downtime while the cluster is upgraded.

7.2.2 - Rescale Cluster

The size and structure of the cluster may need to be altered after launching based on your organization’s needs. The following settings can be rescaled:

• Number of Shards
• Number of Replicas
• Node Type
• Node Storage
• Number of Volumes
• Apply to new nodes only: This setting will only effect nodes created from this point forward.

See Cluster Settings for more information.

How to Rescale a Cluster

To rescale a cluster:

1. Select Actions for the cluster to rescale.

2. Select Rescale.

3. Set the new values of the cluster.

4. Click OK to begin rescaling.

   

Depending on the size of the cluster, this may take several minutes.

7.2.3 - Stop and Start a Cluster

To stop an launched cluster, or start a stopped cluster:

1. From either the Clusters View or the Cluster Details Page, select Actions.
   1. If the cluster is currently running, select Stop to halt its operations.
   2. If the cluster has been stopped, select Start to restart it.

Depending on the size of your cluster, it may take a few minutes until it is fully stopped or is restarted. To access the health and availability of the cluster, see Cluster Health or the Cluster Availability.

7.2.4 - Export Cluster Settings

The structure of an Altinity Cloud cluster can be exported as JSON. For details on the cluster’s settings that are exported, see Cluster Settings.

To export a cluster’s settings to JSON:

1. From either the Clusters View or the Cluster Details Page, select Actions, then select Export.
2. A new browser window will open with the settings for the cluster in JSON.

7.2.5 - Replicate a Cluster

Clusters can be replicated with the same or different settings. These can include the same database schema as the replicated cluster, or launched without the schema. This may be useful to create a test cluster, then launch the production cluster with different settings ready for production data.

For complete details on Altinity.Cloud clusters settings, see Cluster Settings.

To create a replica of an existing cluster:

1. From either the Clusters View or the Cluster Details Page, select Actions, then select Launch a Replica Cluster.
2. Enter the desired values for Resources Configuration.

   1. To replicate the schema of the source directory, select Replicate Schema.

      

   2. Click Next to continue.

3. High Availability Configuration, and Connection Configuration.
   1. Each section must be completed in its entirety before moving on to the next one.
4. In the module Review & Launch, verify the settings are correct. When finished, select Launch.

Depending on the size of the new cluster it will be available within a few minutes. To verify the health and availability of the new cluster, see Cluster Health or the Cluster Availability.

7.2.6 - Destroy Cluster

When a cluster is no longer required, the entire cluster and all of its data can be destroyed.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: Once destroyed, a cluster can not be recovered. It must be manually recreated.

To destroy a cluster:

1. From either the Clusters View or the Cluster Details Page, select Actions, then select Destroy.

2. Enter the cluster name, then select OK to confirm its deletion.

   

7.3 - Cluster Settings

ClickHouse Clusters hosted on Altinity.Cloud have the following structural attributes. These determine options such as the version of ClickHouse installed on them, how many replicas, and other important features.

Name	Description	Values
Cluster Name	The name for this cluster. It will be used for the hostname of the cluster.	Cluster names must be DNS compliant. This includes: Alphanumeric characters and underscores only No special characters such as periods, ?, #, etc. Example: Good: mycluster Bad: my.cluster? Can not start with a number.
Node Type	Determines the number of CPUs and the amount of RAM used per node.	The following Node Types are sample values, and may be updated at any time: m5.large: CPU x2, RAM 6.5 GB m5.xlarge: CPU x4, RAM 14 GB M5.2xlarge: (CPU x8, RAM 29 GB) m5.4xlarge: (CPU x16, RAM 58 GB) m5.8xlarge: (CPU x32, RAM 120 GB)
Node Storage	The amount of storage space available to each node, in GB.
Number of Volumes	Storage can be split across multiple volumes. The amount of data stored per node is the same as set in Node Storage, but it split into multiple volumes. Separating storage into multiple volumes can increase query performance.
Volume Type	Defines the Amazon Web Services volume class. Typically used to determine whether or not to encrypt the columns.	Values: gp2 (Not Encrypted) gp2-encrypted (encrypted)
Number of Shards	Shards represent a set of nodes. Shards can be replicated to provide increased availability and computational power.
ClickHouse Version	The version of the ClickHouse database that will be used on each node. To run a custom ClickHouse container version, specify the Docker image to use. IMPORTANT NOTE: The nodes in the cluster will all be running the same version of ClickHouse. If you want to run multiple versions of ClickHouse, they will have to be set on different clusters.	Currently available options: Altinity Stable: 19.11.12.69 19.16.19.85 20.3.21.2 20.8.7.15 Standard Release 20.10.5.10 20.11.4.13 Custom Identifier
ClickHouse Admin Name	The name of the ClickHouse administrative user.	Set to admin by default. Can not be changed.
ClickHouse Admin Password	The password for the ClickHouse administrative user.
Data Replication	Toggles whether shards will be replicated. When enabled, Zookeeper is required to manage the shard replication process.	Values: Enabled (Default): Each Cluster Shard will be replicated to the value set in Number of Replicas. Disabled: Shards will not be replicated.
Number of Replicas	Sets the number of replicas per shard. Only enabled if Data Replication is enabled.
Zookeeper Configuration	When Data Replication is set to Enabled, Zookeeper is required. This setting determines how Zookeeper will run and manage shard replication. The Zookeeper Configuration mainly sets how many Zookeeper nodes are used to manage the shards. More Zookeeper nodes increases the availability of the cluster.	Values: Single Node (Default): Replication is managed by one Zookeeper node. Three Nodes: Increases the Zookeeper nodes to an ensemble of 3.
Zookeeper Node Type	Determines the type of Zookeeper node.	Defaults to default and can not be changed.
Node Placement	Sets how nodes are distributed via Kubernetes. Depending on your situation and how robust you want your replicas and clusters.	Values: Separate Nodes (Default): ClickHouse containers are distributed across separate cluster nodes. Separate Shards: ClickHouse containers for different shards are distributed across separate cluster nodes. Separate Replicas: ClickHouse containers for different replicas are distributed across separate cluster nodes.
Enable Backups	Backs up the cluster. These can be restored in the event data loss or to roll back to previous versions.	Values: Enabled (Default): The cluster will be backed up automatically. Disabled: Automatic Backups are disabled.
Backup Schedule	Determines how often the cluster will be backed up.	Defaults to Daily
Number of Backups to keep	Sets how many backups will be stored before deleting the oldest one	Defaults to 5.
Endpoint	The Access point Domain Name.	This is hard set by the name of your cluster and your organization.
Use TLS	Sets whether or not to encrypt external communications with the cluster to TLS.	Default to Enabled and can not be changed.
Load Balancer Type	The load balancer manages communications between the various nodes to ensure that nodes are not overwhelmed.	Defaults to Altinity Edge Ingress
Protocols	Sets the TCP ports used in external communications with the cluster.	Defaults to ClickHouse TCP port 9440 and HTTP port 8443.

7.4 - Configure Cluster

Once a cluster has been launched, it’s configuration can be updated to best match your needs.

7.4.1 - How to Configure Cluster Settings

Cluster settings can be updated from the Clusters View or from the Cluster Details by selecting Configure > Settings.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: Changing a cluster’s settings will require a restart of the entire cluster.

Note that some settings are locked - their values can not be changed from this screen.

How to Set Troubleshooting Mode

Troubleshooting mode prevents your cluster from auto-starting after a crash. To update this setting:

1. Toggle Troubleshooting Mode either On or Off.

How to Edit an Existing Setting

To edit an existing setting:

1. Select the menu on the left side of the setting to update.
2. Select Edit.
3. Set the following:
   1. Setting Type.
   2. Name
   3. Value
4. Select OK to save the setting.

How to Add a New Setting

To add a new setting to your cluster:

1. Select Add Setting.
2. Set the following:
   1. Setting Type.
   2. Name
   3. Value
3. Select OK to save the setting.

How to Delete an Existing Setting

To delete an existing setting:

1. Select the menu on the left side of the setting to update.
2. Select OK.
3. Select Remove to confirm removing the setting.

7.4.2 - How to Configure Cluster Profiles

8 May 2023 · Read time 1 min

Introduction

Cluster profiles allow you to set the user permissions and settings based on their assigned profile.

The Cluster Profiles can be accessed from the Clusters View or from the Cluster Details by selecting Configure > Settings.

• ACM URL format: acm.altinity.cloud/cluster/<cluster number>/settings

Figure 1 - Clusters Settings menu.

Add a New Setting

Use to create a new Attribute setting or duplicate and modify an existing setting.

• Attribute
• config.d file
• users.d file

Figure 2 - ADD SETTING button.

To add a new new setting:

1. From the Cluster Settings page, select ADD SETTING.
2. Provide profile’s Name and Description, then click OK.

Figure 3 - Cluster Setting Details dialog box.

Edit an Existing Profile

To edit an existing profile:

Figure 4 - Edit Cluster Setting Details dialog box.

1. Select the menu to the left of the profile to update and select Edit, or select Edit Settings.
2. To add a profile setting, select Add Setting and enter the Name and Value, then click OK to store your setting value.
3. To edit an existing setting, select the menu to the left of the setting to update. Update the Name and Value, then click OK to store the new value.

Delete Setting

Figure 5 - Edit Delete Attribute dialog box.

To delete an existing profile:

1. Select the menu to the left of the profile to update and select Delete.
2. Select OK to confirm the profile deletion.

7.4.3 - How to Configure Cluster Users

The cluster’s Users allow you to set one or more entities who can access your cluster, based on their Cluster Profile.

Cluster users can be updated from the Clusters View or from the Cluster Details by selecting Configure > Users.

How to Add a New User

To add a new user to your cluster:

1. Select Add User

2. Enter the following:

   

   1. Login: the name of the new user.
   2. Password and Confirm Password: the authenticating credentials for the user. Th
   3. Networks: The networks that the user can connect from. Leave as 0.0.0.0/0 to allow access from all networks.
   4. Databases: Which databases the user can connect to. Leave empty to allow access all databases.
   5. Profile: Which profile settings to apply to this user.

3. Select OK to save the new user.

How to Edit a User

To edit an existing user:

1. Select the menu to the left of the user to edit, then select Edit.
2. Enter the following:
   1. Login: the new name of the user.
   2. Password and Confirm Password: the authenticating credentials for the user. Th
   3. Networks: The networks that the user can connect from. Leave as 0.0.0.0/0 to allow access from all networks.
   4. Databases: Which databases the user can connect to. Leave empty to allow access all databases.
   5. Profile: Which profile settings to apply to this user.
3. Select OK to save the updated user user.

How to Delete a User

1. Select the menu to the left of the user to edit, then select Delete.
2. Select OK to verify the user deletion.

7.5 - Launch New Cluster

Launching a new ClickHouse Cluster is incredibly easy, and only takes a few minutes. For those looking to create their first ClickHouse cluster with the minimal steps, see the Quick Start Guide. For complete details on Altinity.Cloud clusters settings, see Cluster Settings.

To launch a new ClickHouse cluster:

1. From the Clusters View page, select Launch Cluster. This starts the Cluster Launch Wizard.

   

2. Enter the desired values for Resources Configuration, High Availability Configuration, and Connection Configuration.

   1. Each section must be completed in its entirety before moving on to the next one.

3. In the module Review & Launch, verify the settings are correct. When finished, select Launch.

Within a few minutes, the new cluster will be ready for your use and display that all health checks have been passed.

7.6 - Cluster Alerts

The Cluster Alerts module allows users to set up when they are notified for a set fo events. Alerts can either be a popup, displaying the alert when the user is logged into Altinity.Cloud, or email so they can receive an alert even when they are not logged into Altinty.Cloud.

To set which alerts you receive:

1. From the Clusters view, select the cluster to for alerts.

2. Select Alerts.

   

3. Add the Email address to send alerts to.

4. Select whether to receive a Popup or Email alert for the following events:

   1. ClickHouse Version Upgrade: Alert triggered when the version of ClickHouse that is installed in the cluster has a new update.
   2. Cluster Rescale: Alert triggered when the cluster is rescaled, such as new shards added.
   3. Cluster Stop: Alert triggered when some event has caused the cluster to stop running.
   4. Cluster Resume: Alert triggered when a cluster that was stopped has resumed operations.

7.7 - Cluster Health Check

From the Clusters View, you can see the health status of your cluster and its nodes at a glance.

How to Check Node Health

The quick health check of your cluster’s nodes is displayed from the Clusters View. Next to the cluster name is a summary of your nodes’ statuses, indicating the total number of nodes and how many nodes are available.

How to Check Cluster Health

The overall health of the cluster is shown in the Health row of the cluster summary, showing the number of health checks passed.

Click checked passed to view a detailed view of the cluster’s health.

How to View a Cluster’s Health Checks

The cluster’s Health Check module displays the status of the following health checks:

• Access point availability check
• Distributed query check
• Zookeeper availability check
• Zookeeper contents check
• Readonly replica check
• Delayed inserts check

To view details on what queries are used to verify the health check, select the caret for each health check.

7.8 - Cluster Monitoring

Altinity.Cloud integrates Grafana into its monitoring tools. From a cluster, you can quickly access the following monitoring views:

• Cluster Metrics
• Queries
• Logs

How to Access Cluster Metrics

To access the metrics views for your cluster:

1. From the Clusters view, select the cluster to monitor.
2. From Monitoring, select the drop down View in Grafana and select from one of the following options:
   1. Cluster Metrics
   2. Queries
   3. Logs
3. Each metric view opens in a separate tab.

Cluster Metrics

Cluster Metrics displays how the cluster is performing from a hardware and connection standpoint.

Some of the metrics displayed here include:

• DNS and Distributed Connection Errors: Displays the rate of any connection issues.
• Select Queries: The number of select queries submitted to the cluster.
• Zookeeper Transactions: The communications between the zookeeper nodes.
• ClickHouse Data Size on Disk: The total amount of data the ClickHouse database is using.

Queries

The Queries monitoring page displays the performance of clusters, including the top requests, queries that require the most memory, and other benchmarks. This can be useful in identifying queries that can cause performance issues and refactoring them to be more efficient.

Log Metrics

The Log monitoring page displays the logs for your clusters, and allows you to make queries directly on them. If there’s a specific detail you’re trying to iron out, the logs are the most granular way of tracking down those issues.

7.9 - Cluster Logs

Altinity.Cloud provides the cluster log details so users can track down specific issues or performance bottlenecks.

To access a cluster’s logs:

1. From the Clusters view, select the cluster to for alerts.
2. Select Logs.
3. From the Log Page, you can display the number of rows to view, or filter logs by specific text.
4. To download the logs, select the download icon in the upper right corner (A).
5. To refresh the logs page, select the refresh icon (B).

The following logs are available:

• ACM Logs: These logs are specific to Altinity.Cloud issues and include the following:
  • System Log: Details the system actions such as starting a cluster, updating endpoints, and other details.
  • API Log: Displays updates to the API and activities.
• ClickHouse Logs: Displays the Common Log that stores ClickHouse related events. From this view a specific host can be selected form the dropdown box.
• Backup Logs: Displays backup events from the clickhouse-backup service. Log details per cluster host can be selected from the dropdown box.
• Operator Logs: Displays logs from the Altinity Kubernetes Operator service, which is used to manage cluster replication cluster and communications in the Kubernetes environment.

7.10 - Cluster Explore Guide

Altinity.Cloud users a range of options they can take on existing clusters.

For a quick view on how to create a cluster, see the Altinity.Cloud Quick Start Guide. For more details on interacting with clusters, see the Administrative Clusters Guide.

7.10.1 - Query Tool

The Query Tool page allows users to submit ClickHouse SQL queries directly to the cluster or a specific cluster node.

To use the Query Tool:

1. Select Explore from either the Clusters View or the Clusters Detail Page.

2. Select Query from the top tab. This is the default view for the Explore page.

3. Select from the following:

   

   1. Select which cluster to run a query against.

   2. Select Run DDLs ON CLUSTER to run Distributed DDL Queries.

   3. Select the following node options:

      

      1. Any: Any node selected from the Zookeeper parameters.
      2. All: Run the query against all nodes in the cluster.
      3. Node: Select a specific node to run the query against.

   4. The Query History allows you to scroll through queries that have been executed.

   5. Enter the query in the Query Textbox. For more information on ClickHouse SQL queries, see the SQL Reference page on ClickHouse.tech.

   6. Select Execute to submit the query from the Query Textbox.

   7. The results of the query will be displayed below the Execute button.

Additional tips and examples are listed on the Query page.

7.10.2 - Schema View

The Schema page allows you to view the databases, tables, and other details.

To access the Schema page:

1. Select Explore from either the Clusters View or the Clusters Detail Page.

2. Select Schema from the top tab.

3. Select the following node options:

   

   1. Any: Any node selected from the Zookeeper parameters.
   2. All: Run the query against all nodes in the cluster.
   3. Node: Select a specific node to run the query against.

To view details on a table, select the table name. The following details are displayed:

• Table Description: Details on the table’s database, engine, and other details.
• Table Schema: The CREATE TABLE command used to generate the table.
• Sample Rows: A display of 5 selected rows from the table to give an example of the data contents.

7.10.3 - Processes

The Processes page displays the currently running processes on a cluster or node.

To view the processes page:

1. Select Explore from either the Clusters View or the Clusters Detail Page.

2. Select Processes from the top tab.

3. Select the following node options:

   

   1. Any: Any node selected from the Zookeeper parameters.
   2. All: Run the query against all nodes in the cluster.
   3. Node: Select a specific node to run the query against.

The following information is displayed:

• Query ID: The ClickHouse ID of the query.
• Query: The ClickHouse query that the process is running.
• Time: The elapsed time of the process.
• User: The ClickHouse user running the process.
• Client Address: The address of the client submitting the process.
• Action: Stop or restart a process.

8 - Notifications

Notifications allow you to see any messages related to your Altinity.Cloud account. For example: billing, service issues, etc.

To access your notifications:

1. From the upper right corner of the top navigation bar, select your user ID, then Notifications.

   

Notifications History

The Notifications History page shows the notifications for your account, including the following:

• Message: The notifications message.
• Level: The priority level which can be:
  • Danger: Critical notifications that can effect your clusters or account.
  • Warning: Notifications of possible issues that are less than critical.
  • News: Notifications of general news and updates in Altinity.Cloud.
  • Info: Updates for general information.

9 - System Status

The System Status page provides a quick view of whether the Altinity.Cloud services are currently up or down. This provides a quick glance to help devops staff determine where any issues may be when communicating with their Altinity.Cloud clusters.

To access tne System Status page:

1. Login to your Altinity.Cloud account.

2. From the upper right hand corner, select the Account icon, and select System Status.

   

System Status Page

The System Status page displays the status of the Altinity.Cloud services. To send a message to Altinity.Cloud support representatives, select Get in touch.

From the page the following information is displayed:

This sample is from a staging environment and cluster that was stopped and started to demonstrate how the uptime tracking system works.

• Whether all Altinity.Cloud services are online or if there are any issues.
• The status of services by product, with the uptime of the last 60 days shown as either green (the service was fully available that day), or red (the service suffered an issue). Hovering over a red bar will display how long the service was unavailable for the following services:
  • ClickHouse clusters
  • Ingress
  • Management Console

Enter your email at the bottom of the page in the section marked Subscribe to status updates to receive notifications via email regarding any issues with Altinity.Cloud services.

10 - Uptime Schedule Settings

26 January 2023 · Read time 4 min

Overview

The Uptime Schedule settings are provided for non-critical servers that do not need to be running continuously. For non-running servers, Altinity.Cloud does not bill you for compute resources or support.

• Note that this cost-saving does not apply to storage and backups.

Available uptime schedules covered in this section include:

• ALWAYS ON - CPU always active
• STOP WHEN INACTIVE - CPU shuts off after set hours of inactivity
• ON SCHEDULE - Days of the week, set To and From times down to the minute

The Schedule (clock) icon indicates if a schedule has been set, and serves as a shortcut to quickly open the Uptime Schedule settings window. Other locations include:

• On the Altinity Cluster Manager cluster view, beside each cluster name (See Figure 1 item (A)
• Within the CONFIGURE > Uptime Schedule menu (See Figure 1 item (B)
• On the Dashboard tab of the cluster detail page.

WARNING: Do not use schedules on production clusters that must operate continuously.
UI path

From the Altinity Cloud Manager dashboard page, use the menu Configure > Uptime Schedule to display settings for your cluster.

• (A) The Schedule Icon appears if STOP WHEN INACTIVE or ON SCHEDULE is set.
• (B) The CONFIGURE menu is how you get to the Uptime Schedule settings.
• (C) The Uptime Schedule settings are where you choose the uptime settings for your cluster and CONFIRM to save.

Figure 1 – Uptime Schedule located in the Configure menu. A clock icon shows in the cluster dashboard if a schedule is set

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ALWAYS ON

Purpose

For mission-critical ClickHouse servers that must run 24/7.

Settings

There are no adjustable settings.

UI text

Altinity.Cloud shall not trigger any Stop or Resume operations on this Cluster automatically*

Figure 2 – ALWAYS ON Uptime Schedule setting.

Usage

To select ALWAYS ON from your cluster’s CONFIGURE > Uptime Schedule menu:

1. Select ALWAYS ON.
2. Select CONFIRM to save.
3. Use CANCEL to close without saving.

Result

• Cluster Status shows nodes online as is shown in the following screenshot

Figure 3 – Cluster list view shows green nodes online.

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STOP WHEN INACTIVE

Purpose

Used to turn off non-critical servers after a set number of hours of inactivity such as development environments that do not need to be running continuously. For non-running servers, Altinity.Cloud does not bill you for compute resources or support.

Settings

Hours of inactivity

Unit: Hours Example: 48

UI text

The cluster will be stopped automatically when there is no activity for a given amount of hours.

Figure 4 – STOP WHEN INACTIVE Uptime Schedule setting.

Usage

To set the hours after which your cluster becomes inactive, from your cluster’s CONFIGURE > Uptime Schedule menu:

1. Select STOP WHEN INACTIVE.
2. Adjust the Hours of inactivity integer value with the up or down arrows, or enter a number. (Example: 2)
3. Select CONFIRM to save.
4. Use CANCEL to close without saving.

Result

• In your cluster dashboard list view , a clock icon appears beside your cluster name (Example: cluster-example ).
  

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ON SCHEDULE

Purpose

Sets the daily To and From times (GMT format) that your cluster servers will be allowed to operate on a weekly schedule.

Settings

• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday
• 12:59 AM / PM (From and To) times
• Active (yes | no)
• All Day (yes | no)

Setting example

• Monday Active (yes) All Day (yes)
• Tuesday Active (yes) All Day (no) From 8:00 PM To 5:00 PM
• Wednesday Active (yes) All Day (yes)
• Thursday Active (yes) All Day (no) From 8:00 PM To 5:01 PM
• Friday Active (yes) All Day (yes)
• Saturday Active (no)
• Sunday Active (no)

The following cluster-example schedule sets Tuesday and Thursday for part-day operation from 8:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for All Day operation, and for the weekend Saturday and Sunday, the server is off.
Figure 5 – ON SCHEDULE Uptime Schedule setting.

Usage

To set a schedule for a cluster to run, from your cluster’s CONFIGURE > Uptime Schedule menu:

1. Select ON SCHEDULE.
2. Select Active green (right) for on, grey (left) for off.
3. Select All Day green (right) for on, grey (left) for off.
4. Enter the From time (GMT HH:MM AM/PM) you want the cluster to be active.
5. Enter the To stop time (GMT HH:MM AM/PM) you want the cluster to be off.
6. Select CONFIRM to save.
7. Use CANCEL to close without saving.

Result

• In your cluster dashboard list view , a clock icon appears beside your cluster name (Example: cluster-example ).