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Prepare resources for compiling, installing, and running Nebula Graph

This topic describes the requirements and suggestions for compiling and installing Nebula Graph, as well as how to estimate the resource you need to reserve for running a Nebula Graph cluster.

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Requirements for compiling the Nebula Graph source code

Hardware requirements for compiling Nebula Graph

Item Requirement
CPU architecture x86_64
Memory 4 GB
Disk 10 GB, SSD

Supported operating systems for compiling Nebula Graph

For now, we can only compile Nebula Graph in the Linux system. We recommend that you use any Linux system with kernel version 2.6.32 or above.

Software requirements for compiling Nebula Graph

You must have the correct version of the software listed below to compile Nebula Graph. If they are not as required or you are not sure, follow the steps in Prepare software for compiling Nebula Graph to get them ready.

Software Version Note
glibc 2.12 or above You can run ldd --version to check the glibc version.
make Any stable version -
m4 Any stable version -
git Any stable version -
wget Any stable version -
unzip Any stable version -
xz Any stable version -
readline-devel Any stable version -
ncurses-devel Any stable version -
zlid-devel Any stable version -
gcc 7.1.0 or above You can run gcc -v to check the gcc version.
gcc-c++ Any stable version -
cmake 3.5.0 or above You can run cmake --version to check the cmake version.
gettext Any stable version -
curl Any stable version -
redhat-lsb-core Any stable version -
libstdc++-static Any stable version Only needed in CentOS 8+, RedHat 8+, and Fedora systems.
libasan Any stable version Only needed in CentOS 8+, RedHat 8+, and Fedora systems.

Other third-party software will be automatically downloaded and installed to the build directory at the configure (cmake) stage.

Prepare software for compiling Nebula Graph

This section guides you through the downloading and installation of software required for compiling Nebula Graph.

  1. Install dependencies.

    • For CentOS, RedHat, and Fedora users, run the following commands.
      ```bash
      $ yum update
      $ yum install -y make \
                       m4 \
                       git \
                       wget \
                       unzip \
                       xz \
                       readline-devel \
                       ncurses-devel \
                       zlib-devel \
                       gcc \
                       gcc-c++ \
                       cmake \
                       gettext \
                       curl \
                       redhat-lsb-core
      // For CentOS 8+, RedHat 8+, and Fedora, install libstdc++-static, libasan as well
      $ yum install -y libstdc++-static libasan
      ```
      
    • For Debian and Ubuntu users, run the following commands.
      ```bash
      $ apt-get update
      $ apt-get install -y make \
                           m4 \
                           git \
                           wget \
                           unzip \
                           xz-utils \
                           curl \
                           lsb-core \
                           build-essential \
                           libreadline-dev \
                           ncurses-dev \
                           cmake \
                           gettext
      ```
      
  2. Check if the GCC and cmake on your host are in the right version. See Software requirements for compiling Nebula Graph for the required versions.

    $ g++ --version
    $ cmake --version
    

    If your GCC and CMake are in the right version, then you are all set. If they are not, follow the sub-steps as follows.

    1. Clone the nebula-common repository to your host.

      ```bash
      $ git clone https://github.com/vesoft-inc/nebula-common.git
      ```
    
      The source code of Nebula Graph versions such as v2.0.0 is stored in particular branches. You can use the `--branch` or `-b` option to specify the branch to be cloned. For example, for 2.0.0, run the following command.
    
      ```bash
      $ git clone --branch v2.0.0 https://github.com/vesoft-inc/nebula-common.git
      ```
    

    2. Make nebula-common the current working directory.

      ```bash
      $ cd nebula-common
      ```
    

    3. Run the following commands to install and enable CMake and GCC.

      ```bash
      // Install CMake.
      $ ./third-party/install-cmake.sh cmake-install
    
      // Enable CMake
      $ source cmake-install/bin/enable-cmake.sh
    
      // Install GCC. Installing GCC to /opt requires root privilege, you can change it to other locations.
      $ sudo ./third-party/install-gcc.sh --prefix=/opt
    
      // Enable GCC.
      $ source /opt/vesoft/toolset/gcc/7.5.0/enable
      ```
    

Requirements and suggestions for installing Nebula Graph in test environments

Hardware requirements for test environments

Item Requirement
CPU architecture x86_64
Number of CPU core 4
Memory 8 GB
Disk 100 GB, SSD

Supported operating systems for test environments

For now, we can only install Nebula Graph in the Linux system. To install Nebula Graph in a test environment, we recommend that you use any Linux system with kernel version 3.9 or above.

Suggested service architecture for test environments

Process Suggested number
metad (the metadata service process) 1
storaged (the storage service process) 1 or more
graphd (the query engine service process) 1 or more

For example, for a single-machine environment, you can deploy 1 metad, 1 storaged, and 1 graphd processes in the machine.

For a more common environment, such as a cluster of 3 machines (named as A, B, and C), you can deploy Nebula Graph as follows:

Machine name Number of metad Number of storaged Number of graphd
A 1 1 1
B None 1 1
C None 1 1

Requirements and suggestions for installing Nebula Graph in production environments

Hardware requirements for production environments

Item Requirement
CPU architecture x86_64
Number of CPU core 48
Memory 96 GB
Disk 2 * 900 GB, NVMe SSD

Supported operating systems for production environments

For now, we can only install Nebula Graph in the Linux system. To install Nebula Graph in a production environment, we recommend that you use any Linux system with kernel version 3.9 or above.

You can adjust some of the kernel parameters to better accommodate the need for running Nebula Graph. For more information, see kernel configuration.

Suggested service architecture for production environments

Process Suggested number
metad (the metadata service process) 3
storaged (the storage service process) 3 or more
graphd (the query engine service process) 3 or more

Each metad process automatically creates and maintains a copy of the metadata. Usually, you only need 3 metad processes. The number of storaged processes does not affect the number of graph space copies.

You can deploy multiple processes on a single machine. For example, on a cluster of 5 machines (named as A, B, C, D, and E), you can deploy Nebula Graph as follows:

WARNING: Do not deploy a cluster across IDCs.

Machine name Number of metad Number of storaged Number of graphd
A 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
C 1 1 1
D None 1 1
E None 1 1

Capacity requirements for running a Nebula Graph cluster

You can estimate the memory, disk space, and partition number needed for a Nebula Graph cluster of 3 replicas as follows.

Resource Unit How to estimate Description
Disk space for a cluster Bytes the_sum_of_edge_number_and_vertex_number * average_bytes_of_attributes * 6 * 120% -
Memory for a cluster Bytes [the_sum_of_edge_number_and_vertex_number * 15 + the_number_of_RocksDB_instances * (write_buffer_size * max_write_buffer_number) + rocksdb_block_cache] * 120% write_buffer_size and max_write_buffer_number are RocksDB parameters, for more information, see MemTable. For details about rocksdb_block_cache, see Memory usage in RocksDB.
Number of partitions for a graph space - the_number_of_disks_in_the_cluster * disk_partition_num_multiplier disk_partition_num_multiplier is an integer between 2 and 10 (both including). It's value depends on the disk performance. Use 2 for HDD.
  • Question 1: Why do we multiply the disk space and memory by 120%?

    Answer: The extra 20% is for buffer.

  • Question 2: How to get the number of RocksDB instances?

    Answer: Each directory in the --data_path item in the etc/nebula-storaged.conf file corresponds to a RocksDB instance. Count the number of directories to get the RocksDB instance number.

    NOTE: You can decrease the memory size occupied by the bloom filter by adding --enable_partitioned_index_filter=true in etc/nebula-storaged.conf. But it may decrease the read performance in some random-seek cases.

About storage devices

Nebula Graph is designed and implemented for NVMe SSD. All default parameters are optimized for the SSD devices.

Due to the poor IOPS capability and long random seek latency, HDD is not recommended. You may encounter many problems when using HDD.

And remote storage devices, such as NAS or SAN, are not recommended/tested as well.

Use local SSD device.


Last update: April 9, 2021
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