About replacement of GitHub Enterprise Server cluster nodes
You can replace a functional node in a GitHub Enterprise Server cluster, or you can replace a node that has failed unexpectedly.
After you replace a node, your GitHub Enterprise Server instance does not automatically distribute jobs to the new node. You can force your instance to balance jobs across nodes. For more information, see Rebalancing cluster workloads.
Warning
To avoid conflicts, do not reuse a hostname that was previously assigned to a node in the cluster.
Replacing a functional node
You can replace an existing, functional node in your cluster. For example, you may want to provide a virtual machine (VM) with additional CPU, memory, or storage resources.
To replace a functional node, install the GitHub Enterprise Server appliance on a new VM, configure an IP address, add the new node to the cluster configuration file, initialize the cluster and apply the configuration, then take the node you replaced offline.
Note
If you're replacing the primary database node, see Replacing the primary database node.
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Provision and install GitHub Enterprise Server with a unique hostname on the replacement node.
-
Using the administrative shell or DHCP, only configure the IP address of the replacement node. Don't configure any other settings.
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To add the newly provisioned replacement node, on any node, modify the
cluster.conf
file to remove the failed node and add the replacement node. For example, this modifiedcluster.conf
file replacesghe-data-node-3
with the newly provisioned node,ghe-replacement-data-node-3
:[cluster "ghe-replacement-data-node-3"] hostname = ghe-replacement-data-node-3 ipv4 = 192.168.0.7 # ipv6 = fd12:3456:789a:1::7 consul-datacenter = PRIMARY-DATACENTER git-server = true pages-server = true mysql-server = true elasticsearch-server = true redis-server = true memcache-server = true metrics-server = true storage-server = true
You can choose to defer database seeding of a new MySQL replica node, resulting in being able to open your appliance to traffic sooner. For more information, see Deferring database seeding.
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From the administrative shell of the node with the modified
cluster.conf
, runghe-cluster-config-init
. This will initialize the newly added node in the cluster. -
From the same node, run
ghe-cluster-config-apply
. This will validate the configuration file, copy it to each node in the cluster, and configure each node according to the modifiedcluster.conf
file. -
To take the node you're replacing offline, from the primary MySQL node of your cluster, run the following command.
ghe-remove-node NODE-HOSTNAME
This command will evacuate data from any data services running on the node, mark the node as offline in your configuration, and stop traffic being routed to the node. For more information, see Command-line utilities.
Replacing a node in an emergency
You can replace a failed node in your cluster. For example, a software or hardware issue may affect a node's availability.
Note
If you're replacing the primary database node, see Replacing the primary database node.
To replace a node in an emergency, you'll take the failed node offline, add your replacement node to the cluster, then run commands to remove references to data services on the removed node.
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To remove the node that is experiencing issues from the cluster, from the primary MySQL node of your cluster, run the following command. Replace NODE-HOSTNAME with the hostname of the node you're taking offline.
ghe-remove-node --no-evacuate NODE-HOSTNAME
This command will mark the node as offline in your configuration and stop traffic being routed to the node. You can run this command in
no-evacuate
mode now because, later in this procedure, you'll run commands that instruct data services on the node to copy any replicas onto the other available nodes in the cluster. For more information, see Command-line utilities. -
Add your replacement node to the cluster.
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Provision and install GitHub Enterprise Server with a unique hostname on the replacement node.
-
Using the administrative shell or DHCP, only configure the IP address of the replacement node. Don't configure any other settings.
-
To add the newly provisioned replacement node, on any node, modify the
cluster.conf
file to add the replacement node. For example, this modifiedcluster.conf
file adds the newly provisioned nodeghe-replacement-data-node-3
:[cluster "ghe-replacement-data-node-3"] hostname = ghe-replacement-data-node-3 ipv4 = 192.168.0.7 # ipv6 = fd12:3456:789a:1::7 git-server = true pages-server = true mysql-server = true elasticsearch-server = true redis-server = true memcache-server = true metrics-server = true storage-server = true
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From the administrative shell of the node with the modified
cluster.conf
, runghe-cluster-config-init
. This will initialize the newly added node in the cluster. -
From the same node, run
ghe-cluster-config-apply
. This will validate the configuration file, copy it to each node in the cluster, and configure each node according to the modifiedcluster.conf
file.
-
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Remove references to data services on the node you removed.
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Find the UUID of the node you removed. To find the UUID, run the following command, replacing
HOSTNAME
with the hostname of the node. You will use this UUID in the next step.ghe-config cluster.HOSTNAME.uuid
-
To remove references to data services, run the following commands. Replace
UUID
with the UUID of the node.These commands indicate to each service that the node is permanently removed. The services will recreate any replicas contained within the node on the available nodes within the cluster.
Note
These commands may cause increased load on the server while data is rebalanced across replicas.
For the
git-server
service (used for repository data):ghe-spokesctl server destroy git-server-UUID
For the
pages-server
service (used for GitHub Pages site builds):ghe-dpages remove pages-server-UUID
For the
storage-server
service (used for Git LFS data, avatar images, file attachments, and release archives):ghe-storage destroy-host storage-server-UUID --force
-
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Optionally, delete the entry for the removed node in your
cluster.conf
file. Doing so will keep yourcluster.conf
file organized and save time during futureconfig-apply
runs.-
To remove the entry from the file, run the following command, replacing
HOSTNAME
with the hostname of the removed node.ghe-config --remove-section "cluster.HOSTNAME"
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To copy the configuration to other nodes in the cluster, from the administrative shell of the node where you modified
cluster.conf
, runghe-cluster-config-apply
.
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Replacing the primary database node (MySQL or MySQL and MSSQL)
To provide database services, your cluster requires a primary MySQL node and at least one replica MySQL node. For more information, see About cluster nodes.
If your cluster has GitHub Actions enabled, you will also need to account for MSSQL in the following steps.
If you need to allocate more resources to your primary MySQL (or MySQL and MSSQL) node or replace a failed node, you can add a new node to your cluster. To minimize downtime, add the new node, replicate the MySQL (or MySQL and MSSQL) data, and then promote it to the primary node. Some downtime is required during the promotion process.
-
Provision and install GitHub Enterprise Server with a unique hostname on the replacement node.
-
Using the administrative shell or DHCP, only configure the IP address of the replacement node. Don't configure any other settings.
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To connect to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, SSH into any of your cluster's nodes. From your workstation, run the following command. Replace HOSTNAME with the node's hostname. For more information, see Accessing the administrative shell (SSH).
Shell ssh -p 122 admin@HOSTNAME
ssh -p 122 admin@HOSTNAME
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Open the cluster configuration file at
/data/user/common/cluster.conf
in a text editor. For example, you can use Vim. Create a backup of thecluster.conf
file before you edit the file.Shell sudo vim /data/user/common/cluster.conf
sudo vim /data/user/common/cluster.conf
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The cluster configuration file lists each node under a
[cluster "HOSTNAME"]
heading. Add a new heading for the node and enter the key-value pairs for configuration, replacing the placeholders with actual values.- Ensure that you include the
mysql-server = true
key-value pair. - If GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster, you will have to include the
mssql-server = true
key-value pair as well. - The following section is an example, and your node's configuration may differ.
... [cluster "HOSTNAME"] hostname = HOSTNAME ipv4 = IPV4-ADDRESS # ipv6 = IPV6-ADDRESS consul-datacenter = PRIMARY-DATACENTER datacenter = DATACENTER mysql-server = true redis-server = true ... ...
- Ensure that you include the
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From the administrative shell of the node with the modified
cluster.conf
, runghe-cluster-config-init
. This will initialize the newly added node in the cluster. -
From the administrative shell of the node where you modified
cluster.conf
, runghe-cluster-config-apply
. The newly added node will become a replica MySQL node and any other configured services will run there.Note
The previous snippet does not assume GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster.
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Wait for MySQL replication to finish. To monitor MySQL replication from any node in the cluster, run
ghe-cluster-status -v
.If GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster, you will have to wait for MSSQL replication to complete.
Shortly after adding the node to the cluster, you may see an error for replication status while replication catches up. Replication can take hours depending on the instance's load, the amount of database data, and the last time the instance generated a database seed.
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During your scheduled maintenance window, enable maintenance mode. For more information, see Enabling and scheduling maintenance mode.
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Ensure that MySQL(or MySQL and MSSQL) replication is finished from any node in the cluster by running
ghe-cluster-status -v
.Warning
If you do not wait for MySQL(or MySQL and MSSQL) replication to finish, you risk data loss on your instance.
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To set the current MySQL primary node to read-only mode, run the following command from the MySQL primary node.
Shell echo "SET GLOBAL super_read_only = 1;" | sudo mysql
echo "SET GLOBAL super_read_only = 1;" | sudo mysql
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Wait until Global Transaction Identifiers (GTIDs) set on the primary and replica MySQL nodes are identical. To check the GTIDs, run the following command from any cluster node.
Shell ghe-cluster-each -r mysql -- 'echo "SELECT @@global.gtid_executed;" | sudo mysql'
ghe-cluster-each -r mysql -- 'echo "SELECT @@global.gtid_executed;" | sudo mysql'
- To check that the global MySQL variable was set successfully, run the following command.
Shell echo "SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'super_read_only';" | sudo mysql
echo "SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'super_read_only';" | sudo mysql
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If GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster, SSH into the node that will become the new primary MSSQL node.
Shell ssh -p 122 admin@NEW_MSSQL_NODE_HOSTNAME
ssh -p 122 admin@NEW_MSSQL_NODE_HOSTNAME
- From within a
screen
session run the following command to promote MSSQL to the new node.
Shell /usr/local/share/enterprise/ghe-mssql-repl-promote
/usr/local/share/enterprise/ghe-mssql-repl-promote
This will attempt to access the current primary MSSQL node and perform a graceful failover
- From within a
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After the GTIDs on the primary and replica MySQL nodes match, update the cluster configuration by opening the cluster configuration file at
/data/user/common/cluster.conf
in a text editor.- Create a backup of the
cluster.conf
file before you edit the file. - In the top-level
[cluster]
section, remove the hostname for the node you replaced from themysql-master
key-value pair, then assign the new node instead. If the new node is also a primary Redis node, adjust theredis-master
key-value pair. - If GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster, you will have to include the
mssql-server = true
key-value pair as well.
[cluster] mysql-master = NEW-NODE-HOSTNAME redis-master = NEW-NODE-HOSTNAME primary-datacenter = primary ...
- Create a backup of the
-
In the administrative shell of the node where you modified
cluster.conf
, start ascreen
session and runghe-cluster-config-apply
. This command reconfigures the cluster, promoting the newly added node to the primary MySQL node and converting the original primary MySQL node into a replica.Note
The previous snippet does not assume GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster.
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Check the status of the MySQL(or MySQL and MSSQL) replication from any node in the cluster by running
ghe-cluster-status -v
. -
If GitHub Actions is enabled in the cluster, run the following command from the new MySQL and MSSQL node.
Shell /usr/local/share/enterprise/ghe-repl-post-failover-mssql
/usr/local/share/enterprise/ghe-repl-post-failover-mssql
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When the MySQL(or MySQL and MSSQL) replication is finished, from any node in the cluster, disable maintenance mode. See Enabling and scheduling maintenance mode.