This page explains how to install a ThoughtSpot cluster in a VMware VSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 environment.
For each hardware node, you must:
- Complete the prerequisites
- Use the ThoughtSpot Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file to create a virtual machine (VM)
- Add hard disks to the VM
Prerequisites
This installation process assumes you have already acquired your host machines. You can install on a cluster with any number of nodes. A one node cluster is suitable for a sandbox environment but is insufficient for a production environment. You need at least three nodes for high availability (HA), but there is no limit on the number of nodes.
-
Make sure you have installed the Hypervisor on each of your three nodes.
The VM template, by default, captures a 72-core configuration. If your physical host has more than 72 cores, you may want to edit VM to have (
n-2
) cores (for a physical host with n cores) to fully take advantage of computing power of the physical host. Extra cores help performance.You should aim to allocate 490 GB or more RAM.
-
Create datastores for all solid-state drive (SSD) and hard drive devices.
Use the OVF to Create a VM
- Download the
ThoughtSpot OVF
from the Downloads page here to a location on an accessible disk. -
Log in to the ESXi web portal.
-
Select Virtual Machines > Create/Register VM.
The system displays the dialog for selecting an OVF template.
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Choose the OVF template and press Next.
The system prompts you to select a storage.
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Choose the SSD as the destination and press Next.
The system displays the Deployment Options dialog.
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Enter the options and press Next.
Setting Value Network mappings Select the correct network for your installation. Disk provisioning Choose Thin. Power on automatically Check this box. -
Review your selection and press Finish.
-
Wait for the template to be loaded.
Depending on your network speed, loading can take several minutes.
- Make sure that VM is powered off.
Add hard disks to the VM
Use Case | HDFS Disk Requirements |
---|---|
POC | 2 x 1 TB on HDD |
Production | 3 x 2 TB on HDD |
For a proof of concept (POC), follow these steps to create two 1TB HDFS disks on HDD storage, as shown here (2 x 1TB).
For production deployments, ThoughtSpot requires you to have three 2TB HDFS disks on HDD (3 x 2TB). For this use case, follow these same steps to create the additional, larger capacity disks.
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Edit the VM you just created.
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Select Add hard disk > New hard disk.
The new disk appears as a new row under the only existing SSD row.
- Click the New Hard disk to expand the detailed configuration options.
-
For a proof of concept, set the options as follows. (For production deployments, set the size to 2TB.)
Setting Value size 1 TB Location Use the Browse button to select the hard disk store.
Thin provisioned Check this box. You should see something similar to the following:
- Save your changes.
- Repeat steps 1-5 to create more hard disks.
- Power on the VM
-
Once the VM is online, run the following command to prepare the HDFS disks:
sudo /usr/local/scaligent/bin/prepare_disks.sh
Next steps
There is no network at this point on your VMs. To make the VM node accessible from any terminal within local network, contact [email protected].
Additional resources
As you develop your expertise in VMware VM creation, we recommend the following ThoughtSpot U course: