Starting a Cluster

Start a cluster by starting its nodes.

Prerequisites

Set the ESP_HOME environment variable.

Task

A cluster must be running before you can deploy projects to it. To start a cluster, start manager nodes first, then controller-only nodes. Follow these steps for each node in the cluster, where <node_name> represents the name of a node in the cluster.

From the command line for Windows systems, execute:
```
cd %ESP_HOME%\cluster\nodes\<node_name>
%ESP_HOME%\bin\esp_server.exe --cluster-node <node_name>.xml
```
And for Linux and Solaris systems, execute:
```
cd $ESP_HOME/cluster/nodes/<node_name>
$ESP_HOME/bin/esp_server --cluster-node <node_name>.xml
```
On Linux and Solaris systems, you can start a cluster in the background by executing:
```
cd $ESP_HOME/cluster/nodes/<node_name>
nohup $ESP_HOME/bin/esp_server --cluster-node <node config> 2>&1 > esp-node-console.out &
```
Note: The directory from which a node is started becomes the working directory for the node. The node looks for the cluster.log.properties file in the working directory.
Retrieve and start workspaces and projects:
esp_cluster_admin --uri=esp[s]://<host>:<port> --username=<user> [--password=<pass>]
Provide the cluster URI and your credentials to complete the command and begin working with cluster administration commands.
Note: The URI protocol esps indicates that the cluster is SSL-enabled. URIs for clusters that are not SSL-enabled use the protocol esp.

Note: If you omit the password parameter when you call the esp_cluster_admin tool, Event Stream Processor prompts you for the password and hides it as you type, which improves security.