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Create and Manage a Virtual Cluster

A virtual cluster is a logical endpoint that pairs two physical clusters as an Active Cluster and a Standby Cluster in different availability zones within one region. It has no compute resources or cache of its own, so the virtual cluster itself does not incur charges. Its two physical clusters continue to incur charges for their resources according to their billing methods. Requests sent to the virtual cluster run on its Active Cluster.

VeloDB Cloud synchronizes the active cluster's cached data to the standby cluster for warmup. If the active cluster or its availability zone fails, VeloDB Cloud fails over to the standby cluster automatically. After creation, configure applications to use the virtual cluster so they use the active-standby relationship.

Before you begin​

  • You need permission to manage compute resources in the warehouse.
  • The warehouse must span multiple availability zones. Single-availability-zone warehouses do not show the Virtual Clusters page.
  • The warehouse must run core version 4.0.6 or later. If an eligible multi-availability-zone warehouse does not show the Virtual Clusters page, upgrade the warehouse to version 4.0.6 or later.
  • The warehouse must contain at least two physical clusters that are in Running status and not mounted as the Active Cluster or Standby Cluster of another virtual cluster.
  • The two physical clusters must be in different availability zones.
  • Use the same CPU architecture, compute capacity, and cache capacity for both clusters. A mismatch can reduce performance after failover or leave some cached data unsynchronized.

Create a virtual cluster​

  1. Log in to the VeloDB Cloud console.

  2. In the upper-left corner, select the warehouse that contains the physical clusters.

  3. In the left navigation pane, under Compute, click Clusters.

  4. Click Virtual Clusters, and then click Add Virtual Cluster.

  5. In Virtual Cluster Configuration, configure the following settings:

    SettingDescription
    Virtual Cluster NameRequired. Start with a letter and use up to 32 characters. Use only letters, digits, or underscores. Letter case does not matter. Do not use consecutive underscores.
    Active ClusterSelect the physical cluster that serves requests.
    Standby ClusterSelect the physical cluster that takes over after failover. Select a cluster with the same CPU architecture, compute capacity, and cache capacity as the active cluster.

  6. Click Create.

  7. In Create a new virtual cluster?, review the impact. While the physical clusters are mounted, you cannot rename or delete them.

  8. Click Confirm.

The virtual cluster appears on the Virtual Clusters page with the Creating status. Wait for its status to change to Running, and verify that the expected physical clusters appear as Active Cluster and Standby Cluster. If the status changes to CreateFailed, review the displayed error and confirm that the physical clusters still meet the eligibility requirements.

Update applications to use the virtual cluster name, or set it as the default cluster for relevant warehouse SQL users. Otherwise, applications continue to send requests to the physical cluster rather than use automatic failover.

Manage a virtual cluster​

On the Virtual Clusters page, click a virtual cluster card to open its details page.

Switch the active cluster​

  1. Click Switchover.
  2. In Perform active-standby cluster switchover?, review the impact, and then click Confirm. Some in-flight requests can fail temporarily, so ensure that applications retry failed requests.
  3. Wait for the virtual cluster to return to Running, and verify that the former standby cluster is now the Active Cluster.

Replace the active or standby cluster​

  1. Click Replace Active Cluster or Replace Standby Cluster.
  2. Select a physical cluster that is Running, unmounted, and in a different availability zone from the physical cluster that remains in the pair.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. Wait for the virtual cluster to return to Running, and verify the new pair. The replaced cluster becomes a regular physical cluster.

Rename the virtual cluster​

  1. Click the Edit icon next to the virtual cluster name.
  2. Enter the new name, and click Confirm.
  3. Verify the new name on the Virtual Clusters page.
  4. Update applications that reference the old name, or set a default cluster for relevant warehouse SQL users. Otherwise, related requests fail.

Delete the virtual cluster​

  1. Click Delete Virtual Cluster.
  2. In Delete this virtual cluster?, review the impact, and then click Confirm.
  3. Verify that the virtual cluster no longer appears and that its active and standby clusters are available as regular physical clusters. Requests that reference the deleted virtual cluster fail unless the requesting warehouse SQL user has a default cluster configured. Automatic failover is no longer available.

Warning:

If the Standby Cluster or its availability zone is unavailable, cache synchronization, failover, and switchover cannot complete. Restore the standby cluster or replace it with a suitable physical cluster.

See also​

  • Manage clusters to create, scale, and monitor the physical clusters in a virtual cluster.
  • Review high availability to understand how VeloDB Cloud protects a warehouse across availability zones.